Since the start of the new year, many resolutions have been made to develop a better lifestyle. As if making it to a workout class or finding a treadmill in your new gym wasn’t hard enough, now cooking a meal full of nutrients is thrown into the mix.
At Sharp, we try to cook with the most beneficial appliances and ingredients to keep our lifestyles moving in the right direction. An abundance of research gathered about the benefits of cooking with a superheated steam oven has helped guide us through our cooking journey.
Your first steam oven purchase can be quite an investment; there’s no denying that. Through this article, we hope to give you a better understanding of what a superheated steam oven is and if it is the right choice for your lifestyle.
What is Superheated Steam?
You may be asking yourself what superheated steam is, what exactly are the steam oven benefits, and why it has become more of a trend over the past few years. Superheated steam is steam put in contact with additional heat, making the steam temperature rise with pressure.
In a recent study published in the Korean Journal for Food Science of Animal Resources, superheated steam food samples scored the highest “among the sensory characteristics, tenderness score, juiciness score, and overall acceptability score.” After extensive research, our team has also gathered that “steamed vegetables maintained a better texture quality than boiled vegetables” and that “steamed sweet potatoes had an increase in antioxidant activity.”
How a Superheated Steam Oven Works
Believe it or not, a superheated steam oven works much as a convection oven does. A notable benefit over the traditional oven found in most of our homes, a superheated steam oven has proven to be cleaner. The Sharp SuperSteam+ Built-in Oven is a hybrid convection oven that uses heat and water to cook. It has 5 high-performance cooking modes, including Steam, Steam Bake, Convection Bake, Super Steam Grill, and Super Steam Roast. The combination of superheated steam and conventional, radiant heat in cooking modes means that your food will be crispy and browned on the outside, moist and delicious on the inside.
In the aforementioned Korean Journal of Food Science, researchers found that “moisture content and lightness value were higher in superheated steam cooked chicken steak than that of boiling, grilling, and microwave cooking.” And a three-in-one combination wall oven like the Sharp SuperSteam+ Built-in Wall Oven offers versatility. You have the option to cook with superheated steam at browning temperatures, radiant heat, and convection or with gentle and regular steam.
The Sharp SuperSteam+™ Built-in Oven uses a Hybrid Convection System that circulates the hot air, steam, and super steam through a damper duct system. Heat is delivered through the upper and back of the oven, as well as the top of the oven. Unlike conventional radiant ovens, convection ovens have a fan that continuously circulates air through the oven cavity. When hot air is blown onto food, the food tends to cook more quickly as opposed to merely surrounding it.
How to Cook in a Superheated Steam Oven
Cooking with superheated steam has never been easier than it is today. The Sharp SuperSteam+ Built-In Wall Oven has a Smart Cook feature that offers built-in recipes and pre-set cook options, which take the guesswork out of cooking. There are healthy menu categories and easy controls accessible through the touchscreen. You can also connect to your home network to enable remote control operation of common features, like preheating, and receive push notifications to your mobile phone. Use the app to access 43 additional recipes found with step-by-step instructions on how to prepare and cook in your SuperSteam+™ Built-In Wall Oven!
The SuperSteam+ app also keeps you connected with our Spotlight section – your source for Helpful Hints, Inspired Innovations, and new manual cook recipes from our vibrant, online community at Simply Better Living (sbl.sharpusa.com). With additional recipes and tips available online, everyone can get started cooking with superheated steam right away. Sharp’s steam oven’s benefits go beyond versatile cooking options. The oven’s interface gives you expert guidance to make mindful and delicious meals you will love. Our Smart Cook feature offers built-in recipes and pre-set cook options that take the guesswork out of cooking while the Manual settings put you in control of the oven.
If your kitchen is tight on space, the Sharp Superheated Steam Countertop Oven may be an enticing addition to your kitchen. With five cooking modes, the new countertop oven cooks with up to 485-degree heat with an instant-on feature. Mindful cooking has never been easier and more space-efficient than now.
What Can You Do with Your Sharp SuperSteam+ App?
- Preheat your oven remotely!
- Access more menus via the app.
- App provides cook times and temperatures for some of your favorite foods.
- Enjoy Smart Recipes with full-color, step-by-step instructions.
- Save your favorite and most frequently used foods for quick and easy access.
- Keep up to date with all things the Sharp USA under the Spotlight section and access great recipes, ideas, and tips!
- Push notifications to your mobile device to let you know when your oven has finished preheating and when your food is ready.
Pinterest has also become a valuable resource for many aspiring cooks. It offers various superheated steam oven recipes that will make cooking in your new oven a breeze. To find more superheated steam oven recipes, check out the “Recipes” tab on our blog. Please share your favorite recipes with us in the comments down below.
