Cuisinart Combo Steam/Convection Oven (Part 2)

[chefmd]

CSB toast: place number of bread slices you want on rack, turn dial to toast setting, check that DH did not change it, press start.  You can see the color through the glass door.  No preheat.  Time is a few minutes, varies depending on how dark you want your toast. 

 

[ElsieD]

14 minutes ago, Smithy said:

So, let's hear a comparison, please.

 

Standard toaster: I put in the number of slices I want, check the setting in case DH changed it, push the lever down.  A minute or so later the toast pops up, toasted more or less the way I wish.  Obviously I don't have toasties out of this deal.  It's just toast, destined to receive butter.

 

CSB: how much more elaborate is the procedure for plain toast in the CSB?  Is there a preheat required?  Steam?  How much time does the process take?

 

Weakening, are we?

[Smithy]

20 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

Weakening, are we?

 

You know how ads keep popping up on random web pages for things you've looked at on Amazon and other sites?  Suddenly this is all that seems to be coming up on DH's computer even though I rarely use that one.  He commented that we now have ways to hint quietly for each other's Christmas and birthday presents.  

[ElsieD]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

You know how ads keep popping up on random web pages for things you've looked at on Amazon and other sites?  Suddenly this is all that seems to be coming up on DH's computer even though I rarely use that one.  He commented that we now have ways to hint quietly for each other's Christmas and birthday presents.  

 

I know all about it.  I also like to keep an Amazon wish list on their site.

[rotuts]

toasting is toasting, right ?

 

not so.

 

the BVXL  bakes the toast, as the elements go on and off, giving you a fairly brown slice, but its not done quick enough so the toast is their for dry

 

based on their algorithm  for some reason  .  Why dim the heating elements during the toasting ? but they do.  

 

the CSB has an odd feature , that probably was not designed for toast :  its a sealed box, based on the steam considerations.

 

there for, if you toast is fairly fresh and their for relatively moist  that moisture stays in the oven,  the heating elements stay on for the toast cycle

 

but the inner part of your toast, esp if thicker cut, home made, or EM's are therefore  moist.

 

who knew ? would not have believed it.  but that's what happens.    it took me a while to try toast in the CSB for some reason, even as I did not care that much

 

for toast in the BVXl, even home made, fresh, cut think

 

I think full credit goes to @weinoo   mentioning it made fine toast.

 

"""   

It doesn't keep the steam from the toast - it keeps the steam from the toast in the oven.

 

It's just a really tight seal; sounds like it creates a bit of a vacuum when the oven is on and one closes the door. """

 

 

its because its a sealed box. toasting is a non-steam program.

 

a shame those who bake their own bread, in their ovens or in the Machine I use  have not tried toast in a CSB

 

of course, many have.

Edited July 8, 2016 by rotuts (log)

[chefmd]

What rotuts said.  I also prefer CSB toast over toaster toast. 

[chefmd]

On Amazon warehouse deals 183.51 with 11.01 shipping, no tax.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

10 minutes ago, chefmd said:

On Amazon warehouse deals 183.51 with 11.01 shipping, no tax.

 

I'd pay a few dollars more and get a new one.

 

Prime Day is coming up and maybe they will reduce the CSO price further.  Though I doubt it.

[chefmd]

In my experience with warehouse deals you get a new item, the packaging may be damaged (unless they specifically say that item is used). 

[chefmd]

Carrots and radishes steam baked at 350 for 30 minutes.

[Okanagancook]

Fortis, to avoid burning parchment paper, I bought a small knockoff slip ad and cut it to the size of my pan.  Easy cleanup.

[Okanagancook]

Auto spell corrected rotuts to fortis, ghrrrrr.

[Anna N]

10 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

Auto spell corrected rotuts to fortis, ghrrrrr.

And silpat to slip ad?  Hate, hate autocorrect. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

For chicken thighs, what is the consensus?  On the rack or directly in the pan??

 

At the moment I have (what rotuts might call D+ supermarket) thighs cooking 450 deg F. steam bake, on the rack.  Just after I started the steam bake cycle I realized I had not emptied the tray since baking tonight's bread.  Oops.  Good thing too, because the tray was full.

 

It's so frustrating:  the Shoprite in walking distance where I can shop carries a higher grade of organic chicken, but no bone-in thighs.  Only boneless ones for which I have no use.  When I asked the manager he told me "We don't stock them."

 

Even the cup-up whole chicken parts don't include the thighs.  How can this be?  The only way to get half decent chicken thighs locally is to buy a whole chicken and break it down myself.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Dinner was said chicken thighs Marsala.  Way overdone.  First time I had assayed thighs in the CSO.  Thermapen read over 200 deg F.  Still pretty good, as was tonight's CSO bread with Boursin.  Served with a fennel and spring mix salad.

 

I am atoning with a glass of Colonel E.H. Taylor.

 

[Anna N]

Made a sliced russet potato in the CSO yesterday. Melted some beef fat, tossed the slices in it, seasoned them and cooked 400F steam/bake x 20 mins. Flipped for 20 mins more.  Did not like them much. They seemed hard rather than crispy.  Perhaps they should have been cooked for a shorter time at a higher temperature.  

[blue_dolphin]

9 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

For chicken thighs, what is the consensus?  On the rack or directly in the pan??

 

I have a smallish cast iron fry pan that fits in the CSO.  I use it for chicken thighs (bone-in, skin-on), so I can transfer it to the stovetop and use the browned bits to make a pan sauce if I want.

Edited July 12, 2016 by blue_dolphin (log)

[lindag]

7 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Dinner was said chicken thighs Marsala.  Way overdone. 

 

That's one of the best things about ckn thighs, even if they're overdone they're still pretty moist and very flavorful.  Love bone-in, skin-on thighs...I buy in bulk from Costco so I always have some on hand.

 

 

[lindag]

My CSO arrived a day earlier than promised!  I made my first toast from a big round loaf of Parmesan Onion Bread....it was indeed delicious; much better than when toasted in my BSO.  I'm so impressed.  Now I'm on my way to toast a first bagel!!!

On another note, has anyone else seen a big increase in deliveries made by the USPS instead of the usual UPS?  I get a lot of deliveries and I'd say that about five of the last seven have been by the post office.  Seems Odd.

Edited July 12, 2016 by lindag (log)

[rotuts]

Amazon contracted out to the USPS to deliver a lot of things to the local PO, then the carriers bring the stuff out to your home w the mail the next day.

 

UPS / FedEx were not happy as they claim the USPS gave Amazon a below cost rate.  etc.   etc .  the USPS also delivers Amazon stuff on Sunday.

 

in my area Amazon has small local delivery vans zooming around.  

[blue_dolphin]

14 minutes ago, lindag said:

On another note, has anyone else seen a big increase in deliveries made by the USPS instead of the usual UPS?

Yes, same here.  I also get quite a few Amazon deliveries via OnTrac, a regional delivery service.  They're the only ones who leave stuff at my back door, rather than the front.

 

Back on topic, I'm glad that you like the CSO toast, @lindag!  I love my CSO but I don't have a Breville and I would have been wary of recommending the purchase of a second small-size oven.  I'll be interested in hearing more as you get using the CSO more.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I anovaed five sweet potatoes* twenty six hours at 64 deg C. before steam baking one in the CSO, 375 deg F for an hour and fifteen minutes.  Good --. to be sure -- but not as exceptional as my CSO sweet potato the other night.  I am confused and perplexed, and I have four more sweet potatoes to go through.

 

I was sure the anaova would trump (pardon the expression) the CSO but I was wrong.  I am not sure why.  The purely CSO sweet potato was fluffier.

 

Served with CSO reheated last night's CSO mini baguette (if you will), Falk seared 62 deg C. pork rib chop -- not Berkshire quality pork to be sure, but somehow exceptional quality from Shoprite.  And CSO steamed peas on a bed of mint.  Peas previously blanched.  It is said frozen peas are better than fresh, but I cannot obtain such results from frozen peas.  I would have preferred the pork a couple of degrees cooler, may the green fairy forgive me.  I measured the Falk surface temperature at about 400 deg F. before adding in the meat.  The crust on the pork was really nice though.

 

 

*Picture available on request, but I'm sure you all know what five vacuum sealed sweet potatoes look like.

 

 

[lindag]

My first CSO toasted bagel was a bit of a disappointment though it was surely operator error.  It was a tad too dark and somewhat unevenly toasted (I don't think I had it centered on the rack).  I'll try again this morning with the other half.

I'm  really eager to steam bake some bone-in/skin-on chicken thighs later this week.  I like to marinate in a little Yoshida sauce and then serve with rice and baby bok choy. 

[kayb]

Awaiting delivery of mine. Damn you, eGullet and all you enablers out there!

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

On ‎7‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 7:32 PM, Okanagancook said:

Fortis, to avoid burning parchment paper, I bought a small knockoff slip ad and cut it to the size of my pan.  Easy cleanup.

 

Does anyone make a Silpat or Silpat knockoff of the right dimensions for the pan?  I don't like the idea of cutting and exposing the Silpat fiberglass (or at least fiberglass is what I think it is).  I have some Teflon sheet that I could cut to size.

 

Tonight's CSO bread just finished up a roll of parchment paper.