...

Review of steam ovens: Set the steam!

Cooking in the oven with steam is not a new idea, but now more and more people are beginning to understand the benefits of this method of cooking. Let’s note at once: the oven with steam is designed for seekers of culinary. For those who strive to achieve perfection. It is important not only to bake rolls or meat, but also to achieve certain flavor characteristics of dishes, texture, smell, density of the crust.

Miele

Among the current offerings there are not many brands. Electrolux, AEG, Neff. On one or two or three models there are at Zigmund&Shtain, Hansa, Smeg, Teka. Ovens with steam function, of course, are in the premium class in the collections of Miele, DeDietrich, Kuppersbusch. Just over 60 models in total on sale. The price difference is from 24 000 roubles. Electrolux EOB 6850 AOX up to 185 000 roubles. Kuppersbusch EKDG 6900.0 E . Full-size models prevail, with a standard height, i.e. purchased as the main appliance for cooking. But there are also compact, their height is 39-40 cm Miele H 5081 BP IX, Smeg S45VCX2, NEFF C47C42N3 .

The stylistics are predominantly technological. Only Italian company Steel offers appliances in a retro style, and even in a variety of colors, including green, red and blue. Some of their models can be used in classic interiors, especially the milky ones with a brass or black and gold finish.

STEAM – WHY?

Cooking with steam belongs to the dietary methods. The food retains its healthy properties and is delicate, with a characteristic flavour and aroma, very succulent. The steam seals the pores by coming into contact with the food surface. This way you don’t lose any juice and the juice stays in the oven. Along with the smells. They don’t get lost either, and there’s also no mixing of flavors from different foods. So the side dish, once cooked and served with the meat, has its own characteristic flavor and aroma.

HOW IT HAPPENS

Ovens with a steam cooker function, as a rule, are equipped with a steam generator. Water is poured inside a special vessel it can be inserted into a wall unit or hidden in a control panel . It’s brought to the boil and pressurized and then fed into the chamber. Basic option:

The steam just goes straight into the cavity

So the steam flows in evenly from all sides, but dissipates somewhat. Ideal for most dishes – tender fish fillets, manti, minced meat. Place food on the perforated cooking tray so that condensed moisture doesn’t accumulate and the food doesn’t get cooked on the underside. A tray is placed underneath the tray, and all the juice collects in it. A sensible hostess will certainly use it.

A rarer case:

Steam is dispensed into a special tray

This method is used for gentle cooking of dietary foods. This appliance comes with a special dish like a duck-bowl. A flexible steam pipe is attached to the steam hole on the oven wall. The other end is inserted into the hole in the lid. This method conveys the steam only into the closed container which does not disperse into the chamber.

Steam is applied to the food

Again a tube connected through a nozzle to the steam generator. But its free end is placed directly in the food: large fish, duck, piglet. There is a lot of moisture inside the dish and a lot of juice is formed, which should be used to make the sauce.

Some Neff ovens do not have a steam generator. They propose to use an additional accessory – MegaSistem. Water is poured into the lower part of the tray. This produces steam as it cooks. On the second level put the trays of food. The system is closed by a transparent cap.

FAST

Steam cooking is a fairly rapid process. Due to the moisture in the steam, and therefore the high thermal inertia, the food is heated even faster than simply by heating the oven. For example, 2 portions of fish fillets can be served in 15 minutes and chicken cutlets or drumsticks in 25 minutes. Rice and potatoes are the least steamy. Rice is ready in 35-40 minutes, potatoes in jacket even more – in 50-60 minutes. To speed up the process, add a little water hot is better . Cut the potatoes into pieces.

LOW TEMPERATURE

The steam is available in different temperatures from 30° C in the built-in oven. Minimum heat helps to create ideal conditions for proofing dough, the yeast works more actively than usual, the dough rises well, ripening. Thereby the products are unusually soft and fluffy. The mode can be used for homemade yoghurt with a particularly thick texture.

Low temperature steaming can be used for slow cooking particularly delicate products such as pork medallions. Mode is available at Electrolux EOB 6850 AOX, Neff B46E74N0, AEG KS 8100001 M.

DEFROSTING GENTLY

Medium temperature steam is a reliable helper when defrosting food Neff C47C42N3, DeDietrich DOS 1180 X, AEG BS 9314401 M , especially when it comes to meat or fish slices and vegetable freezing – cauliflower, carrots and peas. Spread the food evenly in thin layers. But steam is not good for all kinds of food. Dough, such as puff pastry, half-finished products dumplings, pastries have time to soften. Delicate berries can be steamed in the steam mode.

Large appliances for the kitchen

Electrolux

ROASTING AND STEAMING

Ovens have a more sophisticated solution – a combination of steam and heat, with a choice of temperatures up to 250 or even 300°C as in Miele H 5461 EP IX . Types of heating may be limited to one or more modes. Or steam can be added in any of the possible modes. This approach allows you to take advantage of the benefits of steam, but cook traditionally, with the right temperature and type of heaters. For example, a steam grill is a particularly succulent dish with a crispy crust. Steamed baking – tender, well risen and browned dough. Steam helps to bring out the flavor of the dish and bring out the texture of the food.

The steam is injected into the cooking chamber in batch quantities during the cooking process. Vary the intensity of the steam and the interval at which it is served. Appropriate modes are used for baking. E.g. Pizza for strudel, Convection for puff pastry, Conventional mode for pastry. The temperature may be slightly lower than usual – 160-180° C instead of 200-220° C for a sponge cake or 200° C for a muffin. Cook frozen convenience foods at a slightly higher temperature.

The steam intensity depends on how much moisture must be in the ready dish. Minimal intensity is selected for dry biscuits, medium intensity for yeast dough, and high intensity for juicy cakes.

Meat and fish can be steamed at medium to high steam intensities. The juice we keep inside thanks to the steam will make their taste more savory, interesting. Use medium steam for whole cuts of poultry, especially fatty ones duck, goose , and for large cuts of meat. Here it’s important to achieve a uniform process, and the medium steam will help in this.

High intensity is suitable for portioned foods and just thinner and smaller pieces: chicken legs and chicken, fish and fish fillets, cutlets, stuffed peppers, etc. The usual cooking modes are taken. When choosing the Grill, it is better to give preference to the fan assisted mode. Convection mode is ideal for preparing roasts. Casseroles – in the traditional way. Again, the temperature is slightly lower. For fish – 160-180 ° C, for duck and goose – 150-180 ° C better to raise it gradually during cooking , chicken pieces – 190-210 ° C, meat roast with crust – 200 ° C.

The big appliances for the kitchen

AS NEW

The increased temperature is used for the so-called regeneration – heating with steam, a mode with such a name has Electrolux 130 ° C , Kuppersbusch 100-150 ° C . Ordinary heating is not always able to return the structure and taste of fresh. But steam can help. The bread, rolls and pastries of yesterday will regain their former moisture and taste more like the bread taken out of the oven. Moisture helps restore the taste of second courses, especially vegetable or cereal side dishes. Only steam can reanimate rice and mashed potatoes. No less moisture demanding are complicated dishes like lasagna, poached meat, and “multi-storey” casseroles. A little secret: to prevent condensation of moisture on the dish, heat an empty oven with steam for 10 minutes.

CONTROL

The family of ovens with steam is small, and therefore it is especially noticeable that the devices are increasingly equipped with the most modern control systems. Hansa devices use TFT-displays, which display information so realistically that the engineers had the idea to show the user photos on the screen. You can transfer information to the appliance using a standard USB port. The developer proposes to load a special electronic cookbook into the device – clearly and understandably. The graphical text displays are used more and more often – they are becoming especially relevant in connection with the increasing possibilities of the appliances.

Automatic programs are among these options. They take into account the type of dish and themselves include the desired mode, temperature and duration 97 autorecipes in Electrolux EOB 6850 AOX, 44 in AEG KS 8100001 M, 18 in Neff B46C74N3 .

The programs can be guided by the weight of the food.

There can be separate programs for cooking with steam Hansa BOEW65311055 has 16 of them .

Programs can be created independently, the device is capable of memorizing a certain number 20 by Electrolux EOB 8851 AAX and Hansa BOEI69311055 .

The core probe is also an automatic function. A device helps you determine the exact internal temperature of the food. When user-selected value is reached, heating will stop. The core temperature probe is used in the Teka HKL 970 SC and the Electrolux EOB 8851 AAX. The core probe is the constant companion of the programmer and is often part of this function.

The programmer serves for automatic time control. It turns the oven on and then off at the right moment. In combination with automatic programs is a very handy thing – ready meal at a certain time Neff C47c42n3, Hansa BOEI69170055, Electrolux EOK 96030 X .

To get a quick understanding of the new appliances, more and more often manufacturers offer a demo mode, for example Smeg’s is called Showroom.

The indication of work has its own characteristics. There is a water level monitor and an alarm light and sound when it is finished. For example, on the DeDietrich DOS 1160 X the display is similar to the window on a tabletop steam cooker. It can also be used to indicate the need for decalcification Kuppersbusch EEBD 6600.1 E .

Gas ovens

Kuppersbusch

OPPORTUNITIES

Sets of modes with steam can be significant. Although the basic, consisting of the most used modes, is always the same. There’s a Traditional mode available – combined with steam, it’s ideal for baked goods, casseroles and stews.

The grill is quite often available in two circuits for different numbers of servings , but the most interesting is the grill with temperature control, like Neff. And the DeDietrich DOS 1160 X has four power settings, with the maximum setting of 3.0 kW.

As always, the favorite mode is Convection, suitable for meat dishes, large baked goods such as bread.

Among the auxiliary modes are the already mentioned regeneration and fermentation mode. Plate warmer for restaurant-like presentation Electrolux . Canning – for the preparation of home delicacies like lecho, compotes and snacks Miele, Electrolux, Smeg . Drying is a process that takes place at temperatures between 60 and 90°C. And keep warm – this mode enables you to serve hot food even if the family is running late.

Hansa

CARING AND CLEANING

Steam not only cooks beautifully, it can also help clean the oven. The walls of the chambers make the smoothest possible, using a coating of easy-to-clean enamels or stainless steel Smeg SC45VC2, SteelAscot AFE6-S . Steam emulsifies impurities when the oven is in self-cleaning mode. They only need to be collected, for example, with a paper towel. Quick and easy.

Some Neff ovens have a catalytic lining on the rear wall, which oxidizes the dirt during the cooking process and you only need to remove it with a damp cloth.

In appliances Miele H 5461 EP IX, DeDietrich DOS 1160 X the pyrolytic cleaning is used, and there are three stages – for weak, average and intensive pollution.

The steam generator itself also requires care. After each application cycle it is worth draining the unused water. Periodic descaling procedures need to be performed. They take citric acid-based formulations or just food-grade acid , turn on a special mode or regular heating mode, and leave it on for the time specified in the instructions. After completing the process, rinse the water tank and wipe the walls of the chamber.

When to descale?

Zigmund &amp  Shtain

Suggestions – take your pick

Review of steam ovensDuhovki_s_parom_81

Rate this article
( No ratings yet )
John Techno

Greetings, everyone! I am John Techno, and my expedition in the realm of household appliances has been a thrilling adventure spanning over 30 years. What began as a curiosity about the mechanics of these everyday marvels transformed into a fulfilling career journey.

Home appliances. Televisions. Computers. Photo equipment. Reviews and tests. How to choose and buy.
Comments: 2
  1. Magnolia

    I’ve read this review on steam ovens, and it got me interested. However, I’m not quite clear on how to set the steam in these ovens. Could someone please explain the process of setting the steam in a steam oven? Thank you!

    Reply
  2. Addison Miller

    What are the key benefits of steam ovens compared to conventional ovens? Are there any specific settings or features that make setting the steam on these ovens more efficient?

    Reply
Add Comments