Cuisinart Combo Steam/Convection Oven (Part 1)

[rotuts]

your mention of SteamBurgers did it for me ---- just in time ----

I probably would have gotten it at BB$B for 240 after days and days of agita.

Ill put the 40 for pans and stuff at BB$B for it

[weinoo]

The hardest part for me was parting with my old Made-in-Italy DeLonghi - must've made us thousands of toasted bagels, bialys, etc.

I also ordered that Chicago Metallic non-stick set for toaster ovens from Sur...it was on sale for a little more than the Amazon price, but with free shipping.

[weinoo]

I did a little experimenting with chicken thighs (kosher Empire) today. Four large, meaty thighs, sprinkled with salt, pepper and a bit of pimenton, along with a couple of Idaho potatoes...

Cooked on Steam/Bake 425°F, for 40 minutes...

The potatoes needed a bit more time (they were huge) but the chicken came out nice and moist, and amazingly, the skin was as crisp as it could possibly be.

[gfweb]

Impressive, Mitch!

[rotuts]

so those potatoes might have been 'just right' with a puncture or two and a minute or two in the Micro to get them going?

when done how was the skin on the potatoes?

[weinoo]

I didn't eat any of this because I'm heading out for dinner (well, I tasted the chicken), but the skin on the potatoes felt nice and crisp too.

I don't have a microwave, and I always put a few fork holes in any potatoes I'm baking, but I imagine a little head start wouldn't hurt. In any event, they won't take more than an hour in this oven.

[peterm2]

I had one of these a year ago and returned it. Glad it's working well for you all! I found it generated very little steam once it had preheated, even when using one of the steam settings - although while preheating with the heating elements going full bore, it injected a good amount of water into the oven that turned to steam. Like one of the posters above, even after running it for 2 hours I'd still have well over 2/3 of the tank remaining. And crispy skin, to me, is a sign that it's not really generating any significant steam, or else the moist environment should keep the skin from crisping.

As just a toaster oven it was fine, but not deserving its relatively high price for a toaster oven - I thought it had relatively cheap construction, and not many heating elements which made the heat in the oven uneven. And the internal baking space is quite small compared to its footprint. A great idea, but I thought the execution was lacking.

[gfweb]

. And crispy skin, to me, is a sign that it's not really generating any significant steam, or else the moist environment should keep the skin from crisping.

I don't know about this. Bread crust develops better in humid heat. Rendering fat occurs because of temperature, irrespective of moisture.

Remember that under the crisped skin is a protein sponge filled with water, and hence very humid. The underside of chicken skin is bathed in moist heat no matter what cooking method is used.

[weinoo]

I don't know exactly how much steam is "expected" to be generated, but every time I use it on one of the steam settings, it sure seems moist to me. The interior of the oven is wet, the drip pan has condensate in it, etc.

It's not like cooking a steamer full of broccoli in a lidded pot over boiling water if that's what you mean - but it's an oven, with a steam injection feature.

Sometimes, like for bread, all you really want is a touch of steam anyway. And there is a setting for super steam, which i have yet to try.

[peterm2]

I'll have to keep an eye on how it works for you all - maybe I should give it another shot!

[Bill Klapp]

I have kept pace with this thread, with the reports seemingly getting better and better, only to find that the oven appears to be sold only in the U.S., and even if I use a power converter, Amazon will not ship it outside of the country! There are workaround possibilities, but I was a bit surprised...

[weinoo]

I'll have to keep an eye on how it works for you all - maybe I should give it another shot!

I wonder if it's possible you had a defective unit.

I played around with the oven yesterday; on the steam function and set at 210°F, in 30 minutes the unit produced a ton of steam. When I use it on the Bake/Steam function, it doesn't use as much steam, but I don't expect it to. That said, after I filled up the tank 2 days ago and used it for various reheating purposes, cooking brussels sprouts with bacon (the bacon was crisp and cooked nicer than I expected), and the test I did above, the tank is practically empty.

As to your unit injecting water into the oven that it turns into steam, that is not what happens with my unit at all. There is some condensate that forms around the steam injection hole which drips into the oven, but that was it.

I am thinking of playing around with a bread recipe from the booklet.

Edited January 17, 2014 by weinoo (log)

[rotuts]

""" cooking brussels sprouts with bacon """

curious on your exact setting. this is right up my ally.

Ive been relatively busy and have yet to use mine. almost 2 weeks

very little out there on use of steam ovens. there is this:

https://www.google.com/search?q=miele+steam+oven+cookbook&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

click on the second link and you get the miele .pdf cookbook

of note: pp 10 - 19

[weinoo]

I did the brussels sprouts per the recipe in the booklet that came with the machine. They cook fast -- I would lower the temp by 25°F next time, and stir after 10 minutes.

[judiu]

Chefs catalog has the CSO-300 for 299.00 + free shipping thru Jan. 31, I beleive.

[weinoo]

An experiment with cooking beets worked out really nicely. I steam roasted them at 400°F for about 40 minutes, and they were perfectly cooked.

There are a couple of steam settings on the oven. One is "steam" and another is "super steam." The "steam" setting goes up to 210°F, while the "super steam" setting allows for a much higher temperature, and that's the setting I used. I don't know if it also makes more steam, but it went through about 1/3 of the water tank in that 40 minutes.

[rotuts]

did you peel those beets?

what steam setting allows for both the extra humidity and browning?

hope to use my SteamBoy over the next few days. its starting to talk to me.

like a whisper.

like the b'sprouts and bacon. etc

Edited January 21, 2014 by rotuts (log)

[weinoo]

I don't peel the beets before roasting.

The convection bake/steam setting seems to be the best one for browning.

[weinoo]

OK - so my next experiment is/was bread during the snow storm today. Simply following the recipe for "Rustic Italian Bread" from the recipe booklet that came with the oven. Well, not simply, because the recipe calls for proofing active dry yeast with sugar - I mean really, who the fuck does that for rustic Italian bread? Oh, it also calls for a first rise of 1 hour and a second rise of one hour, but my first rise lasted about 2.5 hours until the dough doubled - as is to be expected. I made the whole dough in my Cuisinart food processor, basically doing nothing by hand (since I still can't use one of my arms for another 4 weeks!). So it's a Cuisinart Rustic Italian bread .

After the 2 rises and the proofing which takes place in the oven on the steam function set to 100°F, I reset the oven to the Bread function at 400°F, and let it rip for 35 minutes. Here's what the result looks like...

You know what? It doesn't taste bad - it certainly doesn't have the crumb structure or the flavor of a slow-risen, overnight rise in the fridge. But for all-in-one-day bread - it's not bad. Some futzing with the recipe might make for a really nice loaf.

Oh, I imagine that focaccia will be quite good.

[rotuts]

Ooooooooooooooooh

do many thanks for this

the storm is coming my way.

I had hoped that the Cuisi SteamBoy might get me back in the Bead Circus

it seems it will

I hope to use this for smaller loafs, which have been retarded etc

Ill speak to my Machine tonight about this

thanks for those pic !

[rotuts]

re: focaccia

maybe Franci will help us with the focaccia for this

I do recall her ref. vid in Italian how to make this ...

I also look forward to that.

of course .... FD .... I have not made anything yet

[sculptor]

That Sharp is still on their website.

I don't see how that Sharp looks more "decent" and more "amazing" than the Cuisinart. As a matter of fact, I've always thought Sharp should've stuck to TVs.

It's in the Sharp archive and if you try to click on find a retailer, you get nothing...

I'm just going by the reviews I read. The Sharp seemed to reviewers to be better that conventional convection ovens whereas the Cuisinart seems only to match them. This doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with the Cuisineart Steamboy. I for one think it's pretty amazing that something that small can match a full sized oven and I suspect it's actually superior for reheating things.

[weinoo]

I've been putting the oven through its paces since unpacking it, and I gotta say, it's a pretty good little toaster oven. And then some.;

Last night, I felt like having some duck confit, which I happen to have in my freezer. I also had some organic sweet potatoes and Yukon golds. So I said the hell with it, and put them all on the roasting pan and popped them into the Combo at 400°F on Bake Steam for 45 minutes.

Everything came out perfectly cooked - the duck from frozen to delicious too...

Edited February 13, 2014 by weinoo (log)

[Barrytm]

I bought one of the cheaper versions of a countertop combi to test it out, got hooked and bought a full sized unit. Just posting to clarify that the manual with the full size unit says that at higher temps, you won't see the steam as visibly as you would when the temp is below 212, so even if it doesn't look like it is steaming, it may be adding a bit of moisture. Here is a link that has links to different manuals and recipe books from diff manufacturers. I am not aware of any general cookbooks for combi steam ovens that are in wide circulation. https://sites.google.com/site/combisteamconvectionsteamoven/home/recipes-and-guides

Edited February 13, 2014 by Barrytm (log)

[rotuts]

Barrytm

nice link, thanks very much

which unit did you start out w and what did you eventually end up with?

Im a bit chagrined that I have not been able to use my CusiSteamBoy yet due to Amp issues, clutter issues, back issues, and

generall ennui.

but I enjoy that its inline for a work out soon, perhaps.