Steaming

Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. Overcooking or burning food is easily avoided when steaming it. Health conscious individuals may prefer steaming to other methods which require cooking oil, resulting in lower fat content.

Steaming also results in a more nutritious food than boiling because fewer nutrients are leached away into the water, which is usually discarded. Nutrients that are affected by steaming are folic acid and vitamin C. Compared to raw consumption, steaming can reduce folic acid by 15%, and boiling by 35%. Again compared to raw consumption, steaming can reduce vitamin C by 15%, and boiling by 25%. All other nutrients are reduced by a similar amount by both methods of cooking.

Steaming works by first boiling water, causing it to evaporate into steam; the steam then carries heat to the food, thus cooking the food. Such cooking is most often done by placing the food into a steamer, which is a typically a circular container made of metal or bamboo. The steamer usually has a lid that is placed on the top of the container during cooking, to allow the steam to cook the food. When steamer is unavailable, a wok filled with below half water is a constant replacement by placing a metal frame made of stainless steel in the middle of the wok.

In Western cooking, steaming is most often used to cook vegetables, and only rarely to cook meats. By contrast, vegetables are seldom steamed in Chinese cuisine; vegetables are mostly stir fried or blanched instead.

In Chinese cooking, steaming is used to cook many meat dishes, for example, steamed whole fish, steamed pork spare ribs, steamed ground pork or beef patties, steamed chicken, steamed goose etc. Other than meat dishes, many Chinese rice and wheat foods are steamed too. Examples include buns, Chinese steamed cakes etc. Steamed meat dishes (except some dim sum) are less common in Chinese restaurants than in traditional home cooking because meats usually require longer cooking time to steam than to stir fry.

Advantages of Steaming

• No cross flavours, two or more vegetables can be cooked at the same time
• Food is still and less likely to break up (unless overcooked!)
• Fewer water soluble vitamins B an C are lost
• Loss of vitamins through contact by air is reduced
• Convenient because
• Does not require straining
• Loading and unloading is easy
• Rapid cooking allows food to be cooked immediately prior to service

Disadvantages of Steaming

• Acids are retained and some vegetables are turned a dull colour as a result.
• Care with timing must be taken to avoid overcooking of some delicate foods

Types of food that can be steamed...

• Vegetables such as carrots, swedes, potatoes, parsnip, beans etc can all be steamed. Remember green vegetables can turn dull in colour. Prepare by lightly seasoning and placing on perforated racks. Treat as per boiled. Steaming is a good method if you want to make Saute potatoes, steamed in their skin then peeled if required and cut into dice or slices and shallow fried.
• Fish - many fish can be steamed whole or in fillets, any sauce being made separately. The fish is prepared and lightly seasoned and sometimes flavoured with lemon juice or wine.
• Meat, Offal and poultry - the same cuts of meat and poultry can be used for steaming as boiling and cooking takes about the same length of time, the method is healthy but tends to produce a rather flavourless end product that need to be served with a flavoursome sauce!
• Savoury puddings are ideal for steaming such as Steak and Mushroom, Steak & Kidney, Steak Kidney and Oyster.
• Rice
• Sweet puddings - steamed sponge puddings, Christmas pudding and Swiss roll are some of a few steamed desserts.

Safety

• Beware steam is boiling hot, sometimes hotter.
• Pressurised containers must be depressurised prior to opening
• Take care with hot equipment
• If using a commercial steamer use the door as a shield when opening
• Check manufacturer's instructions when using high pressure steamers and pressure cookers