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Hello, my Insiders!
Today, instead of a feature recipe, I’m sharing a ‘new to learn’ article with you – I haven’t done an educational issue for ages and I like to mix things up occasionally! I’ve touched on today’s topic before and it’s something I frequently get asked about, but I’ve never given it the full explainer it deserves: do you actually need to cook with a lid when you’re using a steam oven?
There’s more education below in From the Archives, if you want to keep exploring what your oven can really do. And in A Thing I’m Loving, I’m sharing a gorgeous new book that landed in my hands for reasons that are (only partly) about research.
Happy steam oven cooking, see you in a couple of weeks.
Emily x
New to Cook
If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re missing a step by not covering your dish, today’s article will put that question to rest. It gets into what combi steam is actually doing inside your oven, why it changes the lid equation when cooking, and the handful of situations where covering your food still makes sense.
From the Archives:
If today’s article has you thinking differently about what your steam oven can do, here’s more to explore:
A great way to get long, gentle cooking out of an appliance you already own.
For all the things you didn’t realize you could move off the cooktop.
A genuinely useful trick for anyone who forgets to defrost in advance (no judgment, I do it too).
One of the common questions I get, answered properly.
A Thing I'm Loving
Fellow Aussie blogger Jess Holmes has just released her first cookbook, Something Sweet. I have to admit I didn’t fully intend to buy it, but I’m deep in research mode for a big project of my own, and it happened to fit my research needs perfectly. Funny how that works out.
The book is full of nostalgic Aussie-leaning bakes presented in a genuinely beautiful book, and everything I’ve made from it so far has been super delicious. I don’t know Jess personally, but I hope the book does really well, and I’d recommend it if you’re in the market for yet another baking book to add to the shelf. I never need much convincing on that front — ‘research’ is a thin veil when it comes to adding to my cookbook collection!
Ask Me Anything (AMA)
This is your best opportunity to ask me anything you like about steam oven cooking.
I continue to answer some AMA questions via email, but my goal is to respond to more of them as articles on the Steam & Bake website. This makes the answers easier to search and refer back to if the same questions come up again. Whenever a new article is published in response to an AMA question, I’ll let you know here in our Insiders journals.
If you have a question, big or small, please email it to [email protected]. Be sure to include INSIDERS AMA in the subject line so I can easily collect and review all submissions.