| Product: |
JML Halogen Oven |
| Date: |
31/03/08 (4373 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Cookers faster and uses less power than a traditional ven
Disadvantages: Not as quick as a microwave
To quote Monty Python - "and now for something completely different ....." Introducing the JML Halogen Mini-Oven - this is a compact table top unit which is ideal for cooking entire meals faster than a conventional oven and using less power. How do they manage to do that you may well wonder and hopefully, in the course of this review, I will be able to explain it to you.
Try to forget about those awful JML adverts for a moment - they may well irritate (they do as far as I am concerned) - but the company behind them, John Mills Ltd has over 40 years experience in bringing innovative products to the marketplace to try to make everyday life that much easier. I haven't really bought their products before but although they aren't the only supplier of this type of product (Easylife have a cheaper one but it isn't in stock!) they did have stock, did an excellent next day delivery service and were great to deal with so I think I have revised my view!
The JML Halogen Oven is basically a huge glass container with a heating element built into the lid. It also has a powerful fan that distributes heat quickly and evenly throughout the oven. It comes complete with two removable cooking racks so that any fat produced simply drains away, making meat products healthier than with some other cooking methods.
In addition the Halogen Oven has a self-cleaning function and a thaw option making it a truly versatile gadget. It cooks much faster than a conventional oven and the glass body allows you to see your food as it is cooking. Add to that the fact that it is easily portable and you can probably understand how it can produce delicious cooked food wherever you choose to plug it in.
This table top oven can roast, bake, grill, reheat and defrost. It uses powerful halogen technology to produce infra-red light waves that heat up food quickly using the 1300w element . Natural flavour and juices are sealed in and when you use the cooking rack the fat simply drains away.
Does this all sound convincing? Well it did to me - I work away often during the week and wanted something to cook meals whilst I was away that didn't necessitate using a full oven so I decided I would get one of these.
I saw it first in a Sunday Times (Easylife) catalogue but after waiting for a month in turned out they hadn't got the stock and weren't expecting any for a further six weeks so I did another search and found out that a similar product was available from JML. They couldn't have been more helpful, they had one in stock and were very happy to deliver one for me the very next day so I waited in eager anticipation for it to arrive!
Open the box
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As you might imagine as soon as it came I was eager to look inside the box - and it was some box. Quite a lot bigger than I had anticipated and inside the contents were well packed and protected. The first thing I got to was the lid. It was made of glass, over 300mm in diameter with a large plastic centre piece containing the fan, the element and the controls. This cooker has both a timer and a temperature control to enable you have full control when cooking.
Next I got to the main bowl. This had an external diameter of 330mm and a height of 160mm. It stood on a plastic base with two sturdy handles. The bowl is slightly raised when on the stand to allow air to circulate and to protect your worktops. Inside the glass bowl were two cooking racks to enable you to put two layers of food in at once to cook. There was also an ingenious little set of tongs to allow you to remove the racks safely from the bowl. Finally there was the instruction book.
Putting it together
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This bit is simplicity itself. All you have to do is put the stand on your worktop. Wash the glass bowl before use, put it on the stand, put on the lid, plug in and you are ready to go. However you should make sure that you have room to remove the lid without obstruction because it will be hot, and you should have somewhere nearby to rest the lid after you have removed it. Bear in mind that this will need plenty of space as you don't want to burn yourself.
Start cooking
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One of the things I have never be known for is my patience. I always say I was at the end of the line when they handed out patience and there wasn't much left - but that did put me at the head of the line for persistence so I have bucketloads of that!
What I am trying to say that almost as soon as I got it I had to try it out so I decided to do myself a quick meal of chicken breast with a baked potato to see how it turned out. I partially cooked the potato in the microwave, Put it on the lower of the two cooking racks and set the timer for 30 minutes and the temperature to 180 degrees C. Nothing happened, nothing at all - no lights no fan, nothing. I checked to make sure it was plugged in and switched on and it was, so I was sure I had got a dud. There was nothing else for it I knew - I had no other alternative - I had to read the instructions!
It wasn't long before I got to the bit that said make sure the lid is securely on before you start cooking and that the handle is down. Apparently this is a clever little safety feature which means the oven won't operate if the handle isn't down which prevents you from removing it whilst the fan is working. Simple really - I must make a mental note that next time I get something new, even if it looks really simple, read the instructions!
Once I had solved that little problem the oven was working perfectly. The halogen element is very bright and illuminates the food as it cooks, the fan creates quite a bit of turbulence (enough to rock the baked potato) which circulates the hot air around the food. The light goes off as soon as the oven comes up to temperature and then comes on again as the temperature drops. I was amazed to see that it only took just over two minutes to reach the 180 degrees - much faster than a conventional oven.
After about 18 minutes I put the second rack into place with the chicken breast laid across it, skin side up. The chicken breast took just twelve minutes to cook to perfection, nice crispy skin and very succulent flesh it was lovely. I did have the bright idea that it might save me a bit of washing up if I put a foil tray under the roasting rack to catch the drips from the chicken - well at least it seemed like a good idea! The powerful fan within the oven picked it up and blew it around - it caught some of the drips as it was passing but loads more got splattered around! I really don't know why I bothered because the large glass bowl is actually very easy to clean anyway.
What do I think?
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I must say I am impressed. I have now not only used it for things like oven chips, pies and other main meals I have used it for baking and it is impressive. On meats it seems to cook them throughly without drying them out at all and the fact that you can use the racks really does mean the fats drain away from the meat - just like a George Foreman grill does but this oven is much more versatile (you can't bake cakes or cook bread in a George Foreman so far as I know?)
You have no problem watching your food cooking in here either because when it is heating the food is bathed in a very bright light and the clear glass makes it visible from every angle. It almost looks like a spaceship on your worktop! The timer means you don't have to worry if the phone rings when you are in the middle of cooking and you forget about it - it will switch itself off. The variable heat means it is very flexible and it even has a setting to allow you to thaw food in it.
They claim it is also self cleaning. Their little video on the website shows it with water and detergent in the glass bowl swooshing around inside to clean it. All you need to do is put 15cm of cold water and a squirt of washing up liquid into the bowl and turn the setting to 'wash'. The heat and the fan action will cause the swirling motion to clean the glass bowl very effectively. Personally I find it easy enough just to wash the bowl out as part of the rest of the washing up but there is the facility there if you want it.
The only thing that has disappointed me so far is the instruction book. To be honest you don't need many instructions as such because it is simplicity itself to use. However I would have liked more than four recipes suggesting how to use this cooker plus a few more hints on timings. They claim it is as fast as a microwave - it isn't if you are used to microwaving small quantities but it may well cook a family meal just as quickly.
How does it compare with the competition?
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There isn't really that much on the market that compares but, as I have both this and a Baby Remoska, it is relatively easy for me to compare the two. Both claim to be table top ovens ideal for cooking and baking and using less electricity than a conventional cooker.
Both the JML and the Baby Remoska are the same price (£49.99) but the JML is substantially larger - to get a Remoska a similar size would cost you £79.99 for the standard and £99.99 for the Grand - so the JML wins on price.
Both have heating elements in the lid but only the JML is fan assisted. The Baby Remoska uses less power at 450w rather than the JML 1300w but the JML has the facility to adjust the power whereas the Remoska does not. The Remoska doesn't have a timer either or a safety 'switch off' on the handle so you could easily leaved it switched on by accident. The Remoska lid has a handy rest to allow it to be placed upside down on your worktop to cool down after use - the design of the JML is such that you have to rest the lid on its side and it does take up a lot of space.
Both units get very hot on the outside during use - this isn't a problem for adults but could be dangerous if young children were around. The JML has a glass bowl which is great for seeing what you are cooking but it would break if dropped, with the Remoska you need to lift the lid to see what is cooking.
Both can cook the same types of things including main meals and baking and either can function like a conventional oven. If you are short of space and only want to cook for one then the Remoska is ideal. If you want something more versatile or for two or more people (and you have the space to keep it) then I would recommend the JML halogen mini-oven.
Safety
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The outside of the oven does get very hot when cooking. The manufacturers do recommend that you allow the glass bowl to cool properly before washing as if you immerse the hot glass in cool water it could break and they also warn that you should always unplug before washing!!!!
Overall
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I am very happy with this little oven. It cooks food quicker than my conventional oven and meat is much more tender. It is easy to clean and to operate. At £49.99 it represents good value for money in comparison to the competition.
NOTE
This review was first published by laramax on Ciao Feb 2007 - this cooker has been in regular use since then and is highly recommended
Summary: A great way to cook real meals and save the planet
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