The magic oven is now a reality

Sonja Celik of Miele.

There are times I would like to make the effort of throwing dinner for friends or family and cook everything from scratch. But the labor of love just takes so long. In spite of all the inspiration from Rachael Ray, the 30-minute meal is actually more myth than fact.

Thawing your food alone may take almost an hour. Then there’s the diligence of slow cooking the meat to your desired tenderness. Not to mention the many times you will have to change pots and pans, as the vegetables, which cook faster, have to be cooked much later than the meat—you can’t just dump it all in together. And then there’s the extra challenge of creating a signature dessert.

Wouldn’t it be incredible if you could just dump all your ingredients in an oven and when you open the oven, everything’s ready to eat? Then even the busiest of executives would have time to create and appreciate gourmet meals when they get home.

Well, guess what. Thanks to recent technology, this wishful thinking is now a reality.

The Dialog Oven

I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t witness it myself.

At the world premiere of Miele’s latest creation last Tuesday in Berlin, I felt like I witnessed a miracle: A chef put veal, tomatoes and zucchini all in one pan, shoved the pan into the oven, and just minutes later, everything was cooked perfectly—all at the same time!

It’s called Dialog Oven, the latest creation of Miele, the German manufacturer of high-end domestic appliances and commercial equipment. Using innovative technology, the oven “has a dialogue,” as its name says, with the food, so that it detects exactly just how much kilojoules or energy it needs to emit to cook each item you put in it.

The appliance then “maintains a constant dialogue” with the ingredients to cook everything entirely, until it achieves your desired result.

Goodbye, thawing

A standout feature of this oven is how it cooks the food. It does not do it with heat coming from the outside then working its way to the center of the item you are cooking. Instead, it determines through the information you share with it (kind of meat, size, weight) how much energy would be needed to cook the ingredient. With this knowledge, the oven emits the exact amount of energy to cook the item all throughout.

Thawing may just become a thing of the past. To demonstrate, chefs put a piece of fish inside a block of ice. This was then placed inside the oven. The timer was set and settings adjusted… and within minutes, the oven was opened to reveal perfectly cooked cod. It was unbelievable.

What was even more incredible is that while the fish was cooked, the ice did not melt!

That’s how smart the Dialog Oven is. Ordinarily, whether by fire or by microwave, you cook food with heat coming from the outside, making its way in. Thus, when you put frozen food in the oven, the ice melts. But the Dialog Oven is so smart, it is able to focus on the ingredient itself and cook just that item, without disturbing the ice.

Miele’s latest revolutionary appliance is so smart that it can cook fish placed inside a block of ice perfectly without the ice melting.

Hello, multitasking

This oven also gives multitasking a whole new meaning.

Chefs put one piece of salmon in the oven, half of the fish covered in foil. We were shown that with this oven, you can leave something raw and yet also have another item fully cooked in just one go.

Veal was next placed inside the oven alongside tomatoes and zucchinis. To our surprise, everything was cooked perfectly and all at the same time. Your cooking time is cut by 50 percent. There is no need to time and schedule your ingredients separately.

Perfect doneness

Best of all, the veal was cooked perfectly. You know how hard it is to cook meat perfectly, even if it seems like a simple enough task, especially if you want it to come out a juicy medium rare or medium well. With the Dialog Oven, that fillet mignon will come out just right every time.

If you’re really out to impress your guests, here’s another trick the Dialog Oven will allow: You can bake that strawberry shortcake one week ahead. To keep it fresh, freeze it. Then when your guests arrive, you won’t need to worry about it coming out a soggy mess. Just stick it in the Dialog Oven, and it will “thaw” the cake to make it look and taste as if you just baked it today.

Revolutionary excellence

I must say this oven is the greatest invention since the convection oven.

It is going to change the way everyone cooks. Recipes may also change because you won’t need to cook ingredients one at a time anymore. Best of all, the 30-minute meal may just become a reality, with even the most frustrated chefs achieving results like professional cooks.

The hitch? This will only be available in Asia in 2019.

We will have to be a little patient. Anyway, that would be just enough time to truly savor cooking as we have always known it before the culinary world changes for good, with the Dialog Oven invading every household.

Find out more about the Dialog Oven in revolutionaryexcellence.miele.com/en/dialog-oven.