What is convection cooking? A fan rapidly circulates hot air, which forces heat into food faster than normal oven cooking. This results in 25% to 30% faster cooking times. Food loses less moisture and cooks more evenly when done in a convection oven.
Convection baking works best using shallow pans such as cookie sheets and baking racks. There are 3 choices for adjusting recipes: cook for same length of time but lower temperature by 25%; cook at same temperature but shorter length of time; cook using both a little lower temperature and a little shorter time.
Be sure not to cover the convection oven racks, such as with foil, as this would interfere with the air circulation.
Convection cooking is used a lot in commercial kitchens because of the time savings together with the food being nicely cooked.
Besides shorter cooking time and great tasting food, another benefit for a counter top convection oven is the electricity savings. This is from the smaller size oven than a regular size oven, the lower electricity requirement of a convection oven than regular ovens, and the shorter cooking time. Also, a counter top convection oven doesn't heat up the kitchen as much, therefore, air conditioning doesn't need to work as much.
The convection oven electricity savings becomes a small savings of money from a having lower electricity bill. Using less electricity is a nice way to do your part to help the environment (green earth) too.
As with a full size convection oven, the counter top types also have full temperature range for cooking. Timers can be up to 120 minutes, which is usually enough with the faster convection cooking. They might come with 3 or 4 dials for easy control of the functions.
Some might have a power on indicator light and can also include a removable crumb tray. A baking/broiling tray is often included or maybe a pizza pan. The counter top convection oven with rotisserie models include the needed rotisserie kit.
There are some unique convection ovens also. One has burners on top, which gives you an almost complete cooking appliance in one. This would be really great in a college dorm or small cabin.
Another unique oven is taller to make enough room to cook on 2 shelves or one tall/deep item.
A combination convection/microwave oven is very convenient. You get the convenience of a microwave, plus, the capability to put a nice browned finish on the microwaved food. A microwave like this is the best kind to have.
If you like to do a lot of baking and cooking, you could probably use more oven space. The counter top convection oven is the perfect additional oven for you.