The smell of freshly baked bread, the flavor of meat prepared over a campfire and the pleasure of warming up with a cup of soup that has been simmering for hours on the coldest day of winter. These are the joys in life that most of us living busy urban lives no longer have the luxury of experiencing on a daily basis. Cooking is undoubtedly one of the arts that has significantly changed over time with the birth of modern technology. Advanced tools and appliances have made it easier than ever to create anything, consistently, with relative speed and ease. Yet something remains amiss.
Renowned chefs attest to the fact that some of the best tried-and-true techniques that draw the most natural flavors out of ingredients, and are key to creating chef-quality food, belong to the past. Whether it is using a stone mortar and pestle to grind spices or a clay oven or tandoor to bake bread in. It is interesting that despite all the advances made in cookware, it remains a challenge to recreate the flavors of traditional cooking in our everyday meals. Yet, wouldn’t it be wonderful to smell stone-oven baked pizza, or taste meat that feels like it has been grilled over real fire outdoors, right at home?
In this article, we look at one of these traditional cooking appliances that has evolved through the years, the oven. We will review the different types of ovens available and see which one might be more suitable for home use. We will see how an oven can be used to not only bake but also serve as a cooking environment to retain and provide heat for food to be cooked using any methods, retaining its true flavors and being healthy. Finally, we will look at Nacht, how it works, and its advantages.
How many types of ovens are there?
One way of categorizing ovens is based on their application and where they are used. Based on this method, the following categories could be defined:
Home Ovens
Garden or Outdoor Ovens
Restaurant Ovens
Hotel Ovens
Another categorization method is based on which fuel is used by the oven. These can include the following:
Traditional Ovens, these include traditional tandoors or brick ovens
Gas Ovens
Electric Ovens
We will review some of these different ovens, aiming to learn about each of their advantages and to see which one can be best at providing an all-encompassing cooking experience beyond baking. We will also see which one of these can recreate the best aspects of the traditional oven experience.
Traditional Ovens, Tandoors and More
The invention of the oven dates back to antiquity. Most ancient ovens were commonly made of clay. Traditional ovens varied in design from country to country, in some, holes were dug in the ground to serve as ovens, commonly known as earth ovens, while in others wood-fired brick ovens, known as masonry ovens, were used. Traditional ovens are still used throughout the world, and in old-style bakeries or pizzarias. Ovens were primarily wood-fired or coal-fired. This changed with the industrial revolution and as a result of increased urbanization, when gas-fired ovens replaced coal and wood.
In the middle east, bread was made in tannurs or tandoors, a practice that the elderly still remember. They recall this bread to have been much lighter, easier to digest and to have had the delicious aroma of fire engrained in its taste. This was the same unparalleled texture and delicious taste that the Napolitan-style pizza bread has: crispy yet soft, chewy yet light. But how can we have access to the unmatched taste of traditional oven-cooked food while living in small apartments in cities today?
Gas Ovens
Gas ovens generally have a dual function, they can be used as a modern oven to grill and cook in, but also are close enough to a traditional oven to be used to achieve similar results when it comes to baking bread and other baked goods. However, they are not portable and their use is still primarily limited to baking various dishes.
Electric Home Ovens
Electric home ovens are a part of an already existing stove in your kitchen. Sometimes called a range, these feature a stovetop as well as an oven, generally located on the bottom, that is used as a chamber for baking. Although useful they have some of the same issues that the previously mentioned ovens do: they cannot be moved and their function is limited to baking and grilling food.
When choosing a suitable home oven or tandoor, paying attention to the oven’s material, its resilience and durability, and ability to retain heat is of utmost importance.
When it comes to material and quality, we can point out several categories: steel, semi-steel and galvanized ovens.
Steel Ovens
As indicated by their name, these are made with a steel body and normally have a stainless steel or porcelain coating, they feature one or two trays and commonly have a chicken rotisserie. They can be built-in or part of a stove. They are relatively resilient and versatile, and have multiple features, settings and temperatures. They are however not for everybody since they take up space in the kitchen, and can be expensive.
Semi-Steel Ovens or Tandoor
Semi-steel oven is of inferior quality compared to its fully steel counterpart. It features a cast iron plate, as well as two flames one on top and another on the bottom of the oven. This type of oven can be placed on top of the kitchen counter or even the stove. They are also compact enough to be moved, and if using gas can be operated outdoors with a gas canister.
Nacht Home Tandoor, Compact and Versatile
By comparing different types of ovens, we realize that not all of them offer versatility or fit the needs of today’s modern customers. An ideal oven or tandoor would be one that is resilient, durable, beautifully designed and compact. It should be light, easy to use and move around. It should also do more than just bake. It should have the ability to cater to all the needs of today’s modern cook, from heating up leftovers to baking fresh bread.
It was our vision to create an appliance that would do all of this but also in less time, spending less fuel and being environmentally conscious, all the while achieving better-tasting, healthier food that is reminiscent of traditional old-style chef cooking.
Researching the needs of our audience, we designed and invented the Nacht Multipurpose Cooker, a modern twist on the traditional tandoor oven that replaces all your cookware.
Nacht features a hard-anodized tandoor, which heats up to 300 degrees celsius, retains and distributes this heat evenly to the entire surface area of the inserted cookware. The set features a number of cookware items fulfilling a range of cooking functions within the oven-like setting created by the tandoor. These range from a pot to a pan, a grill to a wok and a steamer, offering a complete range of cooking methods. The high temperature inside the hard-anodized tandoor parallels traditional ovens, allowing you to make any food imaginable with the unique flavor only afforded by traditional oven cooking. Due to the high heat retention and conduction provided by the hard anodized tandoor and its unique design, cooking time is reduced by 20%, and fuel consumption by 50%.
Nacht can be used indoors and outdoors, using traditional fuels like natural charcoal for a coal-fired oven experience or with a camping stove. Indoors, it can be used on an electric or gas stove.
How is Nacht Designed? | Modern Technology Inspired by Tradition
Nacht Multipurpose Cooker is uniquely designed to retain up to 300°Cinside the tandoor. Hard anodizing technology allows for the tandoor to be highly durable and resilient despite this high temperature and to last for generations. By creating a non-reactive protective layer on top of aluminum, hard anodizing also prevents the release of harmful chemicals into the food. This makes Nacht Multipurpose Cooker a healthy cookware.
It seems that nothing can replace the taste of food that has been thoroughly cooked over low natural heat, with its true flavors preserved. With Nacht retaining and distributing heat gradually and consistently, food is cooked from all directions, not just from below, resulting in perfectly decadent meals reminiscent of grandmothers’ cooking. The difference? Nacht offers the best of both worlds: the flavor of traditional ovens and the ease of modern design and technology.