Hello, I'm Geoff Jantz from What's Cooking. This is Janelle Bloom from Sharp. How are
you doing?
Well, congratulations on the purchase of your new Sharp Convection Microwave Oven.
Well done.
Let me suggest you sit down with a cup of coffee, read through your instruction book
and cook book and familiarise yourself with the oven. That's an important start.
Very important step. And plug it in too, by the way.
Plus, over this next 45 minutes, we're going to show you 8 recipes that we find to be
not only simple but incredibly tasty.
All Sharp Convection Microwave Ovens, Geoff, have 4 different cooking methods. They cook
by microwave, they cook by convection, by grilling and also the most important one is
the mix cooking where the microwave and convection actually work together to brown and crisp
the food but also speed up the cooking time.
Okay, I think that's probably the best feature.
It certainly is.
Well, Sharp Convection Microwave has 2 types, right? There's the multi cook and this one
here, the twin sensor. Why don't you run through some of the important features of the twin
sensor?
Okay. The first feature that we're going to look at is the instant action menus, okay?
And they're these menus here on the front of the keypad.
Hang on. Lurking inside, we have a leg of lamb, right?
We have a leg of lamb, that's right. It's in on the rack.
How easy is this?
Okay. Put the food in and here's our roast lamb button. All we have to do is press that
button and instant action says it all. It will automatically weigh that leg of lamb.
It chooses the ideal cooking time and one of those 4 cooking methods that we just talked
about. So here you can see it's using the microwave power and the convection so you're
going to get a nice brown crisp roast leg of lamb in just over 50 minutes.
What a great thing.
How easy is that?
Very easy. Now let me just say that I noticed a menu here for the intelligent sensor. Now
would you explain that?
Sure. There's additional menus here on the keypad. You've got 17 intelligent sensor menus
and you've also got the reheat menus.
Okay. Now the intelligent sensor want reheat pizza.
Reheat pizza.
Common situation. Cold pizza.
Place the pizza into the oven and you can see that's number 1 here on the keypad. We
just press the intelligent sensor button, hit that number 1, that's for the reheat pizza
and press the start button. And again the oven automatically weighs out that pizza and
selects the ideal reheat time.
Which is a combination again.
Exactly.
Right. Now let's have a look at the reheat sensor. On that menu we have a dinner plate.
That's right. There's 3 menus here to choose from. Okay. Dinner plate's number 1. You've
got beverage and you've got a couple of other choices there. So reheat dinner plate being
number 1. Just place that in.
Covered in plastic.
Absolutely. Press this reheat button once for the dinner plate and what happens there
is it senses how much food's in there and selects the ideal reheating time so that it
doesn't cook the food, it just reheats it nice and gently.
Probably one of the most used features in a microwave is to reheat.
Very important. I think there's one last feature that we really do need to show here and that's
the defrost. Defrost and reheat are 2 of the important features on a microwave.
Here we are.
Place that in on the rack that's supplied with the oven. It's the defrost rack. Straight
in there on the turntable. Close the door. You've got 3 categories here. If you press
this once it goes for meat. Twice is chicken. Three times seafood. Let's go back to the
meat and what happens once again, leave everything to the oven. It will weigh that meat and calculate
a defrosting time. I mean it's as clever as it is. Leave and stop until you're ready
to turn it over and when to shield the food.
No excuses. Alright, let's have a look at the multi cook.
Well Jeff, here it is.
Looks good.
Let's look at the 3 most important features on this oven. Ok, we've got the instant action
on this oven similar to the twin sensor.
Ok, but look the first one there you have is fresh vegetables. Now you've got them all
laid out on the plate.
That's right.
How does the instant action do this?
Very easy. Ok, we just place the food directly into the oven. On the rack or not it doesn't
really make a lot of difference. Close the door and just press that fresh vegetable button.
The humidity sensor works out how much is in there and selects the ideal cooking time
and power level for all those foods on that menu.
Very good. Ok, now when we open the door I noticed the multi cook menu up the top here.
That's right.
It's got a number of things. Roast, beef, roast, lamb, roast, chicken. How does this
particular function work?
Ok, the way this varies to the other oven is you need to know the weight of the food. Ok,
we'll just place the leg of lamb in and you can see roast lamb is number two. Ok, so we'll
close the door. We select the multi cook button. It wants to know what food we're cooking.
Roast lamb number two. And you can see here that the oven is asking us the weight of the
food. It needs to know how much.
Yes, I can hear it.
How much?
Jeff, Janelle, how much?
How much? Two kilos?
Yes.
Two kilos. Hit the start button and you can see it will select the cooking time and the
power level. So it's all done automatically for you.
So you need to weigh your food with the multi cook.
That's right. Or ask the butcher to put the weight of the leg of lamb or your meat on
the packaging when he wraps it up for you.
Good thought.
Ok, I'll take that one out.
And the last feature I think that you need to know is how to defrost your food.
Thank you.
So we've got our meat on the rack. Again we close the door. And here you can see the easy
defrost button. We'll just press that. You can see the oven actually leads you through
all the programs. So don't be afraid of it at all. It's asking, it wants to know the
weight of that food there. So that's 1.2 kilos of steak. Hit the start button and it goes
straight into the defrost time. It does that all automatically for you.
Very good. A little tip with the multi cook too. With your frozen food, when you're storing
it, have the weight written on the bag.
That always helps doesn't it?
Little tip. Janelle, enough talking. You've got to cook.
Yes.
Let's get those recipes going.
Let's go.
Yum. Classic roast beef. You can do that?
Yes. We're going to cook a roast beef dinner here now. And we're going to use all the automatic
features on the collection microwave.
Ok. How important is it that we tie the beef first?
It is very important because then you've got a nice even shape and the microwave will cook
the food evenly. I think that applies conventionally as well.
Exactly. Same tip.
Ok. So we've tied the meat and all we do is we place this directly onto the turntable.
Really?
Yes. Directly onto the turntable because we're actually going to cook it with the roast vegetables.
Now place that in, Jeff. And all we do is we press the roast beef dinner here, the button
twice and you can see it says roast beef dinner.
It's a bad speller by the way. D N R.
That's the best we could do.
Isn't it?
I think so.
I think so.
Now it will take about 17 seconds to weigh that piece of beef and then it will go straight
into the cooking program. As you can see it's chosen to use the mixed cooking which is the
convection to brown the outside and the microwave to speed up the cooking. So for that roast
beef dinner it's going to take just over 60 minutes.
That's pretty good. The combination of the two to give you the quick effect and the lovely
appearance. Now you mentioned we do the vegetables too at the same time.
During that program the oven will actually stop and tell you when to add the vegetables
so at the end of the meal both the roast beef and the vegetables are cooked to perfection.
And we're actually at that stage with this oven here. You can see it says to turn the
meat over and to add the vegetables.
Am I allowed to open this now?
Yes, we're allowed to open that now. So let's open that. As you can see the roast beef's
ready.
Yes.
It's actually half cooked.
Half cooked.
Okay. And here we've got our vegetables. We've got the potatoes and the pumpkin on a pizza
tray and we're going to place these over the top.
Now when I'm roasting vegetables in a convection oven I like to pre-cook the vegetables first.
Do you do the same here?
Yes, you do do the same. So they've been partially cooked. I've actually only partially cooked
the potatoes. I don't find it necessary to do that with the pumpkin because as we said
it's cooking by the microwave and the convection. So the microwave energy actually cooks the
pumpkin and the potatoes as well with the convection heat browning the surface.
Okay, there's a tip.
There's a tip.
Straight over the top.
So let's place those straight over the top of the beef.
Now that doesn't shield the beef.
It actually does shield the beef.
That does shield the beef, you know.
It does shield the beef. So what's happened is we'll find that that meat is partially
cooked. Okay, we'll close the door and you can see the oven is even telling us to press
the start button. So we press the start and the remaining cooking time will come up which
is about 45 minutes in this case. And at the end you can see the beautiful roast beef dinner.
And remember always let the meat rest after the microwave. That looks great.
Doesn't it look good?
Traditional.
Here's a handy cooking hint for your Sharp Convection microwave. It's important to understand
that your Sharp oven in fact offers four different cooking methods. You have a choice of microwave,
convection, mixed cooking or grilling depending on the food. For instance select microwave
to reheat, defrost, cook your vegetables, rice, pasta or even seafood. Convection, cooking
is perfect for biscuits, scones, pavlova or even pastries. Mixed cooking is the choice
for roasts like our classic roast beef, casseroles, cakes, almost any conventional recipe. Then
of course grilling. It's ideal for steak, sausages or kebabs. Your Sharp Convection
microwave does it all.
There we are, chicken lombardi. Now that is a recipe that combines the benefits of both
the conventional cooking and the microwave as well as the very Mediterranean flavours.
It sure is. It's a great recipe, Geoff.
Okay, now will I start?
You start the recipe. Okay, we've placed the chicken directly onto the rack.
Using thighs here.
Yes, using the chicken thigh.
Plenty of flavour in that.
Yes, I think that's a good part of the chicken.
Brushing with some very good fragrant olive oil.
Gives it the traditional Mediterranean flavour there.
Absolutely.
Okay, I'll take that from you and we'll then sprinkle with some salt and pepper.
Yes.
We've heated the oven here to 220 degrees so that when the chicken goes into the oven,
it's going to instantaneously brown the outside.
Okay, how can you tell when it's ready?
As you can see here, the oven's actually telling us that it's nice and hot and it's ready to
add the food.
Gee, it's the thought of everything, isn't it?
It's good, isn't it?
It sure is.
Open the door. We'll place the chicken directly in and now we're going to program this for
18 minutes on high mix, 220 degrees. We want a nice hot oven. So it's combining the convection
power with the microwave power to cook this probably twice as quick as it would in your
oven.
So it's the same principles that apply. If you're using a normal convection oven there,
you would use for small pieces of meat, high temperature, short period of time.
That's right.
Okay, good.
Same principles. Okay, we'll go to the next stage, Jeff.
Right.
So we've got the chicken that's already been cooked.
I smell onion.
And we've got the onion on the base of the dish. So we've had one onion on the base and
then the chicken.
Right.
And now we just make the rest of the topping. We've got a quarter of a cup of chicken stock
and a quarter of a cup of white wine. So we'll just put that in. A tablespoon of brandy,
the magic ingredient here.
Brandy?
It always seems to help, doesn't it?
It does help the alcohol. And a third of a cup of cream.
Straight in.
Okay, and we just mix all that together and then we just pour this over the chicken.
Okay.
Okay, so we just pour that over the base.
Cream's really good because it carries the length of flavour through. Just a little bit
has a really good impact.
Yeah, a third of a cup's pretty good.
It's a good quantity.
Okay, and then we're just going to sprinkle the top with some breadcrumbs.
And chopped oregano.
Yeah, we're using wholemeal breadcrumbs here and we've got about a tablespoon of chopped
oregano and 30 grams of melted butter.
You call it oregano?
I do.
Why? It's oregano.
Oregano.
Oregano, it doesn't matter, I suppose. I thought that was American.
Probably is.
Are you American?
I'm not.
Do you know any Americans?
I know quite a few, yes.
Do you?
Yes, I sure do. I travelled around Europe with some of them.
Now, we just sprinkle that over the top and then we'll place that back into the oven to
finish the cooking.
Simple as that?
Yeah, simple as that. So we'll place that in.
Now, what time and temperature this time?
Okay, for 16 minutes on the high mix as well. 16 minutes, the high mix. You can see it's
chosen 200 degrees but we want a hot 220 so we'll change that temperature and hit the
start button.
And there you go.
And there you go. You can see the beautiful results.
Do you have to let it sit when it comes out?
Let it sit for about five minutes before you serve it up, yeah.
Fantastic, smells great.
Looks good.
Janelle, being a combination of convection and microwave capacities, it must affect the
sort of dishes we can use in the microwave?
Yes, it does. That's right. Yes, having convection, temperature and microwave, there are a variety
of different dishes that you can use. That's right, Jan.
How do we know which ones, Janelle?
Okay, when you're cooking on convection, on the mix cooking or the grilling section, you
can use this metal cookware.
Right.
Okay, no problem there.
No problem. Okay, what about the corningware?
The corningware and the pyrex can be used on all four settings.
Both these two?
That's great cookware to use in these ovens.
Good, and plastics?
It's important to remember not to use the plastic in the convection side of it. So when
you're using plastics, just look for the blue symbol here.
Okay, so here we have the blue and the red. Red means that we've got convection heat.
Convection heat.
Blue means microwave power.
Microwave heat, good. So whenever there's a red, avoid the plastics. Of course, with
the cookbook, you'll find a good guide of what you can and can't use. Very important.
Okay, there's another tip.
This is a good rustic dish, right? It's very, very simple, tremendously flavoursome, and
it's easy.
Yes, love potatoes, don't you?
I love potatoes. You love potatoes, you love chocolate. What else?
I like all food, Jeff.
Do you?
That's why I'm in this job.
Say you should. Absolutely.
Okay, the first part is to cook the potatoes.
Yes.
So we've parboiled the potatoes like we did with our roast dinner, and we've just sliced
them in half with a quarter of a cup of water and put those into the microwave oven for
16 minutes on high. And that's where, at this stage, that's where we're up to.
Good.
Okay, so the next stage is to actually brown them.
This is the big feature again, the combination of the two distinct elements here.
That's right. So just place those onto the pizza tray and just brush those with some
olive oil to... and that helps to brown them up nicely.
Again, use the same oil, which is an olive oil, that we'll be using in the pesto dressing.
That's right. It gives it a nice...
Can I make the pesto dressing, please?
Yes, you make the pesto.
Didn't swap positions for nothing.
And what I'm going to do... I'm going to place these into the microwave oven.
Which has been preheated.
Which has preheated. It's a nice 250 degrees, very, very hot.
Right.
Okay, so we're going to cook these for about 20 minutes on the low mix. Now, we want a
really hot temperature, so we're going to choose 250 for this and hit the start button.
Okay, so you're combining the hot 250 degrees with around about 10% microwave power.
Oh, I see.
And we let that happen.
Okay.
And that's the result of the potatoes after that stage.
Nice and brown, ready to go.
The pesto's all with you, Geoff.
All with me. That's easy. Pesto is sensational.
At the end of summer, end of autumn, actually, as the weather starts to get cold, we start
to lose our basil. It doesn't become available anymore. The leaves drop off with the cold.
And what we do is we make a pesto, which is a typical Italian way of preserving their
basil. This is the pesto we're after, something like that. It stores really well. But the
way you make it, put your leaves in here, along with pine nuts.
Pistachio pine nuts. Do you normally toast those?
Don't need to.
Don't need to?
There are a few options, depends which region you're in, Italy. Garlic, Parmigiano cheese.
Great flavour.
Sensational flavour. Some lemon juice.
Lemon juice. You could probably use lime juice there as well, couldn't you?
Could do.
Lemon's a little bit more easily available.
It is, yeah.
But you can use that. And it will start that happening. Now, the olive oil goes into that.
Pour that in?
Yes. There we go.
That's smelling good.
Now, that is a classical combination of flavours. Now, to thin this out, we can add some sour
cream.
About two tablespoons of sour cream we've got there.
Sure. Once you do that, we end up with this wonderful pesto dressing.
And we just pour that over the potatoes.
Look at that. Look at those colours. Great.
And I'll let you do that.
Me pour. Look at that. Drizzling over. Now, that, as simple as that, is really quite an
elegant dish. You'd be surprised how well those flavours combine. You can use this as
a dish on its own or as an accompaniment. But, again, using the combination of effects
with microwave.
Looks great, Geoff.
Thanks.
Earlier, we touched on the subject of preheating your convection oven. Now, it's really important
that we do this, isn't it?
It sure is, Geoff.
Because that high temperature when you're putting meats or cakes or pastries in there
is really quite essential to get a good result. Otherwise, your meat will shrink too much,
your pastries won't rise, and your cakes will flop.
They sure will.
Oh, it's sad, isn't it? How do you do it?
Okay. It's very easy, Geoff. You just press the convection button. And as you can see,
the red symbols come up and it's asking us what temperature we want to preheat.
Just follow the lead.
Follow the lead. Press 160 degree button and hit the start. And the oven automatically
starts to preheat.
It even tells you that it's preheating.
It does tell you it's preheating. Now, at any stage, if you want to check what temperature
it's at, you can just put your finger on the convection button and you can see it's starting
to climb.
94. Excellent. Nothing could be simpler than that.
Triple chocolate muffins.
My favourite.
Your favourite. Everyone's favourite. The oven's preheated. I can see why.
Yes, the oven's ready for us to start.
And that's essential for this recipe.
It is. You always preheat the oven on convection microwave if you'd normally preheat. So when
you're baking or roasting, those sort of things. The same techniques follow. I think it's the
easiest way to learn.
That's a really good clue, you know, to use low temperatures in a convection oven, low
temperature in microwave.
Exactly.
The parallel is there. Triple chocolate muffins. Enough talk. Yes. What have we got?
Okay. We've got two cups of self-raising flour here and that's already been sifted for us.
And we're going to just mix all the dry ingredients together. So I might talk you through those
and like usual you're good at the mixing, aren't you?
Yeah. The mix master, that's what they call me. So here we go.
Okay. A third of a cup of cocoa powder, which is also sifted.
Yes.
Obviously important to get all those lumps out so you get an even mix. And a third of
a cup of raw sugar. I like to use the raw sugar in this.
You like to use any sugar.
Not too much sugar. I like the chocolate though.
The chocolate's the go. Actually, straight out cocoa powder is not naturally sweet. So
if you just add pure cocoa powder, you really must have sugar.
Yes. Okay. So we mix all the dry ingredients. That's really important at this stage, isn't
it, Geoff?
Sure is.
I learned this from you.
No, that's all right. Now, what goes...
Okay. So we add the chocolate bits and then all the wet ingredients. So we've got a quarter
of a cup of the dark chocolate bits and a quarter of a cup of milk and white. And it's
up to you. If you want all dark chocolate, you can use all dark chocolate. But I think
the three together, the white chocolate is great.
Is this...
Eat the rest of the packet.
It's good. Now when do you want these in, Janelle?
They can go in now so that they're coated. And here we've got three quarters of a cup
of milk and two eggs. And just beat the eggs lightly together because we don't like to...
It's important not to overmix muffins.
That's right. Now the thing is, with the dry ingredients, as Janelle was saying, you can
mix them until the cows come home. Wet ingredients, you can mix those together until the cows
come home. But when the wet hits the dry, we're only supposed to mix them 15 times.
15 times. And I'm counting.
Yes. Well, the thing is, if you overmix your flour, you toughen your final product. It's
good if you're making bread. But muffins, you want them to be nice and soft.
Nice and soft. Yeah.
Alright.
Okay. So we'll just mix all these ingredients together. There's the eggs and the milk.
Now the melted butter, we don't mix in with the milk because we want the butter to remain
melted. If it goes into the milk, it could solidify.
That's the set, isn't it?
Oh, God. You're going to count, I can tell.
Okay. So just mixing all those ingredients together. I think muffins are one of those
things that you can vary to your own taste. And this is a great base recipe and there's
lots of other ones in the Sharp Cookbook. A really nice, if you add some blueberries
and the white chocolate blueberry and white chocolate muffins are absolutely superb.
You're a muffin-eat.
Savory ones are good as well. Cheese and bacon. So you can vary the recipe to suit yourself
and suit your own taste.
How's that?
I'm sure that's 15 times.
If it's 16, I'll go one backwards.
One method.
There you have it.
Well done.
The other thing too is even if there's a touch of flour there, still a bit unmixed, it doesn't
matter. It's far better to have not too mixed.
Okay. So we're popping those into the greased muffin tins.
Yep.
Greasing the inside's very important because as they get older, the tins, they lose their
sticking ability. But also grease the top too because when the muffins grow up, they
have a bit of a collar and it could stick on that.
Okay. Just a little tip.
That's a good cooking tip.
Good cooking tip.
Okay.
Okay. Well, we'll keep doing these.
We'll keep doing these. And that's the last one.
Fantastic. Now this cooking really interests me because I know that you've got convection
and microwave heat here. I would imagine that any microwave energy onto these tins would
be kablooey.
No. With the convection microwave, these microwave ovens, you can actually use metal cookware
when you're cooking on the mix. Okay. Not when you're cooking on straight microwave.
That's very important. But when you're cooking on the mix and actually when you're baking
on the low mix, which we'll show you how to do in a moment, that's only using 10% microwave.
So it's on a very, very low microwave percentage. So you find it doesn't arc. Now the only thing
to watch out for is loose spring form tins and those sort of things. When they get a
bit old and tacky and the edges are quite sharp, sometimes that might cause arcing.
So don't use those dishes. But you'll find you will get a bit of arcing on those dishes.
But generally speaking, you can use all your metal cookware using the high mix or the low
mix.
Fantastic. Let's cook them.
Okay. For the two trays, place one directly on the turntable and then one on the high
rack so that you've got nice even airflow. Okay. That's the best way when you're cooking
two layers in the convection microwave. And as you can see, we preheated. And now these
are going to take 15 minutes. So we program in the time. We press the low mix button.
The oven will automatically choose 180 degrees and we want 200 degrees. So we can change
the temperature to suit the cooking requirement and hit the start button. And you can see
it will start to count down. So that's half the cooking time. But you get exactly the
same result that you'd get out of your oven.
Saves time. And when you're waiting for muffins to cook, time is important.
Especially triple chocolate ones.
A great thing about fan-forced cooking in your sharp convection microwave is that you
can cook more than one layer at a time. You can cook an entire roast dinner all at once.
A variety of biscuits or muffins and even mixed grills. I recommend you place one layer
directly on the turntable and the second layer on the high rack for a doubly delicious result.
How are you going there? Jeff, nearly finished?
Not bad, Janelle. Nearly, nearly.
Good. Okay, we're making a Vogeleggen bacon pie here for you now. This is really a variation
to a quiche.
We are. You're talking. I'm making.
That's the way it should be.
Is it?
Absolutely. Okay, so we've got around 12 to 14 slices of bread. And they've been buttered
on both sides and Jeff, as asked, is just cutting off the top so that it sits flush
around there. If you leave the bread hanging over the top, it actually burns during cooking.
So it's important to cut those off.
Well, I'll just do that.
You'll finish off there.
Will I ever.
All right. And now on the base of this, we're actually going to add about four rashers of
bacon, which we've had the rind removed and that's been chopped up. And a couple of onions,
which have been chopped fairly finely.
Smells great.
That smells good, doesn't it?
Smells great.
And that's been cooked for six minutes on high. There's no fat. It's just the fat of
the bacon that's in there and that actually adds a little bit of flavour as well.
A lot of flavour.
So that goes onto the base when you finish there.
Are you trying to say I'm slow?
No, you are doing very well, aren't you?
I get bossed around everywhere I go. This woman. The best.
Oh, looks great. Fantastic. So this goes over the base there.
Thank you.
I'll do that for you. And then what we do is we crack six eggs straight into here.
Oh, I like the whole egg presentation.
Yep, the whole egg makes it look good and also helps...
Ideally, you should crack each egg separately into its own container and then into this.
We know they're fresh, don't we?
But we know they're fresh. We checked these. We did the old floaty test and these are good.
So while you're doing that, I'm just going to mix up the custard. We've got 150ml of
thickened cream and the same of sour cream. And we just mix those ingredients together.
This is very much like a quiche, isn't it?
It is very much like a quiche, that's right.
So these particular combination of flavours, it's your personal choice. You could vary
this recipe, couldn't you?
Yeah, spinach is great.
Yum.
OK, so we've got some flour, seeded mustard. Now, another thing I like to do is mix the
seeded mustard in with the butter and spread that over the bread so you get an extra flavour
there. That's a good little tip.
Intensify it.
Yes, it sure does. And we've got some dried basil and some fresh parsley. But if you have
some fresh herbs growing in the garden, use the herbs of your choice.
Good, look at that. That's not too bad, is it?
That looks great. It looks fantastic. So we just mix these ingredients together with them
so that they're well combined.
Right.
OK.
Good. Spoon over the top of the eggs.
And then that just spreads over the eggs.
OK.
You can do that.
Mix, mix.
That just goes straight over the top and then we sprinkle it with the cheese.
Right.
You don't have to be too fussy here because really, that's a good point about this recipe.
As long as it's just covering the eggs on the top, you'll find during the cooking that
it melts quite evenly and disperses through the ingredients.
Now, the whole yolks, like this, they won't explode?
No, no, absolutely not. No, not a problem because you're not just working with microwave.
Basically, with this recipe, we're again, like the muffins, Jeff, we're only working
on 10% microwave. So it's mainly the convection that's actually cooking most of this recipe.
Good.
OK. So cheese right over the top there.
Janelle.
Yes?
This container, that's ceramic, right?
It is ceramic.
But because we're using the low mix, we can use a metal container?
You can.
Except for the spring form, is that right?
Except for the spring form. So you wouldn't do this in a spring form. How about some black
pepper on this as well?
No, thanks.
No? Oh, OK.
This is for me then.
OK. Oh, it will be too.
Now, like when you're baking a quiche in the oven, normally preheat your oven?
Naturally.
So we've preheated the convection microwave and as you can see, it's ready for us now.
It's saying add food.
It is telling us to add the food.
Good.
So we'll open the door. We'll place this in on the low rack. OK, the oven's nice and hot.
And we'll cook this for 26 minutes. So 26 on the low mix. And we'll choose 200 degrees
so it's nice and hot. And hit the start button.
And brown the top.
And yes, so the microwave is cooking and the convection power is actually browning.
So you're saving time but getting a great result at the end.
Saving energy too using the microwave power. The other thing too, if you're going to preheat
the oven, any oven, when you open the door, be in there and out quickly.
Janelle, some of these recipes look sensational. Did you have anything to do with them?
Yes, yes. We did all that in the test kitchen at Sharp.
Way to go. This has got me confused. Grilling. There's no grill at the top of the oven.
That's right.
There's no exposed element in these but grilling is really good. You can get some fantastic
results when you're grilling. It grills by fan-forced heat. And what happens is the oven
preheats to an automatic 250 degrees Celsius.
That's nice and hot.
Very, very hot. And you place the food in the racks that you get with the oven and it
seals the food on both sides at the one time.
And so things like toasted sandwiches are fabulous. They take about 10 minutes but you
can do the four at the one time. Steaks and things like that. So just to pre- basically
what you do is you just press your cooking time, select your grill button and you can
see it automatically chooses that hot temperature. Hit the start button and it will preheat.
So it's important not to place the food into the oven until the oven calls you and tells
you that it's ready.
It does everything. Look, while I've got you here, a couple more things. That less
and more button. What does that mean?
Okay, these are two very important features on the microwave because what we've done
is we've programmed all the menus to cook basically for a medium result. Okay? But some
people like their meat rare or well done and also vegetables can be nice and crisp. That's
how I like mine. You like yours way too?
I like them nice and crisp. I've had vegetable soup in the years gone past.
Yeah.
I don't like it.
But a lot of people like their vegetables really soft as well. So you can adjust all
the results that we've set the oven for to suit your own requirements. I think that's
a really important feature.
Now let me show you how you do that. These being one touch menus, it's important to
press them more or less before you hit the key. So let's say we like our roast beef
rare. That's how I like mine. Press the less button.
Less cooked.
Exactly. Press the roast beef and it would give you a rare result rather than the medium
result.
Okay. You just choose your menu and you just tell you more or less beforehand.
Exactly.
Great button. Listen, there's one other thing.
One more?
You talked about on the show a number of times the variable power.
Yeah.
How do you control that?
Variable power as you know is very important. We've covered that a number of times like
you said.
I know. I know. I'm stupid.
No. No. No. I think that's just important to keep harping on because if you get that
right you'll find that everything else flows on. Basically don't forget that these are
a microwave as well as your convection and the mix. So you enter your cooking time and
let's say we're just looking at two minutes. Here's the variable power button. Press that
and the first time it's on high and that's great for cooking vegetables and things. Each
time you press it, it works its way down the different power levels. So medium low if you
were defrosting and hit the start button and that's the important button there.
Okay. So if you want to enjoy all these fantastic recipes, learn how to drive it. Good. Thank
you.
I love casseroles.
So do I.
Do you have to wait for springtime for this one?
No. You can eat this all year round. Springtime lamb casserole. I must have developed it at
springtime I think.
Yes. Locked in to the seasons. Now I've cut this up. You said this size was important.
Yes. The size of the meat is very important and basically you cut it a little bit smaller
than you normally would and it must be pretty much an even cut so that when it's cooking
it will cook evenly. If you've got big pieces and small pieces it cooks unevenly.
It's very important with the microwave whether it's the meat or the vegetables, each of each
individual one must be cut the same size. And I noticed here Janelle that you've made
sure every corn kernel is the same size.
It took me hours.
You're wonderful. Yes. Very good.
Okay.
Nothing silly Jeff. Just carry on.
We have to coat the meat in the flour and the French onion soup. So we've got two freezer
bags here, double thickness.
You're going to put the dry ingredients first or the...
What would you like me to do?
Dry ingredients first.
Dry ingredients first.
It's about time we men stopped being mice in kitchens you know.
Okay so we've got the quarter of a cup of flour and a packet of French onion soup mix.
Good.
Just mix those together in the bag.
Quickly.
And then the meat all goes in here.
Okay. How much meat have we got here?
750 grams of diced lamb.
Okay.
Okay. So you're doing the coating.
Yep. This is the leg of the lamb that we chopped up. You can get your butcher to do that.
If you're lazy.
If you're in a hurry.
It's a good thing you know. Butchers actually like helping. They're very, very good people.
I've got a great butcher. You do here too. The meat's wonderful.
It is good.
Okay. We just place that all in... I'm going to take it out of the freezer bag.
That's a good thing.
...all into the casserole dish together.
And all the leftover mix.
Now the French onion soup, right, gives it the extra colour.
It does. It gives it colour and it gives it a little bit of flavour as well.
Yes that's right. Because you normally brown your casserole in a saucepan or on a high heat.
I tend to.
In the oven, yes. I think that's the best way to do it. On the hot plates but in the microwave oven.
This will give it that lovely brown.
That's a good tip.
It gives it a nice texture as well.
Good tip.
The onions are quartered so we just place those straight in and during the cooking and the stirring they actually break up.
And yes we've got the carrots. And as you can see they've all been evenly cut.
So that goes in. And we've got one cup of chicken stock.
Okay. Of course if you've got lamb stock or beef stock you'll change the strength as you want.
Change that. That's right.
Okay.
So the important thing to note here is that you normally use a little bit more liquid than that in a casserole.
But when you're cooking in the microwave because it's so quick to cook you'd use about a third less stock than you normally would.
A third less liquid than you normally would in a conventional recipe.
Because it doesn't evaporate off with the extra time.
Exactly.
There you are.
You're learning.
Lid on.
Lid on. I always cook with the lid on.
And you didn't preheat.
No I didn't preheat. Basically following the same principles as you would conventionally.
You don't preheat the stove when you're cooking your casserole. So I haven't preheated the microwave either.
That's not an essential step.
No.
So we'll cook that for 28 minutes on the high mix here Jeff.
Okay.
The high mix is about 30% microwave. Or it is actually 30% microwave.
That's exactly 30%.
Exactly. And it's already set for 200 degrees. So being meat rather than the baking it can take that 30% microwave and still cooks nice and quickly.
Alright.
Okay now.
We have more vegetables here.
We have yes. We have two sticks of celery which we've chopped evenly. And we've got the other casserole in this oven here.
Nice. Let me get that.
So I might get you to.
So the same principle apply again Janelle. That the firmer vegetables take longer cooking. So they go into the casserole.
First.
First. This is already smelling good. There we are. And the softer vegetables like the corn and the celery there will go in towards the end.
That's right.
Hey.
The easiest way to teach with microwave cooking. So many people think that it's quite difficult. But we've developed the same, follow the same sort of techniques as you do conventionally.
So there's not quite as much to learn. So that's the celery. Oh doesn't it smell delicious.
Yes.
And the corn. And at this stage we add sour cream to taste as well.
Okay.
It can be the light sour cream if you like. We just stir this together. I think it's important to make sure that you've stirred this well.
Because it's not getting the agitation that you can sometimes get when it bubbles away.
That's right. So we mix that and then we place that back into the microwave which I'll do to finish off the cooking. And that only takes another ten minutes.
Ten minutes. That's a quick casserole.
Another ten minutes. So about thirty minutes or thirty to forty minutes.
Lid on.
Lid on. Yes.
Always important.
Yes. Lid on.
Okay.
Place that back in for me.
And you'll set it for the extra ten.
I will set that.
Careful. Don't burn yourself.
It is hot.
Here we go.
And the important point to note there is that you do cover it.
So we'll place that back.
The other thing too with cooking a casserole and any sort of meat in the microwave I think it's the liquid that is cooking the meat here.
So as the liquid around the meat cooks it guarantees a tenderness.
That's right.
Isn't that good?
Great.
So the meat is finished. A little bit of garnish with chopped parsley. Delicious.
Hello.
Thank you very much for giving me your recipe.
That's alright Janelle. It better turn out pretty good.
It better.
This bread and butter recipe. I like it.
It is. And I've converted it to cook in the convection microwave.
Yes.
So I can cook it quicker than you can.
Can you?
Will it still be good though?
Absolutely. I'm sure you'll tell me if it's not.
I will.
Okay so we've got four slices of bread that we're buttering.
We're buttering again.
You can use wholemeal, white or multigrain can't you for these sort of recipes?
For sure. Depending on the richness of flavour that you want.
Okay so then we just cut that into cubes.
I love the way you say we. Whenever I do something you go oh then we just do this and we just do that.
We're cooking together.
We are.
I'm talking you're cooking.
Yes.
Okay.
There.
And another point I think we were talking about a little bit earlier because of my sweet tooth.
A friend of mine gave me the recipe. You can actually spread the butter.
Some jam through the butter.
Some jam through the butter and that gives it an extra colour and flavour.
Okay so a nice not too chunky jam. That's a nice conserve there. Beautiful.
We won't do that but you can do that.
And sprinkle that.
Yes.
I'll leave you to the rest of that.
Right so what I'm doing here is I'm just spreading the bread pieces that have been buttered into our dish.
Which is just about perfect size for this.
Scattering over some sultanas.
By the way I've recommended in the past that you can soak these sultanas in some alcohol of choice.
Oh perfect.
Just to plump them up and give it that little bit of edge that we all like.
Yum.
Booze.
Why didn't we do that?
Well, next time.
Next time.
I always hold back a little secret or two you know.
That's a good one.
Here we go. Now we're putting in the caster sugar.
Scatter it over that.
Janelle what are you up to?
Yep I've got the four eggs lightly beaten and we've got our milk with the vanilla.
Which has been heated for about one to two minutes on high just to warm through.
It's important to be whisking all the time if you're using warm milk.
Into eggs. Absolutely.
Now the thing too is a little word on vanilla.
We've used some of this vanilla essence here.
But you can get the extract which is absolutely sensational.
It's a really thick sort of liquid.
But you can also get fresh vanilla beans.
Which you'd put into the milk when you're heating it in the microwave.
And that gives you not only the flavour but that little black speck.
That's lovely isn't it?
Yep I love it.
Okay so we just pour this over the top.
Now that will all soak in.
It will.
And look at this.
That's it.
That's it.
Lovely.
And finally we have?
Brown sugar.
Just to...
Use my fingers here.
Yeah with the hand.
Scatter it over.
Just over the top and some nutmeg.
Nutmeg just sprinkled over.
Yep.
Nice rich flavours there.
Now ordinarily Janelle I cook this in normal convection heat in a water bath.
Just to make sure that the evenness of heat is there.
But you don't do that.
No I don't.
I tried it with a water bath but what happens is the microwave energy loved the water.
And the cooking time, the pudding just never cooked.
So I found that because the cooking time is so quick that you actually don't need the water bath.
Alright that's a good tip.
So I did try it with the water bath but didn't succeed so this is much better.
They've got a WhatsApp and you're converting recipes don't you?
You do.
We test them.
All the recipes in the cookbooks are all tested in our Sharp kitchen so that we know they work.
Now place that in and as you can see we've got that on the rack.
It's very important to any egg dishes or cream dishes always elevate them off the turntable
whether you're cooking with microwave or with convection.
Okay and did you preheat?
We did preheat yes.
Okay again following the same principle as if it's done in a normal oven the conversion happens here too.
26 minutes on the low mix.
180 degrees is the temperature we want.
Hit the start button.
And how long will that cook?
26 minutes.
26 minutes later and you must let it sit.
Very important.
How long will you let it sit?
About 5 minutes before you serve that.
And there it is.
I can't wait to try that.
My bread and butter pudding.
Janelle that bread and butter pudding was delicious.
Yum.
It was good.
It was.
The interesting thing is you converted an existing recipe.
Now are there any general principles if you want to convert another recipe?
Because most recipes on earth are not written for microwaves.
That's right.
There's not a lot of recipes out there for microwave.
A few principles involved?
There are a few principles involved.
Basically when you're cooking meat dishes like casserole or any of those sort of meat dishes on the high mix.
Okay you've got the two settings.
You've got the low mix and the high mix.
When you're cooking on the high mix usually you cut the cooking time down by a third.
So a casserole that would cook for let's say an hour on the stove.
You'd be looking at 35 to 40 minutes on the high mix.
Okay.
So that's a general rule of thumb.
General rule of thumb when you're cooking on the high mix.
Now even better than that is the low mix when you're doing all that lovely baking of cakes and slices and those sort of things.
It cuts the time down by half.
So your existing recipe you'd halve the cooking time.
But the important point here is that you use the same temperature in the microwave or on the convection microwave that you would normally use in your oven.
Okay.
Good point.
So these are only two examples.
That's right.
What happens if you have your old favourite recipe and what general approach would you take to converting it?
I think the best thing to do is to have a look up the Sharp Cookbook.
I mean with the cookbooks that we've written they've all been written and tested here in Australia by us in our test kitchen.
And there are like over 300 recipes and we're adding to that all the time.
So you're saying that the principles of the recipes in there will probably fit the principles of your old favourite recipes.
That's right.
You'll probably find that there's a recipe in there that's similar.
And so look that up and then just follow those guidelines.
Just adapt it to yourself.
But the other thing too is if you have an old favourite recipe it works, you know it well.
I mean why would you convert into microwave terminology?
Two important reasons.
One that you save electricity and that saves money.
So that's an important point.
And you save cooking time so you can enjoy the meal with the family.
And the results at the end?
Results are exactly the same.
You're not compromising the recipe at all.
It's got to be good.
Jeff, what about a frittata?
Not a good idea.
I love frittatas.
They're so fashionable aren't they nowadays?
They are very fashionable.
Really.
Just a similar beast to the omelette in the omelette family.
But it's a great vehicle to carry other flavours.
Yes.
I've varied this by adding some potatoes.
I like to keep this recipe with all vegetables but you can add chopped meat if you like.
You can vary the recipe to suit yourself.
So you're a spud girl.
I love potatoes.
And you said that you wanted all of these cut even size otherwise I'm not allowed to be here again.
You're so tough in the kitchen.
Even size is exactly right.
Now we've left the skin on these potatoes.
We have?
Extra nutrients there.
Extra nutrients, extra flavour.
Now if you've got good washed potatoes that's exactly what you should be doing because there is a lot of flavour around the skin.
Okay so we just place these all into the base of the dish and we're just using a flan dish here.
And I think we've covered the point beforehand but let's cover it again.
Is that the shallow dishes and round dishes are probably the best ones to use in the microwave oven.
And this is one of those wonderful corning that you can use for lots of different things.
Okay good.
Very versatile dish here.
So then we place the onion in rings straight over the top.
Right.
And then what we're going to do is I'm just going to make up the custard mixture here which we pour half of this over initially.
So we've got five eggs and I'll just whisk these together while you're doing all the chopping.
So this is a recipe we're doing together.
That's right.
See?
It's really good.
The more you cook together the more you stay together.
It's good fun isn't it?
Yeah I do.
I encourage my kids to cook in the kitchen.
Certain things they can do.
Other things they stay away from like knives and things.
Yes.
But actually the lack of heat with microwaves is a pretty good safe thing.
Yes it's very safe for children to cook with the microwave.
They're actually learning to use them at school so they're pretty much experts before we are these days.
Yep.
Good stuff.
Okay so just mix this custard, mix it really well so that all the eggs are well incorporated.
I've got the onion going there nicely.
Yep the onion going in there.
Okay that goes over the top.
This is all combined.
What about salt and pepper?
Do we have any of that?
Yes we do.
Am I putting you on the spot?
Good.
Okay so we've got some green pepper.
Again to taste.
Yes freshly ground pepper.
Now we didn't have to oil this dish.
No we've got 450 mils of sour cream here so there's enough moisture there.
Enough moisture there.
So just spread that about half over that.
Okay just quickly spread that over the top.
So I can see what you're doing.
The principle again is the firmer vegetables, the ones where you want to get more longer flavour out of, you start first.
Exactly.
Okay and we have these other ones here.
So how long will you cook this?
We're going to cook that for 14 minutes on the low mix and we've got a nice hot oven once again because we want the browning here.
Okay.
Okay so 14 minutes.
Into a preheated oven.
On the low mix and hit that start button and that's the first part of the cooking.
Right.
And we've got one in our other microwave there which we'll finish off.
We'll take that out.
Can you do that for me?
Absolutely.
Now this is nice and hot.
What we've got here is the potato is just partially cooked because we've got another 14 minutes and you can see the custard has set.
It's cooked.
Yes.
And we'll just arrange all the vegetables on that now.
Okay.
Hot.
Now the thing with the vegetables always, it doesn't matter what the recipe says, this sort of dish, go out and find the freshest vegetables on the day.
That is really, really important.
But the other point too Janelle is that when you're doing a frittata, choose vegetables that don't ooze too much moisture.
Otherwise you'll dissolve that egg mix.
So stay away from say fresh tomatoes that are really sort of too juicy.
And mushrooms Luke, a little bit too?
Yeah, mushrooms aren't a good one for this sort of dish either.
Unless you cook them off first and evaporate off that moisture.
Yeah.
Then you add them in.
And probably another point that we were talking about a little bit, this can just be scattered over the top, is choose vegetables that are all the same texture.
So the asparagus, the capsicum here and the zucchini are all similar, sort of soft, medium to soft vegetables.
If you wanted carrot or celery, maybe carrot, celery and pumpkin is another good mix.
Right.
So that's another important point.
Now a frittata is a very good dish hot or cold, especially in summer.
It's really nice cold.
So as a summer dish there's an added bonus because when you're cooking it in the microwave the heat in the kitchen isn't anywhere near as strong as a convection oven only.
Exactly, Jeff, because I mean you're saving half the time here as well.
So the time and the temperature, the bonus.
So I haven't done a very good job there.
That's right. You can shugle it.
That's a good word.
Shugle, shugle, shugle.
I've heard that once or twice in your kitchen once.
One of my words.
Shugle it into shape.
Now back into the microwave.
For another 14 minutes but the most important part of a frittata is freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese right over the top.
Now, extra colour too by the way.
I mean this will brown.
You can sprinkle a little bit of paprika over that.
Lifts the colour.
Okay.
Will we put this back into the oven?
Let's.
Let's do that.
Let me help.
Cool down a little bit.
That's good.
Not a problem.
Okay.
So back in on the rack again.
I like to leave that rack in there.
Close the door.
Let's do another 14 minutes and that will just finish off on the low mix.
Hit that start button.
And already it smells good and have a look at that presentation.
Fresh shavings of Parmesan over the top of the frittata.
Janelle, cleaning a microwave.
Is it easy?
It's very easy.
Yes.
I think it's as easy as it is to cook with.
Really?
It is.
The important point I can recommend is that to look after all of your appliances and specifically
the microwave oven, give it a good wipe out each time you use it.
Is that right?
That's the easiest way to look after it.
Actually while any spillages are still fresh it will come out easiest.
However, there are two types.
This is a stainless steel inside.
That's right.
So wipe it clean with warm soapy water.
But if you've got any baked on stains, if you've been cooking chicken or pork or something
that may have splattered and have baked or caught on to the stainless steel.
You can use a stainless steel cleaner just on a cloth.
And if you do that after you've been cooking then it will come clean again.
And then wipe it out again with fresh water.
That's right.
And give it a good dry so that it's ready to use again.
Okay.
But the easiest of the world is?
Yes.
This is fabulous.
This is the ceramic coating.
Look at that.
Similar to your fry pans and your saucepans.
It just wipes clean after you've been cooking.
So again, wipe it clean after you use it with warm soapy water.
Then fresh water and dry it with a soft cloth.
Okay.
Now look how well it pulls apart.
Isn't that something?
Fabulous.
Which means can these go into the dishwasher?
Yes.
It's all dishwasher safe.
So you can place all of these into the dishwasher and wipe the base nice and easy.
Excellent.
And do you know what?
It's quick to cook and quick to clean.
Great line.
Janelle, that fruitcake, they take forever to make.
Do we have time?
We do.
We have time.
Yes, this is our final recipe.
Oh dear, I'm sad already.
Finishing on a good one.
But look, it's a good one.
Yes, you both said it.
Not just because there's some chocolate in there, ladies and gentlemen, but because it's
a great Australian fruitcake.
It is a lovely Australian fruitcake with good dried Australian fruits.
Got a kilo of fruit in this recipe.
And I think, again, you like to use the fruit of your choice.
I'm using 500 grams of mixed dried fruit, which is one packet.
And then a combination of the dried apricots, the dried apple and some dates.
Some dates.
Okay.
But of course, if you prefer to use anything else, go right ahead.
Absolutely.
Now you macerate these dried fruits normally, don't you?
Yes, you do.
So a lot of people like to pour the alcohol over the fruit and leave that for about a
week.
And it absorbs all those lovely flavours and plumps the fruit up.
Really?
I like to pour the alcohol into a glass and leave it for about 10 seconds.
So do I.
Yes.
We might do that when we finish.
Okay, it's a deal.
Okay, so the alcohol goes in here.
How much do you want?
Oh, I'll let you.
A couple of tablespoons.
Alcohol of your choice.
Oh, really?
Really?
Okay, we're using a brandy here.
Brandy actually goes traditionally very well with not just fruit, but the butter flavours
too.
So if you forget to soak the fruit, Jeff, a good tip in the microwave oven is pour the
alcohol over the fruit, put it into the microwave oven for about 30 minutes on low power, which
is low microwave, 10% power.
Yes.
And that eliminates the need to soak the fruit.
The fruit will actually absorb all that alcohol.
Plump up.
You can save that step.
Okay.
So we put this into the microwave oven for five minutes on high.
So just five minutes, hit that start button, the sharp microwave chooses high straight
away.
Way to go.
You want to wipe your hands?
Thank you very much.
And we're at this step right here.
Okay, now look at that.
It's gone nice and glistening, nice and warm.
And the fruit's plumped.
Plumped up.
All ready for the extra ingredients.
Okay, so what we do is we've got four eggs.
And just quick, lightly beat those and I think I'll let you mix.
I'm the mixer.
What a change.
So we mix those ingredients.
They're becoming big and strong now unless you do a little bit of mixing.
I do a little bit every now and then.
Do you?
When I'm not around.
When you're not around.
Yes.
And then we stir in the other ingredients.
We've got a cup of plain flour and that's been sifted.
Yes.
So I'll just add that in there.
A teaspoon of baking powder, which helps it.
Bit of a lift.
Give it the lift.
Yes.
We've got cinnamon and nutmeg, one teaspoon of each.
Right.
Okay, you can use the spice of your choice again.
Garlic.
Not garlic.
125 grams of toasted flaked almonds.
Now tell me, you can toast these in the microwave, yes?
You can toast nuts.
Sesame seeds is another really good one.
Just put them straight into a Pyrex dish, straight into one of these dishes here.
About two to three minutes on high, but after each minute just give them a bit of a stir
and take them out when they're just lightly browned because they store so much heat
because of the natural oils in the flavour, in the nuts I should say,
that they'll continue to cook when they leave the microwave.
So take them out just when they're lightly browned.
Good tip.
Now with these style of fruitcakes, I mean people traditionally have them at Christmas,
it's probably because they take hours and hours to do.
You're suggesting this one will happen in 38 minutes.
38 minutes will have a lovely recipe.
But look, the time that you normally take to cook the fruitcakes, that develops the colour.
It does.
So what are the ways around that?
Okay, there's a couple of ways. One, you can add a couple of teaspoons of Parisian essence.
Right.
Okay, and that gives it no flavour, but it actually just gives it that nice dark colour.
You can add plum jam or my choice. What would be my choice?
Any chocolate. What else?
Absolutely.
I once asked you…not so fast. One for you.
One for me.
Way to go. Chocolate in there.
Absolutely.
And mix that through?
Mix that through and that will melt during the cooking and that gives it a lovely flavour.
It also gives it the colour, but you've got the choice.
And then we just pour that into our greased lime cake tin.
Right.
Do you want me to hold that?
Yes, thank you.
It's my pleasure.
I'll tell you what, you just want to be closer to the chocolate. I know you.
It smells beautiful. I can smell the alcohol already.
It does already.
Yes, it's just a little bit of warmth releases the flavour.
Actually, it's really good getting behind the Australian dried fruit industry.
Tremendous product. Nice and local, of course.
Mm-hm. Okay, so we just spread that. I might get you to do that for me while I talk about garnishing the top.
Okay, you can decorate the top in a number of different ways.
After you've baked it, you can take it out of the oven and scatter a whole lot of glacé fruit over the top.
Right.
And you can get a lovely decoration as well as extra flavour.
Right.
Or another thing I like to do is just decorate it with some cherries and pecan nuts.
Right.
Just make little flowers.
Pecan.
Or pecan. What do you call them?
I say pecan.
Do you?
Pecan nuts.
You're pecking on me.
No, I'm not.
No? Are you going to help me?
Yes.
I think so.
So, one of the ways to decorate the fruitcake, you'll find at the end of the cooking that gives it a lovely colour and gives it a nice glisten as well.
Good therapy too.
It is good therapy. This is where you can get the kids involved.
Do you know, some people are really mad about fruitcakes. They're real hobbies for people to make. I know a lot of men that actually make fruitcakes.
Do you?
They're specialty areas.
Somebody here?
Yeah, a few of the guys here. They love to make fruitcakes. They are fruitcakes, some of the guys here.
Let's move the alcohol.
Yes.
And we'll put that... Aha. So I can't leave it to you, can I?
Okay, now we've preheated the oven.
Okay. Do you want me to open now?
I do. We're ready to put it into the microwave. In on the rack.
Okay.
Right.
Now, preheated to 160 degrees. Again, that's a low temperature because you'd normally cook your fruitcake on 160 degrees in the oven. And we'll program that for 38 minutes.
Now, Janelle, just hovering around you over the last couple of years, I'll bet that this has to sit when it comes out because it's dense and moist and it's got a lot of heat still in it. Is that right?
It sure does. When you take it out, just like the cakes out of your normal oven, you use a skewer to test. Take it out and allow it to stand. Soften a little bit of honey. Brush that over the top.
Mmm.
And look at the result.
Janelle, our last recipe today. Isn't that good?
Perfection. What do you expect, Jeff?
It looks great. It's delicious. We should eat some of that.
I think so.
Do you know, we've just done eight recipes, nice and simple. However, if you purchase a Sharp microwave, convection microwave, you get a booklet with…
Yes, you do. You get your, this cookbook, complimentary.
300 recipes, I believe.
Yes, it has over 300 recipes in there, all written by us at Sharp.
Tested. Beautiful.
Yes, all tested.
And the other thing too is you have a Sharp recipe club.
That's right, Jeff. With the video, you actually get your club registration form. Fill that in and post that in to us with the envelope that's been supplied.
And four times a year, maybe a few times more, we'll contact you with more recipes and lots more handy hints because we're always learning about these things.
Well, I must admit, over the years, with you and with Sharp, I have actually learned a few things, a long way to go still, how to use microwaves. And thanks for that. I've really enjoyed it.
Pleasure.
Cheers.