Ttraditional, combined, microwave, connected… The oven is certainly the protagonist in our kitchens. And its role is so important that a world day has been dedicated to baking since 2012: May 17th.
The World Baking Day was created to spread the joy of baking around the world, especially to those who perhaps don’t bake too often or aren’t savvy. The purpose is to show people how much fun baking a cake can be, gods cookies or a pizza to share with friends and family.
After all, even during the Pandemic, there are many who they tried their hand at home preparations – many will remember the yeast shortage in supermarkets – and have become familiar with an appliance perhaps a little neglected, but which is now back among the favorites for the preparation of desserts, bread and pizza and much more.
Second idealone of the main price comparators at European level, in May 2023 the built-in ovens were the most desired, followed by electric ovens and steam ovens.
The peak purchase for kilns in Italy is usually recorded in November when, thanks to the Black Friday/Black Month offers, you can save a lot. However, inflation has had a major impact on the sectorjust think that on average an oven has come to cost even 50% more in the last 12 months compared to the previous 12 months. Fortunately, through comparison, it is still possible save up to 400 euros monitoring price fluctuations and making purchases through digital channels.
Baking: when did it start?
Baking exists for over 14,000 years. Early bakers in Jordan created flatbreads, then wrapped around meat, to create the forerunner of the sandwich. The Roman era saw the birth of the baker. In the United Kingdom, in the Middle Ages, baking became commercialwith many regulations governing how to cook and sell the bread.
The delicious and appetizing sweets that we eat today started to emerge for the upper echelons of society from the Middle Ages onwards. Technology has also helped improve ovens to bring better baked goods to the masses, especially in the 19th century. Cooking innovations came during World War I and World War II, and in America during the wars, the bakery thrived as people moved to the United States and rationing sharpened the mind.
Nutritional benefits of baking
«Compared to other types of cooking, such as microwave cooking or boiling, baking has several benefits in terms of nutritional. First, it is a method that allows you to preserve all the nutrients of food: for example, it increases the bioavailability of plant pigments known for their antioxidant action (such as carotenoids or betalains), does not alter the omega 3 content (present for example in fish) and, consequently, does not interfere with the anti-inflammatory properties, antioxidants and food metabolism.
Furthermore, it is a type of cooking that avoid burning the foodthanks to the possibility of keep the temperature constantand therefore the formation of carcinogenic compounds, such as peroxides which are formed by excessive cooking of fat, the heterocyclic amines of meats and the carbohydrate acrylamide. Finally, when cooking in the oven it is possible to avoid the use of excess fat, while still enhancing the flavor of the dish», confided the Doctor Federica Russo, nutritionist of My Doctor.
A chef’s recipe
To conclude this excursus on the oven and celebrate it in its day, we asked an established chef to reveal a recipe that he can make now: not too difficult and tasty.
Here’s what he recommended Andrea Alfieri, Executive Chef of Da Noi In inside the Magna Pars L’Hotel à Parfum in Milan of the circuit TheFork and president of the association Charming Italian Chef – Chic.
Rosé cooked veal topside with tuna sauce, quail eggs, lemon celery, summer truffle
Ingredients for 4 people
– veal round or round 400 g
– butter
– thyme
– rosemary
– carrots, celery, onion 100 g
– salt
– pepper
For the tuna sauce
– tuna in oil 200 g
– anchovy fillets 4
– capers 30 g
– boiled eggs 4
– mayonnaise 50 g
For the lemon celery
– celery legs 2
– lemon 1
– quail eggs 4
For decoration
– summer truffle or scorzone 20 g
Method
In a pan with butter, rosemary and thyme, brown the magatelli on all sides. Once cooked, season with salt and pepper and leave to cool. Put the rounds in a baking dish with a brunoise of carrots, celery, onions and rosemary and cook in the oven for 45 minutes with the probe and internal temperature of 46 degrees. After cooking, cool down. For the tuna sauce: stew the carrots, celery and onions previously cooked together with the magatelli in the pan where the rounds were browned, adding thyme, anchovies and tuna in oil. Deglaze everything with white wine, then cool and pass through the cutter with the addition of capers, hard-boiled eggs (yolk only) and a little mayonnaise to make the mixture soft. Hard boil the quail eggs in water by boiling them for six minutes, then cool them in water and ice and peel them. Meanwhile, finely cut the celery into julienne strips and season with oil and lemon juice.
Dish composition
Use a slicer to cut thin slices of topside, decorate them with spikes of tuna sauce and capers, the celery seasoned with lemon, the quail eggs and finally the sliced truffle.
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