McMinn and Cheese<p><strong>The Bertazzoni</strong></p><p>Thank you to reader Oliver, who prompted me for an update concerning my Bertazzoni range cooker in France. I have been neglecting this duty.</p><p><strong><strong>Skippable backstory:</strong></strong></p><p>When I last checked in, <a href="https://robmcminn.uk/2025/01/29/checking-in/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">in January</a>, we were waiting for the engineer to visit and hopefully repair the faulty thermostat, or whatever it was. This was after the crushing disappointment of <a href="https://robmcminn.uk/2024/12/30/the-shine-the-shine/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">finally getting to use </a>the cooker at Christmas only to discover that the faulty thermostat rendered the oven unusable. It would heat to the set temperature and then go on heating until the dafety circuit cut all power. After a cooling period, the clock would start flashing at zero, and you could then at least use the hob and the extractor fan.</p><p>In summary: ordered in September, delivered November, installed in December…</p><p>The engineer finally visited in January and declared that it had a faulty thermostat. <strong>A common fault</strong>, he said. Not that this meant he had a spare part with him. So he had to order the spare part and then arrange with our very kind and helpful neighbour to come and fix the cooker. In <strong>March</strong>. So when we visited at Easter, it had literally only just been repaired, and it was with some trepidation that I got to use the oven for the first time…</p><a href="https://robmcminn.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/bertazzoni-2.jpeg" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a>1<a href="https://robmcminn.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/bertazzoni-1.jpeg" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a>2<a href="https://robmcminn.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/bertazzoni-3.jpeg" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a>3<a href="https://robmcminn.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/bertazzoni-4.jpeg" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a>4<a href="https://robmcminn.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/bertazzoni-5.jpeg" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a>5<a href="https://robmcminn.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/bertazzoni-6.jpeg" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a>6<p>I’ll start with the oven and then talk about the hob.</p><p>First things first, it’s a 90cm unit, which means a very big oven. If you don’t think you need such a huge oven, Bertazzoni offer smaller sizes, or models with two ovens. You can see them in John Lewis. But the AirTec model you see above, with the built-in extractor fan, is only available in 90cm. This is useful for me, because we frequently have a lot of people to feed in France, and I’m looking forward to having space to cook Christmas dinner. (Which for 2024 had to be done down at my brother-in-law’s house in a much smaller but functional oven.)</p><p><strong><strong>The Oven</strong></strong></p><p>The first photo above shows a tray of vegetables on the go. The two knobs on the left hand side govern the functions of the oven. The leftmost selects the temperature, and next to it is the mode dial. With only two weeks, I haven’t quite learned all the ins and outs of the different modes, but here’s an overview:</p><a href="https://robmcminn.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/image-5.png" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a><ul><li><strong>Rapid pre-heat.</strong> This isn’t a cooking mode, but a method of getting the oven up to temperature fast. So you set it to, say, 200ºC, in this mode and it will get there much quicker. You will also see your smart electric meter using a lot of power. One of the weird quirks of our house in France is that we have an upper limit we can consume. You have to come to an arrangement if you want to draw more power. My brother-in-law did a lot of tooth-sucking when he saw the maximum consumption of this cooker. I actually forgot about this and put the oven on pre-heat while the washing machine was on — and then I put the kettle on. And that was it, the breaker cut and all power went off.</li><li><strong>Static.</strong> This is using top and bottom heat like an old-fashioned non-fan oven. It’s a nice quiet setting. “Ideal for roasts, bread and cakes” says the manual. I eventually used this for bread after discovering that the fan mode wasn’t very good for that purpose.</li><li><strong>Heating from below.</strong> Just the bottom element. Slow cooking, plate warming, and for cooking delicate things that don’t need browning. Meringues?</li><li><strong>Heating from above.</strong> Top element, but not the same as grilling. For warming food or dishes that need browning on top. Mac and cheese?</li><li><strong>Grill.</strong> Top heat, on the 4th level only. Sausages, bacon etc. I doubt I’ll ever use the grill function, because I’m concerned about the mess that spitting fat makes.</li><li><strong>Fan-Grill.</strong> Combo setting. For grilling thicker foods. It’s the same as Grill, but with added circulation of the heat.</li><li><strong>Fan-Static.</strong> An everything setting, using top and bottom elements and circulating the heat. For biscuits and cakes, it says.</li><li><strong>Fan.</strong> The classic fan oven setting. Uniform heat from the rear element circulated by the fan. I tried this setting for bread (picture 2) and cooked some baguettes – but they ended up looking very pale, like those part-cooked ones you buy in the supermarket. Much better to use Static for bread (pictures 3 and 4!).</li><li><strong>Pizza.</strong> Bottom heat and fan cooking combined. I might use this in winter, but in the summer I cook pizza on a stone on the barbecue. I’d be interested to try it, though, with two stones – <em>The Pizza Bible</em> always suggests this method – part cooking on one stone, adding toppings that don’t need as much cooking, and then finishing off on a second stone. There’s certainly room to try this.</li></ul><p>But that’s not all. There are other modes. Such as: proving dough. Very useful. You just select <strong>Static</strong> but <strong>do not</strong> set a temperature. The light comes on and creates the perfect environment for proving dough. You can thaw frozen food simmilarly, by using <strong>Fan</strong> but no temperature.</p><p>You’ve got a clock and a timer, too, which are straightforward to use. I’ll never use programmed switch-on/off functions, though they are there too. One thing I haven’t tried is the built-in meat thermometer because I haven’t done a roast yet. I did do a lasagne, which came out great, and the couple of loaves of bread you see above. I was especially pleased with the long loaf, which came out perfect. I haven’t had a chance to try all the functions, but I have established that I prefer <strong>Static</strong> for bread. I’ll experiment when I have longer than two weeks.</p><p><strong><strong>The hob.</strong></strong></p><p>The <em>great</em> thing about the induction hob is not just that it’s big, and not just that it has a built-in extractor fan, but that all four rings are the same size. I’ve had a hob in the UK with 4 rings, two small, one medium and one large. And in 20 years I’ve almost never used the second small one. My brother-in-law has a three-ring hob, which I like, but I like better having all the SPACE and four rings. “The pans used for cooking must be at least 120 mm in diameter to ensure operation.”</p><p>On top of this, there is a bridge function, where you can activate two of the rings and use them as an extra-large ring. “To activate it, turn both knobs of the cooking zones concerned fully clockwise for 2 seconds. The Bridge function will appear on the rear display and the power level can be selected on the front display.” You can see this in action above, with the 5th and 6th photos. I used my largest sautée pan across two of the rings. It worked perfectly. So you could use something like a paella pan, too. As long as it’s induction compatible.</p><p><strong><strong>Extractor Fan</strong></strong></p><a href="https://robmcminn.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/image-6.png" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a><p>It was this feature that sold me on the Bertazzoni in the first place. The kitchen in the house in France is just not suitable (without major and very expensive renovation work) for an overhead extractor. The best picture I have of it was taken quite a long time ago. So my IKEA kitchen island and other IKEA units aren’t there, and you can just see the old gas bottle cooker. Above it you can see what was the chimney/flue from the old woodburning stove that my OH’s great aunt had. So my oven (and fridge) are basically in a kind of inglenook fireplace with a sealed off chimney above… which occasionally drops soot through its trap doors. I think the flue from the woodburner in the other room goes into this chimney. Anyway, it would be a major job to modernise and we’re just not going to do that.</p><p>So a cooker with its own built-in extractor appealed to me. And it works. I’ve got it set up so that it circulates the air, filters it, and blows it out of a vent at the bottom of the oven. It is possible to vent it to outside if you have the facility. It was just never an option for us. </p><p>The fan can be set to “Auto” and its speed and power is determined by how hot you have your hob ring. So turn it up to 9 and the fan will fairly scream. Set it manually and it works fairly quietly on setting 1 and 2 and starts to get louder on setting 3 and above. It goes up to 9, but there’s actually an even higher setting: P, which is like an overdrive that will work for up to 5 minutes. I have never used this. I find it works adequately on setting 2!</p><p>In the middle of the hob is the grille, and beneath this is a cavity containing the fat filter and the activated carbon filter. You get two grilles, by the way. One is flatter and thinner, fitting flush with the oven top. The other is heftier with a raised Bertazzoni logo but it not flush. I’ve gone for the more modern “flush” version.</p><p>The only issue is the tendency for stray bits of food (bits of chopped onion, for example) to fly into the fan. So you have to clean it out. The fat filter can be run through the dishwasher occasionally (low temperatures, short cycle) or washed by hand. The activated carbon odour filter can be “regenerated” in the oven: 200ºC for 45 minutes. Needless to say, with only two weeks to use it, I have done neither of these things. After 30 hours of hob operation, an F will appear in the display to remind you to clean the fat filter.</p><p>Here’s a little video of the fan in operation (sorry for the podcast on in the background).</p> <p>And that’s about it, I think.</p><p>It made me sad and frustrated for a long time, and I wish it had cost half the price, but hopefully it will be an heirloom for my daughters. It’s great to finally have a modern appliance in that kitchen.</p><p><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://robmcminn.uk/tag/airtec/" target="_blank">#AirTec</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://robmcminn.uk/tag/bertazzoni/" target="_blank">#Bertazzoni</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://robmcminn.uk/tag/cooking/" target="_blank">#Cooking</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://robmcminn.uk/tag/dinner/" target="_blank">#dinner</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://robmcminn.uk/tag/food/" target="_blank">#Food</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://robmcminn.uk/tag/kitchen/" target="_blank">#Kitchen</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://robmcminn.uk/tag/range-cooker/" target="_blank">#rangeCooker</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://robmcminn.uk/tag/recipe/" target="_blank">#recipe</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://robmcminn.uk/tag/recipes/" target="_blank">#Recipes</a></p>