Secura Infrared Convection Countertop TurboFry Oven, Low-Fat Rotisserie Fryer with Carbon Heat 997MC

As one blogger put it, "This oven will not make you a chef overnight. You need to know the principles of cooking to get good results with it." I bought this with 2 main purposes in mind, browning leeks and baking pizza. There is no recipe for either one of those, so testing different temperature settings, extender ring use (yes or no), and cooking times has been an interesting process, resulting in some wasted ingredients. Once I discover what works, I love the oven. It would have been nice to have a cookbook that took the guesswork out of the process. My best results with the leeks came at 350 for 15-30 minutes, with enough oil to coat the leeks, and no extender ring. Still experimenting with pizza, though the seller said to bake at the highest temp for 20 minutes with extender ring. I figured out that works for using a premade crust, and does not include the step of making your own crust.Some recipes I have discovered... 'SOUPER' EASY ZUCCHINI SOUP: In a baking dish on the rack (I use a silicone dish), place 4-6 (depending on size) whole, trimmed tasty zucchini that have been sprayed or basted with oil (I use olive oil). With extender ring, bake at 300 degrees for 75 minutes (an hour and a quarter). No zucchini turning required, though sometimes there will be small 'burnt' looking spots on the zucchini. [NOTE:Smaller zucchini burn much easier. So if your zucchini are small enough to fit more than 6 in the baking dish, lower the temp just slightly (5-10degrees) and bake for just an hour.] Place roasted zucchini in blender with salt to taste (i use approx. 1tsp of smoked salt) and cold water to the 5 cup mark in the blender. Gently pulse until blended. Enjoy. May be reheated.For wonderful and extra nutritious DRY-ROASTED NUTS, soak raw, organic nuts (almonds are great) overnight. Transfer to colander and keep in the fridge another day or two, rinsing with cold water once or twice per day. Then toss into oven with stir arm and set at maximum temperature for 5-20 minutes (without extender ring), depending on how roasted you like them. The soaking and germinating break down the enzyme inhibitors, making nuts easier to digest, more nutritious, and lower in fat. Soaked nuts typically have a different texture and taste from unsoaked nuts. But after dry roasting them as described, nuts regain their original flavor and then some ( :And, for my fellow vegan soy eaters, this oven is awesome for creating any yummy variety of BAKED TOFU! Just mix your marinade or sauce of choice, marinate tofu slices overnight, and bake single layer in baking dish on rack (with extender ring) for 30 minutes, turning after 15 minutes. If your marinade is vinaigrette-like, bake at between 250 & 350F (the higher the temp, the more dense the final product). If your marinade is more sauce like, baste and bake in single layer at highest oven temp. Then flip, baste again, and bake for another 15. The tofu texture will become denser once cooled, so don't be fooled by the softness you feel while still baking and warm. I just came up with a marinnade that creates tofu i like both warm and cold. Until now, I've never really liked the warm tofu texture.Blend until smooth, all of the following ingredients: 8oz water, 4oz cider vinegar, 2oz sesame oil, 2-4T sauteed/carmelized leeks, 2T eggplant caponata (seasoned eggplant in tomato sauce), 1pc sundried tomato, 2 cube frozen basil (carried at Trader Joe's), raw garlic cloves to taste, 1 tsp low-sodium soy sauce. I marinate tofu slices overnight, and bake at 350F for 10 minutes on each side. For me, this is creates the ideal tofu consistency. This is using TJ sprouted tofu, slicing each 8oz piece into 6-8 slices.And for WONDERFUL CROUTONS, cube your bread of choice (i use low-sodium, sprouted whole grain bread, so i can finally have the delicious, no-guilt croutons I've craved for years!) Toss cubes into bottom of glass oven bowl with stir arm (oil optional), for 15 minutes at the oven's highest temp (482F). These are absolutely perfect croutons, and sooo much more healthful than the store bought kind!And one more great use i just discovered for this oven is 'roasting' all that plentiful summer produce (from peaches to tomatoes to blueberries to...) for use in sauces, soups, etc. This is especially helpful in bringing out more flavor from the less flavorful pieces. I set up a baking dish on the rack, with the extender ring, at 250°F, and roast for between 1 and 2 hours (more time means more concentrated, syrup-y, drier/stickier result.)

Since we had the other oven from Secura the 997 and liked it we thought we would try this one--since it was the "latest, greatest" from the company. A big mistake! This one comes with more gadgets and about the only advantage to this over the all digital 997 is that it has a turntable to rotate food. Supposedly it can fry foods as well.But that is it...everything else is worse about this than the all digital model that is $30 less. First of all it uses more electricity 1550W vs. 1350 for the halogen cooking oven. It also takes longer to cook than the old oven. Some "genius" in the engineering dept. at Secura decided to make 482 degrees the maximum temp for the oven--I think he is now working on making 61MPH speed limits on some highway or clocks that go up to 11:37PM. Nonetheless, the old unit tops out at a very normal 500 degrees. Additionally, this unit never gets up to the 482 degrees promised. When I used my cooking thermometer it topped out at 350 degrees even though it was supposed to get to 482 degrees--mind you that was after it cooked for 30 mins.Aside from that this sucker is super noisy, much louder than the old unit. It also has a plug that is half the length of the old plug and when you put the lid up it actually locks now and you've to physically unlock to move it again. On the old unit you would simply put the lid up, it would stay in place and you would then put it down. Also, on the old unit it was a nice digital timer and temperature selector...on the new unit it is a cheesy manual timer that dings like a $5 kitchen timer.Don't even think of calling Secura if you've a problem! They're too cheap to have a customer service line so you've to email them for support and if you're lucky enough--about three days later--they will respond to you. Even the NuWave oven has a phone line.In short, this is really disappointing--usually companies improve products not worsen them. If you want a speedy oven the digital 997 will be just fine and come in at $30 less than this overpriced piece of junk!

When my old Secura 798DH quit. Bulb burned out (second one).Replacing the bulb was very difficult and expensive, so I decide to take the plunge and I purchase this model.Here's the PRO: I like that the temp can be set by dial so you do not have to cycle thru to the top temp; which is where most of my cooking was done. Also the dial timer is easier to set than the digital. Nice appearance, not too much counter space and the lid pivot arm is great.Bulb is carbon vs glass on the 798. I expect it will last longer but, time will tell. CON: Cannot adjust fan speed as on the 798. If you have a light powder coating it blows all over. It takes longer to cook items even though it has more power. The timer frequently sticks and does not shut off. The grill center cover and rotary mech. make it a little harder to clean. You cannot self clean like the 798 due to the hole in bottom. Although in reality that was more of a selling gimmick than useful. The cord needs to be a little longer and detachable.If secura would merge the good features of this unit and the 798 they might have a winner.I have not tried the rotary feature, but frozen french fries cook well w/o.UPDATE: Bulb lasted 6 months. Replacement unit bulb lasted 3 months. Gave up and purchased a much less expensive unit. Miss the hinged top but it cooks just as good or better.