Accessories for Cooking with a Halogen Oven
Any halogen oven is very capable of serving up dozens of excellent meals - but if you want to extend your skills and take your halogen cooking experience to a whole new level, you may wish to consider buying a few essential accessories.
Most halogen ovens already come with a few handy accessories and extras included with the main device, such as a low and high rack for different cooking methods and a lid stand to safely support the hot lid after cooking a meal - but there are plenty of other accessories available to buy which will allow you to broaden your horizons when it comes to preparing food with halogen power.
Let's take a closer look at a few of the accessories available and how they are used for cooking with these versatile little ovens.
Extender/Extension Ring: This accessory comes with some deluxe ovens but, if it isn't included in the cooker you choose to buy, it's certainly worth considering purchasing one. Simply put, an extender ring will boost the height and capacity of your oven to allow you to cook larger items of food, or more food in general.
A ring will typically increase the capacity of a 12 litre capacity oven to around 17 litres. This extra capacity comes in very handy for large families or if you are having guests round to your house for a meal.
The additional height from these useful rings also helps safeguard the halogen bulb from spitting fat and oils from food cooking below it, and also helps prevent the risk of food near to the bulb burning. You can expect to pay around £8 to £12 for an extender ring.
Full English Breakfast Rack: These racks are a clever way to prepare up to eight rounds of toast and three eggs while your bacon, sausages and mushrooms are cooking elsewhere in your oven.
Soft eggs require cooking for around six minutes, while the time for hard boiled eggs is around 10 minutes.
Getting your eggs and toast just the way you want them can involve a bit of trial and error - but eventually you should be able to get the process down to a fine art.
These racks are fairly cheap - the VonShef breakfast rack, for example, costs under £5. These racks are normally made of stainless steel or chrome-plated iron. The rack can also used for heating waffles.
Halogen Oven Gloves: A decent pair of long heat-proof oven gloves are a wise investment if you want to protect you hands and wrists. It can be quite easy to accidentally touch the side of the hot glass bowl when removing cooked food.
There are several types of oven gloves which are ideal for wearing when using a halogen oven - a popular choice are long heavy-duty gloves with a silicone grip to prevent anything slipping out of your hands.
The Grill Armor range of heat resistant gloves are highly regarded and can withstand extreme heat levels up to 500°C. They are very easy to clean and are machine washable. Red or black colour options are available and a pair of these gloves costs around £15 to £20.
Some halogen oven owners opt to wear heat proof mittens, but these do not allow you to grip items as firmly as you can with fingered gloves.
Air Frying Ring Attachment: These rings are a great way to cook chips in your halogen oven and their mesh bases allow air to circulate effectively while preventing chips from falling to the base of the oven.
This accessory is placed between the oven lid and the glass bowl and allows you to cook golden crispy chips with plenty of tasty crunch.
An fryer ring can also be used for cooking onion rings, potato wedges, hash browns, breaded scampi, sausages and bacon - to your delight all the fat from these foodstuff will be drained through the ring's mesh to the base of the oven.
Lid Stand Holder: These already come with some models of oven. If you don't have one with your oven, they are very cheap to buy - the Andrew James stainless steel stand, for example, costs under £5.
These stands - which are mainly suitable for ovens with a 10-12 litre capacity - will allow you to store a hot halogen lid safely and also have the benefit of protecting your kitchen worktop. Whether you are checking the progress of your cooking or removing food that's ready from the oven, a lid stand is a great accessory to have close to hand.
Steamer Tray: This aluminium accessory is very popular among halogen oven users and is ideal for steaming all your vegetables and fish. A steamer tray features a non-stick perforated base and is dishwasher safe.
Using a streamer tray is really simple, Just place it on one of your oven racks, add water to the glass bowl, put your veg or fish on the streamer and away you go!
Baking Tray: This accessory delivers excellent results when it comes to cooking bread, quiche, bread rolls, pizza and oven chips - and it can also help in the preparation of many other types of food.
Skewer Drum: A stainless steel rotisserie skewer drum is an excellent accessory which can hold 8 skewers, for even cooking of meat kebabs, cheeses, fish and vegetables.
Meat Rotisserie Rack: This is a clever rotating device which allows you to cook steaks, chops and other cuts of meat evenly in your oven. The rack is cage-like in appearance allowing you to place the food to be cooked inside it.
These racks cost around £10 and are made of either chrome, aluminium or safe stainless steel. They are dishwasher safe and come with a removable lid which is locked in place before cooking begins.
Cooking Tongs: These allow you to remove hot food safely and carefully from your oven. They can grip individual items of food and can also be used to remove hot dishes and trays. They are even capable of lifting a food-filled Pyrex casserole dish. Halogen cooking tongs are made of stainless steel with a heat resistant plastic handle.
Other halogen oven accessories to consider buying include a frying pan basket, metal toast rack, baking pan, rice steamer dish, cake dish, bread rack and pan and skewer for kebabs.
As you can see, there's no shortage of accessories available to buy which can make cooking with a halogen oven an even more enjoyable and diverse experience. It's also possible to buy various replacement parts for your oven, including replacement halogen bulbs and temperature control thermostats.
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