I heard about steam convection ovens about 5 years ago. My wife Karen and I were contemplating a major kitchen remodel and while perusing a kitchen design store discovered the Gaggenau Steam Oven. At the time it was the only option. I was very intrigued by the concept and what it could do.
Fast forward to today and we are just finishing the kitchen remodel. In the intervening years a few other manufacturers have released new steam oven or steam convection oven models. After visiting a local kitchen store, a lot of on-line research, a lot of time reading on-line forums, and talking to a few people, I decided to purchase the Wolf Steam Convection oven for the new kitchen.
I realized in the process of researching there just was not very much independent information available on-line about how to decide if this type of oven is right for you and how to use them.
So I had the idea to start this site to help others with their decision process and to create a platform where tested recipes can be shared.
I will be chronicling my experience using my oven and posting recipes I have tested. My hope is that others like you will join this community and add your thoughts, insights, comments, what worked well and what’s not working so that we can all learn.
As I write this article my remodel is not quite done (we hope to be finished by the end of next week). Once I get my full kitchen back I will be actively working on experimenting, testing and posting my experiences for all to comment on and hopefully learn from.
I hope you will join me in this adventure!
Please add more recipes.
Hi Lori. I agree, I also like the reheat mode. I also printed off the reference guide and took it to an office supply store and laminated it. The plastic cover helps protect it in the kitchen. They use the reference guide quite a bit to get an estimate of how long something should be cooked. From my perspective, the mode you choose for cooking depends on the results that you want. If you really do only want to steam the squash than the Steve Miller would work fine. I often want to use the steam mode to soften the vegetable and then the convection mode to roast it. For example, I make Brussels sprouts by cutting them in half, coating them with olive oil and salt-and-pepper, and then placing them on the solid roasting pan that has been preheated in the oven at 400°. I place a Brussels sprouts cut side down. I then use the steam convection mode to steam them for 5 to 7 minutes and then change to the convection mode at 400° for final resting. That gives me a tender inside and the roasted goodness outside. For me the key is experimentation and writing down what I did that worked and didn’t work.
Judy and Steve,
I have had my Wolf Steamer/convect for over a year. I LOVE it. It really gets a workout on the REHEAT mode rather than the microwave. It does take more time but you don’t have to stop and stir and you never get hot spots and overcooked areas. Well worth the time. My Use & Care guide has a few recipes and a handful of suggestions/tips. Also, for a quick glance I printed off the Reference guide which is a chart showing which pan and rack position as well as setting and cook time. It is not thorough enough however – Thus my search today for how long and which mode to cook spaghetti squash. I’m curious why you chose the humid/convect mode and not the steam only for the squash.
Lori
Judy, thanks for sharing this link. I have downloaded the cookbook and will take some time over the next week or so to explore it. From a quick glance it looks like it could be very helpful. I will probably put a link to the book on my homepage so people can have an easier time finding it.
Steve, I just came across this wonderful recipe “book” for the Bosch steam convection oven. Wolf should be ashamed of themselves for not having a similar thing. In fact, I’m going to send them the link and ask (again) that they come up with a usable guide for their product. This one has diagrams of which rack to use, what kind of vessel to use, temps, cooking time, etc. Let me know what you think. I know all of these recipes can be make in our Wolf oven with little or no alteration:
http://www.bosch-home.com/Files/Bosch/Us/us_en/Document/Cad_Files/Bosch_Steam_CookBk.pdf
Judy, this spaghetti squash recipe sounds easy and good. My wife has just recently asked me to learn how to cook it so I will try it out. I have tried a couple of the gourmet settings and they seem to have worked out well. I will could some additional posts on this site over the next week or so detailing what I’ve learned.
I continue to try my convection steam oven and am finding it very convenient on week nights, instead of heating up my large Wolf oven. My new favorite setting is convection/humid. Last night I prepared spaghetti squash, which I usually cook in my regular oven, at 375 for about 40 minutes. I always have the produce guy cut the squash in half for me, then I remove the seeds, rub with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, and place cut side down on a sheet pan. I did the same thing, only put in the Wolf steam convection oven set to convection/humid at 350 and cooked for 30-35 minutes. It was perfect. Although it didn’t cook much quicker than usual, the little oven heats up really quickly, so that alone is a time saver.
Has anyone tried any of the Gourmet settings or pre-programed recipes?
Judy, congratulations on experimenting with your Wolf Oven. I am finding it does take some experimenting to learn how best to use this oven. Please leave additional comments about what you are learning. Thanks.
I’m finally getting braver with my oven and am using it more. Last night I made my favorite turkey meat loaf surrounded by fingerling potatoes. Instead of using my regular Wolf oven, I put it in the steam oven set to steam/humid at 350* for about 40 minutes. It came out perfectly, better than usual. It was beautifully glazed on the outside and extremely tender and juice on the inside. The potatoes were also perfect. Steam/humid….who knew?
Ken, thanks for your comments. I’ll reply to the others also.
Wolf really does disappoint in the information they have available on how to actually use the oven, especially when it comes to understanding how the different modes actually work. I also have descaled the oven once.
I’ve had my Wolf CS now for over a year. In fact I had to descale it a while back. Glad to find a place to share some info! Wolf really disappoints in this area. I finally got fed up with their advertising cooking an entire carton of eggs at once and the baked ice cream, so I called and complained – they told me (as I had discovered) you can’t cook them in the carton (plastic or paper) unlike what they adversities. They did give me the recipe for baked ice cream.
I’ve never used any of the Gourmet modes, or made my own mode.
I love the oven for perhaps some unconventional reasons; it’s the “right” size – even though I’m a family of four, wife and two youngsters, conventional ovens always seemed like such a waste to fire up and cook a fairly small meal.
Thanks for your note. I continue to learn how to best use steam and convection cooking together. I have not found a cookbook or much information at all on steam cooking. I continue to experiment with what it takes to adjust to steam cooking. I do realize I have not posted any information on this site but will try do a better job in the future.
Glad to see your post- although a year later. How is it going? I did a kitchen remodel and have a thermador. I love it but I am limited on my knowledge of what to cook and how. Do you know of any cook books on steam cooking?