Cuisinart Combo Steam/Convection Oven (Part 3)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I tried to recreate the rib steaks from @Unpopular Poet

 

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/146617-cuisinart-combo-steamconvection-oven-part-1/?do=findComment&comment=1948391

 

I timed everything carefully but not everything went well.  Well, the steak went well, that is well done.  Not horrible but over done.  Exactly 45 seconds per side per @Unpopular Poet.

 

Worse, not to overly insult our antipodean friends, I was left with a plate of gristle.  Australian and organic beef, but not for those of us not blessed with the best of teeth.

 

The broccolini was great but it went quickly.  The baguette, baked in the conventional oven, not in the CSO, was excellent.  Tonight's cheese, alas, was old and vile.

 

Dinner thus boiled down to bread and wine.  One can do worse.  A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and me.  Yellow Chartreuse VEP for dessert.

 

Oh, and yes, the sautéed mushrooms!  How could I forget them?  Nothing wrong at all with the sautéed mushrooms.

 

But I should have just stuck with the bottle of yellow VEP and rum.

 

 

[Franci]

@gfweb as I said, I've not used these molds that much for baking until now, mostly to freeze food in it. So I've not encountered this issue ye and only washed with soapy water. 

 

This morning I had 4 little slices of bread: 2 from the CSO bread and 2 from the Cadco bread. 2 slices got toasted in the CSO and 2 slices on my Le Creuset cast iron grill. Half of each slice cooled enough to keep the butter from melting (I like my butter cold on toast) and in one half agrimontana apricot preserve and the other half sprinkled with granulated sugar. Bread, butter and sugar is a typical northern italian snack for kids and after so many years not having this, I'm wondering why not, so delicious. I think my kids never had it!

BTW, call me weird, but while I'm enjoying my little CSO oven for many tasks, toast in there is not my thing. I do prefer my super hot cast iron grill

 

 

Edited September 24, 2016 by Franci (log)

[Anna N]

Wow, @Franci

 

Bread, butter and sugar was a huge treat in my childhood. Even when sugar and butter were rationed (post-war) my Gran would occasionally treat me to this. I still do it occasionally.  So as not to hijack this topic would you share your bread recipe?   I am kicking myself from walking away from a pan, very similar to yours but metal rather than silicon, in the thrift store last week.   I remarked how great it would be for small meat loaves but since I am not a meat loaf fan I couldn't see any reason to buy it.  Small loaves such as you are making would be perfect for a singleton such as me.  

[ElsieD]

I too remember eating sugar on bread.  My parents did not have a toaster in post-war Holland so it was sugar on bread.  I doubt we had a lot of sugar because I remember it as being a treat and the sugar was very carefully (and meagerly) distributed on the bread.  When we arrived in Canada and they got themselves a toaster, we had sugar on toast.  Sugar and bread were then plentiful and while I still liked it, it wasn't the treat it was in Holland, probably due to the scarcity of sugar there.  Franci,  thanks for dredging up that memory. 

[robirdstx]

My memory is from the 60's. We had what we called cinnamon toast. Ground cinnamon mixed with sugar and sprinkled over buttered toast. Haven't had that in years!

[Kerry Beal]

16 minutes ago, robirdstx said:

My memory is from the 60's. We had what we called cinnamon toast. Ground cinnamon mixed with sugar and sprinkled over buttered toast. Haven't had that in years!

Two versions of cinnamon toast served in my house growing up - the buttered toast sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar - and the brown sugar, butter and cinnamon beaten together and used as a spread on the toast. 

[rotuts]

I still make it from time to time.

[Anna N]

Cinnamon toast is like worlds away from sugar sprinkled on buttered bread. Nothing wrong with it but it's a completely different food group. Pain de chocolat vs nutella on toast.  

[Franci]

Well, I am happy I brought all these memories back. For me it was un toasted bread, michetta, which has no crumb inside, don't think of it as a kaiser roll, with cold sweet butter and granulated sugar. 

Anna, I think the little loaf pans are great for bread,  for brioche or small pound cakes! This recipe was very easy, a "milk" bread, pain au lait, if you want. 500 g flour, 274 g milk (but I used a tad more), 25 g fresh compressed yeast (1/3 if granulated but for me way too much), 6 g salt (I'd go to 10 g), 6 g honey, 50 g sugar. Double in bulk, then divide it into shapes for a second rise. I did what suggested and added a bowl of hot water in the oven for the second proof but then if you need to preheat your oven consider that too. 

Edited September 24, 2016 by Franci (log)

[MelissaH]

For us, cinnamon toast was made by buttering a slice of bread, sprinkling on cinnamon sugar, and then toasting it in a toaster oven. We were the only ones with a toaster oven rather than a toaster with slots, which probably explains why none of my friends made cinnamon toast this way.

[Okanagancook]

Cinnamon toast, one of the first things taught in Home Economics Class.  The other thing was 'cheese dreams':  toast, cheddar cheese, and topped with bacon then under the broiler to melt the cheese.  I made the dreams still but not the cinnamon toast...too sweet for me nowadays.

[Saci Pererê]

Well! If it's any consolation, I just took a heel end of day-old baguette, refreshed it in the CSO (Steam-bake, 200F, 5 mins or so) and spread it with some butter and fancy-shmancy tumeric-cinnamon preserves from my local farmer's market. An overpriced version of your sugar-on-toast  But it was good and helped settle down the two gin drinks I had tonight, out celebrating with my sweetheart wife!

[kayb]

I love, and still make periodically, sugar toast. Much more fond of it than cinnamon toast.

 

[ElainaA]

About once a month I go to a local diner for breakfast with some friends. Typically we all order cinnamon toast. It is available in every local diner i have been to. (And I love diner breakfasts.)

I always have a shaker of cinnamon sugar for toast in the pantry,

Edited September 26, 2016 by ElainaA (log)

[Saci Pererê]

Good to see that everyone has just about the same guilty pleasure sugar-rush addiction! Now if you really want a sugar-overdose, then try a few spoonfuls of raw sweetened condensed milk... I only hit that about once every 3 or 4 years, it's that good, that BAD for you, and that addictive

 

Speaking of which, has anyone tried making dulce de leche in the CSO yet? Popping an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk into the oven... Steam function, I'd suppose and I can see where it can go horribly wrong (kaboom!). I usually do dulce de leche via a slow boil in a pan, that way external/internal pressure on the can evens out. But if the pan dries out, then it's kaboom again! Anyway, I wonder if you could do it safely in the CSO.

 

 

Edited September 26, 2016 by Saci Pererê (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Last night I tried another baked potato by the recipe booklet:  400 deg F. steam bake.  Perfectly eatable potato but not to be compared to cooking in a conventional oven in a bed of salt.

 

The CSO is not for everything.

 

[Saci Pererê]

6 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Last night I tried another baked potato by the recipe booklet:  400 deg F. steam bake.  Perfectly eatable potato but not to be compared to cooking in a conventional oven in a bed of salt.

 

What was the difference? And have you considered doing a convection baked potato in a bed of (necessarily) coarse salt?

 

I may just have a crappy conventional oven, but what I like most about the CSO is just so easy to use for small servings, like your one or two potatoes.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

6 hours ago, Saci Pererê said:

 

What was the difference? And have you considered doing a convection baked potato in a bed of (necessarily) coarse salt?

 

I may just have a crappy conventional oven, but what I like most about the CSO is just so easy to use for small servings, like your one or two potatoes.

 

The difference?  CSO potato has less crisp skin and the flesh of the oven baked potato is almost powdery.  I keep a roasting pan full of salt used just for potatoes.  The CSO potato was still OK, just not the same.

 

I've thought of trying a potato by convection bake in the CSO.  The CSO is so convenient and much more energy efficient.  So far bread and baked potatoes are two things worth firing up the big oven for.  Roast potatoes on the other hand are a delight in the CSO.

[Franci]

I made stuffed tomatoes a la romana and stuffed zucchini

 

[Kerry Beal]

Oeufs en Pot - recipe from Joe Beef

 

 

 

Sautéed some mushrooms and shallots, a bit of duck stock, sherry and cream. Placed in ramekins, topped with egg - steam bake 350 for 8 minutes.  

[ahr]

On 9/14/2014, SJMitch said:

 

"I'm also not giving up on finding a straight rack that fits."

 

Have you had any luck with this?

[Jacksoup]

First attempt at using CSO  used the salmon recipe right out of the book.  Turned out well but I need practice.  Need practice with photos also. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Two experiments tonight:

 

1.)  I tried again to bake a baguette in the CSO.  It never comes out right.  The crust is too soft.  Tastes pretty good though.  Not to insult the Italians, but it is more like [my concept of] an Italian bread.

 

2.)  Sous vide chicken thigh.  The first time I cooked a sous vide chicken thigh in the CSO I treated it like fresh chicken thigh and steamed baked at 425 deg F.  The sous vide thigh turned out stringy and not much like the fresh version at all.  Tonight I convection broiled (no steam) and the thigh was much more tasty.  Still can't beat the shatteringly crisp skin on a fresh thigh prepared on steam bake.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Tonight's sous vide chicken thigh was finished 500 deg F. on steam broil for 15 minutes.  Best result so far for chicken flesh, however the skin lacked the shatteringly crisp texture of raw chicken cooked on steam bake,  The skin was still mighty tasty though.

 

 

 

[rotuts]

steam-bake  really makes CkTh skin 'bubbly' crisp.  Best part almost !