So I’m in the process of downsizing all my cast iron that typically fits in my no-longer-in-existence full size range with kitchenware that will fit inside the Anova. A bit of a challenge for some things, namely Pizza Pans in cast iron, they all seem to be 13 or 14” or larger.
I purchased a Lodge grill/griddle measuring 16.75” by 9.5”, figuring with the Anova measuring 17” x 12”, should be a good fit right? Wrong. If you want the grill/griddle to fit on one of the racks, it needs to be no greater than 16 3/8” wide. However, with the Lodge’s measurements, it fits perfectly in the grooves for the racks meaning you don’t even need to use a rack with it and it slides out easily enough. The oven racks when the oven was first being used were horribly grabby inside the grooves and did not slide in and out easily. Either with use or since putting the cast iron griddle in, the racks slide out much more efficiently.
The fajita/steak serving platters were a huge hit with the Chicken Fajita recipe made in them for supper yesterday. Life has become a lot simpler with the Anova Steam-Combi oven…and hard to imagine, even tastier than before. Don’t get me started on electricity efficiency either. This is probably as “green” as solution for a full size range as you’ll ever be able to find. Our electricity bill has dropped by over $20/month and the only thing that’s changed is the fact that we no longer have or are using a full size range. At this rate, the Anova will have paid for itself in 2 years time in energy cost savings. Great job ANOVA
I’d imagine there is a good amount of restricted airflow with that griddle. I have an 11x13 steel that works great. I have a 12x12 that fits and 2 12" round. I’d probably be resistant to wall to wall plates. I think you want some flow. You could always drill holes in it or cut one end off. That groove is a nice to have for certain things. There are smaller griddles like:
I’m skeptical of your energy reduction. Don’t take that the wrong way. You have great power rates in Canada. Maybe its just getting cooler outside? A typical full size oven at 2 hours a day isn’t more than $20 total per month.
Yeah, it’s pretty wide across the beam that’s for sure and drilling holes is always an option if I find it’s not working out, but I’m not one to jump in with modifications until it’s proven not to work and am more likely to be the one to resist “conventional” thinking and processes (this has more often than not lead to improvements and innovations in other areas for me).
Electricity. So I can monitor my electricity consumption online (not just daily consumption, but hourly) and can do comparisons up to two to three years back. Typically our equalized monthly payment has been over $60 a month and I recently increased it to $68 because our consumption was outpacing our monthly payments in September. Electricity in our house is only used for appliances, electronics, toilets and lights, we have a gas hot water heater and furnace. So, as I was saying, the only difference has been the addition of the Anova Steam oven and the discarding of the full size range. Our monthly electricity consumption is now around $40 a month, not to mention the fact that I’m also started running an outside bird bath heater this year and yet, despite the addition of the bird bath heater (run 24/7 and it’s been dropping below zero here), our lights are on longer during the day, plus our hydro rates have gone up from earlier this year, not down and yet despite all this, our projected bill has dropped $20 a month. Tracking our real time usage from the BC Hydro website, we’ve gone from over an average of $2.25/day in energy usage to an average of 1.24/day. Pretty much $1.00 per day. So you’re actually right, it’ll be closer to 2.5 years before the Anova pays for itself, my mistake. How does it getting cooler outside make any difference? We’re in the true North, not Arizona or New Mexico, we don’t use air conditioners where I live, more like supplemental heat if anything. Yet, still our hydro bills are dropping.
When I lived in Waterloo and Toronto we had air conditioning. I don’t know where you live.
It may be that your old oven was super inefficient. Sure, this oven is smaller and is rated for less wattage than your old oven. If you don’t need a larger oven or don’t use it then this oven is a good option. I still wont give up my Breville. I don’t really think the energy argument is a selling point for this appliance. It is still sucking power. You might be able to find a friend with a Kill-a-watt meter to measure the appliance usage if you want to really quantify it.
Toronto is the cesspool of Canada. It’s hot and humid and most people with any sense have already moved to other parts of the country. I’m a west coaster and a northerner, we have a greater influx of Ontarians moving to BC than the other way around plus we have an abundance of fresh running water. Ontario is all swamp, stagnant lakes and mosquitos.
Don’t get me started on science, I’ve dispelled enough jewelry “science” and physics for one life time. You’ll need to check out my other youtube channel for that and just because it’s written in a book by an authority, doesn’t necessarily make it so. Otherwise we’d still be eating a low fat diet, high in carbs and margarine. I also have some scepticism on your assumption that the full width cast iron griddle with 2 inches clearance front and back is going to be more obstructive than the included steel sheet pan that has far less over all clearance when you do the math.
Yes, the range was 16 years old and despite being an Energy Star from that time, it was still an energy hog in comparison. Bottom line, no big range + Anova Oven = $20+ electricity savings per month. That’s factual information according to what my electricity provider is telling me, not from which ever place you’re pulling your calculations out of.
So, you kind of strike me as being a bit of a KIAPA, I see a lot of that on another YouTube channel because I’m a bit of an anomaly there and I’ve come to realize that the world is full of experts, no matter how wrong they are, so there’s no point in engaging any further. Me, I’m going to enjoy my vastly reduced electricity bill thanks in it’s entirety to the Anova oven. Thanks for the lively debate though!
Kill A Watt says the oven at times exceeds 15amp getting to 482 100% steam rear burner. To go from a cold oven to 482 and hold for one hour was 1.25 Kwh.
Oven used .2 Kwh to go from a cold oven to 140F sous vide mode back burner with 100% steam for one hour. The oven did go over 15amp draw when coming to temp.
based on your recommendation I purchased the lodge Cast Iron Reversible Grill, hoping to bake a batard. I was pleased to slide it into the groove, it seemed to fit perfectly, and I preheated the oven, but as soon as I placed some dough on it using a metal pizza peel, the hot cast iron crashed onto the bottom of the oven. Seems like the oven sides are too flexible for this item. Needless to say it was a difficult and dangerous effort to get the very hot pan off the bottom of the oven with the dough on it already. Did you also have this problem ever?? which groove do you use? And I was alarmed that I had perhaps damaged the oven. I don’t think it’s damaged, I’ve used the oven a lot since (with other troubles), but none that I can attribute to this incident. Since then I’ve been using the baking sheet with parchment paper. It does a good enough job although the baking sheet snaps into a warp as soon as it’s placed into the hot oven. Have you found any baking sheets that don’t warp? And the bread browns more near the fan, so I need to turn it around sometime during the bake…
Hi
I have not experienced that problem with my grill. I just baked a batard the other day and it turned out perfectly. I fired mine up again without any dough and it seems that when both the oven and the grill are hot they both expand, but the expansion of the oven is greater. I could see that the grill was not as snug a fit as when it goes in cold and that it is definitely loose and I can see how you would experience it crashing to the bottom if it’s jostled. I typically take my cast iron grill out of the oven when it’s preheated, placing it on a thermal trivet (something that won’t catch fire), put the scored batard on the grill and then put it on the lower rail and carefully close the door. If your grill is a snug tight going in cold, that’s good, just follow what I do, the bread turns out amazing (lowest rail) and no crashing of the grill. I tried putting the grill on one of the racks, but that doesn’t work. I use those silicon oven gloves as well, no problem grabbing a smoking hot cast iron grill for a short period of time. I have not found any sheet pans that don’t warp and find that super annoying. The other thing you could try, is a silicon baking sheet placed directly on the rack maybe? Providing it’s safe to 482F that is. Hope this helps! Try removing the grill instead of sliding the batard on with a pizza peel.
You can get a steel that fits on the rack off ebay pretty cheap. Round, square, rectangular and whatever cut to order. Sounds like that might be safer. I’d hate to have 400+ hot cast iron falling on my feet and floor. Glad you made it out safe.
I ordered a cast iron griddle from LovoIn.
It is 16 1/2" by 9 1/2".
After reading these posts I am wondering if it will be too long to fit between the rack guides, yet too short to perch in the slots for the racks.
I don’t get my oven for a month so I can’t test it out, but was wondering if anyone has suggestions.
Mine is 16 3/4” wide and fits perfectly in the oven grooves for the racks. Some people have said that the expansion of the oven causes their similarly wide cast iron griddle to drop. If that happens just have an oven rack placed at below it. I’ve never had mine drop and it works perfectly. It’s a good size, but wish it was slightly deeper than 9 1/2. But it works excellent for batards.