Society is increasingly becoming health-orientated and the demand for healthier ways to cook is growing with that change.
Because of this, steam cooking is gaining popularity.
Steam Cooking Origins
Appliance manufacturers have experimented using steam in ovens, but the method was restricted by temperature range and lack of the capability to brown meats.
However, once they combined steam and convection there was a major breakthrough and the steam convection oven was born.
The Benefits of Steam Cooking
Food cooked in steam retains moisture better than food cooked in a regular convection oven.
Steamed food also retains more vitamins and minerals.
Steam cooking lets you cook many different types of food like vegetables, fish, rice, pasta, bread, and dumplings.
But you can also open extend the possibilities to desserts such as puddings, soufflés, and crème brulee.
Just think if you are into also making your own jams or pickling you may use a steam oven to sanitize the jars.
How Steam convection Ovens Work
Water from a reservoir or water line is heated and turned into steam.
True convection uses a heating element that is wrapped around the fan in the back of the oven. This element heats up and the fan pushes the hot air around the oven cavity, preventing hot spots.
Convection steam ovens blend steam and convection cooking creating a best of both worlds scenario.
Steam provides you a healthy cooking option, while the convection mode allows you to hit higher temperatures and brown meats.
Types of Steam Convection Ovens
- Steam-only provides steam-cooking functionality, which is ideal for fish, vegetables, breads, and desserts.
- Combination steam ovens or combi-steam ovens offer dedicated steam or dedicated convection, plus a combination. Ideally, this option is for those who like to steam regularly, while enabling crisp browning for roasting and baking. Also, diverse dishes can be cooked at the same time because there are no flavor aroma transfers.
- The last option we have is a standard oven with an added moisture function, steam assist, which injects steam into the oven at intervals during the normal convection cooking mode.
Steam Ovens and Popular Brands
There a wide range of brands that have come out with these ovens from Bosch, Bertazzoni, Dacor, Sharp, Meile, Smeg, and finally Samsung has joined the group that continues to grow.
Here are a few of the most popular steam oven models available at Goedekers.com:
If you are looking for healthy cooking options, a steam convection oven is a great place to start. An oven that helps you to cook healthy meals is the perfect first step.
