Do you want Steam with that?

So it's very true that recipes are wonderful and helpful and they are really the reason that I started this blog. We all love a new dish to add to our repertoire, especially when we're cooking in our gorgeous Combi-Steam ovens. I do know, however, that all of you have family favourites up your sleeve and love finding new ideas online and in those beautiful glossy books and mags. When it comes to adapting any recipe to cook in your Combi-Steam, it's really all about knowing and understanding the functions you have available. The brilliance of a Combi-Steam over a regular fan forced or convection oven OR a plain Steam oven is the versatility. Combination Steam ovens allow you to cook almost anything because they have multiple cooking functions or modes. You can use Steam to cook purely with moisture to achieve a soft and moist result, you can use Fan Forced heat to give you browning and crunch and you can combine the two to achieve a balance of both for foods that benefit from moisture and browning. It’s a total package!

I’m going to break down the difference between the functions you will likely have that will give you browning and crunch (as well as moisture/steam if you want it). If you want to know more about using your Steam only you can read my previous post here.

In most Combination Steam ovens you will have a regular fan forced setting. It may be called Convection or Fan Forced or Hot Air. This function will provide you with an oven environment that is going to give you a regular baked or roasted result without any moisture. In my brand of choice this setting is a dry setting so it actually creates a dry oven environment which is perfect for things like my pavlova, my shortbread and biscotti and crunchy cookies. I also use it for any blind baking of pastry tart shells when needed. It can even be used at low temperatures for long periods of time to dehydrate things like fresh herbs, fruit or vegetables which just adds to the versatility.

Alternatively, you can combine (that’s where they get the name Combi-Steam from) the Convection or fan forced heat with your Steam. Depending on the brand you are using, this option may be called Combination Steam, Convection Steam or Hot Air+Steaming. To imagine what is happening inside the oven when you use this function think about being in a sauna. You have the red hot rocks working their magic to heat the room (that’s your oven’s element) and when you add the steam, by pouring water over those rocks, you add extra moisture but also increase the heat considerably. If you think about weather in different types of climates you may also start to understand it more fully. A dry heat is hot and makes you feel dried out after time, a more humid location (think tropical areas) have more moisture in the air and whilst the sun heats up like an element the addition of the humidity can make it feel even hotter. This is what your food feels like in Combination Steam or Hot Air+Steaming.

The benefit of cooking this way, is that the steam will help to keep the inside or the underneath of your food really moist while the outside, or top, gets nice and brown from the convection heat being created by the element and fan. They higher the temp you set, the more browning you will get on the outside and the more intense the cooking but you don't have to worry so much about food drying out.

The Combination Steam function is just what you need for a perfect roast chicken, roast turkey, soft and saucy lasagna, pasta bake, browned meatballs, apple crumble, cauliflower gratin, scalloped potatoes, grilled style sausages or omelette. To get a grilled or browned affect on things like meatballs, sausages or omelettes preheat your oven nice and hot (200 to 230°C) and then put the food in. For roasting and baking just stick with a moderate temp setting from 170 to 190°C.

Remember to leave your food uncovered with lids off also when you cook with Steam, otherwise you will stop the magic from happening. Covering the food will mean that the steam cannot penetrate the food to help do what it is meant to do. Keep it simple and let the steam do the work.

In some brands you need to adjust or control the amount of steam you need and that will depend on the food you are cooking. It may be a low, medium or high setting or a percentage. The more you use your oven the more you will get used to these options. In other brands, there are sensors that control the levels of steam and moisture for you which makes it really easy to use.

In my brand of choice I can also turn off the steam at any time during the cooking while I am using Hot Air+Steaming which allows me to finish the food off with a little extra dry heat to give me extra crunch to your roast potatoes or reduce the sauce on your lasagna or scalloped potatoes at the end.

So there you go! It really does make perfect sense.

Many types of food can be cooked using either your regular fan forced or your Combination Steam options and you will need to explore them to find your personal favourite but the great news is that you are in control and will be able to get the result you want.

Once you work out the right function for what you are cooking, the temperature and timing from a good recipe will usually not change too much. I sometimes find for baking that dropping the temperature by around 20°C can be helpful when using your Fan Forced or Hot Air setting, but when you are using your Steam with the heat that may not be needed. In fact, the steam can actually help to prevent any burning as the moisture protects the food as it cooks. Timing wise, I would recommend starting with what the recipe tells you and just checking along the way. Using those senses of your smell, touch and sight as you cook will help you get a feel for what is happening and allow you to make any adjustments.

Remember that the recipe world is your oyster and once you master the moisture control and understand what the functions are going to do for your dish, adapting any recipe will be easy! Before I sign off, just a reminder that a little extra support. for those of you that would like it, is only a click and a checkout away, with my downloadable cheat sheets.

Happy Combi-Steaming!.

Yours in the kitchen,
The CSQ. x