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Cooking with light

gfweb

By gfweb
in Kitchen Consumer

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gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted

The slogan of the Brava, which is a new oven thing that has placed lots of ads the weekend before Xmas promising January delivery.

 

Apparently it uses lamps for heat and has different cooking zones of some sort. Looks smallish.

 

I'd troll through Brava.com but my DSL is at dial-up speed due to a big storm.

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FauxPas

FauxPas

Posted
Posted

I like the idea of up to three separate cooking zones, each cooking at different temps. But it's a bit pricey, starting at $995 and only a 1-year limited warranty. Looks like you can use two trays at the same time, but interior space still looks limited. I couldn't find interior dimensions, but maybe just missed that info. I think it has a camera so you can watch your food cooking on smartphone, as can't open door while food is cooking. 

 

I wonder how awkward it is to enter your own info for cooking, everything I could find is their pre-programmed meal choices and they area going to be selling meals along with the oven, it seems. But if you want to cook your own stuff, do you have to measure it and position it just so? Does everything on a cooking tray have to be at the same height? 

 

It's infrared light/heat, which I struggle to explain/understand. Is that just me?   🙂

 

 

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FauxPas

FauxPas

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

I get a page telling me that it will only be available in the U.S.  Maybe the site is filtering me out because I am in Canada?  The page I get has no menu, it's just a picture and the notice.

 

Probably does have some geographic restrictions, but why bother? Most products are going to be available in other countries at some point. Unless there is some reason why they cannot sell that product in Canada? 

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Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted

Wired review.

  • Like 1

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted (edited)

I don't understand this thing. So it cooks with "light", Don't all electric toasters cook with light (IR)?

 

It appears that this Brava oven uses halogen light bulbs as the heat source. Do you remember that the instruction for  handling halogen bulbs is never touch with your fingers. The grease on your fingers can carbonize on the quartz envelop and cause the bulb to self-destruct. What would happen with all the grease splatter on the Brava's heating halogen bulbs?

 

Using intense IR may get the outside of food charred faster, (that's how a broiler works) but the heat can't travel any faster to the interior of food. So you will end up with cooked exterior, raw uncooked interior, just like what they show in one of the pictures.

 

What about dark colored food will cook faster?

 

The CTO of Brava says, "---One, it's just far more powerful, and two, it's far more precise in controlling the elements."

 

No, sorry, it is no more powerful than all the other electric ovens, 15 Amps.

No, sure, controlling the heating elements is good, but controlling the temperature of food is what cooks want.

 

dcarch.

 

 

Edited by dcarch (log)
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gfweb

gfweb

Posted
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Posted

Thanks all.  Looks tiny. 

 

It reminds me of the microwaves eG Advantium that would microwave and brown with IR. It’s lights were covered by glass , protecting from splatter. 

 

They should’ve asked  e gullet first. 

 

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dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, FauxPas said:

I like the idea of up to three separate cooking zones, each cooking at different temps.

 

My oven has 50 different temperature cooking zones, each cooking at different temps too. Drives me nuts.  :-)

 

dcarch

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dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted

For me, another problem with this is the fact that it does not have a glass door for you to see how is the cooking going. This lack may kill the sales of the "cooking by light" "Innovation". 

 

Small electric ovens all have glass doors, 100%.

 

dcarch

 

 

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MelissaH

MelissaH

Posted
Posted

When someone talks about cooking with light, the first thing that comes to my mind is the old Easy-Bake ovens, the kind I coveted when I was a kid and never got, where the heat came from an incandescent light bulb of a wattage that can no longer easily be bought!

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MelissaH

Oswego, NY

Chemist, writer, hired gun

Say this five times fast: "A big blue bucket of blue blueberries."

foodblog1 | kitchen reno | foodblog2

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, MelissaH said:

When someone talks about cooking with light, the first thing that comes to my mind is the old Easy-Bake ovens, the kind I coveted when I was a kid and never got, where the heat came from an incandescent light bulb of a wattage that can no longer easily be bought!

 

Yup, I had one, circa 1955.  Not sure about the glass door though.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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gfweb

gfweb

Posted
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Posted
4 hours ago, MelissaH said:

When someone talks about cooking with light, the first thing that comes to my mind is the old Easy-Bake ovens, the kind I coveted when I was a kid and never got, where the heat came from an incandescent light bulb of a wattage that can no longer easily be bought!

 

I wanted one badly too. I think my father had reservations.....

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donk79

donk79

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, MelissaH said:

When someone talks about cooking with light, the first thing that comes to my mind is the old Easy-Bake ovens, the kind I coveted when I was a kid and never got, where the heat came from an incandescent light bulb of a wattage that can no longer easily be bought!

My first thought was that the Easy bake patent must have expired...  Now, someone, please put me in my place and explain why I should take this seriously!

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demiglace

demiglace

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, MelissaH said:

When someone talks about cooking with light, the first thing that comes to my mind is the old Easy-Bake ovens, the kind I coveted when I was a kid and never got, where the heat came from an incandescent light bulb of a wattage that can no longer easily be bought!

 

My first thought too! Mine was turquoise. Do you remember the wattage?

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MelissaH

MelissaH

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, demiglace said:

 

My first thought too! Mine was turquoise. Do you remember the wattage?

I almost think it was a 100 W bulb. Do those still exist as incandescent bulbs?

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MelissaH

Oswego, NY

Chemist, writer, hired gun

Say this five times fast: "A big blue bucket of blue blueberries."

foodblog1 | kitchen reno | foodblog2

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lemniscate

lemniscate

Posted
Posted (edited)

I could swear this "cooking with light" revolutionary oven has been done before.

 

 

from 1993:   https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/09/garden/an-oven-speeds-cooking-with-light.html

 

and I remember one of the major appliance companies had one with a high-tech name, Advantium.   It looked like an oversized microwave.  One of my friends was supposed to get one in her uber tricked-out kitchen-stadium in a custom built house back in the late 90's (She doesn't cook O.o, but it was the "new" thing).  

 

Edited by lemniscate
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dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted
31 minutes ago, MelissaH said:

I almost think it was a 100 W bulb. Do those still exist as incandescent bulbs?

 

It is possible that you can still find 100 w halogen bulbs now. There are all kinds of converter/adapter bulb bases you may be able to find to use these bulbs. 

 

Keeping in mind that 100 W equivalent LED bulbs are nowhere near 100 Watts.

 

Cooking with light may be a bright idea, but with all manufacturers worldwide already stop making and selling halogen bulbs, how much it will cost you to replace one of the six halogen bulbs in Brava if one burns out? $1,000?

 

dcarch

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