The Ronco Showtime Oven is the latest version in the famous “Set it and forget it” line of products. It is a rotisserie oven that promises to cook any kind of meat evenly to get the most taste and flavor out of each meal. We wanted to know how our Ronco-cooked chicken would match up with one of the pre-cooked variety. We got our hands on a twelve-pound chicken and put it to the test.
The Ronco Showtime Rotisserie Oven consists of a string of hot coils along the back wall of the stand-alone oven. You stick skewers through whatever it is you’re cooking, be it chicken, turkey, duck, lamb, roast, ribs, fish, anything. Place the skewers inside the oven and it rotates to cook everything evenly.
Who Is It For?
The Ronco Showtime Rotisserie Oven is ideal for people who find themselves cooking a lot. Especially if you make meals for the entire family, do a lot of hosting, take care and interest in what you make for dinner. It is especially ideal if you have to make a lot of food.\
Cooking whole chickens, turkeys, roasts, ribs, fish – if you find yourself making food like this on a regular basis, you will find your workload greatly reduced by the Ronco oven. You simply dress the food, stick the skewers through it, set the timer and cook. This
What You Get For How Much
The Ronco Oven comes with a whole bunch of tools and optional accessories. The main unit is the oven itself, and this is what the commercials promise and do the bulk of the work. The main oven consists of coils along the back wall. What you do is use the Ronco stand, which consists of two spear-like kabobs. Place this through the meat you are cooking, then lock it in place (see our video below).
Once you have the food ready to go, place it in the oven, on the rotating track. It will then cook all sides evenly and do a pretty good job at that. This is the basic unit and if all you want to do is cook chickens, turkeys, roasts, kebobs and other meets that can be easily skewered, this is all you’ll need. The basic order retails for $99.95 (or five payments of $19.99) plus shipping and handling, which runs an extra thirty dollars. In addition to the oven, the basic order comes with:
- Nonstick rotisserie basket to place food in after cooking
- Barbecue gloves so as to not burn yourself removing food
- Twelve elastic chicken ties
- Eight compact kabob rods
- One liquid and one solid flavor injector
You are also offered a series of optional accessories (at an additional price), which I’ll explain here.
- Upgrade to the standard oven. This oven is larger than the compact, ideal if you’re making larger turkeys, roasts and chickens for dinner parties or families larger than six.
- Add the rib basket, thermometer, four dozen ties, flavor injector and 240-page cookbook for $39.95.
- Add marinade packets, char rub and apron (choice of blue, red or green) for $39.95 and free shipping.
We think the best deal is with the rib basket, flavor injector and cookbook, especially if you don’t already own one.
How Does It Hold Up?
We cooked a chicken with our compact Ronco oven, filmed the process and put it to a taste test. Here is our video:
All in all, the Ronco Compact Oven cooked a very tasty chicken in a quick and safe way. The best part about it was that the kitchen smelled like a roasting chicken was cooking. When we ate, the inside was moist, tender and delicious. The oven definitely cooked a chicken well.
Positives
The Compact Oven is basically like having your own rotisserie cooking unit in your own kitchen. Think Boston Market or your local supermarket, except, y’know healthier and you can choose your own tasty and healthy meat.
- Chicken cooked evenly, tender and warm on the inside
- Flavor injector added seasoning within meat
- East to clean
- Smelled delicious
- Quick and safe
- Recipe booklet and instructions made cooking faster and easier
- Stainless steel
If you don’t own a stove, want something classier than a heating grill or want your own rotisserie unit, Ronco definitely holds its own. It will cook chicken, roasts, fish and turkeys very well and if this is what you want, then you’ll be satisfied with the results.
Negatives
The negatives are not with its performance, but rather with the obvious part about what you’re buying. It is very versatile in terms of what it can cook, and the standard oven is larger if you’re making bigger foods, but it still only cooks one thing at a time and doesn’t have the space of an oven. If you don’t have an oven and you want to cook meat, then this is great. You won’t be able to bake things like lasagna and cookies with the Ronco oven since it is not a stove.
Final Verdict
This is a good oven, but it’s not for everyone. The important thing to do before you buy is evaluate what kind of a product you need. If you have an oven, but you want to cook more meats better, then it’s for you. If you don’t have an oven and you only cook meet, it’s good for you.
However, if you are going to be cooking a larger variety of food (like stuff that usually sits in large pans or trays for a long time), then maybe you should pay the extra money for a big stove.
The Ronco Rotisserie Oven lives up to its billing and cooks food as well as it promises. It is easy and effective and the food was delicious. You just want to be sure that you get your money’s worth and can have the full and complete dinners you want with this product.
How to Buy
The Ronco Rotisserie Oven is available at ShowtimeOvens.com.
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