Review: Cuisinart TOA-60 Toaster/Broiler/Air Fryer

[BJK]

The cookin' section is for recipes so I guess this goes here.

This will be an ongoing review as things come to mind as I learn more.

The old T/B (toaster/broiler) had a pressure sensitive pad and the buttons were getting harder to actuate, so it was time for a new one. OK, I also need the old one out in the shop for bullet coating. Shhhhh, just don't tell the wife. I'm the cook as you'll figure out. After much looking and weighing pluses and minuses I dropped the hammer on the Cuisinart TOA-60. The price was acceptable, I did find T/B/AFs for up to $400, but I wasn't going to pay that for a countertop appliance. The next one I considered was Breville and they were just under $300. The Cuisinart is quite uniformly priced at pennies south of $200. I ordered from Home Depot and they had "free" shipping. We received the T/B four days later shipped by FedEx. Oh, buttons were a "feature" that I didn't want on all the units I looked at. The only button on this unit is the one for the light and it was pressed once to turn it on and not to be used ever again. Now when the unit is powered up the light comes on and stays on. When it's powered down the light is off. I has a small red light that tells us that it's on, this is a bigger light that also informs us.

Where our old T/B had the controls on the side making the unit longer, this has a "stacked" appearance and layout making the footprint smaller, there is plenty of room to go higher on our countertop, so that was one point in it's favor. From the specs it's LWH: 15.50" x 16.00" x 14.00" so it's close to being a cube. It comes with a grease drip tray, fryer basket, and oven rack.
https://www.cuisinart.com/shopping/a...r_ovens/toa-60

Reviews I read were mostly good but there were a few negative reviews most of those had faulty units that showed up close to immediately. But there were a few reviews that claimed, "This thing burns everything it cooks! It's going back!". But I've learned long ago that not everyone actually knows how to cook. More on the issue with burning everything in a bit. I did read some reviews done by professional test folks and they claimed that because it's such a powerful unit heating such a small space that what's cooked in it needs to be watched. That ties in with those folks who claimed that it burned everything. But that's precisely what one wants in an air fryer. An AF that gets lukewarm isn't worth much. This T/B/AF is a very powerful unit, lots of wattage in a small space, and if the buyer wants one where recipes are followed and trusted with no input from the cook, then this is probably not the unit to buy. Under that situation it can burn everything put into it. But for those folks who know how to cook, it will really cut your cooking time, but there might be a learning curve. I'll come back to that in a bit.

The first thing I did on plugging it in was to check the infinitely adjustable temp' dial with my eye and the actual temperature measured in the oven. They were close. More accurate when the internal fan was selected. Note on "convection" cooking. That term is used to name forced air cooking. Forced air cooking has nothing to do with convection. The name "convection" is misused and does not describe forced air cooking. Now a standard oven without a fan IS a true convection oven. So from now on if I refer to that again I'm going to correctly use the words forced air or fan. But anyway, when using the fan the temps were actually closer to what my eye saw when it lined up the dial with the desired temperature. But it's infinitely adjustable so it's a simple matter to just dial it down a bit for the best accuracy. The housing is magnetic and it would be easy to get a thermometer that clings to it and keep the probe in the oven. At this time I'm not going to bother. No off the shelf oven that I know of keeps a steady temperature and this is no different. The temp swung approx' 50°F above and below the set temp'. But again that's normal unless one has special controls.

After testing the oven I was antsy to actually air fry something but I had nothing thawed. I did some online research and found out that hot dogs are supposed to be quite good air fried. Hot dogs I had and they thawed quickly in the microwave. Following the directions to slice "X"s into the dogs I air fried them at 390° for 6 minutes. They were unlike any hot dogs I'd ever fried in a pan. The edges that were produced by the X cuts got crispy. The first test was a success. OK, I could see getting accustomed to this.

The wife likes a bagel in the AM and we buy Mikes brand. They require 6 minutes of baking to finish in the home oven. It's a job tailor made for a T/B/AF. But she failed to set the mode correctly. That's easy to do since I think whoever determined how to mark the mode dial had to be doing drugs that day. The labeling could be clearer. Even knowing that it is screwy it even caught me until my confusion lifted. It's just something to be aware of, once it's understood it's not a big deal. But it's not the way I would have labeled the mode dial. So the wife put the bagel in the oven after warming it up and walked away. She failed to set the mode to bake. Instead it was set on air fry, but at the proper temp' setting. The baking time is 6 minutes. In 3 minutes she had a burned bagel. An additional part of the problem is that she was baking the bagel as she would have in the old T/B. This is NOT that T/B! It's much more powerful. I suggested the "right" way to do it but of course she did it her way.

Last night I made a serving of Coquille St. Jacques, or my version of it. In the old T/B I would set the temp to 350 and after warmup woud put the single serving in it, set the timer for 30 minutes and go do something until the timer went off. I knew batter than to do that with this new T/B/AF. So I set the unit to bake and 350°, after letting it warm up I put the dish on the baking rack and within minutes it was clear that it was cooking much faster than the old T/B. So I lowered the temp to 325 and turned it to forced air baking. I also didn't walk away. Clearly the dish was done cooking in under 15 minutes and the cheese top was beautifully golden brown.

One thing I was able to do with the old T/B was to Take an omelet, still in the pan, and pan and all went into it under the broiler to finish the setting of the eggs. The pan handle would be outside the open door and it worked fine. This new Cuisinart has a switch similar to the light switch in a refrigerator, but in reverse. Open the door on this and the unit shuts off. So it has forced me to use the broiler in the big oven. Or I could glue the switch in the held closed position. Maybe I'll do that when the 3 year warranty is up (I think it's 3 years).

I REALLY(!) like this unit so far. But it requires one to know how to cook. I'll write it again, if the user intends to follow a recipe as written and just come back to it after the prescribed time it's probably the wrong T/B/AF to buy. But if one knows how to cook it's one heck of a time saver.

I don't know what's next for it, I'm in ketosis but eating a small amount of sweet potato is good for me (3.5 ounces, which isn't much, is 20g/carbs so that would be all the carbs for one day). I might make SP fries and just take a few now and then. Once cooked they should warm up in minutes. The 'net is littered with recipes and I spent some time acquiring a mess of them.

As I learn more I'll come back to this thread and add to it.

[GregLaROCHE]

Interesting, but the link about the unit is no longer valid.

[BJK]

Hmm, it was working for me. I put a new link there just now. It's working for me again but frankly I think it's the same as what was there before.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Thanks for the review. Seems like a good appliance.

DG

[BJK]

My pleasure.

I'm actually amazed at how good it does what it does. I'm in ketosis and thought any air fryer would just be good for french fries (the air fryer mode), which I can't eat. But there's just so much more that it'll do that works for me. I don't write this only about the one I have. I assume all of the air fryers that are actually capable of air frying would be just as useful. But if one is looking for a toaster/broiler I wouldn't hesitate to possibly spend a little more and get one that will also air fry, even if it isn't the one I reviewed. I'm not shy about admitting a mistake if I make one, but so far this air fryer experiment hasn't been a mistake. The wife doesn't cook and she's had a pretty steep learning curve and of course my suggestions aren't heard. But eating failures forces one to learn. I take a certain perverse pleasure in seeing her eat the failures that she stubbornly insists on making. Of course I just keep quiet. I don't even laugh.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

You sound like a wise man.

DG

[GregLaROCHE]

I’ve been watching videos about them, trying to figure out what is best for me. Some say there’s not much difference between an air fryer and a small convection oven. The argument is that the convection ovens are cheaper and you can put more in them. I follow a Keto/Carnivore diet, so cooking meat, especially steaks is important to me. The Ninja brand seemed to cook the nicest steak, well braised. Can you cook a roast beef in one and have it turn out well?

[GregLaROCHE]

I just tried the link and it works for me today. That unit looks interesting. It’s more like a regular oven. I like being able to see what’s going on inside.

[Targa]

How many people looked at that and imagined PC’d bullets in it...

[BJK]

<snip> Can you cook a roast beef in one and have it turn out well?

Greg, I eat a lot of meat also and I'm also in ketosis, and have been for 19 months now.

I have no idea about roast beef. Maybe on bake or forced air bake it would and it couldn't be very large. Air fried? Well, can you fry a roast beef? It wouldn't be the way I'd roast a chunk of beef. What I would do is slow roast it to bring the center up to 120°, then air fry it to finish off the exterior to brown it, keeping an eye on it. It's called a reverse sear and I'd do that same cooking method in the BBQ or big oven.

In the next day or 2 I try burgers air fried. And sausages are in the queue as well. I'll know more about beef after that. Heck a burger is just ground steak. But I think it'll do a fine job esp' on my favorite black and blue steak where I want the outside charred and the inside just lukewarm at best. Also up are eggplant fries.

Yes, it looks like a regular oven, but check the dimensions in the specs at the link. It's has the capacity of a toaster/broiler.

[GregLaROCHE]

Your right about cooking a roast slowly. I figure you could cook it on a low setting and then sear it at the end with a little high heat.

[BJK]

I find no fault with the way you'd cook that roast Greg. It's the way I'd do it. I almost bought an eye of round to try it on the other day but the wife quashed that idea. One half of a whole eye round would be the perfect size.

[big bore 99]

One of my daughters got me one for Christmas. Still learning with this and trying different things , so I'll be watching this thread. Another one of my daughters got me an insta-pot and need to learn about that too.

[BJK]

I made the burgers for a late lunch today. They came out better than I expected, and I did nothing to them this first time; I even salted them after cooking. Correction, I brushed them with a dextrose solution before cooking to enhance the cooked meat flavor to get the Maillard Reaction going. It was chuck that I ground myself and I trimmed fat to get me to over 90% lean. Generally that has a problem with being juicy. But clearly these were plenty juicy, just not from fat. Either my wife or I am the dish washer and the the basket was a pain to clean*. I figured it would be, but I made 8 burgers, 2 batches of 4, and what was put on the basket from the first batch cooked on for the second batch. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. The grease tray was much easier to clean despite being gunked up far more. All of this after a 45 minute soak in the hottest water our water heater produces. I expect it would clean much easier in a dish washer. It's too cold for me to get my power washer out.

I was also playing with the temp' and cooking time. I cooked the first batch at 350° for 12 minutes and did the second batch at 375° for the same time. I was trying to get better browning. Next time I can see me going to 400° for the same time. I'll also use a solution of dextrose and baking soda. The soda enhances browning by lowering the pH of the meat. After the cooking time both batches displayed what looked like uncooked juices on the surface of the burger, in the center depression**. I let them sit and that was reabsorbed into the patty and the meat was NOT undercooked. Very different. Maybe I got carry over cooking. I don't know since I didn't cut into one immediately or insert a thermometer probe. But clearly they were not dry. They also weren't high in fat and that's what I burn for fuel in ketosis. Maybe a pat of butter would have been a good addition, but I didn't do that this time. Mmmm, some blue cheese/garlic butter would be excellent!

*In discussing this with a friend she suggested using parchment sheets with holes poked in it to let juices through to the drip tray and not gunk up the mesh tray everywhere. Makes sense.

** unless you want a semi-meatball shaped burger, make the center of the patty thinner than the outside. When it cooks the patty will contract making for a patty that's more or less the same thickness throughout. It won't be meatball like (oval) in cross section.

[bluebird66]

I've looked really hard at this unit, thanks for your review.

[VariableRecall]

https://www.cuisinart.com/shopping/a..._ovens/toa-65/

This is the one that my family has! It's very similar in size and appearance to yours, and it's been a blast to use.

Just be sure to take good notes about cooking times and how your food ends up on different settings. There's a small threshold between nice and crispy and charred with that little beast!

It's the perfect size for cooking 12in pizzas and even works really well for hamburger patties.

[BJK]

VR, thanks. Yes, I take copious notes for exactly the reasons you stated. My memory just isn't good enough to retain the minutia of what I've tried and what worked and what didn't.

I looked at that model but had a bad experience with a previous different brand toaster/broiler with buttons (pressure sensitive pad). If any units had buttons for functions I immediately flushed it as a possibility. Yes, the only difference is the user interface, the guts are the same. Yours has a cleaner look. Maybe easier to use too, IDK.

One of the things I really liked about these units in general was that they put the controls up top. They could have put the controls below the cook section for the same small footprint idea. Going up (or down) saves countertop space.

Today I have eggplant fries planned. In a nutshell it's eggplant strips with Italian seasoning, breaded (I'll use something keto), then air fried and dipped in sauce to eat. The recipe is online. It's also done on the tray and not the basket.

[VariableRecall]

VR, thanks. Yes, I take copious notes for exactly the reasons you stated. My memory just isn't good enough to retain the minutia of what I've tried and what worked and what didn't.

I looked at that model but had a bad experience with a previous different brand toaster/broiler with buttons (pressure sensitive pad). If any units had buttons for functions I immediately flushed it as a possibility. Yes, the only difference is the user interface, the guts are the same. Yours has a cleaner look. Maybe easier to use too, IDK.

One of the things I really liked about these units in general was that they put the controls up top. They could have put the controls below the cook section for the same small footprint idea. Going up (or down) saves countertop space.

Today I have eggplant fries planned. In a nutshell it's eggplant strips with Italian seasoning, breaded (I'll use something keto), then air fried and dipped in sauce to eat. The recipe is online. It's also done on the tray and not the basket.

Another thing to take into account for people that would like to pick one up is that the oven blasts hot air like crazy out the back of it. Be very careful where you put it in your kitchen. While a countertop is a great move, a cubby hole like a microwave seats in would not be a great move unless you improvise an exhaust flue or some sort of insulation.

It's a very effective little machine when you take the time to learn what works best for each dish you wish to cook with it.

[BJK]

That hot blast of air is one reason I wish they had put the controls below the oven portion. Then the exhaust wouldn't be needed to keep the controls from frying. Maybe I'll turn ours upside down.

[BJK]

Tonight I made my entire low carb low added fat meal in the airfryer. I've already mentioned how powerful it is right? Well the recipes I used need some tweaking but that was expected.

I started out with a 1" thick ribeye. It was nothing to write home about. It was cooked, but any broiler could do as good a job. I can do a much better job in a skillet, and definitely better out in the smoker grill or with SousVide and a torch*. I can cook it better than a high end restaurant so it had a high bar to get over. For the first side I followed the recipe and clearly that was not going to give me the char I want on the outside, so I jacked the temp up to air fry and the mode was also set to air fry. It can't get hotter than that. One word describes it, smoke. And the result of the charred exterior with body temp' interior wasn't there. But I don't think ANY air fryer will give me what I want with a steak. I won't repeat the steak again. While the beef was resting I air fried the broccoli. It was acceptable for a first try at following the recipe but I'll need to tweak it for my unit. I'll make it again and again until it get it right. It was promising.

edit:

*I'd be willing to bet that the IR broiler in the big oven will give me what I want, but I dislike cleaning ANY oven so splattering the big oven with a fatty steak is a no-no for me.

Next in the queue are either chicken thighs or wings. Both the wife and I expect it to make great wings. It has a high bar to get over with thighs. I use a Jacques Pepin method and it's so easy and the result is really good. I doubt the air fryer can beat it, but I'll try it anyway.

I cleaned the basket a bit differently tonight and that was a success. I still allowed it to soak in the sink with hot water and detergent, but as the sink was filling I added most of a huge kettle of boiling water. The basket soaked in that until it was just warm. That helped a great deal and I had very little scrubbing to do. It was certainly easier than cleaning after the burgers. I haven't lined the basket with parchment paper yet. That's a future test.