It’s clear that our needs are changing when it comes to kitchen appliances. Whether it’s air frying or steaming, we’re all using different methods of cooking, and we all want better results. To aid that, Samsung’s latest range of ovens in the 4, 5, 6 and 7 series have introduced new cooking modes to boost healthy cooking and convenience.
We sat down with Jonathan Hartley, channel manager built-in appliance DA at Samsung to discuss what was launched.
While the new ovens have different cooking features depending on the range, they all share one thing in common: they’re all Wi-Fi connected and can talk to the SmartThings app. For Samsung, this was a no-brainer.
“Why should you when you buy a £500 oven not have that option?,” says Hartley, “SmartThings allows customers to get into SmartThings at an entry-level.”
For Samsung, SmartThings is about convenience and ease. As Hartley explains, when you’ve got family around and you’re all in the garden, cooking has largely required the host to keep nipping back into the kitchen to check on the progress. With SmartThings, you get a message towards the end of cooking time and can even add extra cooking time without having to move.
New cooking modes
While SmartThings may underpin the smarts of the new ovens, it’s most likely the new modes that will attract attention, with Air Fry and steam cooking available.
“It’s new technology that customers need,” says Hartley. “Air Fry is really popular and concentrates on using less oil.”
As our best air fryer list will contest, the technology is mature, and we know that once people start cooking this way, they don’t want to go back. By building it into an oven, Samsung provides a feature that people want but also cuts down on the number of appliances used.
Samsung has also added Steam cooking across the range, with up to three cooking modes: Steam Assist (fills the oven with steam to crisp food), Natural Steam (crispy baking) and Full Steam (surrounds food, such as vegetables and fish, with steam to cook them naturally without losing nutritional value).
Air Sous Vide
Sous Vide is an incredibly popular cooking technique. Food is sealed in bags and dropped into water that’s set to a stable temperature, cooking things like steak perfectly all the way through. This method requires specialist equipment, such as the Thermomix TM6.
Samsung’s new ovens have an Air Sous Vide mode, where the oven senses and adjusts the temperature to keep it more accurate over a longer period of time for more tender food.
“Sous Vide is something associated with restaurant food. People like that experience and want it at home,” says Hartley.
Dual Cook Flex
Samsung’s ovens continue to use Dual Cook Flex, where the oven can be split into two, running different modes and temperatures at the same time, or just using half the oven to reduce energy consumption.
As Hartley explains, you could use air fry in the top part of the oven, cooking conventionally in the bottom half.
Reducing complexity
Of course, adding lots of new features adds a degree of complexity to the mix. Samsung has introduced new features to help.
“We have auto cook: preset modes that allow you to choose the mode, air fry and air sous vide,” explains Hartley. “It gives you a step-by-step guide: this is the weight, this is the shelf, and then continues, guides you through the process right up to hitting the play button.
“This mode allows any user that doesn’t have a technological mind to press play and the oven cooks to perfection.”
We’ll bring you reviews of the ovens and new cooking modes when samples are available.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
