JJ Lighting & Electrical

Neff Training day at BSH head office in Milton Keynes

Saturday, 31 Oct 2009 ~ Posted by Mook

Me and Paul were both invited to attend a “training” course at Neff’s head office in Milton Keynes.

We had the pleasure of riding up there in Paul’s Classic Porsche 928, which was lovely (apart from the boot opening itself and filling the car with fumes).

Rather than being an intensive training session, the course is designed as a chance to refresh our knowledge of the Neff range and learn a little more about the special features each product has.

Essentially the Home economic experts cooked food for us, whilst demonstrating how each appliance gives better cooking results, or makes cooking easier. Things like steam cooking, intensive heat and combination microwaving.

Double oven with warming drawer

We ate Pigs in blankets (thats a cocktail sausage wrapped in bacon), posh cheese on toast, and Oatmeal cookies for “brunch” All cooked in the same oven, with no conflict of flavours or smells. It was explained, by using Neffs unique “circotherm” fan cooking system, temperatures can be lower, which reduces the movement of fat etc in the oven, and the way the air moves means flavours remain where they belong. The food was loveley.

As we were shown various different machines, the trainers explained the merits of each type of product.

Take the Steam combi for example. In this they made an sponge cake, using steam and conventional cooking. The result was an incredibley soft , moist sponge cake thanks to the steam with a golden crunchy topping becasue of the conventional oven elements. It was very impressive, and took no time at all.

A selection of compact appliances

We had a beautifully roasted chicken cooked for us, using the Circotherm in a Series 2 single oven. Using the universal baking tray and the wire shelf, they managed to cooker roast potatoes and a whole chicken on 160 degrees in less than an hour. Very impressive, and moist and flavoursome.

All four stages of the slideaway door.

We were then shown some of the other ovens in the Neff range, and a big feature of this years models are the slide away doors. Incredibly simple, but effective, they make tending to items inside the oven a breeze. Basting, turning, and simply removing is so much simpler with the slide away door becasue you can get right up close to the oven cavity. And, because Circotherm draws air from the front of the oven to the back you don’t get burnt when you open the door up.

This was the main thing I learnt on the day. Essentially Circotherm draws the hot air towards the back of the oven, as opposed to pushing it towards the door like on most other fan ovens. The result of this, esspecially if you keep cooking temps below 180 degrees, is that the oven simply won’t get dirty.

Some built in double ovens, only popular in Britain apparently, hence no Pyro.

Of course you’ll get the odd splash etc, but it should’nt end up coated in fat like most other brands. This is becasue Fat only becomes airborne at higher temperatures. It also means you don’t lose your eyebrows everytime you open the oven door. lol. Of course the cavity will be red hot, but you can work at the front of it without too much worry.

Also demonstrated to us were the induction hobs. If you’ve seen THIS video,

you’ll appreciate how quickly Induction works, and the Neff demo managed to bring a pan to the boil 3 times, in the time it takes a normal ceramic hob to reach a simmer. Incredible.

The bridge on the Enterprise... or ar they hobs?

A top tip also, for keeping and induction hobs clean, and this I thought was inspired… put a bit of kitchen paper or a tea towel between the hob and the pan.

Yes, it works, and be at no risk of burning whatsoever. Crazy huh! They even boiled some water through a £20 note!

There was so much to learn on the day, which was great becasue our knowledge of the Neff range was quite comprehensive, but this really reinforced what we knew and added depth to the grey areas.

I picked up lots of little titbits of info, and hints and tips, which i’ll post on my next blog.

For more information on Neff appliances, contact us via the website or pop into the store for a free brochure and product advice. You can also find out where your nearest Neff cooking display takes by visiting the Neff website

In the meantime, here are some of the pics i took on the day

Mook