Halogen oven: this technology that wants to crush airfryers

Friend reader, follow me towards the coffee machine, nerve center of Digital and near whom you will greet Louis, our lab head who is thinking about the best way to measure the temperature of the beverage. Let's now head to our meeting room where the team gets together in a good mood to take a detailed and relevant look at current events. high-tech.

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There, Thibaut makes us want to binge watcher the latest HBO production. Here, it is Guillaume whose attentive monitoring would be enough to fill the pages of Wired for a few weeks, while Crono asks Gemini if ​​the Tesla Plaid is able to beat the Xiaomi SU-7's record on the Nurbürgring. And, of course, there is Laure who wants to talk about 23 topics related to smartphones…

Ah, Mathieu finally arrives, all in a bike helmet and a rain poncho. Raphaël takes the opportunity to drop a witticism that makes Diogo giggle, amused by the vulgarity. Ludovic, or rather Ludo, carries out his video projects with an enthusiasm which, if overflowing, is not shared by Bastien who sees his workload increase as surely as the minutes Ophélie is late.

In the middle of all this friendly gathering, Marie, our lively RCA, says to me: “Henry, did you see? Halogen ovens! But these things are great! Go ahead, find out…”

And so here I am, dealing with halogen oven technologies, peremptory assertions, rave opinions concerning this thing, while I was unaware of the very existence of these small household appliances before this damn daily meeting, so brilliantly depicted in remaining (Albert Londres prize, I'm coming!).

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In short, would people get rid of their airfryer for this much cheaper and healthier item? It's even the famous Daily Express who says it? Let's debunk this a bit.

First warning sign, if the Daily Expresstaken up by our colleague, actually spoke about halogen ovens, without much precision. Let's not blame him, the sales figures for halogen ovens are confidential, if not non-existent. That said, a bit of common sense still allows us not to really subscribe to the assertion.

The technologies at stake

First of all, what is a halogen oven? Named halogen oven, but also halogen convection oven, cyclonic halogen oven, etc., it is in fact a glass casserole dish with a volume of approximately 10 to 16 l, topped with a fairly massive lid since it has a control panel, but also a halogen bulb – which will replace the classic heating element – ​​and a fan responsible for distributing the heat as best as possible.

As we can see, the technology is still relatively simplistic. Please note, simplistic does not mean ineffective, and there is no reason why a halogen oven (let's stop once and for all on this terminology) should not fulfill its mission, namely to heat food. However, and this is where the problem lies, here it is adorned with all the qualities, sold as a miracle device capable of replacing an airfryer to carry out healthier cooking, more quickly and while consuming less energy. Squaring the circle solved!

Let's take these statements one by one. In fact, and unless halogen lamps have health benefits that we do not know about, cooking with a halogen lamp is not less healthy, nor healthier, than cooking with a conventional heating element, such as that that airfryers use. It is brighter, without a doubt, perhaps faster – and again, without having tested them, it is impossible to be certain – but certainly not healthier.

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Concerning speed, if we rely on the technical sheets, the airfryer would tend to cook faster than a halogen oven, and this for two reasons. First of all, it is more powerful. According to Mathieu, designated tester of the airfryers, they develop between 1400 and 2800 W according to manufacturer data. By searching on the Internet, the most powerful halogen ovens rarely exceed 1400 W (also manufacturer data).

In addition, the air fryer tanks are less bulky: allow 7.5 liters maximum for a single tank model. The casserole dishes of halogen ovens often reach 10 l, even 12 l, and you can even add an extension ring to save a little more space. Of course, the speed of cooking does not rely only on these two elements, because many other components come into play, but theoretically, the airfryer seems to have an advantage at this level.

On the other hand, the lower powers of halogen ovens should make them less energy intensive. However, what consumes the most energy? Cook a dish quickly using a lot of power or obtain a similar result with less energy at a given time, but over a much longer period of time? In the absence of testing, it is very difficult to definitively decide in favor of one or the other product.

Some common sense observations

Halogen ovens ultimately look very similar. All of them are equipped with this famous glass casserole dish which, let's face it, doesn't really inspire confidence in us. Are the walls sufficiently insulated so as not to risk third-degree burns each time you handle them? If they are, the famous stainless steel extension rings appear too thin (in the photos, in any case) to benefit from this security.

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Another problem with the casserole dish is that it seems very high. And unless we have the right utensils, it seems complicated to take out a chicken (since it is apparently the perfect dish for halogen ovens) without getting it everywhere, at best dropping it to the ground, breaking the casserole and ruining it. Sunday lunch at worst. Airfryers have removable bowls, apparently much easier to handle.

Halogen ovens are often called cyclone ovens because of the fan that distributes hot air throughout the casserole dish. Scoooooop (with the little movement of the hand which goes well…), airfryers also use this technology, and in a more intelligent way since the tanks are often equipped with a grid on which the food rests and which allows the air hot to also circulate UNDER food. Some tank bases are even designed to improve the hot air circuit thanks to very carefully designed shapes, notably at Philips. Of course, halogen ovens come with a grill that allows you to raise a chicken (again), but the vegetables cooked underneath will sit stupidly at the bottom of the casserole dish and will not benefit from “cyclonic” cooking.

Please note, halogen ovens also have some advantages. Thus, their small size allows them to find a place in cupboards, near the unused bread machine for example. Some have an automatic cleaning program: all you need to do is pour water and soap into the casserole dish, then start the appropriate cycle.

The halogen oven, a real threat to airfryers?

Ultimately, the only real advantage of the halogen oven would be a lower price than that of airfryers. Once again, we will be wary of an electrical product often sold for €80 (and even less), promising mountains and wonders, but shunned by historical manufacturers such as Philips, Ninja, Moulinex, Xiaomi… Take our word for it, better worth investing in an airfryer for the moment, even if it means spending a little more.

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