Anova’s new steam oven can recognize your food and tell you how to cook it

Knowing what you’re trying to cook, thanks to an interior high-def camera, allows the Anova Precision Oven 2.0 to suggest which modes and temperatures will produce the best results. The original Anova Precision Oven debuted at $599, but the 2.0 version launching today for $1,199 adds a welcome upgrade to the countertop convection and steam combi oven that can prep food using a unique combination of both wet and dry heat. Anova says it will be available directly, but it currently lists only a placeholder registration page.

Combi ovens like the Anova Precision Oven 2.0 are more commonly used in restaurants by professional chefs, so giving home cooks suggestions on how to use it most effectively will potentially help reduce its learning curve. But the oven’s added smarts come with a much steeper price tag.

Anova also offers an optional app that can leverage a mobile device’s camera to identify packaged foods and recommend the best cooking method while providing access to additional recipes and a live video feed from inside the oven.

Access to recipes through the app is locked behind a $1.99 per month or $9.99 per year subscription. Anova says additional features taking advantage of the oven’s added camera are “soon-to-be-released,” including reminders for when its interior needs a deep cleaning and spotting cooking mistakes before a dish is ruined. There’s no indication those will cost extra. However, when Anova recently introduced the subscription for its popular sous vide cookers, it paywalled features like remote control for new customers while maintaining free access for legacy owners.

The Anova Precision Oven 2.0’s multi-faceted approach to cooking adds versatility overthan similar countertop-hogging appliances like air fryers or toaster ovens. It can be used for baking bread, roasting a whole chicken, air frying frozen french fries, dehydrating fruits, or sous vide cooking without bags or a water bath.

Carried over from the original version are three interior temperature sensors that can maintain a desired cooking temp to within half a degree. But the new 2.0 model also introduces “enhanced steam injection” from a water tank on the side, and improved heating elements on the bottom of the oven.