So, first of all, I should apologize for that cornball title, but given that I’m writing about both the Samsung Flex Duo oven AND the top chefs The Voltaggio Brothers, it was too good an opportunity to miss.

Although this is my first post for Digital Dads, I used to blog quite a lot (anyone remember YesButNoButYes.com?) and so I’ve navigated my fair share of influencer outreaches, but this one was one of the cooler ones.

Samsung invited me to their test kitchens to try out their new Flex Duo oven (which I shall examine from the male perspective, ie geek tech) as well as get to watch Top Chef winners The Voltaggio Brothers cook up some holiday dishes – and most of all taste them.

But first, let’s all give a small soft handclap to Samsung’s marketing team for the idea of pairing celebrity chef brothers with an oven that’s called the Duo. In a way, it’s kinda obvious, but that’s probably the genius of it. The Duo, I get it. It works, nice job.

So let’s break down the components of this post for easy reading into bullet points, because, as a wise guru once said, people like bullet points:

• The Flex Duo Oven and why it’s pretty cool
• The Voltaggio Brothers give a cooking demonstration and tips
• A tasting session in which I drool accordingly
• Volt, Ink, the Volts new cookbook

The Flex Duo Oven

It’d be easiest to just provide a link at this point and my work is done. But that’s giving it short shrift, because there’s some tech going on in this new oven that actually is quite impressive. The Duo is basically one large oven with two separate heating systems, and a removable thermal “smart divider”. So when the divider is out, it’s one big oven, and when it’s in, it basically functions as a dual oven, with different temperature and cooking sections above and below.

If you’re like me, most meals are a weird maths equation of “if this is 30 mins at 425 and this is 40 mins at 350, then I can cook them both at 385 for ….ugh”. Samsung actually said that “meal synchronization” is one of the more stressful things for cooks. So being able to essentially customize your oven at will without sacrificing a big space when you need it is pretty interesting.

The Voltaggio Brothers Cook

The Voltaggio Brothers did a cooking demonstration using the oven, and I’ve got to hand it to them, they seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the oven, Michael especially. One thing they raved about was the fact that there was no “flavor transfer” between the ovens, meaning I guess you could cook bacon and fish in separate sections without everything tasting of bacon (although, why the hell would you not want that?)

Along the way, they were throwing out tips and tricks, and a couple I noted that I thought were especially useful.

• Always keep the sugar next to the salt in the kitchen because most dishes function of the salt-sweet continuum. So you may in many cases be adding sugar to a savory dish if the ingredients are particularly salty.
• The best way to get picky kids to eat healthy is involve them in the cooking process – taking them to the market, getting them to choose the vegetables, letting them help cook.

Everyone in attendance got a copy of the new book called VOLT ink.: Recipes, Stories, Brothers (affiliate link), a hefty tome with some pretty unique takes on familiar dishes. Having no ambition to cook sous vide or deconstruct a clam chowder, I’ll just say, it’s heavy, it’s expensive looking and it’d be an impressive Christmas present for someone.

And the food? Really delicious. Perfectly cooked root vegetables, turkey, bacon & pork, purees and sauces, and an astounding granny smith apple sorbet that was amazingly flavorful.

Thanks to Samsung for inviting me to a great event. Italian cooking at it’s finest, from masters in the kitchen and a leader in “meaningful innovation”

And not a bottle of Ragu in sight.

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