Cuisinart Combo Steam/Convection Oven (Part 1)

[gfweb]

this one is Talking to Me :

 

http://www.obce.co.uk/products/joker-beloma-mini-combi-oven-p-3483.html

 

this one's not too big :  20 " x 24 " x 26 ".

 

fortunately Not at BB&B

 

the CuisiSteamBoy:

 

its light w/o the water jug.  move it around. just not under a cabinet.  get rid of something else.

 

BB$B w the 20 percent'er  :  240.  its worth that to me if you have that 

 

"burning a hole in your pocket"

 

197 a bit better.  

 

after all, its not SousVide !

UK only.

Gotta move

[rotuts]

nah.  everything 'Ships'

 

you might be the first one on your Block to have a 3 phase power hook up.

 

the power company will love you.

 

You can then go over to the Swells, admire their Designer Kitchen,  a few Ooooooh's  a few Ahhh's  then Sotto Voce

 

say if only they had 3 phase power

 

that 'ill teach them

 

a CombiOven really complements SV.  its the 6th dimension  

Edited June 10, 2014 by rotuts (log)

[gfweb]

ebay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Eloma-Genius-980382-Combi-Oven-Electric-Compact-Unit-/251549670130?pt=BI_Commercial_Ovens_Ranges&hash=item3a91875af2

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Electrolux-Convection-Oven-FREE-SHPIPING-260914-MINI-COMBISTEAMER-COMBI-OVEN-/191208670873?pt=BI_Commercial_Ovens_Ranges&hash=item2c84ecc699

Edited June 10, 2014 by gfweb (log)

[weinoo]

OK - so a question for the microbiologists amongst us.

 

How long can the water safely be kept in the water tank before it should be emptied and changed?

 

Or, should the tank be emptied after every steam use?

 

What are your thoughts?

[rotuts]

i have no idea on the water thing-y  Im using water from the Brita Jug as it has no calcium in it.

 

its a good question.  once the water gets to steam, might not matter much. might have that 

 

'je ne sais pas' to it if it 'matures' a bit

 

[rotuts]

wow  3 k  

 

the electrolux I think got panned.

[FauxPas]

OK - so a question for the microbiologists amongst us.

 

How long can the water safely be kept in the water tank before it should be emptied and changed?

 

Or, should the tank be emptied after every steam use?

 

What are your thoughts?

 

I've been using the oven so much that it requires topping up every few days. Instead of just adding more water, I rinse it out and occasionally add a bit of vinegar to the rinse water before refilling with tap water. 

 

I don't think I'd leave it sitting for more than a week or two without rinsing and refilling but maybe the steam function itself makes this unnecessary? 

[FauxPas]

in the mean time you can drool here :

 

http://www.google.com/search?q=combi+ovens&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&imgil=Yt9khfaiIIbRfM%253A%253Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ft0.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcR5SAcr798gmOS3XfKAZfpRbVvNmmfpauFW0KUX8qJpKMxsY6kr%253B399%253B600%253BYwQdjaRDdyms4M%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.tfgroupllc.com%25252Fhenny-penny%25252FCombi-Ovens&source=iu&usg=__SCfVk9K1Wu10y3cWeuv2qK1PYGI%3D&sa=X&ei=HiyXU8jbOfbNsQSQj4HYCA&ved=0CEsQ9QEwAw&biw=1067&bih=1057#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=Yt9khfaiIIbRfM%253A%3BYwQdjaRDdyms4M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.tfgroupllc.com%252FDocuments%252FEditor%252FCombi-oven.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.tfgroupllc.com%252Fhenny-penny%252FCombi-Ovens%3B399%3B600

 

 

N.B.:  note on the Left about 9 rows down

 

 

I also liked the write-up that accompanied that image on the Web page:

 

http://www.genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/combi.html

 

Nice little discussion about how humidity can improve the cooking process - and very interesting comparison of using the Cuisinart Steam Oven for cooking chicken!  

[gfweb]

OK - so a question for the microbiologists amongst us.

 

How long can the water safely be kept in the water tank before it should be emptied and changed?

 

Or, should the tank be emptied after every steam use?

 

What are your thoughts?

Bacterial spores can survive steam. Bacillus cereus and Clostridium spp are spore formers that can cause food poisoning.

 

Is it likely? Don't think so.  More likely that bacterial gunk that builds up might clog the water to steam mechanism.

[FauxPas]

I got some fine advice from

 

weinoo

 

, ( many thanks ! )who suggested a starting point of Salt/Pepper, 400 F

 

Full steam. 35 - 40 minutes.  Excellent starting point, BTW

 

 

rotuts, thank you so much for your complete write-up and photos! I hope you'll share your future 'experiments' also. Really happy to hear that you have finally had a chance to try out the Cuisinart. 

 

One question: When you say (above) that you used Full Steam @ 400, do you mean the Super Steam setting? 

[rotuts]

no  sorry  just the 'bake steam' Fx.

 

start w just S & P  as weinoo suggests:  you will be tasting just the chicken  

 

that's a big surprise.

Edited June 10, 2014 by rotuts (log)

[weinoo]

Bacterial spores can survive steam. Bacillus cereus and Clostridium spp are spore formers that can cause food poisoning.

 

Is it likely? Don't think so.  More likely that bacterial gunk that builds up might clog the water to steam mechanism.

What about steam with 300°F temps?

[gfweb]

What about steam with 300°F temps?

How does the steam get to 300 degrees?

 

That would kill spores if they stayed at that temp for a while.  How long is a while...don't know.  

 

Boiling water won't do it, but a pressure cooker for about 15 minutes will.

[rotuts]

the oven 'at steam' has to be above 212 F somehow.

 

it must superheat the steam that might be released at boiling point into the much much hotter oven

 

near the end of the 400 F baking, a single blast of steam is released when the door opens.

 

this is the part that's a bit dangerous if you don't know a bit about thermal burns.

[weinoo]

How does the steam get to 300 degrees?

 

That would kill spores if they stayed at that temp for a while.  How long is a while...don't know.  

 

Boiling water won't do it, but a pressure cooker for about 15 minutes will.

The steam doesn't, but anything that settles on food does in a 300° oven, no?

[FauxPas]

Finally located some of my pics (moved from one house to another, just switched to a new laptop, etc):

 

Pork tenderloin cooked at 150F with Steam only (for about an hour?). When meat was a little above 140F, seared it in a hot pan for a few minutes. Meat was a little above 150 when served, I believe. Still had a lovely little bit of pink (not sure how clear the pic is) and meat had a lovely texture - so easy to dry pork out, but this stayed moist. Probably best pork tenderloin I have made! I thought I also had pic of final presentation but details are meat sliced and served over fresh baby spinach, fresh chopped mushrooms. Blueberry-onion sauce served on top. Some fresh sliced Campari tomatoes on side. 

 

Edited June 10, 2014 by FauxPas (log)

[gfweb]

The steam doesn't, but anything that settles on food does in a 300° oven, no?

Right. I'm not sure what temp kills spores...250F?  Can be looked up.

[FauxPas]

Whole roast chicken - about 1.7 kg - so, almost 3.75 lbs. Not a great pic of the uncooked bird, I basically followed the cookbook suggestion. Made a paste with crushed garlic and some herbs (fresh rosemary and oregano, dried thyme) and black pepper - rubbed the bird with it and let it sit overnight. Sprinkled salt and lemon juice over bird and put onion and lemon piece in cavity (does this really do anything, I just always do it).

 

 

Cooked at Bake Steam at 425F (the manual suggests 450F) for around an hour. Meat was well above minimum temp as both husband and I like rare beef or even pink pork but we hate pink chicken. Final meat temp was 175F or so.  

 

 

I used a bit of tinfoil toward end as bird was browning nicely already. Pic looks darker than reality. 

 

 

Even with meat cooked to this temp, the bird was moist and lovely. 

 

[Unpopular Poet]

Ok, so I spatchcocked two cornish hens and then removed all of the breast bones and ribs.  I then proceeded to meat glue the two hens together -- basically, doubled sided skin was the idea.  My plan tonight is to cook the monster in the steam boy -- and hopefully get the same results as Rotuts above with the thighs...could be a total loss, but you will see pictures...either way.

[rotuts]

BTW the left over thigh meat was chilled and some of it was used today for a simple mayo based chicken salad

 

it was excellent.  but ...  mayo makes a lot of things excellent 

 

there was of course no left over skin.

Edited June 10, 2014 by rotuts (log)

[FauxPas]

I made some low-sugar raspberry-blueberry jam from last summer's frozen berries, which of course cried out for some bread to keep them company. 

 

 

(Also thought I would throw in a pic of the mango chutney that I made at the same time, Very tasty with bread and cheese!) 

 

 

Four Hour Baguettes cooked in Cuisinart steam oven on the Bread setting. I've made a few batches of this bread in the steam oven. All have turned out quite well, with a nice chewy crust. I don't do a lot of bread-making so not a lot to compare this to, but it was quickly eaten. I used the lowest Steam setting (100F) for proofing a couple of times. 

 

[rotuts]

BTW FP and UP : did the skin 'blister' on any of those birds ?

 

the thighs were pretty thin, that might have something to do with it. some of the best skin Ive ever had.

[FauxPas]

BTW FP and UP : did the skin 'blister' on any of those birds ?

 

the thighs were pretty thin, that might have something to do with it. some of the best skin Ive ever had.

 

The skin was delicious! Crispy but not dried out, if that makes sense. May have started to blister, but I covered it with tin foil toward end of cooking. Not sure that this was necessary, to be honest, as steam may have kept skin from over-cooking. 

 

The steam oven will definitely be my first choice for cooking chicken in future. The above bird was about 1.7 kg but oven could easily fit a slightly larger one - 2 kg or 4.5 lbs or so. 

 

Also, wanted to say that I used the oven on a fairly warm day and was pleased that it generated so much less heat than the big oven would. 

 

I use it for reheating food all the time. Steam Bake between 200F and 300F. Leftovers are lovely with a bit of steam. Reheated some fried rice for lunch and it was perfect. 

 

Also used it to steam eggs in shell instead of boiling in water (Steam only @ 210F for about 10 mins) - egg yolks were still just a tad soft. 

 

Also, steamed some fresh sliced nectarines - nice way to intensify flavour and keep fruit from drying out. Would be very nice with a few drops of Grand Marnier and some pecans or hazelnuts (I have a few hazelnut trees), maybe with ice cream. 

 

Have also used Super Steam to cook rice. Their recommendation in book is to use a ratio of white rice to water of 2 cups to 2.25 cups. I used about 2.5 cups of water and it seemed just right to me. Used a 1.8L Corningware casserole dish with a slightly loose-fitting glass lid. I followed their instructions for temp of 300F.  

 

I used Bake Steam for roasting some tomatoes for a sauce - I think i followed their suggestion of 450F but they weren't big tomatoes and I think they were done in about 10 mins. Lovely outcome with those! I ate one before it got to the sauce. 

[rotuts]

thank you FP

 

"   steamed some fresh sliced nectarines - nice way to intensify flavour and keep fruit from drying out. Would be very nice with a few drops of Grand Marnier and some pecans or hazelnuts (I have a few hazelnut trees), maybe with ice cream. "

 

So many experiments to do.  had not thought of fresh fruit. fresh **outstanding** fruit is rare in MA

 

i grew up in CA  bay area.  had many many 'stone' fruit trees.  spoiled for life.

 

many thanks for all your insight.

 

Look up SteamBurgers.  they are made in CT.  If you dare ....

[FauxPas]

Look up SteamBurgers.  they are made in CT.  If you dare ....

 

I really want to try and replicate those, now that I have read about them! Still not sure about the best combo of ground meat, patty size, steam temp and cooking time. I am very much looking forward to reading about your adventures in these areas!!!   

 

I did steam a couple of patties once - they were decent-enough ground beef patties from the meat dept at local grocer, but I would like to use my own. The ones I did were probably cooked too long, but they were still tasty. I seared them in a hot pan after steaming, but you wouldn't do that for the CT-style ones, is that right? 

 

Also, tried steaming a steak, followed by searing. I overcooked it a bit so it wasn't as rare as we would have liked but it was nice to have a steak that was so evenly cooked. Some people might prefer the standard grilled steak with pink centre and seared edges though. I need to try these things again and perfect them!!! 

 

I tend to do other things while I am cooking and don't often write things down, which makes replication or perfecting a recipe or procedure difficult. I should be more careful about noting what I am doing, temps and times, etc. 

 

Edited to add: I should mention that I was trying to do fairly low-temp steaming with the burgers and steak - I think I was steaming at 140F for the steak and 150F for the patty - but those temps, combined with a fairly long and hot sear, resulted in a bit of overcooking for our tastes. 

Edited June 10, 2014 by FauxPas (log)