The humble microwave oven just got smarter. This one roasts, steams and even bakes bread, MIA CHENYZE finds out.
The humble microwave oven just got smarter. This one roasts, steams and even bakes bread, MIA CHENYZE finds out.
The Hitachi Superheated Steam Microwave Oven MRO-NBL5000E is a multitasker with a 33-litre capacity and a 350ml water tank. It’s a microwave, steam oven, convection oven, and bread maker. These accessories come with it: one microwave-friendly ceramic tray, two steel trays for baking and roasting, a collapsible grill tray with lid, a bread making attachment, a cup and spoon set, as well as oven gloves.
WHAT WE LOVED
Bread making attachment.
It worked better than some stand-alone bread makers I’ve tested. It had compartments for yeast and extras like nuts and dried fruit. Just like a conventional bread maker, I can prep my ingredients at night, set the timer, and wake up to freshly baked, tall loaves with good bronze crust, relatively moist and fluffy insides, and evenly distributed chopped walnuts and raisins. I also baked a pound cake, which would have turned out less crusty if I had chosen the “Lo” setting for browning (others are “Med” and “Hi”).
• Convection oven. Cookies placed in the centre of the tray came out just slightly browner than the rest. Otherwise, my baking projects generally turned out great.
• Roast chicken program. This uses a Superheated Steam and Grill combo – my fave functions. The chicken skin was golden and crispy, while the rest of the chook, including the breast meat, was tender.
• Built-in recipe programs. There are more than 200, with a good mix of Asian as well as Western savoury and dessert ones in the operating manual-cum-recipe book. The handful I tried turned out nicely.
• LCD touch panel. This is easy to navigate and tells you which trays to use for each program – important as the steel trays aren’t microwave-safe.
• Pre-heating feature. The oven beeps when the desired temperature is reached, so I didn’t have to guess. Pre-heating was also fast – just 10 minutes.
• Cleaning programs. Different ones for cleaning the inside, clearing the drain pipe, and deodorising the interior. All this makes maintenance a cinch.
WHAT COULD BE BETTER
Too many programs and choices. I was overwhelmed.
Gyoza program. It was supposed to be a model of how the Steam Grill function uses
the new Super Grill Tray and Lid attachments to make perfectly steamed gyoza with a crisp sear on the bottom. The gyoza was indeed juicy and moist, but the browning was uneven. A good handful hardly browned at all, while others were burnt and hard.
VERDICT
When you consider how Hitachi has managed to consolidate so many different appliances, which all work well, into one sleek machine, the hefty price tag is worth it.
