It is the first choice of every discerning cook and chef. Professional connoisseurs have known for years: cooking food responds best to an intelligent combination of moisture and hot air. Hot Steam from boiling water transfers heat to cooking food more intensely than any other conventional cooking medium and is second only to microwave overall. Yesterday's kitchen faced an unsatisfactory choice between pressurized or pressureless steam cooking and an oven with convection or nothing. Today's kitchen has a far more enticing alternative: the new Gaggenau Ed 220 with pressureless steam and convection in a single unit. Pressureless steam does not damage the cellular structure of vegetables as pressurized steam is apt to do, so the consistency and natural appearance of food survive the cooking process largely unscathed.