- A lot of chefs and professionals kitchens
have something called the combi oven,
and the combi oven is essentially a steam oven
that uses dry heat and moisture at the same time.
You can just steam if you want,
you can just bake if you want,
and then you can combine those.
So it's something that I use a lot in my kitchens
and the probably is, is that it's super, super expensive.
I bought mine used and it was like 20,000.
I know.
So I've always been very curious about these countertop
at-home combi ovens.
Today we are testing the Sharp countertop steam oven,
but we're also gonna compare it with regular steam,
and just regular oven
just so you can see and compare
the different results.
This thing, if it can do anything close
to the commercial types then you got yourself something
really amazing that can really diversify your cooking.
The first thing we're gonna do is cook some taro.
Taro is a root vegetable that is used
a lot in Asian cooking,
and it just takes forever to cook.
We have three pieces of taro root, about the same size,
and we will put one in the combi,
one in the steamer, and one in the oven,
and time it for 30 minutes and take a look at the results.
I don't expect it to be fully cooked at 30 minutes,
we just wanna see how far along it went.
There's this little water tank on the side
and this is gonna be where the steam comes out,
goes into the oven.
So we filled that up, that's in.
We're gonna bake at 350.
Put the timer on for 30 minutes
and before we press start,
obviously we wanna start everything at the same time.
And the great thing about this
is there is no preheating.
Throw one in the oven,
and the steamer, that's on high.
So there's a minute left on the clock
and I'm just gonna take a peek at the water level.
It's almost all evaporated,
yet I don't see any steam in here.
That does mean that the steam,
it did evaporate into the oven.
Time's done, we're gonna pull everything out right now.
I expect steam, okay there's some.
We're gonna pull this out.
Results, results, results.
We'll cut it open and see,
starting with the oven.
You can tell that it is super dry.
The middle is completely raw.
Moving on to our steamer.
From the steamer you can tell that
it has cooked a little bit longer,
so I would say maybe about 15 more minutes
and this would've been done.
I knew it.
I was right about being skeptical.
Similar to oven, but it's still a little bit more moist
than the dry heat from the oven.
It looks very different
than the dried out taro from the oven.
Combination cooking is supposed to be
the quickest way of cooking.
For this specific test, it is maybe slightly better
than the oven because the oven was too dry for the taro,
but yet it was not as quick as the steaming method.
So we're gonna try a few more tests.
Protein is one of my favorite things to cook
in the combi oven.
It keeps it incredibly moist
and it's super, super fast.
The chicken breast I would say is the true test.
We're not judging this on time.
It's really what makes the best chicken breast.
The reason it works better with protein
when you're cooking in this combi method
is that the air around the oven
gets super thick and dense that it traps the moisture
inside the protein.
Okay guys, we're gonna pull these at 160.
Looks like my steamer is the quickest.
Gonna pull this.
It's been like half an hour
so we will temp this.
Let me just say that the protein I think,
this one worked a lot better than the taro root.
Still a little under so we'll put it back in.
And we'll put it in for another 10.
Yeah, needs a little bit more time.
Okay guys,
pulling chicken.
Ooh, this look amazing actually.
Protein was a good test.
I love the way the steam oven chicken looks.
I mean, it's evenly browned,
it looks super moist, especially compared to the oven one
which is very blotchy and uneven.
And obviously the steamed chicken is just steamed chicken.
So I'm just gonna cut all of them first
and then we can sort of compare.
Also we gotta compare it with the skin.
Actually, the steam oven's skin is more crispy
than the actual oven.
Taste right in the middle.
Obviously it's really juicy.
The oven-roasted chicken is definitely a lot tougher
and drier than the steamer chicken
because the steam is obviously straight up moisture.
Wow.
Very similar product with the steam oven and the oven,
but if I had to be really picky,
the steam oven did create that beautiful, even skin.
Very golden brown all around,
whereas the oven was a little bit uneven and blotchy.
In that sense, the steam oven definitely was the winner.
Did a great job cooking the chicken evenly.
Super moist inside.
Obviously you guy saw the skin is beautiful and perfect.
And now our final test because
why not have another gadget that reheats pizza.
We're not gonna steam the pizza.
We're just gonna compare it with the regular oven.
Will it be the best pizza?
So only one way to find out.
Pretty good thing about it is there's no preheating.
And guess what?
This has a separate setting just for pizza.
400, let's do it at five minutes and see where it gets us.
Do I think this is gonna work?
I'm sure it'll work.
Of course it'll work.
But it's just like, do you really need another gadget
to heat up pizza?
It would have to be better than
when it came out the first time.
That's the only way I can justify the price point.
You wanna be able to set the temperature
and set the humidity level,
and maybe I just want humidity.
But you can't do that, there's no separate function.
Okay it's been five minutes.
There's that steam.
It's a little crispy.
There we go.
At 400 degrees.
I mean, oddly I think that this is crispier.
Time to burn my mouth with some hot pizza.
Nothing wrong with that.
So I'm gonna taste the tip,
and then I'm gonna also taste the crust side.
Cutting into it, I could already tell that
the countertop oven is crispier.
All right.
Not crispy at all.
I like my pizza crispy all around.
It's New York so it's not supposed to be
super crispy anyway, so we're gonna go with the end and see.
No, the oven one is 100% better.
When I took it out of the steam oven initially
it seemed crispier,
but what happened was when it sat,
it kind of got moist and it lost its crispiness,
whereas with the oven one, it's definitely dryer too,
but it's crispy on the bottom.
And as it sat, it got crispier.
My producer is a pizza snob and even if he's like right
about the steam oven being better,
a comparably better product,
honestly it's the same to me.
All these tests, I think the difference is so subtle
that it doesn't compare with the amount of space
this $400 oven is taking.
Sadly, it's not as robust as the real thing.
It's just not getting there.
It's just a countertop oven to me
with a little bit of a dinky steamer thing.
Just get a tray of water and put it in your oven, honestly.
If you wanna see a combi oven,
come to see me at the restaurant.
I will bring you downstairs, show you the massive $20,000
machine and what it can actually do.
Do not buy this thing for $400
because it's just a glorified toaster oven.
I think the best thing we tested today
is this guy over here, which is a super fun
and I use this almost on a daily basis.
It can steam literally anything.
Best thing ever.
You can go back into the box now.
Goodbye.