Circotherm Oven and Cooking

[kah22]

My new kitchen is all but completed. Over this past number of days I've been reading about my oven, a Neff neff u15m52n3gb, it talks though about Circotherm cooking system and truly that has me confused.

Is this 'Circotherm' heating system exclusive to Neff, and if so what's the learning curve like when switching over from a conventional fan assisted?

I'll give you two examples. I would normally bake a 500 gram white loaf in my old oven at 200 C for about 30 minutes. An average size chicken 90 minutes at 200 degrees. My oven is really old and these temperatures mightn't be exactly correct but I hope you get my meaning.

How would you alter the above times temperature if Circotherm cooking?

I have searched the net and I can't seem to come across Circotherm recipes. If I had a selection of recipes then I could work out what to do with my normal recipes.

Do you use a Circotherm oven. Any tips, any advice any recipes? They really would be appreciated

Kevin

I've just done a quick bit of Internet research - seems it's unique to Neff and a lot of people don't find it very successful.

I have a neff circotherm oven and have been using it for 7 years now.

In my experience it's just the same as any fan oven but I don't reduce the temperature as you would with a regular fan one.

Eg, if a recipe states 200 deg, 180 fan, I'll cook at 200 deg.

Timings are pretty much the same, but the circotherm heats up as quickly as a fan oven so no need to preheat.

I got a recipe book and full instructions with my oven.

Like yourself WosFudge it just occurred to me that Circotherm is a Neff term. However, I wonder if there is a more general term that other manufacturers and recipe writers are using?

NoonAim I also got a recipe book but I'm trying to find out how others have tweeted their favourite recipes

Yes, agree that you use the normal oven temp rather than the fan one (or somewhere in between).

Hi..
New user of a 2015 Neff oven, with 40 years' cooking experience and not getting on with it at all.

Any advice on roasting veg for example - not in the hand book - shelf and temperature? Cooking skills once renowned are now diminished!

Gabbs

I"m also new to circo therm cooking. Got my new all singing all dancing Neff double oven in June 2016. I"m finding it quite difficult to adjust to this. My booklet tells me very little regarding temperature settings and which shelf to use. I have found though it seems to cook similar to my last fan oven if I set it on normal 200c rather than the usual 180c for fan.

I've had my Neff circotherm about 5 years and still struggle with it. I had previously read on a forum to cook at the normal temperature and not the fan one, and when I do that for certain things it seems to cook better. Sometimes I cook things in the middle rather than bottom as they suggest. It's a constant learning curve and I'd never buy one again. I can never be sure how things will turn out for visitors, especially roast potatoes. Making a Victoria sponge, however, I do stick to bottom shelf, 170 for 25 minutes - based on 6oz,6oz, 6oz weight (flour, sugar, butter and 3 eggs). I do like the other settings on it - circo intensive, circo roasting and have become brave enough to experiment with those even if not in the recipe. I'm doing a lasagne tonight and still not sure which shelf I'll choose. Very confusing oven.

I hate my Neff Circotherm oven! Had it a few months now and the only successful outcome has been cakes. Roast potatoes are an absolute disaster and I dread having visitors on a Sunday when they will be served soft brown squishy efforts.
The grill is very badly designed: great to have a light in it, but this is positioned over the middle of the grill pan which means anything in that area does not get brown. Plus, it takes for ever to get hot/red.
One word of warning! Baking pans get far hotter than in other ovens and you will need a really good pair of gloves/mitts - do not use a tea towel or you will be forever burning your fingers.
Wish I had never bought this oven :(

Circotherm certainly doesn't seem popular. I wonder if any other of the major manufacturers have ran with similar type technology

With all the negative comments I see on this site and others I wonder if Neff will eventually give up on Circotherm or are we just in at the beginning of a new technology and are the effective guinea pigs

I purchased the Neff because I didn't like my fan oven - thought circotherm would be a good alternative. How wrong was I? If only I had found this site before purchasing.
Reading through the instruction booklet is a fair indication of what lies ahead - having to place tins at a certain angle, only black tins should be used for best results etc. etc. etc.
On the positive side, I can now re-warm pies etc. without having the edges burn. So......if we live on pies and cakes........
PLEASE someone, tell me how to get CRISP roast potatoes in this oven - at least before next Xmas dinner!

We actually had a Neff with circotherm when we moved here. I didn't realise and just treated it like a fan oven. Never had any issues. Crisp roast potatoes, etc. I didn't do much baking in it.

So - do you actually use the Circotherm setting for your roast potatoes?
Would be interested in your method, please.
Have to point out that I have been cooking for well over 50 years so not a novice :) Roast potatoes were never a problem in other ovens.

My method was no different from the norm - parboil the potatoes and shake them up then stick in a colander for steam to dissipate.

Heat oil in baking tray or roasting tray, add potatoes, give it shake and put in the oven. I never did anything different.

The only thing which may have made a difference was that the spuds always went in on their own, after the meat was removed for resting and I would have turned the oven up.

Sometimes crispness it's down to the potato variety and the fat you use.

That is the way I have been roasting potatoes for years - always use either King Edward or Maris Piper for crisp results.

So far, we do not differ with the method - are you using CircoTherm or top and bottom heat?
As I've said, I've been cooking for way over fifty years so I can only blame the dratted oven.

I only ever used the circotherm - I once used the top heat and burned a pizza. Have you tried putting the tray at the top of the oven? I find lard, duck or goose fat give the best results and a hot serving dish.

Hi, Yes I have used the top shelf - do you use the universal tray or one of your own? There must be one little factor which gives better results than others. As for lard or goose fat, I have been using olive oil or rapeseed for years without a problem. Have to watch the old cholesterol :)
I am determined to get to the bottom of this :)
Must say I have made the best scones EVER using the circotherm.

I used my own roasting tray. Try whacking the temperature up - perhaps for the last ten minutes?

The temperature has been set at 200 which should be more than adequate.
Oh well......I will experiment and keep you posted if I have a fab result.
Thank you to everyone who posted :)

I was thinking about a circotherm oven when we have the kitchen done soon, but, I might change my mind after reading the comments on here

Update on circotherm: still hate it! Surely 200c should be 200c in all ovens? So, why is that not the case in the circotherm oven? Nothing browns - in spite of dishes getting dangerously hot!
Okay, I promised an update on roast potatoes. What a palaver! Par-boil as usual, shake pan well to fluff up, then shake semolina over all the potatoes. Make sure LARD is hot - yep, back to the lard - before carefully tipping potatoes into shallow dish. Roast on 220c for about 50 minutes THEN turn setting onto - the setting with circotherm symbol and little wavy line above which gives a rotisserie finish.

WHAT A FAFF!!!! Wish I had never had the darned thing

We just got our Circotherm oven and so far it has been great at roasting, but I've used the 'Circoroast' setting. No idea what generation this oven is as it came with our kitchen, but seems good so far. Got through Christmas lunch with no disasters having only had the oven for a week.
Previous oven was an awful gas one though, which never seemed to get up to temperature. This is my first real experience of electric.

The instruction booklet that comes with my Neff Circotherm oven is absolutely useless. After reading all the MN comments I realise it’s not just me that’s dissapointed with this oven.

I'm just looking at a new kitchen and thinking of eye level oven in housing. I have this in current old kitchen that came with house. I like it being at eye level but struggle with smells as it blows out "smells straight into face/hair and no extracter can be place above it like on normal oven.the salesman said neff circotherm doesn't emit smells like normal fan - is retelling the truth. Does it reduce cooking smells?

He is being factual. The circotherm blows out air and then sucks it back in, unlike a normal fan oven. If you stand in front of it, you won't feel the hot air blowing out - at least, I don't.

Just a thought - do you an oven thermometer and is the oven accurately reaching and staying at temperature.