Smithy

Heck. That may mean I have to keep the air fryer AND get a small toaster. If the CSO doesn't come through for me as a superior bread-baking oven, it's going back. I guess that means I'd better get cracking on the bread tests.

How vigorous is the fan supposed to be in convection mode for the CSO? I was expecting a strong current as with my air fryer. This is nothing like that powerful. Am I expecting too much?

In fact, the thing that sold us on the air fryer was its ability to do tater tots. They're much better in it than in the oven, and by extension I think the same thing would be true in the CSO. I had intended to retire the air fryer, however, in the interests of not having too many spare appliances lying around. One spare bedroom is already overrun.

Once again tonight we were confronted with the need for 4 separate appliances for as many elements of the meal. We have a tried-and-true method of cooking chicken thighs in the oven: coat with our generic homemade mix, place in a baking pan for 35 minutes at 375F, eat. I have been reading wonderful things about chicken thighs - especially the skin! - in the CSO, so I chose the CSO for the chicken thighs. I used steam bake, 425 for 25 minutes based on (a) what I read in the accompanying pamphlet and (b) my bad memory. I was using the temperature and time established for pork steaks with the same breading; chicken thighs and quarters get lower and longer. I am terrible at rote. My darling's only cooking mode is rote, but he wasn't around. Meanwhile, the Wild Harvest version of "tater tots" was in the main oven, because it couldn't cohabit with the chicken. Actually, if I'd used the correct chicken temperature they could have, but I don't know where it all would have fit. It's a shame the CSO doesn't have room for 2 racks at once. The peas went into the microwave. The bread went into the toaster, which was retrieved from storage in the spare bedroom and placed inconveniently on the kitchen island. The chicken crisped up ... well, the skin was a bit tough and it cohered more to itself than to the chicken. I can see how this machine can produce good cracklings. The meat was a bit more done and the skin more tough than we would normally get - but it was cooked at a hotter temperature than normal. That particular comparison isn't a good one. Here were our dinner plates. You may correctly deduce that one of us likes peas and the other doesn't. The tater tots weren't as good as the previous batch, which were done in the (tentatively retired) air fryer. Nest time, we'll try the tots in the CSO and the chicken in the oven. When I lamented needing to pull the toaster out of its retirement spot, my darling surprised me with the suggestion that we could make room for a second CSO! Then he noted that the coffee maker would have to go to make room. Nuh-uh. Deal breaker.

I'm pretty sure that Mastery of the Sauces is by eG member @TheCulinaryLibrary.

Come to think of it, Kraft would qualify as synthetic, wouldn't it? In fact, we have Horizon up here and I agree that it's a respected brand. I haven't noticed their mac 'n' cheese, but it's probably in our stores.

I must say, @Margaret Pilgrim, that with a day like that and no appetite we'd probably have been eating tuna sandwiches, or cheese and crackers, or simply popcorn. I applaud your initiative. The "organic" mac and cheese gives me pause. Does "REAL organic cheese" suggest that it's made entirely from milk from cows that haven't been fed antibiotics or growth hormones? Does "REAL" mean as opposed to synthetic? I suspect runaway marketing. Nonetheless the real question is whether it was satisfying, and your post indicates that it was.

There is something really special about northern sunsets, especially over the northern lakes. They quality of light is different, somehow...clear, like the water, maybe.

Along those lines, I have once or twice pureed watermelon pulp and then frozen it in my ice cream maker. It probably wouldn't pass muster for you, but it was an easy and (to us) delicious version of a sorbet.

Ooh, ooh! I can't wait to see what you do with those! I had redcurrant jelly one time, when I visited a friend who lives up in that area. Wonderful stuff. She offered to send some home with me, but I was afraid it would get confiscated at the border. Now I'm sorry I didn't at least try!

Actually, I think we have plenty of amps, but the counter space is the issue. I think it would require me to permanently declutter the tops of my roller carts, and that's where the non-refrigerable produce (tomatoes, ripening peaches, avocados) go...and my favorite salad bowls...and the cat and dog treats...and the mail we didn't get to....

@rotuts I'm pretty sure you were only half joking there...but no, we have no such spare counter space. Finding a place for the toaster will be a stretch.

Tonight I steam asparagus and butter in the CSO while my darling cooked brats* on the grill. It all looked lovely, and as though it would be ready for dinner at the same time. Then I remembered the toast. ******* ******** My darling wants toast with almost any dinner. After 21 years of marriage, I still have trouble remembering that fact. In any case, our "toaster" was preoccupied with cooking our vegetables. I do not think it will get better with time; I think we'll get a better toaster before too long

This is why mine gets little use! Of course I learned the lesson the hard way. Wine may also have played a role in the lesson.

I got impatient (it's been a long day) and tried 350F for 4 minutes, no steam. I think the chips were probably already done before the CSO reached temperature. Whether that's true or not, they were charcoal somewhere at the 2 minute mark. I think the CSO had plenty of residual steam from the earlier test. I don't think it mattered. This is not diagnostic of the CSO, I hasten to add: I have never tried to improve kettle chips - which, in my opinion, need a lot of improving - by any after-the-fact means.

We have kettle-fried potato chips (aka crisps) from last night's restaurant meal. They're still pretty crisp, but I wonder whether heating them in the CSO would improve their crispness. If it could improve them, what would y'all suggest? Steam heat or dry? How many minutes, at what temperature? (FWIW I think they're a bit tough right now, but I always think that about kettle-fried chips. This is a test for my DH.)

She (or he? I haven't decided yet) is making steam as I type. I had a bad moment last night when I filled the reservoir, thinking at least to test the steam function, and left the room (without starting anything) for about an hour. When I came back, water was dribbling onto the floor from INSIDE the cabinet below the counter. Clearly, the backsplash and the countertop aren't sealed at the joint as well as they should be. I pulled the reservoir off, emptied it, spent a lot of time mopping, left the oven puzzle until morning. This morning I learned that there's a drain and plug in the back. I checked; the plug was loose. As a precaution I ran the steam test out atop the kitchen island, in case there's a more nefarious leak. It looks like the leak was operator error only. Toast came out a bit too dark for us this morning at setting #4. That's partly a function of the bread in question, but next time I'll try a shade lighter.

...and just for the record, we have that spreadsheet in Excel format pinned here, at the very top of the Kitchen Consumer Forum topic listing.

Actually, I had my eye on some leftover tater-tot-type thingies that were soggy. I planned to try crisping them up in this oven. That is, I planned to do that until I saw my darling had microwaved them for his lunch!

Got the clock set without referring to the manual, so of course I'm all cocky now. When we were planning our kitchen remodeling we intended either an island or a peninsula in the kitchen. Since all we had was roller carts, we pulled those out to mimic the island, and during the peninsula stage set up a card table to block the opening between roller carts and the wall cabinets. It didn't take long (for me, anyway) to realize that the kitchen peninsula would be a death sentence for our marriage. Mockups are good.

Thanks. I figured, based on earlier reading, that it needed to come out from under the counters for steam operation. Do you think that will also be true for convection cooking or toasting? Also, I wonder whether it gets so hot underneath that I'll need to protect the countertop. The manual suggests that.

Holy cow, this thing's bigger than I expected. I arrived home last night to see a gargantuan shipping box by the back door Maybe there was a lot of packing material inside? This morning I had time to open the box. It revealed...another box, tightly nestled inside the first as though a hand in a glove. Eventually I got the inner box out of the outer, and opened it. The oven was well-packed and protected by a frame of cardboard and foam. Still. It's big. I had intended it to go in this corner, between the regular stove and the sink: The idea all along has been that if I like the CSO it will replace both the toaster and the air fryer. As it turns out, the CSO is much deeper than either of those appliances. Check out the new footprint: I suppose there's almost as much spare counter space as before, but it looks less. On the other hand, today's visitor noticed it right away, thought it looked great and did not think it was too big for the space. I'm getting used to it. I doubt I'll be able to do much more than set the clock today

It has been a while since countertop materials were discussed, hasn't it? Almost all of these are old, and the newest is rather material--specific, but here are some pros and cons from some years back: Laboratory Countertops discusses bombproof - or perhaps not so indestructible - materals for kitchen countertops Krion Countertops discusses Krion, and Corian as a similar material Kitchen countertops: marble vs. other stone is self-explanatory Countertops and floors discusses materials for both surfaces Corian vs. Silestone Countertops argues the merits of each material Soapstone & Concrete Countertops was the first time I ever heard of a concrete countertop! I know at least one member went that way, and the last I heard she liked it Quartz Counters and Stains discusses how to keep light-colored quartz looking pretty The youngest of those topics is 3 years old, and most are more than a decade old, so they're probably more useful for background than anything else. Still, there's good discussion about the (non)durability of marble, and the comparative advantages of various synthetic materials. My parents had a beautiful tile counter in their house, and their sole regret was that they didn't seal the grout so that stains could be cleaned up easily. After 30 years in the house, the grout around the kitchen sink had taken on a brownish cast. Aside from that, the counters stayed beautiful and in all that time never chipped or wore. I tend to be more of a mad scientist than my mother was, and was leery of tile because of the grout/staining issue. When we redid our kitchen, we chose a darkish granite pattern. We still love it. We are careful about not putting super-hot pots directly on the stone, for fear of inadvertently discovering a fault line. Our travel trailers have had Corian countertops - more expensive that what we were willing to pay for! - and they seem very durable. I'm sure others will start chiming in with their experiences, good or bad, new or old. Good luck deciding!

Yeah, I haven't had much luck with battered foods, and haven't worked at it as much as gfweb has. I have found crab cakes disappointing in the air fryer. They dry out on the outside instead of developing the crisp brown exterior that they would develop in a frying pan, and that happens even if they're sprayed lightly with oil. Whether that's a shortcoming of my air fryer or of what I'm trying to do, I don't know.

I bought the refurbished CSO for $125 and a 4-year insurance / replacement plan by Asurion for another $29.99. Asurion has been good in my experience, at least with phones. I think I'm money ahead this way. That said, if I decide after I've played with this for a while and that I really, truly, MUST have a backup...well, maybe I'd go new. I dunno. Either way the warranty clock starts at purchase, and if it's sitting around as a backup the warranty time is dwindling away.