dtremit

Yeah but do you really want a "Kitchen Overlord"?

Believe it or not, the metal citrus squeezer I had snapped in half -- they're often cast from very soft metal. I ended up replacing it with the Chef'n Fresh Force at the recommendation of (I think) an ATK testing. It's got a geared compound action that makes it much easier to use. The handles are plastic, but the piece that presses against the citrus is metal.

Late to this thread, but it is encouraging to see that your Duo was holding the slow cooking temperature it was supposed to, per the IP website: Obviously "low" is hotter than you wanted, but it's good to see it's at least doing what it's supposed to.

The Tovala has been discussed on eGullet before -- there's a thread here: The Sharp is I think intended as a pizza oven -- it's low and wide. Much shorter than the CSO, which really limits its use. The Emerson is more interesting -- I'm guessing they're just rebranding something from China, as it appears identical to the rather generic-looking "AUG" I noticed before I bought the Cuisinart. Way cheaper, though -- $229 versus $385 -- and from a brand that actually exists. Both of those are points in its favor. (Edited to add: apologies for the giant animated gif, I can't figure out how to remove it...)

I do wonder if leaving the door open one stop would create crunchier toast for those who prefer it that way?

Is there actually a form of "toasted cheese" that is made in toasters (or toaster ovens)? I have always seen that describe something made in a skillet. (I'm actually curious here -- every item that combines toasting and cheese needs to be in my life.) But yes, get the CSO! I rather like the toast from it.

Was yours still in warranty, or out of warranty? If the latter that's a great deal for the upgrade. My dials are starting to act up in much the same way...

The risk for soda glass Pyrex is pretty specific -- rapid cooling of a hot pan. As I understand it, you're more at risk taking it *out* of the oven than putting it in. I always try to put hot pyrex on a dry, insulated surface (like a cork trivet) when it first comes out of the oven to avoid any issues. I'll probably buy borosilicate going forward (there's lots available to buy), but I have a lot of Pyrex already, and this has always served me well.

To get a crispy crust on steam bake, I think you'd want to use a pan, rather than the rack. I've noticed that things flat against a pan tend to brown much more than exposed surfaces. A little counterintuitive relative to standard ovens.

Really depends on the type of bread, for me. Most white flour, yeast-raised breads have pretty short staying power, with an edge to the enriched ones. But I find a lot of sourdough (particularly with whole grains) actually tastes better after resting a day. I’m told that tangzhong helps a lot with keeping sandwich style loaves nice for longer, but I’ve only really used it in breads designed for it, so I can’t really compare.

Delayed photos of latest experiment. Decided to split my usual dough in half. I mixed the dough, autolysed, mixed in the salt, then divided. This half was machine kneaded, and baked in a Lodge combo cooker. Other one is resting in the fridge; I'm going to leave it for a few days and then try baking it off the same way. I noticed recently that I was really pleased with the flavor of my bread after a few days' dough rest, and if I can reduce the kneading at the same time, all the better.

I wonder if that mix uses a "devitalized sour"? I noticed those on the Lesaffre site recently when trying to figure out the difference between the different SAF yeasts 🤣

It's never going to be faster than a microwave for those very quick tasks -- but it's also not as hard on the food being reheated in a lot of cases. Maybe it's just me, but I rarely find myself just reheating food, and often if I put the thing that would most benefit from gentle heat in the oven when I begin cooking, it's done before I'm ready for it anyway. And of course, you can use it at the same time as the microwave. Also, for reheating, putting the food in at the beginning of the preheat can save quite a bit of time. That's actually a Breville feature I wish the CSO had -- the former has a "reheat" function that starts counting from the beginning of the preheat cycle rather than from when the oven hits temperature.

This is not exactly the same preparation, but I have made these pocket-stuffed chicken breasts a few times, and they come out well as written: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chicken-with-herbed-goat-cheese-recipe-1914098 Not sure if you've already bought your chicken, but the bones and skin do a pretty good job of shielding the meat.

My other recent experiment was Detroit-style pizza (the Pepperoni Deluxe) from Reinhart’s “Perfect Pan Pizza.” His technique is frankly a pain in the rear — several folds spaced ~15 minutes apart followed by a 12+ hour chill, then four rounds of dimpling 20 minutes apart and a ~5 hour rise in the pan. I ended up baking the dough a couple of days late because I hadn’t read the times in the recipe right and didn’t want to serve dinner at midnight. But the result transported me to the Downriver Italian bakery my grandfather used to get most of our bread from. Really on point, flavor wise. I used his suggestion of Muenster in place of locally unobtainable brick cheese and really couldn’t tell the difference. Made his bacon and potato focaccia with the leftover dough, which was a bit past its prime by then. That one needs more tweaking — way too much herb oil as written (I cut it in half and it was still a bit excessive), and it needs a source of acid; the bites I ate with some roasted cherry tomatoes were *way* better. Still, looking forward to playing with more of these recipes, particularly with summer produce.

Late posting of some larger format loaves from last week. Needed a loaf to take along for a weekend away at a rental house, and as an added complication, I was only home for about 36 hours between a short business trip and leaving on vacation. So I decided to try putting my usual 50% WW sourdough in the fridge on Monday evening for baking on Thursday. Below is the result, baked in a Le Creuset and a Lodge combo cooker. I ended up trying to nudge color development on top with the broiler, and overdid it a little, but the tiny bit of char only affected the looks. I didn’t see a ton of difference in the dough after the long sit in the fridge, but the sourness was significantly more pronounced, almost at “San Francisco” levels. I think a shorter chill might end up being part of my routine.

There's no great option to restore them to their original glory, I don't think -- but they are an awfully good shortcut to a sorta tortilla española. Chopped up in a breakfast hash is good, too.

The CSO did a good job pinch hitting on dinner tonight in between a work trip and a weekend away. Cooked a mixture of purple top turnips, Yukon Gold potatoes, fennel, and onion -- all sliced thinly -- on Steam Bake @ 375F for 30min. Atop that went the thighs and wings of what was supposed to be last night's rotisserie chicken, a dinner I missed thanks to a three hour flight delay. 15 more minutes, and dinner was served. Deeply impressed by how the chicken came out -- I also put the skins from the breasts on top of the veg while they were cooking and those ended up as nice little croutons. The turnips were particularly nice. Whole thing could have used a bit more creative seasoning, but I can't blame the oven for that.

I've tried that, and it works decently well -- but honestly, at that point it's more work than just popping them in the oven and letting them cook. The oven beans never seem to end up overcooked, and never scorch on the bottom of the pot. (Plus I probably need the Instant Pot for something else I'm serving with them 😀I think my SO would kill me if I bought a second IP but there are times I wish I had one.)

Typically when I cook beans in the (regular) oven, I take off the lid towards the end to reduce the liquid. Was hoping the humid environment of steam bake would mean I didn't have to remove it in the middle. (The All-Clad lids seal pretty well when turned upside down, with the handle facing down; that helps a lot with clearance.)

Our leftover BBQ lunch this weekend can attest to that. Reheated ribs with bark were neither dry nor soggy.

Anything will do, honestly -- in this case I used a 4 quart stainless soup pot like this, but almost anything you can heat on the stove and fit in the oven would probably do just fine. (This particular 4qt pot fits nicely with the lid off, and you can use the lid upside down to reduce clearance.)

Honestly, it's the one thing I don't like cooking in the IP -- I've never gotten them to come out as well. I think it's the lack of reduction in the broth. If they're going into a chili or something I don't care, but for bean salads and the like I've gone back to the oven.

My general method with beans is to follow the "Parsons method" (so named after Russ Parsons of the LA Times who advocated for it). No soaking required; simply combine beans (about a half pound in this case, but you could do any quantity in the right size pot), water, salt, a glug of olive oil, and any aromatics* in a suitable pot, bring to a boil on the stovetop. Once it boils, cover, and move to a ~300F oven until the beans are done. Timing varies, but it's foolproof otherwise. The only adaptation for the CSO was to leave the cover *off* the beans so the steam could get in -- and as mentioned, cook on super steam. I only covered the beans by about 1" of water, which is usually plenty for a lidded container, but wasn't sufficient here. I topped it off after 45 minutes with boiling water from a teakettle. Next time I will use more water and/or partially cover. Total cooking time was ~90 minutes, but almost totally hands off -- and these were older beans of a slow cooking variety. [*] re: aromatics: If I don't know what I'm going to do with the beans, I usually just throw in a few smashed cloves of garlic, a half onion (with a toothpick through the layers if I want to fish it out), and a bay leaf or two; this seems to boost the flavor of the beans without introducing any flavors that limit their versatility.

I've had good luck baking in a Lodge "Combo cooker" (which is like a Dutch oven with a skillet lid) -- but that only fits in my main oven, not in anything smaller. At this time of year, I'm trying hard not to run my big oven unless I'm making a big batch of bread on a cooler day.