Last week I was fortunate enough to attend Thermador’s “Now You’re (Steam) Cooking” blogging event in Scottsdale, Arizona. I was honored to be one of 20 bloggers invited to view the unveiling of Thermador’s new Steam and Convection Oven. We spent an entire day at the Thermador Gallery & Training Center where we learned about the Thermador’s history, brand, and products. Food was definitely a focus on this trip-we did a lot of eating:) I am sharing the most amazing recipe for creme brulee at the end of the post-so hang in there. First, I want to share some of the highlights of my trip.
When we arrived at the training center, we took a brief tour of the facility. I lost count after seeing five kitchens, they were all beautiful! The Thermador chefs prepared a delicious breakfast for all of us. They laid out quite the spread-whole grain pancakes with buttermilk syrup, quinoa fruit salad, eggs, bacon, pastries, yogurt/granola, and juice. The pancakes were heavenly-a great way to start the day.
Next, we learned about the history of Thermador-did you know Julia Child and Alice from the Brady Bunch used Thermador? Nice, huh? We also had some time to get our hands dirty in the kitchen and test out Thermador’s appliances first hand. I am in love with Thermador’s legendary Star Burners. I love the big, powerful Star Burner in the center of the range. Very nice!
We had fun helping Chef Brad and Chef Kyle prepare our lunch. I don’t think they have ever seen so many cameras in a kitchen before:) And of course the lunch spread was fantastic-sun dried tomato rolls, goat cheese strawberry salad, orzo pasta salad, roasted vegetables, salmon wellington…and the list goes on and on. Everything on the menu was super tasty. For dessert, we had Chef Kyle’s outstanding creme brulee. Mmmmm!
Photo Courtesy of Thermador
After lunch, Thermador showed us the new steam and convection oven. I am in love! It isn’t on the market yet, but will be this fall. A few highlights include:
- Luxury segment’s first pre-programmed oven to combine three distinct cooking solutions — steam, convection and a combination of the two.
- Multiple dishes can be cooked at the same time without the risk of flavor transfer or the need for temperature or time adjustment.
- Steam/Convection Oven is great for defrosting and reheating.
- Reheat foods that will taste “good as new”-we reheated day old pizza and it tasted fresh! Josh will love this feature:)
- Steam cooking is healthier-locks in moisture, vitamins and minerals.
- You can make homemade soft pretzels and bagels without boiling them-just steam them! Love this feature!
- Produce crusty Artisan breads without spraying water in the oven or using a steam pan
The Steam/Convection is not a full size oven, but can hold up to a 14 lb. turkey. I am hoping Thermador will launch a full size oven someday:) It is a great secondary oven though. I would love to have one in our kitchen. Actually, I would love to have all of Thermador’s appliances in our kitchen, they are amazing! It was fun being able to test them all out.
Photo courtesy of White on Rice Couple
Thank you Thermador for hosting a wonderful event. I had wonderful time from start to finish.
Now, finally time for the creme brulee recipe I promised. I am not usually a creme brulee fan-it is a texture/eggy thing, but I loved this creme brulee. It was velvety, smooth, and had a rich vanilla bean flavor. I also loved sugary crust and the cute little star dishes:) Thanks Chef Kyle for sharing your creme brulee recipe-it is the best!
Katie, from Good Life Eats, attended the trip and recently recreated the Goat Cheese Strawberry salad. She used Atheno’s Feta cheese-check out the recipe. I am making this salad this week!
