MICROWAVE OVENS
27 June 2008
"Can’t Burn This"
Because they are so innovative, Miele has become one of my favorite companies to write about. Actually, my partner liked the company well enough to pay $800 for one of their vacuum cleaners in 1990, which is about $500 more than I would have been willing to pay for a vacuum cleaner, but his still works and it’s still peaches and cream with the wife, so maybe Joe knows something I don’t. Because the one thing I try to do whenever I purchase an appliance is to get the best I am able to afford. And that brings me to one of Miele’s more innovative products, namely the Miele MasterChef.
What they’ve done is combine a microwave oven with a convection speed oven. The picture we’ve shown at the top of this blog is the speed oven above their single oven—for those who have room for a two-oven configuration. The lower picture shows the speed oven itself with the plate and cup warmer portion open. I don’t know… I keep seeing that particular feature in European kitchens, and I’m beginning to feel like something of a barbarian because we use room-temperature dishes for everything we serve!
The main thing about the oven itself, though, is its versatility. It can be used as a microwave to do the normal defrosting and reheating and essentials like popping popcorn, which is about all the use we manage to get out of OUR microwave! It can also be used as a convection oven for roasting and baking, while browning foods as one would in any other oven. Slickest of all, I think, is the way they have automatized what is, in our kitchen at least, just an oven.
They’ve put together a whole host of computerized programs which are accessed by using what they call Navitronic™ controls. For me, truthfully, just switching back and forth between the microwave and oven functions by pushing some buttons would have been enough, but the people at Miele went that one better. They have actually pre-programmed their oven to allow the user to simply select the type of food and, occasionally, depending on the recipe (those have been pre-programmed too), the weight and quantity. The oven then takes over. Anyone who’s spent time in a kitchen knows that the one sure way to avoid drying out a roast is to sear it first to seal in the juices and then roast it at a lower temperature. The MasterChef does that automatically, and then roasts the meat with a pressurized convection system that reduces cooking times and prevents flavor transfer. And as with the roast, so it is with a whole number of dishes and cooking methods (some involving defrosting first with the microwave) I could rattle off, but won’t because just thinking about an oven that can do that many things gives me a headache!
It also has a multi-lingual LCD display, metric English conversion, Minute Plus function, multi-tier operating modes, 11 operating modes, infrared broiling, electronic temperature control, dual timers, delay start function, and I don’t know what all! Basically, if the Miele MasterChef can’t do it, you don’t need it!
Joseph
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