Gentle Steaming in CVap

Our goal was to demonstrate the gentle steaming abilities of our CVap CHV Cook and Hold Oven and RTV Retherm Ovens. Most commercial steamers cook at 212°F, or higher. Steam is incredibly efficient at thermal transfer. Blasting away at food with boiling-temp steam can easily overcook it.

On the other hand, CVap ovens can generate a 100% humidity environment at 200°F vapor, 200°F air. As “gentle steam” implies, this environment is ideal for more delicate foods. Above all, the operator has more control over food quality. And what is more delicate than a bao dumpling?

Both the CHV and RTV ovens were set to 200/200. We cooked half the dumplings in traditional bamboo steamer baskets. The other half were placed directly onto perforated sheet pans.

As expected, the dumplings cooked a bit faster in the retherm oven. The RTV is designed for cooking speed. So it exceled at retherming these frozen treats. Both the bamboo and the sheet pan preparations produced excellent results. One advantage to the steamer baskets is that the dumplings may be served directly to the consumer, without removing from the basket. On the other hand, the sheet pan dumplings had to be plated.