Ever wondered if you can have a kitchen convection appliance that does it all? Broil, grill, roast, bake, steam, fry and travel? Well, wonder no more.
Aroma Housewares AST-900E AeroMatic Convection Oven
This compact and portable convection appliance gives you the ability to perform numerous functions in the kitchen, you can easily situate it where convenient, you can move it around if you wish (though I wouldn’t do that when the appliance is running), and you can easily store it away when it is not in use. Try that with other countertop convection ovens.
This multifunction portable convection unit can bake, steam, broil, grill, roast and surprisingly, fry. Hold on a minute; fry? How is that possible? Well, it can fry, but not in the conventional sense. In other words, it doesn’t accomplish the frying task by heating up oil which would then be used to cook –fry– your food. This portable convection device accomplishes frying by a method called air-frying. That is, it heats the air and uses that as a medium to accomplish frying. Indeed quite interesting.
The portability afforded by this unit means you are able to use it in places normally devoid of the traditional kitchen. That means young people living in dorms may be able to use this, and we say “may” because some dorm facilities may not allow the use of high wattage appliances such as this, though that would easily disqualify irons and electric kettle cordless appliances as well. The portability also means that this little puppy can be taken to tailgate parties (assuming you can supply it with the requisite AC power it needs), RVs and the office, for those interesting office parties where everyone uncharacteristically acts civil, nice and professional as if someone were judging them for potential elimination from some elaborate reality show.
Of course portability is not the only benefit extended by this nifty uber gizmo. Its convection oven feature cooks food much faster, by some estimates saving you 20% in cooking time, and it does so while using much less power (lower heat requirements), which is in the order of about 75 – 80 percent of what a traditional, non-convection oven needs. Imagine that concept. Food cooks faster, and costs you less. Wow. I can have my wings in record time and I can claim to be green in the process. Have a convection oven cooked plate of barbeque wings and help with the fight against global warming. Marginal, but true. Who can argue against that?
This wonder gizmo comes with a tempered-glass cooking bowl that can be detached and is supported by a steel stand. It monitors temperature stability and while it does its thing, you are able to watch, given the glass vessel that holds your food. Some dudes have been known to film the process of convection action, using their camcorders to record the cooking of the chicken. Yes, it’s no Lord of the Rings, but it gives guys something to do with their latest audio/video toys. I wonder how many of them actually edit and/or watch their epic film depicting how the oven cooks meals to perfection.
Another neat feature that you get with portable convection ovens such as this one is that it is designed to keep fat and oil away from the food during the cooking process. The elevated grill that props up your food ensures that the unwanted weight-gain fluids drip away from your grub, and thanks to gravity will end up on the bottom of the glass vessel, and will stay there, away from your food, which is sitting pretty on the elevated grill. Score one for low-fat cooking. This appliance also features a built-in timer to ensure that it delivers proper cooking times.
So what’s in the box? Glad you asked. Accessories included: steam rack, low cooking rack, and two high racks: one for browning and another to use as a cooling stand for the tempered-glass lid once you are done cooking. This is important, as the entire cooking vessel, glass lid included, will get extremely hot during the cooking process. That’s right, you can watch it do its thing, but don’t touch it, and certainly make sure your nose doesn’t touch it either, as you peer closer to check your mouth watering broiling poultry.
This portable convection oven measures 16-1/2 by 13-1/5 by 12-3/5 inches and comes with a one-year limited warranty.