I’d like to make a case for toaster-oven ownership.
No, I don’t receive sponsorship from Black & Decker. (Or Cuisinart, for that matter, which made the toaster oven I’ll be rhapsodizing about in this post.*) It is true that my husband loathed my first toaster and complained whenever the bread got stuck in the prongs (which happened about fifteen times per week). It is true that we do have an oven, and it is far superior when it comes to baking bread, cooking pizza, or roasting a chicken.
But, alas, the oven is broken. And in the meantime, the toaster is saving my culinary life. To prove it can do the same for you (oven or no), I’d like to present you with several (slightly silly, but very real) scenarios when you might be glad to have this device on your counter.
Scenario 1: Your oven is occupied. It is preheating in preparation for a pizza, and that pizza will need to cook at 500ºF. Meanwhile, since you’re going to be stranded while the oven heats up, you want to roast some chicken thighs so you can turn them into an easy salad for lunch before you leave for work the next morning. The chicken cooks at 350ºF. Having two ovens makes a big difference.
Scenario 2: You have stale bread so you decide to make croutons. Who wants to preheat the oven for something as small as a third of a loaf of bread? If you have a toaster oven, it will heat up in minutes and your croutons will be done in a flash. Same thing for nuts.
Scenario 3: You want fresh peach pie, but it’s August and your air conditioning broke. If you turn on your oven, your level of misery will surely double. A decent-sized toaster oven can make your pie without raising your thermometer.
Scenario 4: You have Air BnB-ed a location with no oven. You’re going to be there a few nights, and you’re on a budget. If you plan ahead and have a toaster oven, you can be assured of cutting your costs by bringing your toaster and making your own meals. (I’ll admit that this sounds ridiculous. But I did it this summer with great success.)
Scenario 5: Your oven, like mine, is broken. Or it is in desperate need of cleaning because you made some miscalculations with your sweet potato pie and there are marshmallow drippings all along the bottom, which are certain to set off the smoke detector. If this is you, you will be thankful for the toaster oven, which will happily cook quiche, biscuits, chicken, sausages, meatballs, pie, potatoes, squash, and bread with no drama.
Bottom line: if you’re new to cooking and want to make your life easier, get a toaster oven. Find one large enough to hold a nine-inch pie pan and make sure it has a few different settings so it truly can replace your oven in a pinch. Buy an extra tray so you aren’t always cleaning the one it comes with. It will be worth the investment.
* Special thanks to my brother-in-law’s parents, who gave us our toaster oven as a wedding gift.
