Cuisinart Combo Steam/Convection Oven (Part 1)

[rotuts]

there are Bad Toasters for more $$, and Bad Toasters for less $$

 

and no I don't work for CSB.

Edited October 17, 2015 by rotuts (log)

[cyalexa]

Just ordered from Amazon. Thanks lindag!

[lindag]

I'm seriously torn here, I want a CSO but I'm also wanting the new Apple iPad Pro model when it's released in November.

[rotuts]

lindag

 

interesting Question you posed:

 

1 ) do you have an iPad ?

 

if not well,      

 

Comps come and Go and always get better / cheaper

 

the CSB at this price is the way to go.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

How hot will these things bake?  ...just wondering.

 

 

Edit:  the oven, that is, not the iPad.

Edited October 18, 2015 by JoNorvelleWalker (log)

[rotuts]

450 w steam

 

the idea is to learn about steam cooking

 

a bit quicker, moist, but fill browning etc.

[Okanagancook]

I tried the egg broken into a small ramikin in Steam at 150 for 1 hr 15 minutes. The white was still quite runny so I changed the temp to 200 degrees for another 10 minutes. The white was still not set. Ate it anyway. The yolk was not runny but more like a gel. Not hard like a hard boiled egg. Kind of strange. Will have to try again. I am wanting a poached egg like egg.

[lindag]

I purchased a toaster oven size silicone liner to put in the drip tray of my Breville convection oven. I learned the hard way how difficult these trays are to clean. If I were to buy a CSO I would order one for it as well. So easy to clean!!!

[blue_dolphin]

Steam boy has arrived!

I think I've found an OK spot. This corner held a basket that I used for RT fruit/veg storage - onions, garlic, tomatoes, winter squash, etc. I can find another spot for them.

Downside is that I store my blender, processor, juicer, coffee grinder, etc in the cupboard below. With steam boy in the way, it won't be quite as easy to pull them out and plug them in.

I think I can leave it as above for toast, which may be the most frequently used function, and turn it 90deg if I'm using steam, like this:

Maybe pull it away from the wall a bit further, if need be.

The tray looks like the original, non-Canadian, smooth version. On the outside of the box someone went through the trouble of placing little white stickers on at least 4 places to cover up the letters "WS" at the end of the model number:

I made a piece of toast and ran the steam function @ 210 degF for 30 min. I'm now running steam bake @ 450 for another 30 min to see if I trip any circuit breakers. 20 min in to the cycle, we are OK. There are about 6 trucks of Edison workers replacing a power pole at the end of my driveway. If anything blows up, I'm blaming it on them!

First actual recipe will be this roasted fennel, red onion and orange salad: https://food52.com/recipes/26899-molly-stevens-roasted-fennel-red-onion-and-orange-salad

[chefmd]

Baby turnips steam baked for 25 minutes, broiled for 10 minutes.  Oh so sweet!

 

[Okanagancook]

Blue_dolphin. Great job. I move mine around all the time except for toast.

Chef end. I hate turnips but perhaps some baby ones like yours might be goo.

I am going to try baked okra soon.

[blue_dolphin]

I'm not sure this is adding much to the discussion but I said I was going to make this roasted fennel, red onion and orange salad so I figure I should show the results.

Ready for the oven:

Ready to eat:

I started with 15 min steam bake and even though it didn't look like much was going on through the little window, the veggies were pretty much done - lesson learned, open the door and look carefully until you know what you are doing!

Not only were they done, they were steamed - of course they were - not only did I pile too many in the little pan, I used a frigging STEAM OVEN!

Gave them a stir and switched to broil but it took so long to get much browning out of those thoroughly steamed veg that the orange slices started falling apart.

The end result was very tasty. I'd add a few sliced kalamata olives and a bit of parsley or fresh fennel fronds at the end but the flavors are great. I think a quick 5 min or so of steam bake at the beginning, and a properly loaded pan would get things cooking nicely and ready for a switch to bake or broil to finish cooking. I will try it again and in the meantime try to get a handle on some basic steamed vegetables to get a handle on times and temps.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I'm not sure how to frame the question correctly, but can you turn off the steam function mid-bake?  For example when baking bread I would want to start with steam and then complete the bake with no steam.  If so, is the length of steam programmable?

 

And yes, I know, a full sized baguette would not quite fit.

[Okanagancook]

You can change functions but needs to done manually. No big deal.

It is a learning curve with the bake-steam function.

[palo]

^^not specifically, easiest thing to do if you wanted a 30 min total cook time is to set it to steam for 15 min, then reset for 15 min bake (no steam)

 

p

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Thanks.  I confess I'm tempted.

[rotuts]

re: counters and steam vents

 

you might have enough room on the standard counter to just pull the CSB to the edge of the counter so the back vents are not under the cabinets.

 

my counters are such that this works.

 

thanks for all con contributions.

[lindag]

blue dolphin, the pan in your picture....did that come with your oven?  It looks fairly large, can you tell me the dimensions?

[blue_dolphin]

blue dolphin, the pan in your picture....did that come with your oven?  It looks fairly large, can you tell me the dimensions?

Yes, it's the pan that came with the oven. It measures ~ 9 3/4 x 10 in across the top, a little smaller across the bottom. rotuts mentioned previously that the 10 x 10 in replacement pans available for the mid-sized Breville fit well in the Cusi. That's about as big as it can handle and still have space for air (and STEAM!) to circulate.

This is my first time using a toaster oven so the pan seemed like something from an EasyBake oven but I'm sure I'll get used to the capacity. After all, I got it in part so I don't need to heat up the big ovens for small amounts of food.

Comparison of Cusi pan with the baking sheet I'd usually use for roast veg:

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I am more confused than ever.  On the Cuisinart US site the only model that they offer is the CSO-300N for $299 list.  But the site gives an error if you try to buy it.  And there is no manual to view whatsoever.

 

The Canadian Cuisinart site has the CSO-300C.  US$216.41 from a third party seller on the US amazon.com site or CDN$249.99 on amazon.ca.  The temperature display of the CSO-300C is shown in Fahrenheit, and I don't see anything Canadian about it except the manual:  flour is helpfully measured in ml as well as cups.

 

Ha!  And the price of the CSO-300 on amazon.com just went up to $289.94.  I think I'll pass.

 

They almost had me.

 

A nagging question is why is the CSO-300N about half the list price of the CSO-300?  Is it made of plastic?

[blue_dolphin]

Fry's is showing a price of $229 at the moment. Free shipping.

http://www.frys.com/product/8487228?source=google

[lindag]

Fry's?  Geez, I thought they'd gone out of business long ago?  Maybe just some of the stores?

Also, I see that Amazon's price has gone back up to $290.

Edited October 21, 2015 by lindag (log)

[blue_dolphin]

Fry's?  Geez, I thought they'd gone out of business long ago?  Maybe just some of the stores?

I think it said online only and it now says "sold out" The stores still exist. I haven't been to one in years though.

[weinoo]

the bottom slider is to collect crumbs from toast

 

as far as i remember, that's its only use so the crumbs don't accumulate in the bottom and later burn

 

There's the bottom slider IN the oven, and the slider UNDER the oven, which also collects crumbs and condensate.  

 

I pretty much always clean the INSIDE one before each use. And the UNDER one after a steam session.

 

Vis a vis nothing, a while ago I contacted Cuisinart about the original baking pan that came with oven, to see if I could get an updated one under warranty (as shown somewhere back in this thread). 

 

Indeed, they sent me a new one, but it's exactly the same one that came with the oven. And they also, for some reason, sent me a brand new crumb tray. Go figure.

[rotuts]

' Steam Cleaning ' is a pretty nifty feature of steam ovens.

 

BTW  I did the same thing re; the flimsy OEM non-corregated pan.

 

I just use the two together which makes for a much less flimsy pan.

 

or the BV-MidLevel pan which also fits in the CSB  and its pretty sturdy.

 

odd Cuisi makes two different pans for the same ( essentially ) machine.

Edited October 23, 2015 by rotuts (log)