As a culinary educator in the appliance industry, I began cooking with a convection steam oven 24 years ago, when Gaggenau introduced the first steam oven for residential use in the United States. Steam ovens were originally created for use in high-end restaurants, and the recipe guidance that came with the oven tended towards gourmet meals that one would expect to find in a high-end restaurant.
However, in order to get clients excited about purchasing new appliances and interested in the steam oven, I had to learn how having one would benefit them. So my journey began, roasting all types of meats and vegetables, baking breads and delicate custards, and steaming grains, vegetables, and shellfish. I also learned to perfect the technique of Low-Temperature cooking for lean, tender cuts of meat and canning in the steam oven.
In other words, I had lots of practice.
Working directly with many clients over the years gave me a unique insight into the questions, challenges, and learning curve we all go through when learning how to use a new appliance. This is why I created the Convection Kitchen website and YouTube channel: to provide an educational resource with proven recipes to help people learn about cooking with convection and convection steam ovens.
Steam and convection ovens feature a variety of cooking modes designed to help us achieve success with different types of cooking. Unless we understand these modes, adapting our recipes to benefit from cooking in these ovens is challenging. Understanding the tools you are cooking with is crucial because recipes do not reference the tools you cook with, making it easier to troubleshoot disappointing cooking results.
Many visitors come to Convection Kitchen because they are looking for information on how to cook a specific type of meat, fish, or poultry in a steam oven. This is why we have a selection of how-to Recipes, such as Roast Chicken, Roast Turkey, Prime Rib, Beef Filet, Trip Tip, and Lobster Tails, that will help you understand how to cook the basics in a Steam oven. Once you understand the basics, you can vary the recipe ingredients as well as the cooking mode to your preference.
The different modes in a steam oven allow you to prepare food in various ways. For example, bone-in chicken can be steamed; chicken pieces can be roasted at a moderately high temperature or slowly roasted at a low temperature; and, of course, you can roast a whole chicken or cook an entire meal with chicken and side dishes. This is why our recipes are broken down into categories as well as types of food and meal types.
In the Steam mode, the oven defaults to 212 F (100 C), the temperature at which water boils. In this mode, you can poach or boil eggs, cook oatmeal and grains, flan or custard, steam vegetables, seafood, bone-in-chicken, and your favorite dim sum or tamales. Some of these items don't require an actual recipe, and it's just a matter of determining the timing. For others, such as custard or flan, it's a matter of understanding that you can omit the step that calls for baking the custard in a water bath.
When it comes to steaming fish or shellfish, this method is similar to poaching, but you can also roast or broil fish and shellfish. So, when reading a recipe, it's important to understand the method outlined in order to choose the correct cooking mode.
When it comes to roasting in the steam oven, our recipes will help you achieve success with roasting all types of meat, fish, poultry, and, of course, vegetables by providing specific temperatures, timing, cooking mode, and the best types of pan to use. Steam ovens have smaller cavities than standard ovens, so the details in these recipes are crucial to their success. Despite the smaller cavity, you may be surprised to know that you can cook a 10 - 14 lb turkey in a steam oven, depending on the model, and it will only take approximately one ¼ hours.
Steam ovens don't have a bake element (bottom heat), but the combination of heat and steam makes them ideal for baking bread, pastry, and casseroles. Even when using a different recipe, the guidelines our recipes provide will help you easily adapt that recipe in terms of temperature, mode, and timing to bake in the steam oven.
Some steam ovens have a Low-Temperature Cooking mode. This mode is similar to Sous Vide cooking in that the food is cooked at a very low temperature. This mode is only for cooking lean, tender cuts of meat, fish, and poultry, and unlike the Sous Vide mode, the food does not have to be vacuum sealed in a bag or container.
This cooking method takes some time, and the food needs to be finished over high heat before serving, but the results are sublime. You will never overcook an expensive cut of meat when you use this method, and you will find many recipes featuring this method on our website because we are great fans.
As steam ovens became more popular, manufacturers began to add Automatic Programs to help people overcome the initial learning curve. These programs are beneficial; after all, it only takes cooking a few meals successfully to convert people to the joys of cooking with steam. On the other hand, to get the most out of cooking with a steam oven, taking the time to understand how to cook without those programs will be most rewarding.
Learning to use a steam oven effectively takes a little practice. Still, because our recipes are tailored to the steam oven's different functions, you will easily adapt your cooking and reap the rewards of this fantastic combination of Convection and Steam.
Larissa, Your Convection, Steam Enthusiast
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