I am using my oven for the first time tonight. Decided to make a 2 lb. meat loaf. I was just amazed that of all the things not programed in the masterchef was meat loaf. So I'm auto roasting it on 375 degrees oven temp with a probe temp of 180 to ensure the chop meat is thoroughly cooked. I just had to guess on the 375. I hope some other Miele owners contribute to this list, so we can all learn the Miele as we go.

Hey chinchette. My understanding of autoroast is that it uses the top element to heat the oven up quickly (which is what I think they mean by sears). But the top element goes off after the initial temp is reached, I believe, while the bottom and the fan keep going.

The other day I was on an English website reading about multifunction ovens -- which are similar to the Miele.

As I understand it the differences between the various settings are heat combos -- bottom only, top & bottom, top for a while and bottom with or without air. The convection settings all have air and conventional don't. The air helps keep the heat even in the oven as i understand it.

From using the oven, I've observed that the convection bake and convection roast settings are best when the heat needs to be distributed evenly because there are multiple racks are cooking at the same time. Convection bake I find to be fairly gentle heat.

I get intensive and surround confused but I think one has the convection and the other doesn't (my book is not where I am now). I still double check.

Some of it is trial and error for me and I've started noting the settings on my recipes. I have a 2-crust apple pie, f.ex. which I've been doing on intensive because I find the bottom crust gets very brown and the pie tends to really cook through very well.

At the end of the day I think the setting is a function of thickness, when you want the browning to start and then how much is in the oven (# of racks used). So it's about control -- but you need to know in advance what kind of control is needed for a recipe, which you can't often gauge the first time.

I made focaccia the other day for the second time. I didn't write down the setting the first time but it came out perfect. I used intensive and thought it came out dry but I also used a slightly larger pan. Next time I'll try a setting without top heat (though it was nice because the onions on top cooked really well).

Since I've had the oven I haven't called Miele to discuss all this. I tend to know how things cook and what I want but I'm not always sure. Also I find some of the terms they use in the booklet area unclear.

But since everything seems to come out quite well usually, I haven't taken the time to call them. When I do I'll post again.

Meanwhile, my mainstay for roasting is autoroast. I like intensive but found it best for thick things that need heat penetration to the middle and are ok with top heat.

Think I used surround for baked potatoes, which worked great.

Hope that helps somewhat.

Thanks for that. I understand that better. So it sounds like from what you are saying is that on auto-roast, the fan is running so thats convection, right? Do you roast everything at 400 or just the chicken? By the way, since you told me about auto-roasting the chicken at 400 I have not used the rotissery once because its been such a success.

I use intensive on the brisket because I figure thats like pot roast and the masterchef program uses intensive on that. It comes out great.

Hi,
My meat loaf came out too dark and crisp on the outside and strange consistency on the inside. I don't know if the inside consistency (cohesive like) was due to my cooking or the oven settings. Can anyone help me with how to cook a 2Lb meat with the Miele oven?
Jane

That would make sense with what Rococo said about the auto-roast setting searing the meat from the top for the first part of the program. Hope we get a good answer because thats what I want to make next.

momtomom,
I cook meatloaf at 375F on the convection bake setting. I don't use any of the automatic settings. I think it's easier and more accurate to just use a top-quality instant-read thermometer. I use a super-fast Thermapen from Thermoworks, although the Miele probe works quite well too.

Super-fast Thermapen:

{{gwi:1378094}}

Personally, I think your problem is that you're overcooking your meatloaf. I always aim for an internal temperature of 140F. When I get to that temperature, I remove the meatloaf from the oven and cover it loosely with aluminum foil and allow it to rest for 15 minutes or so before cutting into it.

Even if you include pork in your meatloaf, 140F is hot enough to eliminate any possibility of food borne problems. At an internal temperature of 140F, your meatloaf won't dry out to the consistency of a PrestoLog.

The link below will take you to the Thermoworks website, but if you see something that interests you, shop around. You can find better prices on their products from other sources.

Here is a link that might be useful: ThermoWorks

Thanks to all of you who have helped me with this problem. Chinchette, I've got the scoop on how to do a meat loaf. If you're interested pls contact me.
Thanks all

Yes, please tell. I don't think the e-mail via gardenweb is too great.

I make 2 pound meat loaf in a glass loaf pan. It cooks for 50-60 minutes at 375 on convection roast or at 400 on regular bake. Never used a meat thermometer for that -- stick a skewer in it and if the juices run clear it's done.

Jamesk's meat thermometer looks like a good one though. I have older Taylor instant reads that come in handy though using the probe eliminates testing and gives me the countdown at the end so I can time veggies.

Chinchette -- roasting is high heat ocoking basically and it's open cooking -- meaning that you want the air to go all around it so that it's evenly browned all around. Autoroast is a setting that browns and uses air -- perfectly for chicken, turkey, rolled roasts, leg of lamb, cornish hens, whole fish -- anything that needs to brown.

I use 400 on autoroast most of the time, even for fish fillets. You can lower it to 375 if it's spattering like mad or getting dark too quickly. But 400 is my autoroast default

Intensive is good for brisket.

Has anyone done a pizza in the Miele? I'm making a simple pizza (buffalo chicken) on a Boboli. Any hints appreciated - otherwise I'll wing it and report back later. :)

Okay, the pizza was a hit with the whole family. I used the intensive setting for the first time. Since the manual warned to watch the bottom of the pizza, I chose the 2nd from the bottom rack setting. Since the Boboli recommended 425 degrees, I used 400 degrees as instructed. Very easy and yummy!

FYI - Thin layer of blue cheese dressing, followed by shredded rotisserie chicken mixed with Frank's Red Hot Sauce and topped with mozzarella cheese. :)

Interesting Rococo- you do the turkey at 400. That must come out very fast. Is it really juicy? One more question- do you have to put foil on any part of it? I am anti-foil, and all the recipes I find say to use foil. How do I get around that?

jmfromil,
Can you tell me how did your pizza turned out? Can you tell me how you decided to bake it or how you will bake one in the future. This column has been very helpful and three cheers for Rococo in particular. BTW has anyone used a the bread baking stone? Is it really worthwhile?

I have a recipie for stuffed chicken breasts and one for stuffed pork chops. Actually doing to pork this week. Can anyone comment on the best way to cook these? Convection broil for the chops and con.bake for the chicken? And if so at what temperatures. I think it's the temperature settings that confuse me even using the MC settings.
Thanks again.
Jane

momotom - Visually it looked beautiful. The crust was perfectly done. The toppings were a good temperature (and I had used a refrigerated salad dressing and a little cooler than room temp 'spicy chicken'.) The only thing that I wasn't sure about at the end of the cooking time (about 10 min.) was the color of the mozzarella cheese. It melted uniformly and bubbled around the perimeter. I fooled with the idea of broiling for a couple of minutes, but nixed it when I read that all broiling should be done with the fan filter in place - I had taken it out for the 'intense bake'. I will probably just cook the pizza the same way and not worry as much about the bottom of the crust. :)

chinchette -- I jump-start my turkey always with great results. Miele 400 for 25 minutes then lower the heat for the rest of the time. I didn't tent it this year as I found the oven heat to be very even.

A pizza stone is great if you're using homemade dough as it gives a supple "pizza shop" texture to the bottom of the dough rather than the crisper metal texture. The issue is transferring from the pizza into the oven -- it takes practice.

The only drawback with the stone is that it must be left in the oven to cool -- it can't be handled. Best with 2 ovens -- one with the stone. I prefer the square to the round -- to cover the rack as much as possible since you don't want your pizza hanging off an edge.

Or, if you're smart like jamesk, you build in a special pizza/bread oven --- my little dream though I'd like mine outdoors.

jmfromil and Rococojurl,
I'm learning so much, if you happen to see my post above about the stuffed chops and chick breasts, I'd love to know how and what if either of you have had experience with this. The pork I'm making for company so I'm afraid of them coming out poorly. It's the stuffing combined with the meat that's throwing me off along with the appropriate temp.
Thanks
MOT

Can't answer all the questions, but the Miele manual does describe operation in the different modes.

We got good results with roast chicken using the autoroast and temp probe to control doneness. I think I set the probe temperature to 185F (which seems high). The oven starts on sear, which involves using the upper element at the beginning of the cycle.

Note it is recommended that ground beef be cooked to 160F to kill e. coli.

roccoco- I was under the impression that if you do auto-roast that it automatically raised it to 400 for the first 25 minutes. Maybe I am wrong and that is something that is in Masterchef. I find that there is not very much programed into Masterchef!

If you go Miele's website under "Ask the Chef" you can email them with any questions you may have. I actually put in a call and got to speak with their resident Chef who runs their cooking courses and knows how to best use every feature on the oven. Very helpful. By the way the maximum searing temperature on Auto roast is 450 degrees.

We do homemade pizza 2-3 times a month. Always with a pizza stone on the lowest rack. Oven on Intensive Bake 425 F. My pizza crust (I use ww and white flour 50/50) is very thin but this still comes out perfect without any scorching on the crust.

I've used the Miele thermometer a few times now and it always got the meat/turkey to perfect doneness. However, the last time I did a roast on Autoroast we weren't quite happy. It was medium done just as desired but the meat was a little tough. I had it set on 325 F and it took the oven about 2 hrs 45 minutes for a 5 lbs roast. Not sure what went wrong. When I did a roast a few weeks back I had browned it on the cooktop and then transferred it to the oven, inserted the thermometer and cooked it at convection roast. I'm not 100% sure about the setting and can't remember the temperature. But I do remember how surprised I was that it was done very fast (under 2 hours) and that one was perfect!

Can't find "ask the chef" - do you have a link?

chinchette -- I can't answer that as I don't know the technicalities of how the cycle works.

momotom -- glad you found their person to answer cooking questions. We'd all love to have the link for that.

I found the link at "downloads". Also, a turkey recipe there calls for autoroast and explains that it sears at 450 then drops the temp back down for the rest of the program.

Here is a link that might be useful: ask the chef