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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Have used my Andrew to cook a chicken, Its absolutely brilliant. The chicken came out crisp and golden brown. Very impressed , I dont think my normal oven will get used again!!!.
The book that came with it is superb, I am going to give the Orange Cup-Cakes Topped with Fluffy Cream Icining a go this afternoon. (page 109 in the Andrew James Halogen book)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003BUZGGO/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=
I’ll let you know how I get on
Hi
After reading your reviews I have ordered an Andrew with a free 128 page book, It looks great!!!
Cant wait for it to arrive
Hi david,thank you for the info re-garding the using of the two level’s,that makes sense,will try it out next time,cheer’s,Carol
Hi David
I cook breakfast using two levels and it works fine. I start off the mushrooms (sliced fine in a foil parcel with a knob of butter) and the hash browns on the highest grid for five minutes at 200c. Then I move them onto the lower grid and put the sausages on the top grid for ten minutes. Then I turn the sausages and add the bacon slices to the top grid and also some tomatoes halved and in a foil saucer. Cook for a further ten minutes and everything is perfect.
I think that you are having problems because you are using the trays. Put the food directly onto the grids.
If you had put you chips on the lower grid and your beefburger on the top grid they would have cooked well and both would have browned. If you don’t want the burger to drip onto the chips put it into a piece of foil fashiioned into the side of the burger and turn it as per instructions.
Hi Carol
I was thinking of cooking fritatta in our Andrew and then I chickened out. Good to hear that you are enjoying your oven.
Cheers Carol.
If you want to cook in both trays the top one is getting the grill effect from the lamp so its browning.
But this blocks the direct light for the bottom tray meaning that only convection heat is cooking the bottom one. Food will take much much longer and wont brown. Its cooking like a microwave. No light = no browning. Yes/No
Hi there,i’m so pleased with my halogen cooker,i have’nt cooked on the 2 level’s as yet,have baked Bread roll’s,Pizza,frittata,Chicken wing’s,Roast chicken and Vegee’s,Pork and Lamb chop’s,and Grilled cheese,all turned out really great,Regard’s Carol.
All,
I have the above Andrew James Halogen Oven and I find it ok.
I cant seem to cook anything using the 2 levels together.
Say breakfast for 2 needs both trays, 4 bacon, 4 sauages, pudding and hash browns (as described in top article)will not fit without using the 2 trays.
I end up moving it to the top rack to finish off and at this time the items cooked first are going cold or drying out.
I also cooked some home made burgers in the bottom rack as mentioned in the cook book with some oven fries in a top non stick tray. The fries cooked as normal but the burger while cooked wasnt browned. Had to finish it off on the frying pan.
On youtube clips you see them loading in stuff on both levels and all comes out perfect, in the real world this is not the case.
IMHO this oven is only useful for cooking either top or bottom tray not both together. Which for the most means that you need to cook the rest of your food somewhere else anyway.
Cooking things on single levels is fine but you are limited to 1 x 10″ tray. V Small for a dinner for 1 or 2.
Hi Katyvic
Andrew measures roughly 12 inches in diameter and the bowl is six inches high. The extension collar is three inches high. You would need the collar for bread or a large 3-4 lb chicken. We cooked one on Sunday and it was fine.
I haven’t tried making bread in Andrew but I have seen videos of bread being made in a halogen oven and have found a recipe here. You can also prove the bread in the oven. The main drawback is that the oven is circular so larger vessels need to be round.
So far we are delighted with the oven – being able to see what is going on makes a huge difference.
Hi Fiona
Every since you first mentioned this gadget I’ve been longing to give it a try… We have an Aga and a microwave to cook with, but I would love to turn the Aga off during June/July/August. We’ve never done this because of the lack of an oven – I make bread, cakes and one-tray roasts all the time (meat & veg roasted in one dish), and we would miss this.
Sounds like I should be looking at one of these but I can’t get a feel for what it would really allow me to do. I mean: could I still cook a loaf of bread (in a 2lb loaf tin)in it; or a 3-4lb chicken?
And what’s the size/height of the dish itself? Amazon doesn’t give dimensions…
Ever so grateful for any hints. Do keep posting about your successes/failures with this oven.
Katyvic
Hi Jouals
We are using Andrew a lot – apart from when we are cooking enough to fill the conventional oven. The saving on electricity is great – you can even steam vegetables in foil alongside the roast/pie etc.
Love my slow cooker too.
Hi Carol
That’s great news I know that you won’t be disappointed.