Korean Job Discussion Forums

[nikki15]

Hi,

I apologize if a similar thread has been started before; the search function is not working, as usual.

I love cooking and I especially love baking. Obviously with my lack of kitchen (two burners and a toaster oven) this becomes difficult. I have successfully baked cookies and banana bread in my toaster oven and I am wondering if anyone bakes regularly and has recipes to share. OR cooks using their toaster oven and has recipes to share, such as small casseroles, baked pasta, etc.

I am assuming brownies would work fine, muffins as well...how about small cakes?

[Illysook]

The tops of things tend to burn while the inside still needs time to bake, but it's worth it sometimes. I try to wait until the top looks dry and then put aluminum foil over things to prevent this, but it doesn't always work.

[Ruthdes]

I bake a lot in my toaster oven, but it's a relatively good/big one (it fits a full size pizza). However, it operates on the hot end and I have to adjust the baking time accordingly. For something that says 35-40 mins, I usually need just 25 at 10-20 degrees celcius less than the recipe says. I also have to turn it around half way through, or the back half burns. It's really just a matter of experimentation to make your recipes work.

For a successful search on Dave's use this website: http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=006359271486458796786:_ooozypbm6u It's much better than the official search page.

[War Eagle]

I love to cook. And I love food even more. I spent over 10 years in the restaurant industry, most of that managing some of the best chefs in Atlanta. They taught me a lot about cooking and back home my extremely well-stocked kitchen was my palace/sanctuary.

With that said, I have found my toaster oven can cook anything that my oven back home could. Recipes take some tweaking with the wet ingredients, temperature and cook times, but practice makes perfect. Although after a recent move into a larger place, I do plan on investing in one of those mac daddy deluxe magic "ovens".

Edit: but obviously the portions are much smaller

[nomad-ish]

muffins definitely work fine. the only (slight) issue is that they don't always look as aesthetically pleasing (i'm guessing because of how the heat is distributed in a toaster oven). i've also baked cookies, pizza, and made homemade stuffing with my toaster oven. it all worked really well.

[AsiaESLbound]

If it has a top and bottom heating elements, you have a good one. If it has a convection fan, you have a great little oven. I bake whole chickens in my toaster oven for 1 1/2 hour. I bake whole fish for 1 hour. A top and bottom element gets red hot. I thinly slice potatoes, dip in olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper, lay single layer on baking pan, and bake on highest setting for crispy potato bake. Now that I have scored a can of Libby's pumpkin, I think I can bake a pie or pumpkin nut bread.

[Illysook]

I thought I'd revive this to see if anyone has any tips. Things seem to bake faster in the toaster oven and this will reduce moisture inside. Additionally, the tops of things will sometimes burn while the insides are not finished baking. I've been thinking about turning the temperature down a few degrees, but how many? I usually bake things like chicken breasts, brownies, and banana bread, but I'd like to branch out a bit and maybe try something akin to a pot roast. I'm not sure where I will find the right cut of beef, but it might be worth a shot.

[UknowsI]

Do you use tin foil when baking bread and muffins? I make a lot of baked food which is pre-cooked, because then the toaster oven mostly just have to melt cheese on top. However most things will burn if I leave it in for more than 10 minutes, so I've tried using tin foil a couple of time. Cooking with tin foil works... but does not always give the best results. I can't adjust the temperature on my toaster oven, so I guess it's around... 220?

[Ruthdes]

[chiarezza]

my old coworker used hers to make brownies, which turned out well, not sure which recipe she used.

I use mine to bake chicken... takes like 10 minutes or something like that.

I've also used it to roast pork (though I had to saute it on a burner first, and then bake it) that took about 30 minutes in the toaster oven.

Finally I also make meatloaf in a small casserole dish. I think that took like 20 minutes or something... not sure.

[chiarezza]

also, someone mentioned that they wanted to branch out to pot roasts... i've had lots of success with pork roasts in my toaster oven. Unfortunately that was a year ago, so I don't remember exactly what temperature I had it on. Anyway, I don't think it was too high... like the middle of how hot the toaster over could go.

Well that was pretty useless advice.

I will say though, that for my pork roast, I first cooked it on a burner on high heat in oil for about 5 minutes on each side, then added a half a cup of wine and turned it down to medium for a while 'till the wine evaporated, then added a cup of chicken stock and let it simmer on low for 15 minutes. I then took these juices and poured them over the roast and placed them in the toaster oven for 30 minutes. Turned out really nice!

[nomad-ish]

[crsandus]

[HagwonKanobi77]

Is there a certain brand of toaster oven that they sell here that does well and is priced fairly cheaply. Oh, and does Lotte Mart or E-Mart charge for delivering things to the house? I live about a 15-minute walk from both places which would make walking a pain in the legs, lugging a large box around. Anyone?

[nomad-ish]

i bought mine in yongsan, and i think i paid 30,000 won (it was a year ago, i can't remember exactly). it has a temperature gauge and top and bottom heating elements. it exactly does a really good job -- best purchase in korea for me.

if you go to yongsan, just remember to ask around at a bunch of stalls before you settle on one. i found the stalls closest to the escalators were the most expensive and then further back, i got better prices.