A few weeks ago, we tested a speed oven, steam oven, microwave and regular oven with two day old Chinese food. Today it is old pizza, the other American leftover pastime.
This time the results were different for the taste test.
Let's look at the different products. The brands were chosen arbitrarily but you can buy similar products at different retailers.
[inlineCTA]
The good ole microwave has been around forever. People have been “zapping” or “nuking” their food since the early 1970s. Microwaves excite the molecules of water in the food creating heat.
Steam ovens have received attention lately because they are the healthiest way to cook. By adding moisture, you do not bake out the nutrients. You can cook almost anything in a steam oven.
Speed ovens have convection as well as microwave. When used in combination, it saves time and heats without the rubbery microwave texture. A few speed ovens have broiling elements as well.
Ovens have elements below and the heat radiates from the bottom to cook the food. We did not use the convection fan feature, which would spread the heat more evenly from the bottom throughout the oven.
The ovens were timed at 6 minutes with the microwave at 2.5 minutes.
The best results were the oven and speed oven. The speed oven uses convection so the food was more evenly cooked with a firmer, crispier crust.
The microwave was really rubbery and soggy. How did we tolerate it in college? The real disappointment was the steam oven. By adding water, the crust became soggier.
For the Chinese food on the other hand, steam was by far the best because it rehydrated the rice and noodles.
Additional Resources
Want to learn more about speed and steam ovens? Get the Yale Steam and Speed Oven Buying Guide with detailed features on every major brand and full explanations of both products. Well over 110,000 people have read a Yale Guide.
Related Articles