General Chat

I've used it twice now. First time for chicken thighs, potatoes & veggies. It worked fine, but I won't bother using it for the veggies again, it only takes 2 minutes to cook them in the microwave.

Saturday I tried a small leg of lamb. Cooked it for the time recommended, and the lamb was still raw! Arrrrrrrrgh!

We'll be having some late meals until I get the hang of this thing.

This morning I decided to try making a cake (the banana bread from one of the sites Susan recommended). First checked to see if I had a cake pan that would fit. No problem. Recipe recommends adding the extender ring. OK.

The instruction book says "The height can be adjusted up or down by first sliding the safety button on top of the height control handle and pressing the lever on the underside of the height control handle up".

I can't do it! My hands won't bend that way because of arthritis! I tried using two hands, but still can't lift the thing.

Any suggestions?

I've got a jug with mashed bananas in it.......... might have to use the ordinary oven!



:-(

if it is the model I am thinking of.....the button should be pressed in then the lid slides up or down.....took me a while to get the hang of it :-)

Hi Susan

Mine is a Sheffield. OH says the top of it looks like the Star Ship Enterprise lol

The banana bread is cooking.

Obviously the extender is to stop things like bread, cakes etc from browning too fast or burning. I've got it on 150C.

10 minutes to go.

Hopefully it's cooked! Not black on the inside & soggy in the middle.

I'll get OH to have a go at the button, I can't get it to move.

:-(

Banana bread was a DUD!

I've been making banana cakes since I was about 14 - almost half a century, and this is my FIRST FAILURE!!

I expected it to be a bit overdone on the top (because of not being able to add the extender), but I wasn't expecting it to be soggy on the bottom.

I took it out of the tin, turned it over and put it on for another 10 minutes at 150C.

It's horrible!!

I telephoned the company I bought the oven from, and explained the problem.

Service person said it sounded like the unit was faulty, and they'd replace it!

Less than a minute after talking to him, I got an email confirming the replacement.

Good service!

New one should be here Wednesday or Thursday, hope I don't have the same problem :-(

Very impressed with the service. :-)

I've had this gizmo over a month now (except for the week when I had to return the faulty one).

Brilliant! I wish I'd got one years ago.

Forget looking for special cookbooks. Use your own recipes & experiment.

I've found that I should have the temperature a bit lower and take some time off.........eg the banana cake I make (my recipe turned out well), I cook it at 160C instead of 180, for 30-35 minutes instead of 45. Scones (again my recipe, not the one on the website) were great, but I had to turn them upside down for half the time, the first scone experiment was not so good, they had soggy bums.

I've had to buy a few pans, because I couldn't pick mine up with the tongs (some things I just pick up the rack).

The best bit? Cleaned the big oven, and decided to only use that when I need to cook something big..... like half an ox :-D

Scozz - I cook all food at temperatures between 150C &160C and check with a wooden skewer at regular intervals until I think it is cooked and I have never been disappointed. I have recipe books but never use them. The beauty of a Halogen Oven is that you can view the food being cooked quite clearly while you get on with other chores. I use two meat forks to lift joints out of the oven.

GP

They are brilliant I cook most things in it now...and it keeps my oven clean when you have finished cooking in it I just put a jug of water in it and a squeeze of liguid switch it on and it cleans it self

Have finally got around to trying out my new oven. Not very adventurous - cheese scones. OH ate them and didn't complain. Will try again this weekend with a sponge cake and see what transpires.

Mind you I haven't baked for a few years now so anything could happen.

From all the previous comments there seems to be an overwhelming YES vote for Halogen Ovens, just hope my baking turns out OK

I made flans/quiches the other day.

I use the weight watchers recipe for the crust (if anyone wants it, let me know).

Soggy bottom flans! I blind baked them.

No problem, I turned them upside down, put them on the high rack and cooked them for about 10 minutes at 150C..... keeping an eye on them in cast they turned into toast!

Ours has a new name......... the Star Ship Enterprise lol

:-D

Did I say mine cost $60Au? Typical, the place I bought it had them on special two weeks ago for $50 :-(