Russell Hobbs Halogen Oven

What we have here is a 1400w halogen oven with an 11 litre capacity, extended to 16 litres by means of an extension ring - more on that later.

The oven is essentially a large glass bowl which stands upon a plastic pedestal. On top of the bowl sits the heater unit, basically a very hot bulb and a fan which in combination heat the air, and circulates it inside the bowl. When you turn it on you'll see a bright light. As the temperature reaches the desired setting,the heating filament switches off and the light goes out, but the fan continues to push the air around.

Typically you don't cook on the bottom of the glass because the air needs to reach the food - if it can't get at the food it can't heat it efficiently. So the oven comes with two racks, the bottom rack sits about a cm and a bit off the bottom of the bowl and the second rack stands over it leaving about a 2 inch gap. With both racks in use you'll need to use the extension ring for anything but the lowest profile meals on the top rack. Although the halogen oven circulates the air like a convention fan oven, there is a distinct grill effect, so anything close to the lamp will brown considerably quicker that what's underneath.

As an example, I make cheese on toast using a piece of frozen bread sitting on the top rack without the extension ring. I heat it for four to five minutes, flip it over and add grated cheese. When I flip it over the top of the bread will have browned while the bottom will be almost white.

You often see shots of halogen ovens packed full of food, all resting on the bowl, with no sign of any racks. I think it's fairly important to stress that if you tried to cook using the halogen oven like that it would be a disaster.

Say you want to make chicken and veg. You would chop up your potatoes, carrots etc, coat them in oil as desired and spread them over the lower rack. Then you add the upper rack and put your chicken, seasoned as you see fit, on it "upside down". A typical 1.5kg chicken will cook in two lots of 30-40 minutes at about 190-200c. After the first 30-40 minutes the bottom of the chicken will be brown and fairly crispy. It's time to flip the chicken over.

So you take off the lid and heating element and slot it into the functional stand provided so it doesn't burn anything. Remove the extension ring, lift out the chicken, remove the upper rack and turn your veggies, then reassemble everything with the chicken now the right way round. Give it another 30-40 minutes and you're done. You should have perfect, succulent chicken cooked through and through.

Is it quicker than a conventional oven? I'm sceptical. I think the more ambitious the meal you're planning, the less efficient the halogen oven becomes because it is actually quite difficult to get at the food if you need to turn it.

And that extension ring - there is a safety feature that won't allow the lamp to come on if the carrying handle isn't completely closed. In theory this means you can't move the lid while it's running. In practise on a couple of occasions I noticed that the heater lid wasn't seated correctly into the extension ring and attempting to jog the lid into place sent it falling sideways, through the ring, which went oval, and onto the food cooking beneath. The light went off on both occasions, presumably because the fan was being partially blocked. Don't get me wrong, I think that's a safety issue, but it was also my own stupid fault for not seating the lid 100% correctly in the first place. Fact is, it's possible.

On a practical point, cookware may be an issue. It isn't necessary to set your food directly on a rack. Pretty much any cookware you use in a conventional can be used in a halogen oven, but you may find yourself limited to flan dishes, casserole pots and cake tins because they're circular.

PROS:
definitely heats up fast
quick for simple meals
could probably replace a conventional oven for 1-2 people

CONS:
needs some forethought before packing in larger meals
there is an auto-clean function that looks good but is next to useless
extension ring is virtually essential but not as secure as it could be
takes up a lot of counter space
the stand for the heater lid is a joke

After fiddling around with racks, lid stands and extension rings, I just can't be bothered. There's no arguing with how tasty the chicken I cooked in it was and the few other simple dishes I tried all worked well, but the washing up after every use (I realise some people clean their conventional ovens after every use... I do not) and the space it was taking up out-weighed this. Given a bigger kitchen and a dishwasher and I might be more amenable.

It's KARGE capacity and sensible layout means you can cook a variety of things.
Its mobile, so you can pack it away easily, and its easy to clean - assemble and put away - saves space too.
It's pretty well built, and with care will last many many years.

It's faster than a conventional fan oven and cooks PROPERLY - cuts down the cooking time and is especially useful when you're using it in ADDITION to your normal oven, ie. when you have guests and a lot to cook, a dinner party or something.

It has a timer, you can see your food cook, and bakes as well as roasts!

What can I say? Some people may be a bit reluctant to go for such an oven, or may dismiss the idea as a gimmick.
But this would be grossly unfair, as trust me, this thing does EXACTLY what it says on the box, with minimum fuss - and costs wise, I'm sure it'll be using less energy as it's halogen based, and besides, it's a fraction of the cost of an Oven!

This oven has the capability to cook a variety of items, from potatoes to meat. I also found that it cooked items quicker than a conventional oven and to a high standard. You are also able to bake in the oven.

I am not sure that it is the type of item that you would practically use everyday, but it may be handy to use alongside your normal oven if you need to cook several items.

It is easy to store and I found it fairly easy to clean - easier than my normal oven anyway!

A handy useful item to have but I would not say that this is a kitchen necessity or something that could replace your normal oven satisfactorily.