This might be something that's become common by now, but I sure have never seen it or heard of it.

My mother called me and told me saw an infomercial for a cooking pot. It is made of glass, and runs on the mains. You put all your ingredients in and turn it on. Some kind of light comes and cooks everything perfectly in 5 minutes. (they actually said 5 minutes, as opposed to just showing cooked food 5 minutes later )

She said they showed them cooking vegetables, fish, FROZEN meat, chicken, etc, all in 5 minutes. They even made pizza and cake. And she said the fish, for example, was browned, unlike in a microwave oven.

Anybody know what this is?

I happen to have some British mail-order catalog and it has an ad for something similar. It is called a Halogen Oven. It is as she said; round glass container with a lid which has controls. And it plugs in. Here is some of what it says in the ad:

Quote :

"This revolutionary oven uses halogen and infra red technology with a fan assist function to cook food faster than a conventional oven. [cut] Unlike microwave cooking, food browns and crisps just like a conventional oven. [cut] In just a fraction of the normal time this powerful 1,000w oven cooks entire meals in one go. [cut]"

So it seems like this might be the same thing, except they don't say it will take just 5 minutes. If it did take just 5 minutes, that would be a great selling point.

OK, I looked up halogen infra red ovens on the internet, and they are all over the place. New to me. However, they say "50% faster" than a normal oven, which doesn't make it 5 minutes. But in every other aspect, they sound just like what my mother saw.

Anyway, whether they are the same or not, anybody have a halogen infra red tabletop oven? If so, would you recommend it? How long does it take to cook for example frozen chicken, meat, fish, vegetables? Fresh meats and veggies? How is the taste? Baking a cake?

Thanks.

4/28/2009 9:05:18 PM

it's the third heat.

4/28/2009 9:06:36 PM

i think you are right:

Quote :

"The Nuwave® Infrared Oven works with a patented trio of cooking methods: Conduction to apply heat directly to food, Convection to circulate the heat around the food, and Far Infrared radiant heat to penetrate the food to cook from the inside out, leaving food moist and Flavorful."

4/28/2009 9:08:17 PM

my sister has one (nuwave) she uses all the time because the gas oven sucks (takes a loong time to warm up and doesnt get that warm in the end).

she loves it but I dont know any details past that

[Edited on April 28, 2009 at 9:17 PM. Reason : ]

4/28/2009 9:17:22 PM

Aha, thanks anyway And if she loves it (being an Asian woman), it's gotta be good, right?

BTW, for those use it: I don't like my veggies cooked too much. So if you thrown in veggies and chicken at the same time, won't the veggies come out way overdone?

4/28/2009 9:19:13 PM

the infomercial does say you can cook from frozen, but it does not say everything cooks in 5 minutes. i do wonder how it tastes.

4/28/2009 9:21:42 PM

Yeah I guess the 5 minutes was a mistake on my mother's part.

So this is a halogen oven thread now.

Any and all anecdotes are welcome.

4/28/2009 9:28:16 PM

I haven't heard of this, but I don't recommend it.
Very few time-savers are possible without drastic quality reduction.

4/28/2009 10:42:19 PM

When I was little I had a sweet halogen floor lamp and sometimes bugs would get under the protective glass over the bulb and scream as they got fried.

It's not a very good contribution to this thread, but it's the best that I could do.

4/28/2009 10:44:26 PM

more like the water in their bodies boiled and hissed as it escaped their exoskeletons


but screamed, whatever

4/29/2009 2:37:14 AM

Quote :

"The Nuwave® Infrared Oven works with a patented trio of cooking methods: Conduction to apply heat directly to food, Convection to circulate the heat around the food, and Far Infrared radiant heat to penetrate the food to cook from the inside out, leaving food moist and Flavorful."

From that it sounds like a combination of a convection oven and a microwave. Sounds like meat would be browned on the outside from the convection oven but not on the inside because of the microwave. But I'm just guessing from the description above, I have no clue

4/29/2009 2:44:39 AM

I had one of these things sent as a gift from Target.
http://www.target.com/Halogen-Oven-by-Morningware/dp/B000B8YOHG

They look like they would function great if you used them frequently enough. But, like every other small to medium sized kitchen appliance, how often are you actually going to use it? Ended up returning it and getting a gift card instead.

4/29/2009 8:13:27 AM

Quote :

"It is made of glass, and runs on the mains."

what does this mean?

4/29/2009 8:17:01 AM

^

Quote :

"Mains is the general-purpose alternating current (AC) electric power supply. The term is not often used in the United States and Canada. In the US, mains power is referred to by a variety of formal and informal names, including household power, household electricity, domestic power, wall power, line power, AC power, city power, and grid power. In Canada, it is sometimes called hydro, because much of the Canadian electrical generating capacity is hydroelectric. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity"

I dunno about this thing, but I want an infrared grill.

[Edited on April 29, 2009 at 9:30 AM. Reason : ]

4/29/2009 9:29:01 AM

Quote :

"But, like every other small to medium sized kitchen appliance, how often are you actually going to use it?"

Why wouldn't you sue it? It is not like other kitchen appliances, which perform very specific jobs, like smoothie maker, blender, chopper, etc. This is supposed to be a partial to almost full replacement of your cooker/stove/oven.

So how come you didn't use it to cook your meals?

Quote :

"Sounds like meat would be browned on the outside from the convection oven but not on the inside because of the microwave. But I'm just guessing from the description above, I have no clue"

If you read the detailed product descriptions on Amazon, users' reviews, watch youtube clips showing people using it, etc., it looks like meat turns out nicely as it would in an oven/grill. They say it is not at all like a microwave. And it isn't. Basically there is a strong halogen lamp in there which emits infra red waves, and then a fan rotates the air inside. So it is heat as you would feel it in an oven, not as the energy in a microwave.

If it comes with a money back satisfaction guarantee, I will pick it up.

But I need real user feedback here. Yes, there is tons of it on Amazon, Target.com, etc., and youtube, but it would be nice to get some feedback here. It is more personal.


And finally, Mr. Joshua, thanks for that anecdote

4/29/2009 9:39:02 AM

my fiance's dad bought a "flavor-wave" a couple years back which sounds just like whatever you're describing.

the food was not good. i'm sure it was healthier or lower fat or whatever, but it tasted like we had just boiled the beef with no seasoning. yes it looked good, but the flavor just wasn't there. i dunno. this thing had like a grate on it so all the drippings (read: taste) from the meat dripped down into a waste pan.

the best part is, he wants to buy us a "flavor-wave TURBO" for our wedding present

[Edited on April 29, 2009 at 10:18 AM. Reason : .]

4/29/2009 10:17:16 AM

4/29/2009 10:47:38 AM

^^maybe your fiance's dad sucks at seasoning

5/1/2009 8:10:50 AM

[old as fuck]

infrared has been out for at least 20 years now

5/1/2009 9:25:11 AM

This shit's been around for years.. It's called the easy bake oven

5/1/2009 6:35:21 PM

^ uh, no, that's not the same thing

5/1/2009 7:58:22 PM

lol ez-bake oven just has a light bulb in there

5/1/2009 8:03:41 PM

http://www.myfox8.com/business/fox8onyourside/wghp-dd-nuwave-oven-090423,0,5927205.story

5/1/2009 8:22:49 PM

Quote :

"lol ez-bake oven just has a light bulb in there"

i'll be damned all these years of science have failed me, and here i was thinking that light bulbs emit infrared energy, i guess thats why they are so cold when you hold your hand next to them

5/1/2009 11:26:06 PM