I needed to make a lamb jus for a group combi steam oven cooking class this week. See the review from Jen about the class here. Instead of cooking it on the cooktop as I normally do I decided to utilise the fact that I had to roast the bones in the combi first so I may as well switch modes to steam and finish cooking my stock in there.
Soups and stocks are one thing that I haven’t done yet in the steam oven. No reason, just haven’t got around to it. I did buy a deeper stainless steel solid tray that I can use which will be perfect for this occasion. Certainly an easy way to make a stock as you don’t have to be watching it on the cooktop and you can even leave it unattended (apart from having to refill the water container). Check your manufacturers information to see how long your water container will last before it needs a refill.
Whilst the whole process took a long time it was worth it!
Ingredients:
2kg lamb bones & meat such as neck chops. I also used two large veal osso bucco bones.
1 onion, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
1 stick celery, sliced
2 bay leaves
few black peppercorns
Water to cover
(Plus extra ingredients listed below)
Method:
- If you are using lamb chops then trim of any excess, visible fat.
- In a deep dish roast all the bones & chops in the combi on Fan forced @ 180°C for 30-45 minutes until well browned. If you are using just bones then they should be well browned too.
- Add all other ingredients. Don’t worry about removing the fat we will deal with that later. Just cover meat & vegetables with water and switch combi to steam only 100°C and cook for 3 hours. Make sure that your dish isn’t too full as the steam oven will add more liquid over the cooking time. This will actually dilute the stock a little so keep the liquid to a minimum. Just covering the meat and vegetables is fine. Interesting, but for some reason there didn’t appear to be any scum to skim off the top as you normally get when cooking a stock.
- Stain into a large bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight to let the fat rise to the top. Remove. You should have a rich, jellied stock.
- Next day pour into a large saucepan add the following:-
4 cloves garlic, sliced
handful of fresh rosemary and thyme
2 large ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks
200ml good white wine
1 tbsp orange marmalade - Boil to reduce by half. Season to taste with a dash of thick Malaysian ‘caramel’ soy sauce which will darken it up, sea salt and black pepper.
- Strain again and set aside to cool.
You should have a thick, delicious jus 🙂
Note: If it is not thick enough then mix a slurry of 1 teaspoon of cornflour with a little water and stir in over the heat. Bring to the boil to cook off the flour for one minute and it should bring it together. Do not over-thicken otherwise you will have gravy…..
I have not had my combi steam/oven and combi Microwave/oven and induction hot plates installed yet (new kitchen). I will need to buy new saucepans/ pots etc fir this new cooking system. Can you suggest a basic kit?
Hi Gail,
You should wait to see what comes in your appliances but Circulon & LeCreuset are my favourites. Take a magnet when you go shopping to see if it sticks on the base of the pan. If it does it’s ok for induction. A frypan with small handles that will fit into the combi would be good. To be honest I don’t use the cooktop much now except for wok, pasta & large things.
Regards Trudy
Hello from Scotland,
I have been looking for a website dedicated to steam/combi ovens.
We got a lovely new kitchen nearly 2 years ago, with Siemens appliances, one of which is a steam/combi oven.
I am ashamed to admit that I really dont have a clue about it. Its like an ornament, just sitting there and I hardly use it.
Prior to getting it, we ditched the microwave, as we thought the steam oven would be replacing it. I have since bought another micro for heating up ready meals etc because I dont know about the timings etc.
I would be grateful for some info about these basic things. I have tried to find classes here, but none.
None of my friends have one, and apart from the tiny recipe book that came with it, there is very little out there. I have the Miele book but I’m wanting to learn the basic timings etc without doing the fancy stuff yet.
I am a basic cook and need to follow instructions to the letter to get a successful outcome. I am also a shift worker and sometimes come home after a 12 hour shift and just want a quick meal, hence the micro !
I so want it to be utilised but just feel lost, and my husband is even worse !
Hi Christine,
Thanks for your email. Don’t despair you just need to put in a bit of time and effort into understanding your new appliance. My saying is the best way to utilise it to its full potential is to think “can I use the combi for this?” everytime you pick up a saucepan! You should spend a bit of time reading my posts, start from the Combi 101 post, reheating, cleaning etc then move onto cooking simple things like stewed apples, rice, fish, eggs & vegetables. You can find these recipes by typing the ingredient into the Category search bar. Siemens uses more ‘Auto programs’ so turn it on and switch to Steam only and go through all the menus. You will find rice, vegetables etc in there. Once you understand the steam oven on its own then you can move to cooking meat in the combi oven. Once again use the Auto programs, it is pretty easy. You might like to cook a few things on your days off that you can reheat in the steam oven instead of using microwave meals. Reheating is excellent as it doesn’t dry out or re-cook the food so everything just tastes so much better than the microwave. You will be fine, you just need to use it and read up as much as you can! Please be aware that the Siemens times are a bit longer than the Miele due to it being an ‘evaporative steam oven’
Good luck,
Regards Trudy