I just moved to a small studio apartment, and it has a convection microwave/oven. The top half has a metal rack like you would find in an oven, while the bottom has a round glass rotating thing that you would find in a microwave. What kind of plates/pans are okay to use in something like this? Is microwave safe the same as oven safe in this scenario? If it's microwave mode does that mean microwave safe plates/bowls are allowed? Or should I only use what would be okay inside an oven?
I'm incredibly new(read:inept) to cooking and can barely handle frozen pizza in a normal oven, much less this cyborg hybrid monster. So ANY tips at how to use this at all would be greatly appreciated 😀
It's GE if that helps. It has a rotating knob in the middle and some preset buttons as well.
Best Answer
It depends what mode of cooking you're doing. There are a few possibilities:
If you're in convection mode, it's just a small oven, so everything needs to be oven-safe, but you don't have to worry about microwave safety. You likely need to use the rack, and it's possible you need to remove the turntable (check the manual).
If you're in microwave mode, it's just a microwave, so everything has to be microwave-safe, but you don't have to worry about oven safety. Note that this may mean you'll need to remove the rack (check the manual).
If your appliance has an actual combination microwave+convection mode, you'd need both oven safety and microwave safety.
In all cases, it'll be best to just check the manual to be sure - you need to know what the modes are (and what the buttons on your microwave do), and what the rack and turntable are okay with. In particular, you want to be very sure if you're expecting microwave-only or convection-only; if you accidentally end up with microwave+convection, it could be an unpleasant surprise.