The Halogen Oven is just an Oven ! So when you are considering making something from a “conventional” cookbook, or from something your gran wrote back in the last century, what needs to change?
Comparing the Halogen to a Standard Gas Oven
The heat from a Halogen source is actually much the same as from a gas oven , with a fan assisted function. The halogen cookers fan makes the heat very even , to all the parts of the food being cooked, there really are no hotspots and coolspots. When you compare it to a microwave, the Halogen produces the same results as a conventional gas or electric oven and doesn’t suffer the uneven cooking of the microwave radiating the food. Nor does it cook in the same way as a microwave, vibrating water molecules within the food, the halogen just cooks with convected heat.
As long as you load the contents with care, making sure to leave space around it, the heat, circulated by the fan will cook the food very evenly. Secondly the heat is virtually instant. When a recipe calls for pre heating, its actually very rare that it will be necessary in the Halogen , as the heat builds up within seconds of starting up.
What is significantly different is the speed at which it cooks and the heat, so these two things need to be moderated. I can only give you a guide here, once you have made the changes, I would suggest you fine tune it over time, as recipes, quantity, the qualities of the produce you are cooking and personal preference all play a part in the final result when cooking.
Cooking Meat Dishes
For Meat products reduce the cooking time by one quarter . For bigger produce like a chicken, i would reduce initially by a quarter and raise the heater lid by inserting the extender ring, this will help to stop burning of the top of the bird . You could also try aluminium foil over the top, but this is often tricky to do , due to the velocity of the hot air, usually I manage just with the extender ring. If you like a crispier finish to the skin, increase the heat at the end, the last 10% of the cooking time. I would set the heat at 20 degrees (Fahr) or 11 degree (Cent) less than for a gas oven recipe, raising it back to full for the last 10% of the cooking time
Baking Cakes and Bread
For Baking products reduce the standard recipe temperature by 40 degrees (Fahr) or 22 degrees(Cent) and cook for the same period of time, for a crusty finish breads turn up the heat a little for the final 10% of the time. For cakes it is a bit more tricky, they will firm up whilst cooling off, so delay testing until fully cooled. I would use the extender ring with anything delicate like cupcakes.
Check out this chart for cooking times
I found this video, to help anyone starting out baking with the halogen oven, Jan and Hubby Alan make it look so easy.
I would like a cookbook that does not have celcius temperatures. Can you recommend some to choose from? I would really appreciate it. Thank you.
When you say for bread and cakes “reduce the temperature by 40 degrees”, are you using Celsius? If my recipe calls for Fahrenheit, do I reduce that by 40 degrees?
I’ve edited the post now, to make it clear
Can I make a moussaka directly in the glass bowl or does it have to go into another dish?
I would use a separate cooking dish on a wire rack, halogen cooking depends on circulating hot air, so directly cooking in the bowl is very inefficient. Although you can cook thin slices of meat in the bowl, providing you pre-warm the bowl, say 5 mins on full power with an empty bowl. With stews I generally use a pottery dish and cook it slower, lower temp, longer time.
I am new to halogens and the reason being is because I don’t no how long to leave something in for. How much do I reduce cooking time? If I cook a joint Iof meat do I put it on the same degree as I would in my conventional oven ? If I usually cook for 1 and half hours would I do the same? If I cook a fish that says 30 mins in the oven would I do the same in the halogen?? I am totally useless with the halogen
Don’t despair Deb, you’ll soon get the hang of it. If you start with the advice I give in the “Cooking Meat dishes” part, just see how your particular Halogen performs, adjusting up or down as required. Ovens and meat itself varies so much, its always difficult to give exact figures, so start by reducing your 1 1/2 hours by 20 mins and test, by making a cut to see how it is cooking through (or using a meat thermometer if you have used one before )
Does the light stay on or goes off an on
From cold it should be on. After reaching the required temp, the thermostat will control the lamp to come on if the temp drops below that set by you.
I love my halogen oven , we use it for everything. A tip that might help some …. I found it hard to get the pan/tin/roasting dish in and out as the space is small and hot, so I fold up a long length of aluminium foil into a wide strip and lay it in the bowl so it sits directly under what pan you’re using with the ends hanging outside the bowl. It makes it easy to lift It out.