Combination cooking:
Grill or Convection Heating with Microwaves
What is combination cooking?
Combination cooking adds microwaves to the traditional cooking process in order to obtain the taste of traditionally cooked food whilst reducing cooking times by a third or by half.
Which foods?
Mainly large food items to be cooked or roasted, which need to be cooked for a long time, whether they are meat, fish, gratins or cakes. However, small items (biscuits, pastries, steaks, brioches, meringues, choux pastry ...), soufflés and small joints of red meat are not suitable for Combination cooking.
How does it work?
Press the Combi pad then follow the instructions (or see page
When to preheat?
For
oven. For short cooking times, roast joints, quiches, tarts, pies, desserts using puff pastry or dough, it is necessary to preheat the oven. For Combination cooking using the Grill only, the oven must not and cannot be preheated.
As the inside of the oven is smaller than that of a traditional oven, take care not to burn yourself when you put the dish into the oven.
How to preheat?
•With preheating:
Choose combination cooking then press Start without displaying the cooking time.
Preheating takes place without microwaves being used. It is better to preheat with the necessary accessories in place. When the oven reaches the required temperature, it makes 3 beeps and “P” flashes in the display. Put the dish into the oven (without pressing the Stop/Cancel button), choose the cooking time and press Start. If you do not select cooking time and press start, the oven will maintain its temperature for 30 min then turn itself off.
•Without preheating:
Place the dish in the oven, choose combination cooking, enter the cooking time and then press Start.
Advice for cooking using the
combination mode
First of all check, on the previous page, whether the food item is suitable for combination cooking.
Container:
•if using a Pyrex ® or ovenproof porcelain dish: directly onto the metal tray or the wire rack or the glass tray (Combination with grill)
•if using a metal dish (smooth and non- springform): on the metal tray only. DO not place on the wire rack. Metal dish are recommended for baking cakes and quiches in order to get a nice browning of bases and sides.
Cooking time:
Allow for half to
the chart below. Always check your food as it cooks. Open the oven door, check the food then press the Start button again to continue the cooking process.
Temperature and power:
You will not achieve good results by using a high microwave power during combination cooking. Increase the temperature by 20 to 30°C - so the cooking time will be shorter - and use a power of between 100 to 440W depending on the size and type of food. If unsure which combination to use, always try to find the recipe in this book which is the closest to what you want to make, and follow the recommended combination.
