Review: Russell Hobbs Halogen Oven

Guest blog by Lisa

On a grey, rainy and cold Saturday morning, we thought what better way to boost our teams’ motivation than with a hot, bacon bap! We had plenty of mouths to feed so we’d given some thought to what we’d use and came up with the Russell Hobbs 18537 Halogen Oven. With a 16 litre total capacity we had more than enough cooking power and, due to its flexibility and ease of use we can roast, grill and bake.  We did have requests from some of the team for a roast dinner, but we stuck with a bacon bap for now.

Floured-Bap-Egg-BaconTo be honest, we didn’t know how this was going to turn out, but we were pleasantly surprised. The bacon was cooked within ten minutes and was crispy and cooked to perfection; the fat was all drained away in the bottom of the halogen oven. Everyone in the team liked it so much we had to put another batch on!

Cleaning the machine was simple and painless; with just a bowl and a tray to wipe over with some hot water and washing up liquid we were back to normality within 5 minutes. The oven will self-clean if you’ve got lots of other things to do; you just need to add water and washing up liquid to the bowl and set at 125 degrees for ten minutes. This will then be left to cool and you can wipe over and dry.

The oven has a 60 minute timer for peace of mind and reaches its maximum temperature almost instantly, so there is no need to preheat. The fan forces the air to circulate so the temperature is the same throughout, meaning that cooking times are reduced by 30-40% compared to a traditional oven and the food stays moist and delicious.

showimage1Maybe next time the team need some motivation, a roast dinner will be prepared for them (but I’ll let someone else do the cooking on that occasion!)

In short, this is a great bit of kitchen kit. The large capacity and sensible layout means you can cook a variety of things and can roast, grill and bake!

It’s mobile, it’s easy to clean, assemble and put away – saving valuable space, too.  It’s well built, and with care should last well.

It’s faster than a conventional fan oven and cooks properly through the food – cutting down cooking time and is especially useful when you’re using it in addition to your normal oven, i.e. when you have guests and a lot to cook.

Is it too early to put this on my Christmas wish list?!  Find your nearest store or order online today.