Speedcook Technology

[newcastleboy]

Hi all, I'm looking for any info one might have on "speedcook" technology. I'm thinking about getting a GE Advantium 120 and wondering if it really works as well and as fast as the manufacturer claims. Thanks

[Jim]

Greetings, neighbor!

Here's a little of what I uncovered:

>>This a Yahoo! group that is dedicated to the use of the new cooking technology...
groups.yahoo.com/group/Advantium/


>>Also, check out:
http://food4.epicurious.com/HyperNew...ing/408/1.html
For an opinion from an actual owner.


Any professional insight out there??

[Mezzaluna]

Howdy, Newcastleboy, and welcome to Chef Talk. Since your question is about equipment, I'm moving it to that forum. Please return to the Welcome Forum to tell us a bit about yourself.

We'll look forward to hearing from you often.

Mezzaluna

[brreynolds]

Hello, Newcastleboy, welcome to the forum.

I redid my kitchen last year, and decided to try out an Advantium oven in place of just a microwave. I've tried it out on a lot of different kinds of food, and can report that it's a fair percentage of what the rave-reviewers are saying, but... . And the "buts" are important.

I've found that it does most things acceptably for cooking in a hurry, but nothing is really as good as a regular oven, unless you are too indiscriminating to be cruising around a cooking forum. I quickly found that if I get home from work before 8 pm, it doesn't substitute for my oven, grill, or what have you. Yes, you can bake a potato in 7 minutes, and yes, the skin is a little crisp and the inside doesn't taste totally steamed. But it's not like 45 minutes in a hot oven. Similarly, yes, it will roast a chicken in 20 minutes, but not quite as well as the oven will in its longer time.

As a result, I found the Advantium a useful supplement to other kitchen appliances, but not a replacement for anything except the microwave (which it is, in part). Now a couple of things the reviews aren't telling you:

The shiny insides of the Advantium are part of the cooking engineering (it uses reflected light to do the outsides of stuff). Consequently, it has to stay shiny to work right. Read: you get out the hot, soapy water and wash it thoroughly EVERY TIME you use it to cook something that spatter - like anything with meat in it. None of this "ho hum, it's February, time to run my oven's self-clean cycle."

The speed is dependent on power. I'm not an engineer, so I don't know if that's due to the microwave or the halogen lights, but some comparisons I've seen are significant; the 240 volt oven is materially faster than the 120. (Note that the rave review Jim's post directs to is of a 240 volt oven.) I have the 240, since I was rewiring (and re-plumbing and re-flooring) the kitchen anyway, adding the extra 240 line was no problem. I've heard a couple of people say that the 120 doesn't do some foods materially faster than a hot over. Since no one I know has both, I'm not sure what the basis is for those statements is, but I suggest you check them out.

Some people find a significant learning curve to be able to use it to its best advantage (and I freely admit, I haven't devoted the time to reach the top of that curve). I was talking to a demonstrator at a Home Depot Expo demo one day, and she said it had taken about 6 months. It is probably easy to get discouraged with that length of time and stop using it for a lot of stuff, which makes it expensive for the amount of use it gets.

All of that said, I do use the thing, and in its place it's good. I would buy it again (although I'd forget the extra money I spent getting the fancy facade).

Oh, yes. If you do decide to buy one, when you unpack it you'll notice that there's what looks like a piece of cardboard screwed to one wall, looking incongruously chinzy for part of such an otherwise-expensive appliance. Don't call customer service to ask if you should remove it. They'll tell you you do; you don't. That's a microwave filter, and there are warnings all over the FAQ part of the Advantium website about not using the oven if it's missing. (Fortunately the spare parts feature of the website works efficiently and quickly, and the customer service number is friendly and helpful, if not always accurate.)

BR

[Mezzaluna]

I looked into the Advantium, to the point of hiring a carpenter to re-do my kitchen so I could install it. Then I found the Sharp Convection-Microwave Oven. I love it.

I can roast a 4 pound chicken in 43 minutes using its program, which is quite easy to navigate. The bird is tender, juicy, has crispy skin and no pink in the joints. It uses an enameled metal tray, and you can buy an extra to swap out when the chicken's resting and it's time to cook the veg. It's also metal inside, but works fine even if it's got some spatters insice- although it's very easy to clean. I recall vaguely that it cost around $600 or so, might have been less.

Also, it fit in my microwave shelf and I didn't have to spend $4000 or partially redo my kitchen.