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Toaster ovens

Andrew Fenton

By Andrew Fenton
in Kitchen Consumer

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Alex

Alex

Posted
Posted

If you have the room, get the larger one. Seriously.

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

A king can stand people's fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking. -Will Rogers, humorist

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Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
Posted

What Jaymes has said about hot-weather climates and toaster ovens holds especially true, but she missed one lovely feature of the TO that's essential to hot-climate cooking. When it's 110 out and you absolutely don't want to add even half a degree more heat to your house, a toaster oven is portable and you can set it up outside. Which means that if you've got a hankering for garlic cheese potatoes to go with your grilled meats, it's a snap to pull the oven out onto the balcony or deck and plug it in there.

I live in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. We don't do 110-degrees. I'm not sure if we even hit 90 this year .

 ... Shel


 

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Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
Posted

I've not yet decided which to get. Space in my apt is at a premium, although I could make the mid size oven work. The smaller one is more than I even originally wanted, or felt that I needed, and it already costs more than what I intended to pay as a maximum. My inclination is to go with the small one, but I want to take another look at the two at BBB. As was pointed out upthread, BBB will allow an upgrade at no cost to me, so what have I to lose if I decide to get the bigger one later, some time? And time is something I have plenty of, and I'm close to BBB (within 100 feet) at least once a week. But I'll take another look, bring my coupon ...

 ... Shel


 

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rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted (edited)

ask about the 'upgrade' possibility first. not all stores may operate the same: ie in TX my sisters BB&B wont take out of date coupons

:huh:

its TX after all. dont know if they require a Photo ID either.

Edited by rotuts (log)
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dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted

In your case, unless you have a large family, get the smallest which will serve 85% of your toaster oven needs. The other 15% use your regular oven.

Because your electrical outlets are limited by Code in how much power (+- 1,800 watts) it can deliver, the bigger the toaster oven, the longer it takes to get up to temperature.

dcarch

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Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
Posted (edited)

In your case, unless you have a large family, get the smallest which will serve 85% of your toaster oven needs. The other 15% use your regular oven.

Because your electrical outlets are limited by Code in how much power (+- 1,800 watts) it can deliver, the bigger the toaster oven, the longer it takes to get up to temperature.

dcarch

80% of the time, I'll just be using it for me, the balance for two people, when Toots is here. The more I look at this, it becomes clear that the small one will do everything I want, and do it with some headroom. It's already an upsell, and it doesn't seem necessary to go larger.

Edited by Shel_B (log)

 ... Shel


 

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rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted

in the Clear Light of Dawn Early Afternoon, Ive noticed a few things: BigBoy is not really much bigger then Little ( Middle ? ) Boy.

its fits in the same space, and i have enough room in front of it for my SV Small Cooler ( Re-Heater, 1 - 2 bag experimental tester ) as before.

it also is a convection oven, which the others are not.

Im very very pleased, and may indeed motor on back to BB&B and get the Pizza Stone, with a coupon, natch.

TJ's has some interesting Pizza's that are going to enjoy this oven, Esp. the French ones! extra crispy.

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gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted

A note about the convection oven...uncovered by andesenji elsewhere...when on convection and coming up to temperature the oven will say its at temp when it is 25 deg below what you set it for and then come up to the temp a bit later.

Perhaps an overzealous engineer trying to keep us from incinerating out food.

Things do cook quicker in the BSO even when not set on convection.

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted (edited)

Do you happen to know the lowest heat setting possible with the big SO?

Edited by DiggingDogFarm (log)

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted

I just looked at my "crispy brand new Big Boy" under bake the lowest temp is 120 degrees.

5 degree increments up to 450

it this is true , this is going to be vary useful for low temp stuff. my 8 year old gas range low it 170. the previous item went to 140 but that one was abut 20 years ago.

this large BBoy is not just a bigger Jr.

the rack does not slide out unexpectedly, and has a 'standard' type feature missing on the mid-boy: as you open the door the rack comes out about 4 inches.

I have still been unable to track down the pic of the Turbo-Chicken done on this oven.

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted

Does the convection fan work at lower temperatures?

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted

yes it seems to. the LED is much more informative on this one than the smaller. it has to be it does a lot more.

there is a fan icon on the LED and a button just for turning on/off the fan on the set of buttons below the LED

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted

Added to my wishlist.

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted

the SO big boy and cookies:

the large oven does indeed take a 1/4 sheet pan, of which i have a few from the 'triple sets' by chicago metalic Ive gotten from BB&B

Ive never used a convection oven before but under stand the fan helps a lot with quick bake items like cookies.

has anyone gotten an extra rack and baked two 1/4 sheet pans of cookies in this oven?

this is something id like to do as then Id have less to gobble up until the next baking session.

the dough would be kept in 2 x 1/4 sheet pan amounts frozen.

any ideas on times and temps for a Duo Pan Cookie Bake w the Fan? its my impression that convection cooking is done about 25 degrees lower than Non-Fan?

many thanks

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rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted (edited)

the Delta T is 10 degrees F not 5. its 5 on the Cels. setting.

it also remembers your 'custom' settings. this seems to be a feature for each type of cooking.

it remembers you custom Cookie settings.

now I just have to find an extra rack somewhere.

Edited by rotuts (log)
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rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted (edited)

in thinking more about these smart overns:

my old dumb GE TO did stelar service for 30 + years. it gave up the ghost a while back. shame.

the mid-breville is really nothing too special. at $ 180 ( - 20 % at BB&B only = $ 154 ) its a bit pricey for what it does.

the cheaper TO's at BB&B ( also - 20 % ) might do the same things a lot cheaper. cant really say.

you enter a different zone completely with the B Big Boy : $ 250 ( - 20 % BB&B $ 199 ) its not much bigger etc

still not cheap, but seems well worth it should you start to bake with it and not just do toast etc.

it holds my favorite pyrex oblong pan I use exclusively for Meat Loaf.

I cant say what 'internal' clean up is going to be like for roasting, but I can live with that I think.

Edited by rotuts (log)
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