Using steam to take your cookery to the next level

Yes, you can use it to keep your broccoli nice and crisp. But harnessing the power of steam in your cooking is more than just a way to make healthy food. It's also how you can create modern restaurant-quality dishes, take your baking to the next level, streamline your workflow in the kitchen, and kick your culinary skills up a notch. And, thanks to ASKO's smart programmes and functions, steam has never been easier to get under perfect control. Let's take a look at what it's capable of.

Keep food fresh, colourful, crisp and healthy

Steaming vegetables is a familiar way to keep them tasting and looking good, as well as preserving their nutritional benefits (in the form of water-soluble nutrients) better than poaching or simmering.

Crucially, with steaming, the veg aren't buffeted around in the same way that they would be in a potful of boiling water or stock, so they keep their shape and texture better too. Of course, steaming is a good way to apply these same benefits to other dishes: like fish, shellfish, dumplings, buns and eggs.

ASKO's Pure Steam system is specially designed to avoid any water condensation – keeping all of the moisture in circulation throughout the cooking process, unlike many other standard steam or combi ovens. As a result, your ingredients will maintain their flavour better; plus, there's little risk of them becoming waterlogged, and their delicate surfaces and shapes are far less likely to be damaged, making artful presentation much easier.

Restaurant-quality results

Using a combination of steam and air convection – as is possible in a programmable combi oven – allows you to take the temperature higher, making sure that food browns perfectly for a perfect finish and delicious taste, while also benefitting from improved heat transfer and more even cooking.

Our combi ovens also feature sous vide programmes. In combination with a vacuum drawer (to seal the food hygienically) and a temperature probe, you can replicate a technique commonly used in high-end restaurants, in your own kitchen. Steam is introduced steadily throughout the cooking process, enveloping the sealed food, and the temperature kept at an exact level throughout. Your dish cooks evenly, reaches the perfect temperature, and often requires only a quick sear to get it looking and tasting absolutely incredible.

Modern programmable ovens also allow you to switch between steam and convection without even thinking about it, improving your flow in the kitchen and reducing the number of individual steps in advanced cookery processes that you need to keep track of.

Inspired to work wonders of your own? Our combi ovens let you harness the power of steam at home: find out more about them here.