Oven-steamer just goes to prove: time has come for kitchen flexibility

Nation's Restaurant News, June 27, 1988 by Patt Patterson

Oven-steamer just goes to prove: Time has come for kitchen flexibility

Equipment Insights Patt Patterson

Flexibility in the kitchen seems to be a concept whose time has come. Manufacturers are designing more and more equipment with greater ranges of use. That means that you, the operator, as you build a new kitchen or upgrade an older one, can reduce your overall equipment cost and better utilize your kitchen space.

A good example of the trend is the combination oven-steamer. It goes by a number of names, depending upon the maker, but both "steam" and "oven" generally occur in the name.

What the product does is simple. It provides you with a way to roast or bake with moist heat (steam), to roast or bake the standard convection (dry, hot air) method, or to use the unit as a straight steamer. The point is that you get three functions in one piece of equipment that doesn't take up much more floor space than an oven alone.

The oven-steamer principle has been popular in Europe for some time, so it comes to us a well-tested idea, including valuable support in the form of cooking tips and recipes.

It's always tough to be a pioneer with a piece of untried new equipment. Often the bugs haven't been worked out. But the combination oven-steamer has been proved in heavy use for several years before it was introduced here. No pioneering is involved.

Scores of chain and institutional operators who installed a single unit to start are now ordering more.

Many models are available. They start with smaller countertop sizes, which will handle half-size steam table pans. They extend to large, floor-mounted, full-size units that accept up to 20 standard 18-inch-by-26-inch pans. Both gas and electric models are available so you can stick with the energy source you prefer.

A combination oven-steamer is essentially a convection oven with a flash steam generator that produces pressureless steam. It does not require a separate high-pressure steam boiler to operate. It does require plumbing to a cold-water line, and, as with all equipment that uses water, properly conditioned water will extend the life of the unit.

Without the steam, the combination unit works just like any other convection oven. By adding a preselected amount of steam, you can roast or bake in "moist" heat, preventing food surface from drying out or crusting. With full steam generation, you have a low pressure or pressureless steamer for all steaming applications, especially large volume steaming of frozen vegetables, and so on.

In addition, some manufacturers provide holding and proofing temperature settings. Other offer high-end temperatures exceeding 550 degrees Fahrenheit. That enables the oven to be used as a broiler.

In addition to the space savings of having one piece of equipment that does the work of three, what are the advantages? To start with, the units are excellent convection ovens. If you're one of the few operators who haven't installed a convection oven, let's review the features of the standard convection oven.

The basic purpose of the convection oven is to provide even heat to the food being roasted or baked. It does so by using a high-speed fan and an air circulation design to keep the heated air inside the oven in constant circulation. That makes the oven roast faster, because it strips away the layer of lower temperature air that forms around the food as it cooks in a standard radiant oven.

Some convection units permit you to turn off the fan that provides the forced air flow, so you may use the oven as a standard radiant one. That is important in some baked goods.

Another advantage is that you can heavily load the convection oven with a maximum amount of trays. In a standard radiant oven, trays sandwiched between one above and another below are blocked from the radiant heat source and cook more slowly. In the convection oven, the constant air circulation carries hot air between the trays, cooking the middle one as rapidly as the others.

Of course, a convection oven has one major disadvantage. In the case of some foods, the constant movement of heated air over the surface of the food dries it out.

That's where the combination oven-steamer shines. By using a small amount of steam to keep an appropriate moisture level within the oven, food surfaces do not dry out as they would in a conventional convection oven.

Red meats and poultry shrink less when roasted in high humidity. They are moister and have an excellent flavor. If a thorough browning is desired, the steam can be turned off and the roasting finished in dry heat.

Some operators claim they get a superior roast beef or lamb by a period of full steaming and then using high-humidity roasting, ending with a period of hot air to brown the surface attractively. They say shrinkage is minimal and the full meat flavor is retained.

Crisp roll and bread crusts can be produced by using a combination of steam followed by straight hot-air convection. That gives good results with baking off brown and serve breads. Baked potatoes, too, can benefit from initial steaming for rapid cooking and low moisture loss, followed by hot-air baking for flavor and a desirable skin appearance.