I sell Combi-Ovens to the commercial foodservice industry. These ovens are a combination of "convection ovens" and "Steamers" combined into one oven. The benefit of these types of ovens is that they cook food very rapidly as a steam speeds up the cooking proccess; not only does the food cook more quickly, it also produces a better culinary result. For example, 36 each whole chicken (2 1/2 lbs) cooked at 385 degrees F & 30% steam will cook in approximately 28 minutes and will be very moist. My question is as follows; if I continue to increase the temperature and increase the amount of moisture in the chamber, (i.e. 480 F and 100% moisture) at what point is the food so hot that it will no longer benefit from the moisture. In other words, will the chamber (and thus the food) become so hot that it cannot absorb moisture.
I guess I am trying to better understand what happen to water under these conditions as it becomes "superheated" and what effects does this have on food.