“Be kind to your food — why fry when we can steam?” |
| Be kind to your food — why fry when we can steam? Posted: 17 Jan 2011 11:15 PM PST One of the characteristics of American cookery is the frying pan. Consider what happens: The food molecules explode in the hot fat ... actually, they pop and zing. The food tries to curl up into the fetal position. Then, it burns. Meanwhile, the moisture so critical to tenderness rushes away in a cloud of steam. Asians tell us we abuse food. They have a point, which you soon realize at a Chinese restaurant. The veggies are crisp and bright and the only explosion is their flavor in your mouth. If the cooking pan is abuse, the food steamer is coddling. It gently cooks with steam that transfers the pot heat to the food efficiently but sanely. Good stuff here. You've already got the gear because the most common American steamer is the microwave oven. It does steam, but it's not exact. A colander inside a pot will do it. Pour water in a pot up to the bottom of the colander and then load a handful of broccoli. Cover and boil. In five minutes, here's broccoli candy, perfect. Corn is amazingly flavorful. Green beans taste bright and, well, snappy. You really haven't tasted food until you've steamed it. Carrots are marvelously subtle, onions lose their sharpness, green peppers are actually sweet and hot peppers are tempered.Of course, there are health benefits to steaming food. Boiling can remove nutrients. Pan cooking can change them into something less desirable. One of the problems folks have trying to eat more vegetables is that they are almost always overcooked. That won't happen with a steamer. It all happens in seconds. Steaming is fast, but it takes years to master the technique. You've got to know exactly when to stop because the window of doneness is narrow. Experienced steaming cooks often use aroma, not time, as a signal of doneness. One of the best-selling appliances outside the U.S. is the rice steamer. It looks like a Crock-Pot, but it is entirely different. The pot contains an inner pot to hold the rice over the steam. Of course, modern ones come with sensors that decide when the rice is perfectly done. No more overcooking. It's getting easier to justify a rice cooker in an American kitchen. These guys are moving to multipurpose. Rice cookers now pull double duty, gently simmering a variety of dishes including soup, chili, stew, even potpie and seafood casserole. Contact Jim Hillibish at jim.hillibish@cantonrep.com. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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