Steam cooking has long suffered from an image problem.
For years, it sat in the same category as treadmill desk workouts, corporate wellness webinars and those mysterious microwave fish steamers from late-night infomercials. Functional but not exactly exciting.
Most Australians associate steam with broccoli, hospital vegetables and the kind of healthy eating that arrives with an apology.
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Award-winning Australian chef Matt Stone would like a word.
The chef has partnered with Electrolux to help launch its new Steam Oven range across Australia and New Zealand, spending months developing recipes that feel more dinner party than detox retreat.
Like sticky wattleseed fika buns inspired by Sweden’s beloved coffee breaks, duck breast with blackberry sauce worthy of a fancy restaurant menu and buttery steamed mussels designed to be mopped up with warm bread.
In other words, this is not your grandmother’s steamed cauliflower.
The timing makes sense. Australian kitchens are currently experiencing an identity crisis. We want healthier meals but don’t want them to taste healthy.
We want to entertain more but don’t necessarily want to spend an entire Saturday chained to the stove basting a roast every 20 minutes.
We love kitchen technology provided it actually saves time rather than adding another instruction manual to the junk drawer.
Steam cooking sits neatly in the middle of all three.
“Steam gives you precision without pressure,” Stone explains. “You can achieve crisp skin on duck, tender greens and soft, delicate desserts all from the same oven.”
The impressive part is that the oven isn’t asking anyone to suddenly become a chef.
The campaign line behind the new range is “Steam when you need it”, which feels refreshingly realistic in an era of appliances that promise to transform us into Michelin-star cooks by Tuesday.
Sometimes your lasagne doesn’t need steam. Sometimes your sourdough absolutely does. The point is choice rather than commitment.
Electrolux has essentially broken steam cooking into four levels of enthusiasm.
SteamBake uses light steam for fluffier cakes and bakery-style bread with golden crusts.
SteamCrisp introduces medium steam for juicy roasts and crackling that actually crackles.
SteamPro goes all in with full steam for fish, vegetables and delicate proteins.
Then there is Steamify, which sounds vaguely futuristic but is wonderfully simple. Set your preferred cooking temperature and the oven works out the steam settings for you.
The appliance equivalent of a friend who says, “I’ve got this.”
The Swedish influence behind the range feels fitting.
Scandinavian design has always favoured products that make life easier rather than demanding attention.
Good design works in the background while you get on with dinner and attempt to remember whether you bought coriander.
Stone’s recipes lean into that philosophy.
His Cinnamon and Wattleseed Fika Buns borrow from Sweden’s sacred afternoon coffee ritual while introducing native Australian wattleseed, adding subtle notes of coffee and chocolate to the traditional cinnamon filling.
Cooked using low steam at 180 degrees, the buns stay soft and fluffy rather than veering into the hockey puck territory familiar to many home bakers.
The steamed mussels with brown butter might be the biggest revelation of the collection.
Mussels have somehow become one of those restaurant dishes people admire from afar despite being surprisingly straightforward.
Full steam at 100 degrees opens them gently in minutes before they’re tossed through nutty brown butter, garlic and herbs.
Dinner party guests never need to know how little effort was involved.
Then comes the duck.
Cooking duck at home sits somewhere between assembling flat-pack furniture and parallel parking in terms of confidence levels for many Australians. Everyone assumes it is harder than it actually is.
Stone’s version uses Steamify technology alongside a honey and soy glaze to deliver crisp skin and a perfectly pink centre, paired with steamed greens and a glossy blackberry sauce inspired by classic Nordic flavour combinations.
It looks like the sort of dish that arrives at a restaurant with tweezers involved somewhere in the preparation process.
Instead, it comes from your oven.
Perhaps that’s the real appeal of steam cooking’s resurgence. It closes the gap between the meals we save on Instagram and the meals we actually make on a Wednesday night after work.
No culinary degree required.
No professional kitchen necessary.
Just a little steam when you need it.
Electrolux Steam Recipe By Matt Stone Cinnamon & Wattleseed Fika bun
Serves 12 buns
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp dried yeast
- 350ml milk, room temperature
- 150g caster sugar
- 700g plain flour
- Large pinch salt
- 1 egg
- 2 egg yolks
- 150g unsalted butter, diced and softened
Method
Combine the yeast, sugar and milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Give it a quick swirl to start dissolving the sugar and activating the yeast.
Add the flour, salt, egg and yolks. Using the dough hook, mix on low speed for about 5 minutes. Slowly add the butter in four stages, mixing well each time. The dough will be quite sticky.
Lightly flour the bench and turn the dough out. Gently fold and work the dough until smooth. Lightly oil a bowl, place the dough inside and cover with a damp towel. Leave to prove for about 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.
Filling
- 125g unsalted butter, softened
- 200g brown sugar
- 1 heaped tbsp cinnamon powder
- 1 heaped tbsp ground wattleseed
- Seeds from 1 vanilla pod
- Pinch salt
Method
For the filling, place all ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth.
Lightly oil a 20cm x 30cm slice tray. Flour the bench again and gently tip the dough out. Roll into a rectangle roughly 25cm x 60cm.
Spread the filling evenly over the dough, leaving a small border around the edges. Starting from the long side, roll the dough tightly to enclose the filling.
Trim the ends slightly, then cut into 12 even pieces. Arrange neatly in the tray. Cover with a damp towel and allow to prove again until puffed.
Bake using the Electrolux steam oven on Low Steam, 180 degrees for 22 minutes.
Frosting
- 150g cream cheese
- 60g unsalted butter
- 1 cup icing sugar
- Milk (to loosen)
- Zest of 1 orange
Method
Place the butter and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until smooth.
Add the icing sugar and mix until combined. Stir through the orange zest and a small splash of milk until you reach the desired consistency.
Spread over the warm buns.
