June oven

I hesitated to make this post because I knew it would sound like a commercial and because the company now pays my salary. Still, this oven has made an unusually large impact on my life and it has some crazy features which, if nothing else, have been a conversation starter.

But first I need to explain. The reason I've been so busy these last few months is because I got a new job. This has been more stressful than I anticipated but so far it seems to be working out. I had a vacation planned months before the opportunity arose so I was in San Diego while I tried to arrange my I-9 forms and satisfy HR's onboarding process while also doing my best to document all the work I was exclusively responsible for at my old company.

We had a house sitter taking care of our cat while we were away and when we returned the front hallway was heaped with boxes. Amanda had a few orders and I'd received more than I expected from my new employer, electronics, swag, a giant box containing a june oven, and another box of oven accessories.

I didn't know anything about the new oven. I didn't even know they were going to send one. The June oven is a luxury appliance about size of a large toaster, priced at $850 on amazon - significantly more than I would have considered paying for a toaster. The reason it costs so much is it's a lot more than a toaster.

The first prototypes were a toaster with an iphone taped to the front and the first shipping version had all sorts of unconventional sensors like digital scales to weigh the water content of your food.

Setting up the oven requires a connection to your wifi network. I particularly avoid these types of appliances but so far the connectivity has been unobtrusive and I'm reasonably sure my marketing information isn't being abused.

The oven has a camera and 5 different neural networks to identify food. Remarkably, it can determine what you put inside it in 200ms (practically instantaneous).

It's a fun party trick to toss a few corn tortillas or a couple eggs into the oven, close the door and see that it recognized both the type of food (corn and not white tortillas) and the number (6 eggs). It uses this recognition to know how to cook what you put into it. The oven currently recognizes around a 150 different types of food, certainly more than I've explored, but it's still nice to put a bagel in the oven, confirm that this is a bagel, and have it run a cook program designed to produce the perfect toasted bagel.

Another thing that is surprisingly nice is the companion app and cook programs. Recipes are featured in the app, along with videos showing the preparation process, and it's all connected to the oven so it will step you through the recipe, turn on the oven to pre-heat, or notify you when the food needs to be turned or moved.

The few recipes I've tried from this cooking app have turned out fantastic. I've made the crispy cauliflower tacos five times now and I just made cast iron grilled soy and miso marinated chicken kebobs that were astounding. I've roasted lamb shanks and made air fried sweet potato fries. I've dehydrated fruit, air boiled dozens of eggs, and I use it to proof dough. I have yet to explore any of the dessert recipes, I haven't tried to make bacon (though it's supposedly really good at this and will offer you a choice of how you want it to come out), and I haven't tried to make popcorn - apparently you have to sandwich two air fry baskets together.

When it arrived I was upset because it wasn't expected and it meant I would have to get rid of my old toaster. It turns out I don't miss my old toaster at all. I'm even coming around to the idea that if I lived in an apartment so small I couldn't have a full sized oven, a June oven would be a reasonable replacement. Despite the price, required network connection, and the phone app integration, I really like it. It seems like something that hasn't taken off only because more people don't know about it.

I encourage every one of my readers to come over to my house this Saturday with some eggs, a bagel, and some potatoes, and I will convince you.

posted by na on June 2, 2022 20:12