Questions on Convection Oven use.

[2008RN]

Over 5 years of owning this Oli and we have never used the Convection Oven function of the microwave.  Planing on going to an egg rally and wanting to try one of my dishes that requires an oven. So I have a couple of questions.  I was worried about high temps on the stuff inside the microwave. 

I was planning on using the grill rack with the little rubber ends on it to hold the food in the middle to get even dispersal of heat around food.  

Do I have to use the grill rack?   (The only thing I have used the grill rack is to letting dishes cool down in our house, Never even stored it in the Oli.)

Are the following safe at high oven temps?     glass tray, turntable ring, turntable shaft, and little rubber feet on the grill rack?

The manual talks about preheating the oven and then just putting the food in.  If you leave the glass tray in convection mode and place cool cooking dishes on the hot glass tray could it break the glass tray?

Sorry about obsessing about this I just want to be safe and successful.   Thanks for your input.

 

Edited July 26 by 2008RN

[Galway Girl]

We use our convection mode all the time.

All parts are temp safe! 

The wire rack is used to hold items up off the glass turntable so hot air flows around the item being cooked.
 

If you were put the item in the glass tray the bottom won’t be exposed to the oven heat…so Use the rack every time in convection cooking.  (That would be like putting a pan on the bottom of a stove, not on the rack). 

 

  The rubber feet are intended for high heat in the oven and are left on the rack.  

We bake things all the time in convection mode and they work well.  

For grilling we turn the rack so the tray is in the high position so what we broil is up high by the burner.

 

Edited July 26 by Galway Girl

[Galileo]

Agree wholeheartedly with everything @Galway Girl says above! No issues with the glass turntable or the rubber (silicone I’m guessing) tips on the rack. Yes. DO use it when baking - just like your oven at home has racks. 

We use the Convection oven quite a bit. We’re not big fans of microwaves. We’ve use the microwave setting for popcorn and reheating something that we’re too lazy (or dirty dish frugal) to put into a regular pan. 

Two caveats for the convection oven:

This ain’t your mamma’s full-size home convection oven. It simply doesn’t have the oomph of a 240v electric oven. I find that even using recommended temperatures, things seem to come out undercooked. Conventional wisdom is lower the temp 25F when using a recipe that gives you setting for a conventional, non-convection oven. I haven’t actually put an oven thermometer in there to check - but I guess one of these days I will. (“They” say you should do this with your home oven as well - thermostats aren’t always accurate!) 

My bigger concern - when cooking something for a long time - like a cake for 35 or 40 minutes OR when cooking at high temps - like 350 and above (heaven forbid a pizza at 400F!) - the oven puts a LOT of heat onto the shallow counter/shelf above the fridge. Hot enough to burn you. I worry that it could discolor, soften, or blister the surface. I’ve taken to sponging it down every few minutes 

Those points mentioned - using the oven on warm months WILL add a lot of heat to the inside of your trailer. That’s great in January in Wisconsin - but definitely not great in July in Texas. It would have been GREAT if the folks at OTT had thought of this and either vented the oven outside - or even more cleverly - set it up so you could vent the heat outside during the summer - and inside in the winter. (Another mod for our prototypers?)