Review
Posted in: Kitchen > Kitchen Appliances
28 / 07 / 2008
Most people that think that a microwave is a microwave and all it does is microwave foods. Well recently Whirlpool asked me to try out their new Jet-Chef Crisp, Grill & Convection Microwave which as its name suggests does much more than microwave food.
This revolutionary microwave from Whirlpool literally replaces your oven, griller, steamer and microwave all into just one unit. Now you might be skeptical as was I, but after using the microwave for over a week I’ve done most of our meals in the microwave with great results.
I’ve never really understood why whitegoods retailers don’t push convection microwaves more these days; in fact your average retailer probably doesn’t even have one on the shelves. Sure they are a great deal more expensive than your regular $199 microwave, but the convection microwave offers greater flexibility in the kitchen and does an overall better job at cooking foods both quicker and evenly. In many ways convection microwaves in kitchen should be replacing straight ovens.
Anyway more about the review; Out of the box, the Jet-Chef Crisp, Grill & Convection Microwave looks like any other microwave with a range of specialised cooking accessories included. The first is a Teflon plated tray which Whirlpool calls their “Crisp Plate”. The Crisp Plate sits directly onto the glass turntable and looks a lot like a Teflon frying pan with no handle and is designed to be used when grilling or crisping foods in the microwave on the grill setting. I’ve already used the Crisp plate for bagels with leg ham, brie and avocado as well as homemade kumera wedges with great results. There is no reason why you couldn’t make homemade gourmet pizzas using the Crisp Plate on the grill / bake cooking mode.
Whirlpool calls the other tray the “Baking Plate” and as the name suggests allows you to bake in the microwave. It looks pretty much like any domestic baking tray, but is designed to sit on its own frame slightly above the rotating plate. I’ve then used a regular muffin tray placed on top of the Baking plate to cook savoury smoked salmon, corn and lemon myrtle muffins.
Then there are the steamer containers which allow you to steam in the microwave. All you do is place the foods in the steamer container, add a little water, cover then place in the microwave. Press the 6th Sense button and the microwave automatically senses the weight and cooks them accordingly. It steamed a range of green vegetables including broccoli, beans and brussel sprouts to perfection.
I’ve never been a fan of defrosting in the microwave, but once again using the 6th Sense button, I thought I’d better give it a go. All you do is put the food (in this case frozen chicken breasts) directly on the plate. It weighs the food and then defrosts it accordingly. Then the microwave prompts you to turn over the food. Three chicken breasts took about 4 minutes and they were not cooked on the edges like some microwaves do when defrosting.
When you open the door of the microwave, you’ll see on the back of the microwave a fan. It’s similar to the fan in your oven which forces the air around for even distribution allowing you to bake cakes, sponges and puddings in the microwave. I even did a lasagne on this microwave-combo setting and after putting in the weight it took exactly 38 minutes and 18 seconds to cook and was golden brown on top and pasta cooked to perfection. My next experiment will be cooking a wattleseed soufflé in the microwave.
For straight microwaving you can just press the start key which gets you going quickly, press it again and I’ll get 30 second increments on the time. For other cooking modes like grilling, baking, steaming they are kind of hidden behind the “Manual” button. Overall, I found that the buttons on the front of the microwave a little hard to navigate at first, but over time I was easily able to circulate through the settings and cooking options. They could have just been a little clearer.
Living in an apartment with limited kitchen space, the Whirlpool Jet-Chef Crisp, Grill & Convection Microwave takes pride of place on the bench and in the week that it was installed was heavily used for most meals. So much so we haven’t even turned the oven on.
So if you are looking for a new microwave with all the bells and whistles, then I’d highly recommend the Whirlpool Jet-Chef Crisp, Grill & Convection Microwave.
For more information visit www.whirlpool.com.au
