The GE Advantium made a crackling debut in October 1999. It cooks with a combination of microwaves and intensely hot halogen light. The microwaves cook the inside of the food while three 1,500W bulbs brown and crisp the outside. Depending on the dish, cooking can be four to eight times faster than in a conventional oven, with no loss of quality.
Chicken stays moist because the cooking is so quick.
Less expensive cuts of meat turn out great and baked potatoes are as good as they'd be from a restaurant convection oven. This is a flow of air, heated by electric coils, that enters the oven from the top, wraps around food and exits through the oven bottom. This air, moving much faster than in a convection oven, seals in moisture and gives the food color and texture. To operate it, you either select a preset recipe or use the Time Wizard feature, which determines cooking time when the food's weight, thickness and desired doneness are specified. But the 5XP adapts it to home use with such features as fan noise control and a self-cleaning cycle.