The TurboChef Oven

[Toliver]

I saw an ad for this oven in a recent issue of Bon Appetit magazine and was intrigued by its claims.

You can find more info on their website: www.turbochef.com

Apparently, this type of oven has been used in professional kitchens for some time and is now available for the home cook. Charlie Trotter endorses the oven.

From the info on the site, it sounds like a super-duper convection oven, cooking 20 spears of asparugus in 45 seconds and a 12 lb. turkey in 42 minutes. Its mix of digital features juxtaposed with analogue features is a little odd (why have an analogue clock?...unless they're going for a "retro" feel).

The top TurboChef oven has only one rack (with two positions) and looks a little small but they state a 26 lb. turkey will fit inside of it. The optional bottom oven sounds like just a regular convection oven and doesn't have the speedy/cooking features of the top oven.

I'm assuming the TurboOven Residential is too new to ask if anyone has one in their home. Has anyone used these ovens in a professional capacity? I imagine the price for the residential version of the oven will be quite high.

From the specs, it looks like you don't have to have any special construction in the kitchen like you would with professional ovens in a residential home. The construction for the oven housing looks like it just has to be strong enough to hold the weight of the oven.

edited to add: It looks like the oven also has microwave capabilities. There's this from the "How it Works" page:

Precision microwave assists when helpful in the cooking process.

That's interesting phrasing.

Edited September 12, 2007 by Toliver (log)

[Fat Guy]

So, in the past few years, has anyone in the eG world acquired a TurboChef home oven?

I don't personally know anyone who has one at home, though I do see them all over the place in Subway et al. for commercial use. As far as I can tell, they are pumped-up microwave-convection ovens.

[OliverB]

never heard of these, interesting. My parents put a convection/microwave oven in their kitchen some 20 years ago (in Germany) and it's a neat combination to have. I haven't used it in years, it's some 6000 miles away or so, but from what I remember it worked very well. Was a Siemens unit, though I think they just put their name on it and it was probably made by Bosh or AEG or some such.

But reading the description of that oven, 45 sec for asparagus, nice, but it doesn't take that long in a fry pan either. 90 sec frozen pizza? Really? With crunchy crust? Hmmm.

And a turkey or other roast in less than an hour, sounds interesting, but isn't part of the idea of an oven roast to go slow? Have things tenderize, fat and connective tissue melt? Does that happen with this oven? I can't remember ever being in a rush roasting something, aside the brisket in the smoker once, that stopped going up in temp for over an hour and hungry kids where clawing at my legs.

Convection is great, and I'd definitely get that if I were to replace my oven. I'd also look for the one that can go the hottest AND lowest setting I can find.

[dcarch]

The TurboChef has some ridiculous claims.

There are physical limitations as to how fast food can be cooked. 15 times faster? Faster than what? Cooking you food in a refrigerator?

The water content of food limits the exterior temperature to no more than 212 degrees F, and the conductivity of the food limits how fast the 212 degree heat can travel to the interior of the food. Have you tried to cook food with a blow torch? Does it cook food faster? It can only burn the outside faster.

The Microwave assist feature of the upper cavity (why “cavity” and not oven?) is questionable without a turntable. Microwave, with a wave frequency of 2.45 GHz, most likely generates standing wave patterns which results in uneven cooking. We all know that even with a turntable, microwave still cannot cook evenly.

dcarch

[technophile50]

"The water content of food limits the exterior temperature to no more than 212 degrees F, and the conductivity of the food limits how fast the 212 degree heat can travel to the interior of the food."

Except for microwaves, because they penetrate and can deposit energy faster/deeper than conduction. In fact, microwaves will penetrate deeper into frozen foods than thawed - if you stuff a frozen turkey with moist dressing and nuke it, you can overcook the dressing before the turkey thaws.

"convection" ovens usually means "forced convection" - all ovens will have temperature gradients between the heating source and colder areas of the food, and create convection currents - and the point of fan forced convection is to remove the cooler air layer near the surface of the food to maximize the rate of heat transfer. 350 F air in a normal oven will transfer heat to a turkey slower than 350 F air moving at 100 fpm; adding microwave energy on top of this will heat things even faster.

That said, the How It Works page on the Turbochef website is long on hype, and the Specs page is short on facts, like how much microwave and resistive power the unit has. It does say the oven requires 50 amp service at 208-240 V; 40 amps(a reasonable estimate, i.e. wild ass guess on my part, of actual current draw; could be 45, could be 30 amps, 48 amps wouldn't leave much margin against nuisance fuse/breaker trips) would be 8.8kw at 220 v. The microwave power could be anything from 900 w to ~4kw, and that would make a big range in performance, and profit for the manufacturer.

I suspect that most home cooks would get more bang for the buck from a $150 Haier 1000W convection/microwave than the $7000 Turbochef.

[Fat Guy]

FYI I've started a TurboChef stub in our wiki. All members should feel free to edit, expand, etc.

[dcarch]

"--Except for microwaves, because they penetrate and can deposit energy faster/deeper than conduction. In fact, microwaves will penetrate deeper into frozen foods than thawed - if you stuff a frozen turkey with moist dressing and nuke it, you can overcook the dressing before the turkey thaws.

--"

Microwave can penetrate deeper, but not all the way. It is not true that microwave cook from the inside out.

Microwave doesn't heat up frozen water very well because the molecules cannot reverse polarities as well. Microwave energy therefore is not used and passes thru frozen part of the food and heats up the moist dressing inside.

dcarch