Perhaps you’re considering buying a new steam oven, or maybe you’re still weighing up the pros and cons. The truth is, a steam oven opens up a world of possibilities in the kitchen, whether you want to cook something quick or prepare a more elaborate dish. But the most important thing is to understand everything your oven can do for you and make the most of it. Here are some basic tips to help you make the most of your steam oven.
How does a steam oven work?
The main difference between a conventional oven and a steam oven is the use of water to cook food, or more precisely, the use of steam. In a regular oven, heat is responsible for cooking your dishes. During this process, we often lose some of the food’s juices and other nutrients, as the heat tends to dry and dehydrate it – much like being out in the sun on the beach at three o’clock. To counteract this, we sometimes add more sauce or oil, among other tricks, but this can change the flavour and overall result.
The steam function offers some clear advantages. Food retains its juices and original flavour, without sacrificing a crispy finish. For example, that chicken breast which always ends up dry, no matter how hard we try, tastes much better when cooked with steam. Moreover, steam helps preserve nutrients, and you won’t need to use butter or oil to achieve a juicier dish.
Try cooking with steam in your oven by simply adding a tray of water to your next recipe, and observe the effect on the food. From there, just imagine what a steam oven could do, tailored to your preferences.
Getting closer with your steam oven
As with all relationships, you need to spend time together to make things work. Whether you’re thinking about buying a steam oven or you already own one, we strongly recommend reading the manufacturer’s manual. It will give you useful tips and help you feel more confident using it.
Try to choose an oven with an intuitive control panel, making sure you understand what everything does. Typically, they are designed so that you just need to press a button, and the oven will automatically determine the right temperature based on the type of food and its weight. That’s how clever the new generation of ovens is.
Many uses in just one oven
Another positive part of the steam ovens is that they are much easier, energy efficient and faster now. A few pretty good bunch of virtues, as you can see. And probably our favourite one is that you can create new dishes and new ways to make the most of your steam oven:
Sous-vide: cooking at low temperature
With a steam oven, you can do much more in the kitchen than just bake potatoes and broccoli. Jacket potatoes are always a favourite, but imagine cooking them with low-and-slow ribs or sous vide asparagus for dinner. It’s like going from two hard boiled eggs to the menu of a trendy restaurant. Any home appliance that inspires creativity and experimentation in the kitchen earns our full respect.
Bakery: bye, bye stale sponge cake
And you can change sponge cake for any other bakery recipe. Cooking in an oven where the cupcakes have their domed tops and airy bubbles, and cakes rise tall and fluffy, is a little dream come true. A steam oven makes this task much easier and ensures better control of the baking process by maintaining optimal humidity levels.
Doughs and breads
Hold your horses. We don’t know what have you done during pandemic about cooking bread but with a steam oven, you’ll notice a significant improvement. When baking bread at home, the average person might pour water into a tray at the bottom of the oven to achieve a half-decent crust.
Well, with a steam oven, moisture is distributed more efficiently and evenly, getting a bread worthy of an Instagram pic (or Pinterest, depending on your age). Combined with the heat of a conventional oven, your bread will be perfectly baked on the inside and crusty on the outside. And most importantly, you will have a bit of real bread, as your parents would say.
Global re-warming
One of the best ways to make the most of your new steam oven is by reheating leftovers. Now that we’re back into the September routine, it will also help with preparing your batch cooking for the week ahead.
Reheating food like rice or other grains using the steam function is a completely different experience compared to other methods, such as using a frying pan. The grains rehydrate, giving you a texture and taste that’s much closer to the original.
Defrosting food
Another practical use for everyday life. Your steam oven can help you defrost food easily. While it may not be the ideal method, it’s a handy trick for those times when you forget to take food out of the freezer the night before, as it usually happens.
Your steam oven offers various functions and, fortunately, different ways to apply steam. From quick, easy, everyday use to more advanced settings that allow you to combine conventional heat with steam, or take full control of the cooking process with sophisticated systems. There are so many possibilities.
Some final tips
To make the most of your oven, apart of the tips above, write down these extra tips to keep on mind:
- Make the most of the heat by cooking several dishes at the same time, especially if you are reheating leftovers.
- Use mineral or filtered water whenever is possible to avoid limescale residues in the steam compartiment.
- Add some different spices to the steam water. This will give a spicy and different touch to your recipes.
- Be careful with salt and other seasonings in your recipes: remember that steam preserves the flavour better, so the quantities you use for conventional cooking might be too much for steamed dishes.
- Although cleaning a steam oven is easier than cleaning a conventional one, try wiping it down after each use to prevent any unnecessary stains and dirt.
Learning and experimenting with tips like these to make the most out of your steam oven also means saving time and optimising the use of appliances in your kitchen. Put simply: it makes life easier. It can become a helpful kitchen assistant and turn a quick recipe into a delicious dish with just the touch of a button. And if not, give it a try and let us know.