Andrew James premium halogen oven plus accessories: a review
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Kitchen equipment, Reviews | 61 comments
The top of the lid of our Andrew James halogen oven
I want to introduce you to Andrew. He is our new kitchen assistant. When he arrived he was given the night off but in the morning was up early to cook a perfect full English breakfast. It took the same time to cook as using the conventional oven but instead of using two hob rings, the grill and the fan oven Andrew took care of the sausages, hash browns, tomatoes, mushrooms and bacon. Leaving me to make the fried eggs and work out how much electricity we were saving.
Andrew is quite chunky. With his 12 litre bowl he takes up a fair amount of worktop space. The one drawback is the instruction manual. I thought that Andrew was wearing a natty stainless steel belt until I realised that it was an extension ring that gives him an extra five litres capacity. Apart from the skewers the rest of the accessories had me flummoxed. A trip to the Coopers site revealed all. The 36 recipes are not great either as they are poorly translated and inconsistent. You can download a free recipe book from the Internet. I also invested in the The Halogen Oven Cookbook
On Sunday Andrew roasted a crown of duck and lots of potatoes. He was still wearing his extension ring as a belt so I had a bit of a problem fitting everything in. Again it took the same time as a conventional oven with the exception of the preheating time which is about 25% less in Andrew. Browsing other halogen oven manuals on the Internet I discovered that I was using much lower temperatures than a lot recommend. So I need to experiment with this. It’s easy to see how your food is cooking through the glass bowl rather than opening the oven door – this saves on electricity too.
The accessories – once you know how to use them – are handy too. A lid stand is a must as the lid does get very hot and might damage a work surface. Apart from the extension ring they can all be stored in Andrew’s bowl when not in use. The one drawback is that if you are not going to cook directly in the bowl you need round dishes for things like pies and casseroles. Luckily I inherited several from my aunt and now they are really coming into their own. The 12 litre glass bowl is quite heavy too so I wouldn’t recommend it for people who are not reasonably strong.
Although the instruction manual is poor, the Andrew James premium halogen oven cooker
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Hi there,very excited,i have ordered my own Andrew, will be delivered next Wednesday,can’t wait to start cooking in it.
Hello Fiona
I have been enjoying your site for some time now it is on my favourites! Congratulations to you and Danny for a lovely web site! Packed with interesting and inspirational stuff!
I look forward to hearing how things progress with Andrew – I am very tempted to get one. I have been a fan of slow cookers for years – both when I worked and now that we live in rural France – they are fantastic time savers and produce wonderful meals. I now own 2. My first one eventually got a crack in the pot. My husband got me a 6 litre replacement when he was back in the UK (they are much cheaper there than in France!) and then I stumbled on an unused Morphy Richards 3.5 litre in a charity shop here – of course, I grabbed it! On occasions I have both in use at the same time. (I also have 2 bread machines – also indispensable here – we have no shops in our village.)
Jouals
Hi Jackie
I don’t want to slate the recipe book but the free download gives almost as much information. There are two new books coming out soon and I think I will step down to WH Smith to look at them.
We are quite picky eaters and the recipes in this book probably work but I’m not a fan of pasta bake and similar.
Saying that it did open up my eyes to how Andrew could be used to advantage – multiple cooking in the one bowl – so I don’t regret buying it.
Incidentally I bought it because it had a) good reviews and b) a support website. The latter is a bit disappointing.
Hi Bib
Oh you won’t regret buying your Andrew. Or your slow cooker. Both have proved to be great investments for me.
Hi Wendy
As I write this Danny and Andrew are rustling up a full English breakfast! Andrew is great – no more heating up the large fan oven for a tray of oven chips – Andrew’s chips taste better incidentally! Roast chicken and all the trimmings tonight courtesy of Andrew.
Hello Carole
I’m really pleased with Andrew. Thanks for dropping by.
Hi Suzie
It’s early days for us with Andrew but he is cooking most days. There are several halogen oven cook books coming out in the next few months so I’d hold back if I was you.
I picked up quite a lot of tips immersing myself in halogen oven videos on YouTube.
So glad you’re getting on well with Andrew – I love mine. The supplied recipe book was neither use nor ornament was it? I’m thinking of buying the book you mentioned, did you feel it was useful? Looking forward to more posts on how much of a help Andrew is – I use mine a lot, but don’t feel I’ve really pushed it to work hard yet, so I’m hoping for tips to get it working hard…
just found your site,really interesting,especially Andrew,the Halogen Oven,very tempted to go get one,i will keep coming over here from now on,thank you for sharing.
I have spent a very absorbing time going to the links you provided which then threw up other links to look at. It has been so interesting and we have come to the conclusion that if you are happy so far with Andrew then we will get one soon. x
I started to read this article with some trepidation, as I’d ordered my very own Andrew last week. It’s been delivered to my mum’s for me to pick up on our way back to Croatia at the end of the month, I’m very excited about it, and pleased to read that it’s so far, so good for you and your new assistant :o) Oh, and just so you know Fiona – you are entirely responsible for my Andrew AND for the slow cooker I bought in Lakeland last week :o) Can’t wait to read all the money saving tips.
Hi Bib! I am just about to use Andrew for the first time, roasting a duck and hopefully roasting potatoes, though I haven’t seen any guide to the spuds anywhere.
Hi Fiona!
Glad you took the plunge on the halogen oven. I am interested to know if you find the cookery book worthwhile. I, too, have just been using the oven on the same temperatures I would in my normal oven, though I know the guidelines on the lid are for higher temps and therefore quicker cooking.
So please keep us updated!
Jackie
Hi Paula
Our old conventional fan assisted oven uses max 4500 watts. Andrew is maximum 1500 watts so there’s no contest. As money is a bit tight ATM I did quite a bit of research before I bought it. Living out in the country there’s no gas – just electricity and oil. So our electricity bill is high.
We do have a mointoring device which indicates how much elecricity each plug in gadget uses. Gradually we are replacing the greedy ones or just throwing them out. so far we have cut our electricity bill from over £100 a month to about £50 a month. I hope that Andrew will have a big impact on our bill too.
Fiona- how do you know that you’re using less electricity? I’m posing this question as a skeptic- I want to know if there is a way for you to measure it against your regular oven. thanks!