Hi Carecooks -- read your post with interest--have reached same decision ie to get a 30 inch gas range and a Miele speed oven.

I'm also wondering about the speed oven and specifically whether the Chef Speed oven (rather than the Master Chef) will be as functional as I want it to be. You have the Masterchef which has a top and bottom heating element. The Chef has no bottom element (correct me if I'm wrong, Antss and others who are reading this). I'm wondering how that translates to functionality. If it's just loss of pizza capability I'll be very happy.

Weedmeister,

Thanks. I have the H4082 (the Masterchef 2010 model). I do understand about the microwave combination and not using metal pans. I get how the more complicated programs work, I'm just not sure what to do with them.

I really wanted to know how to do the easy thing which was turn the temperature to 425º and which setting I needed to use to do that. I'll try Bake/Surround/Temperature for my potatoes next. By the way, should the oven be making a lot of noise like the convection fan is on when you turn it on? I tried turning on Bake/Surround/Temperature and the oven is really noisy. Is that normal?

You have to realize that until this kitchen I've never even had convection and I only use my microwave for melting chocolate/butter, softening ice cream, boiling water and reheating coffee and food. This is a whole new world.

Hi Carecooks,
There's lots of ways to do this. I will suggest a couple, but you will need to experiment.

Metal pans will be problematic for any mode that incorporates microwaves. They are not expressly forbidden, but I prefer never to use anything that might cause arcing inside the machine. I reserve the use of metal pans for convection baking or broiling only, no mixed mode that includes microwave.

I think the first thing to try is combination bake. You will probably get all the browning you want just by using that. Don't worry about preheating, dress and spice your potatoes to your liking and arrange them in a single layer in a rectangular Pyrex baking dish with some olive oil or whatever you use.

Set the oven to 375 or 400 degrees in combination bake mode. Put the potatoes in and start the oven and tell it to run for 15 to 20 minutes. But set a timer for 12 minutes (The timers run independently so you can set a memory jogger without impacting the oven cycle.) Check the potatoes at 12 minutes to see how they are doing. Note, we did not preheat. No need. Just toss 'em in and see how they do.

At 12 minutes, either take them out if they are done or let them continue as long as necessary to cook. If you want more browning, switch to combination broil or micro broil to finish up. The upper heater will brown the potatoes as brown as you want, lickety-split.

You don't need 425 in this oven. Trust me. It will blast those potatoes with the heat it produces. I recommend that you start out with 375 or 400 and observe.

If you don't like the results with the combination modes, then next batch switch to just the convection mode and adjust your temps to get optimal cooking with just the browning you like. And remember, if you need more browning at the end, turn on the broiler for just a couple minutes and things will get brown in a big hurry. Use your cook's experience and your good sense until you get a feel for what the thing can do. And don't worry about not knowing it all! These things are a whole new way to cook and it takes time to get used to them.

One thing is for sure. You will not be disappointed in the amount of time it takes to cook stuff.

Mojavean,

That was very helpful. I hadn't really planned on changing my style of cooking when I bought the speed oven, but maybe this old dog can learn some new tricks. Thanks.

carecooks I appreciate you asking this question. And I identified with your response that you "hadn't really planned on changing my style of cooking when (you) bought the speed oven" so maybe I'll also be inspired by you and try to learn some new tricks. ;)

mojavean, your instructions were very helpful to me, as well. Thank you!

By the way. Please report back. I would love to know, and I am sure a lot of others on the appliance forum would love to know what you all discover playing with the various modes of your speed ovens. Knowing the capabilities is one thing, the how-tos are quite another.

mojavean,

I do not own a speed oven and probably never will, still hats off to you for such a well done informative post!

sayde - correct only the new MasterChef unit has the bottom element. Older MasterChefs are missing it as is the Chef model. The upshoot is the lower element provides more even heating, but given the small size of the cavity I'm betting most people won't notice a difference.

I think you've probably got the idea now with moja's help. The modes bake, roast ect... are simply telling the oven which elements to use, and heat to a pre-programmed temp. Temp can be overridden. You can also play around and once you find what works best for you, just program those settings into "favorites" which you can then choose with fewer keystrokes.

Metal tray warning is for microwave and heat/micro modes. Note - the metal Miele rack can be left in the unit during microwaving.

Thanks, antss and Mojavean! Really appreciate the information.

Ladies, how has it all worked out with the speed oven? I redid my kitchen and without having read this post I did the Miele Speed oven ad 30 inch oven and a gas cooktop. I'd like to learn what tricks and idiosyncrasies you've discovered these last 5 years. I redid my kitchen without having read this post until now. I did the Miele Speed oven and 30 inch oven stacked with a warming drawer with a 6 burner gas cook top.

I love my friend's Blue Star range but I am Modern and she is French Country:-) I got the Truffle Brown glass - love it so far but have only tried a few things combination wise.