Gadget of the Week: Rotisserie/Convection Oven

This rotisserie/convection oven is a great gadget to have in the kitchen. It does take up counter space, but luckily I have an unused corner that I could put it in. The one I have is made by Euro Pro. It was a gift from my father-in-law, but from my research, they run somewhere around $100. This is something I would have never purchased myself, but I’m very glad that I have one now!! So, what are the pros and cons of this gadget? Here you go…

Pros:

1. The rotisserie function is awesome. The chicken is so moist and juicy and full of flavor! We simply sprinkled some Creole seasoning on the chicken before cooking. That’s all it needed!
2. The oven function is wonderful. You have 2 bake racks, so you can fit about 8 pork chops in it. Again, they are very moist and juicy! Actually nothing that I’ve baked in this oven has been even the least bit dry!
3. It has a lot of settings which include warm, bake, broil, toast, and of course convection and rotisserie. I’ve also heard they bake cakes very well, but I haven’t tried this yet!
4. There is a crumb tray at the bottom as well as a basking tray. Between those two trays, all of the grease or crumbs are caught and it makes clean-up super easy!
5. Did I mention that clean-up is super easy!?
6. It has a 60 minute timer and also has a stay-on mode. (I usually use the stay-on mode).

Cons:

1. It gets very hot! The handle stays pretty cool, but the rest of the oven it too hot to touch. I always make sure I don’t have anything on it or close to it.
2. The words around the dials are very hard to read. This seems to be a common complaint about this oven, from the research I’ve done. I have to get pretty close to it to read it, and I don’t have vision problems at all. It would probably be very hard for someone with vision problems to read.
3. It’s definitely bigger than a regular toaster! It does take up a more counter space, but it’s not so big that you can’t leave it on the counter all the time.

OVERALL, I think this oven is a great buy. It works great for us when I’m cooking things like pork chops or chicken and we have a family of 5. Instead of having to fire up the big oven, this oven can be used to save on electricity! Another way to be green!