Getting dinner on the table consumes our evenings. After a full work day, it can be tough to exercise the patience necessary to put together and cook a dinner meal. Unfortunately that cooking part can take a long time. Well, what if you could provide that home cooked meal for up to six people and do it up to eight times faster? That grabbed your attention, didn’t it? I am not talking about a simple microwave that cooks grey and flabby food. I am talking about cooking with GE’s Advantium Technology.
Advantium Technology is very unique in that it harnesses the power of light, microwave and convection cooking all at the same time to cook like nothing else on today’s market. They have even patented the system (US PAT. US 6,862,494 B2) which details the way that the system senses the food it is cooking to adjust the heating cycle while it is cooking to ensure that whatever is being cooked is perfectly done every time.
Let’s break down how Advantium Technology works:
- Halogen light is the primary source of power
- Allows for a crisp and golden brown exterior
- A “true convection” system that circulates air to ensure that the temperature is consistent
- Allows for even cooking and browning
- Some cooking algorithms will also employ boosts of microwave energy
- Allows food to cook faster
For you visual learners out there, GE breaks it down in this video.
What can an oven with Advantium Technology do? How about:
- convect bake so all your baked goods come out evenly browned,
- broiling for amazing crisp results,
- toasting,
- warming,
- proofing (for yeasted baked goods)
- AND simple microwaving?
The Advantium also has a Speed Cook option, which will use all three systems above (halogen, convection and microwave) to cook foods two to eight times faster with superb results, without pre-heating. In my opinion, this is one of the coolest cooking appliances on the market!
I like the following quote from GE to better explain what Advantium Technology does.
“Advantium Technology uses power from high intensity halogen lamps, a ceramic heater, a convection system and microwaves to cook food from the top, bottom and interior simultaneously to seal in moisture and flavor. When using the pre-set menu foods, the power levels are already selected for you. However, power levels can be adjusted when using pre-set menu foods and CUSTOM SPEEDCOOK. Each power level gives you halogen lamp or ceramic heater power and microwave energy for a certain percentage of the time or provides heating from the convection system.”
While I could go very in depth here to explain more of how the actual oven works, I will refrain. You will need to know, however, that there is a small learning curve in getting used to this oven. There are many settings that you can be adjusted to change the different types of heat, as well as their length, time, and when in the cooking process they will start.
Now, I know what you what you are thinking; this all sounds great on paper but how many types or food or recipes can you cook in it? How many people can you really feed? How does the food actually taste? How fast is it really?
Well I’m glad you asked because I too was VERY skeptical of the claims coming from GE. Having been selling appliances for the last decade, I have been aware of Advantium technology for quite some time, but it wasn’t until GE invited me down to Louisville, Kentucky (GE headquarters — as well as their largest factory) last year for three days that I actually got to spend time cooking with it hands on.
An oven with Advantium Technology comes packed with 175 pre-programmed recipes and you can customize up to 30 of your favorite recipes within in its memory. I personally cooked grilled cheese, fish, brownies, toast, cookies, steak, and my personal favorite, pizza, inside an Advantium oven.
The biggest surprise in terms of results was the steak. I am a huge steak fan and I was not expecting this oven to handle steak very well at all. I mean, who cooks a steak in a microwave and expects it to turn out great? To my surprise, the steak came out juicy and tender on the inside, while nicely browned and broiled on the outside. This just about sold me completely, but then they brought out the pizza.
I love pizza. I could eat pizza every day and still want it for my next meal. This made me nervous, even though the steak was perfect. Pizza has so many ingredients that all need to be cooked perfectly. The cheese needs to be gooey with a slight crispness. The veggies need to be carmelized but not burnt. The crust needs to be crisp and not soggy with sauce. I really wanted to reserve my personal bias until I tasted how this pizza was going to turn out. Again, to my surprise, the pizza tasted incredible. I was very impressed. The pizza came out with a nice, golden, soft, yet crispy, crust. It was done well throughout; the vegetable slightly broiled/browned, the cheese gooey and melted with that slight crispness. The flavors burst and gave the impression of a homemade pizza cooked to perfection from a traditional pizza oven. Was it as good as your favorite pizza joint or a brick oven pizza; no, but I guarantee if your pizza recipe is good and you select the right cooking options and power levels, you will be able to impress the most demanding dinner guest as well as your family on a daily and weekly basis cooking from this incredible Advantium oven.
I was also surprised by just how much food I was able to fit inside and cook evenly. My favorite cooking surface is the included 16″ ceramic tray (pizza pan to me) but the speed oven can also fit a 9″ by 13″ pan for lasagna or casseroles. The included wire rack allows you to cook on two levels. The ADVANTIUM includes the ceramic pan, convection tray, grill pan, and wire oven rack.
Let us not forget this oven actually works as a stand-alone 950-watt microwave with automatic sensor cooking, soften/melt option, and classic defrost and popcorn settings. All you have to do is select one of the easy glass touch presets or simply turn down the other heating options and turn M to power 10 with others set at 0, but presets work faster.
I also can’t stress enough just how easy and cool the tog dial switch is with its 175 pre-programmed recipes. You can see below one of the consoles of an Advantium oven.
Among the 175 pre-programmed recipes are Filet Mignon, Dinner Rolls, Nachos, Roasted Corn, Pork Chops, Roasted Asparagus, Grilled Sandwiches and so many more.
In order to take full advantage of the Advantium Technology, you would need to choose the built in 240 volt options as opposed to the less expensive 120 volt. The reason is that with the 240 volt option, you will achieve the eight times faster cooking claim. With the 120 volt, you will be faster, but only up to 4 times as much.
In looking at the sizing for one of the ovens with Advantium Technology, we will take a look at item ZSB9231NSS, a single Monogram Wall Oven. The dimensions are as follows:
WIDTH = 29.75″
DEPTH = 23″
HEIGHT = 20.25″
CAVITY OF ADVANTIUM (1.7 CU FT)
WIDTH = 20 1/16″
DEPTH = 17″
HEIGHT = 8 1/2″
POWER
240V/208V @ 60HZ
PRICE: MSRP $3,700, $3,600 through Metropolitan Appliance.
If you are remodeling or replacing a wall oven or microwave, you owe it to yourself to include an Advantium Technology oven in your search. The Advantium oven will give you the tools to prepare and serve delicious homemade meals in half, or less than half, of the time, which means more time with your loved ones and less time in the kitchen.