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Syndicate
Oven Envy
We got a press release the other day about a new dual-fuel range from Bertazzoni, the Italian oven manufacturer that recently began selling its products in the United States. I was instantly reminded of an event they held in the Ferrari (yes, the car) showroom at the new Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas last year during the Kitchen/Bath Industry Show. We’re talking serious oven envy.
It didn’t look odd to see a bunch of ovens displayed among $200,000 sports cars. Turns out that the vivid colors on the Bertazzoni ranges are painted onto them in the Ferrari factory, so they all share the same shiny candy coating.
Bertazzoni was just one of the many ovens I have fallen in love with.
Aga
Ever since I visited a home in the English countryside that had the iconic Aga cooker in the kitchen, I’ve been hooked. For the uninitiated, the stove is always on. You just lift one of the burner covers and start cooking. Open one of the oven doors and start baking. It never turns off. And it’s so heavy, your floor needs reinforcing before it’s installed.
Aga has developed such a cult following in the U.S. that one of its fans started a school for new Aga owners in Asheville, NC. Because it doesn’t have the standard knobs and switches that most other ovens have, one must get “reprogrammed” from conventional ranges.
In addition to the school, the Aga Web site has a great collection of YouTube demonstration videos, recipes, a blog, and a “Cooking Doctor” link where you can ask questions about cooking methods if you are stumped.
Turbo Chef
Another fabulous new oven is the Turbo Chef Speedcook Oven, which bakes, roasts, and broils food in a tiny fraction of the time it usually takes – from fresh asparagus in 45 seconds, a frozen pizza in 90 seconds, to a rack of lamb in 4 minutes, or a Thanksgiving turkey in 42 minutes.
The foodies among us might notice that Martha Stewart has featured it on her show and Charlie Trotter of his famed eponymous restaurant in Chicago is a big endorser. I sat in front of him last year at the Kitchen/Bath Industry Show as he cooked a meal in about 20 minutes, which would take two hours with any other oven.
There are 400 menu profiles programmed into the oven. Do you like your brownies gooey or cakey? There are settings for each. As Trotter says: “This is not unlike working an iPod. It’s like selecting the artist and the album and pushing ‘start.’ ”
The company has a great blog to keep you up to date on cooking methods and recipes, too.
Viking
We all know about Viking, of course, and it looks like the Mississippi-based company is trying to be the Starbucks of ranges, in that it wants to become part of your lifestyle. For one, it recently introduced dozens of new colors to suit your every whim.
Next, its Web site has a Viking Life section, where you can find everything from recipes to demonstration videos.
And if you love your Viking at home, you can literally take it with you when you travel:
"When you travel with The Viking Life you don’t just eat where the locals eat, you cook where the locals cook. From Bombay to Barcelona, you’ll meet and learn from local chefs, street vendors, butchers, bakers, vinters, and farmers. Thanks to our partnership with The Culinary Institute of America, these exclusive culinary adventures offer the most authentic taste of culture possible."