If you’ve never used and seen a halogen oven, cooking with is might turn into a nightmare. So many first time halogen oven users break their appliances because they have no idea how to use it. Keep your halogen oven safe and sound and follow the tried and tested tips to ease and speed up your cooking time. [no_toc]
Note that different types of halogen ovens require different cooking techniques so be sure to read the instruction manual as well.
1. Load your cooker correctly
A halogen oven is supplied with wire racks that must be set correctly. The food in a halogen oven is cooked by circulating hot air, which is why it’s important that the air can reach the undersides during the cooking session. If you need to grill your food, use the high rack of the oven. Whenever you need to roast, bake, or reheat your food, a lower wire rack. You may need to turn your food during cooking so watch out.
2. Stay alert
Although, in practice, you shouldn’t be around your halogen oven during the entire cooking process, it’s not your situation. There’s a huge difference between cooking in a standard oven and a halogen one, so be sure you cook your meal “together” for the first few times. The food in a halogen oven is cooked much quicker – even faster than you think – so keep an extra eye on it.
3. Learn how to adjust the temperatures and cooking times
When you follow a manual instruction or the recipes created specifically for halogen ovens, setting up the temperatures and cooking times is super easy. This is not the case with the regular recipes, though. Set lower temperatures – about 20 degrees lower – and reduce the cooking time. It may take awhile before you learn how to tweak your regular recipes.
4. Take care of your halogen oven
I’ve read tons of feedback and most of them aren’t positive. People complain that their ovens stop working after a couple of months after a purchase. While there might be a technical reason for it, but generally users are killing their appliances. First of all, store your halogen oven correctly and follow the cooking instructions recommended exactly for your model. Secondly, clean it correctly.
You can also prolong the bulb’s life of your oven by using the extender ring, which keeps the food further from the bulb and protects it from cooking splatter. The extender ring also helps prevent the food from overcooking. If your halogen oven doesn’t feature the ring, you can buy it separately.
5. Clean it carefully
If your halogen oven is dishwasher-friendly, congratulations! In case you have a dishwasher, of course! If not, make sure you clean your oven very carefully, especially if yours is made of plastic and glass. Don’t load the glass bowl into a dishwasher and don’t fill it with water right after cooking. Let it cool to prevent cracking. Be extra careful with cleaning the lid, too. Remember to follow the instructions.
Having a halogen oven is a dream come true. We all want to speed up our cooking time and it’s possible to do with a halogen oven.
