Steaming

Last updated

Traditional rice steamers in Laos Steaming rice.jpg
Traditional rice steamers in Laos

Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. This is often done with a food steamer, a kitchen appliance made specifically to cook food with steam, but food can also be steamed in a wok. In the American Southwest, steam pits used for cooking have been found dating back about 5,000 years. Steaming is considered a healthy cooking technique that can be used for many kinds of foods.

Contents

Because steaming can be achieved by heating less water or liquid, and because of the excellent thermodynamic heat transfer properties of steam, steaming can be as fast, or faster, than cooking in boiling water, as well as being more energy efficient.

History

Bamboo steamers at a restaurant in Hong Kong HK TKL Diao Jing Ling Tiu Keng Leng Du Hui Yi Metro Town Shopping Mall shop Hao Yan Hai Xian Jiu Jia Ho Yin Seafood Restaurant December 2019 SS2 dim sum take-away food counter.jpg
Bamboo steamers at a restaurant in Hong Kong

Some of the world's earliest examples of steam cooking were found in China's Yellow River Valley; early steam cookers made of stoneware have been found dating back as far as 5,000 BCE. [1] And also in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, created during the Stone Age. [2] [3] Some of the earliest examples of steam cooking have been found in Italy and Sardinia, created during the Bronze Age, [4] and in Cochise County, Arizona, where steam pits were used for cooking about 10,000 years ago. [5] From the eighth century CE,[ citation needed ] thin cypress strips were used to make steamers; today, their slatted bases are constructed from bamboo. The classic steamer has a chimney in the center, which distributes the steam among the tiers.[ citation needed ]

While steaming has not caught up in the west for assorted dishes, the technique has been heavily popularized worldwide by Chinese and East Asian cuisine. [6] The two main classic steamers feature the ancient bamboo steamer as well as the modern metal (aluminium or stainless steel) steamer, with the difference being that the bamboo lid takes longer to heat up but absorbs excess moisture and allows heat to condense again over the delicate food. [7] Other developments were the creation of microwaveable silicone steamers and plastic-hybrid steamers. [7]

Method

Two types of steaming vessels, metal and wood with bamboo Steamers.jpg
Two types of steaming vessels, metal and wood with bamboo

Steaming works by boiling water continuously, causing it to vaporize into steam; the steam then carries heat to the nearby food, thus cooking the food. The food is kept separate from the boiling water but has direct contact with the steam, resulting in a moist texture to the food. This differs from double boiling, in which food is not directly exposed to steam, or pressure cooking, which uses a sealed vessel but is capable of pressure steaming or submerging.

Such cooking is most often done by placing the food in a food steamer, typically a circular container made of metal, wood, or bamboo. The steamer usually has a lid that is placed on top of the container during cooking to allow the steam to cook through the food. When a steamer is unavailable, food can be steamed inside a wok, supported over boiling water in the bottom of the wok by a metal frame. Some modern home microwave ovens include a structure to cook food with steam vapor produced in a separate water container, providing a similar result to being cooked on a stove. There are also specialized steam ovens available.

Steamed foods

Cantonese cuisine, steamed fish, seasoned with soy sauce, coriander and Welsh onion CantoneseSteamedfish.jpg
Cantonese cuisine, steamed fish, seasoned with soy sauce, coriander and Welsh onion

In Japan, glutinous rice is steamed to prepare mochi rice cakes. Traditional Japanese sweets or wagashi making involves steaming rice or wheat dough for making mochigashi and manju.

Chinese steamed eggs ChineseSteamedEgg.jpg
Chinese steamed eggs

In Western cooking, steaming is most often used to cook vegetablesit is rarely used to cook meats. However, steamed clams are prepared by steaming. With Chinese cuisine, vegetables are usually stir fried or blanched and seldom steamed. Seafood and meat dishes are steamed. For example: Steamed whole fish, steamed crab, steamed pork spare ribs, steamed ground pork or beef, steamed chicken and steamed goose.

Rice can be steamed too, although in Chinese cooking this is simply referred to as "cooking" rather than "steaming". In Thailand steaming is the definition of minimalist cooking. [8] Wheat foods are steamed as well. Examples include buns and Chinese steamed cakes. Similarly, in Mexican and Central American cuisine, tamales are made by steaming a dough made from nixtamalized maize (called masa) in wrappers made from corn husks or banana leaves; the dough can be stuffed or left plain.

Steamed meat dishes (except fish and some dim sum) are less common in Chinese restaurants than in traditional home cooking, [9] because meats usually require longer cooking times to steam than to stir fry. Commercially sold frozen foods (such as dim sum) formerly had instructions to reheat by steaming, until the rise in popularity of home microwave ovens, which have considerably shorter cooking times.

Chinese dishes

Steamed har giao and siu mai Har Gow and Shumai at DK Chinese Restaurtant.jpg
Steamed har giao and siu mai
Steamed pearl meatballs Pearl Meatballs with Sticky Rice.jpg
Steamed pearl meatballs

Staple foods

Dim sum

Rice

Seafood

Soup

Sweets

Others

Japanese dishes


  • Red rice (赤飯, sekihan ): served at festive occasions with azuki bean and color agent added to enhance red color.
  • Mochi: prepared with steamed rice and kneaded.

There are recipes where sauce is added to the main ingredients, aiming to control smell or aroma, or keep moisture to the ingredients.

Recipes named after the container.

  • Sea bream milt steamed in yugama [13]

Sweets: steaming is an important process in Japanese sweets making such as manjū, yōkan, uirō, karukan or suama.

Korean dishes

Benefits

Overcooking or burning food is easily avoided when steaming it. Individuals preferring to avoid additional fat intake may prefer steaming to methods which require cooking oil.

A 2007 USDA comparison between steaming and boiling vegetables shows the most affected nutrients are folic acid and vitamin C. When compared to raw consumption, steaming reduces folic acid by 15%, and boiling reduces it by 35%. Steaming reduces vitamin C by 15%, and boiling reduces it by 25%. [14]

Steaming, compared to boiling, showed 42% higher amount of glucosinolates in broccoli cooked for medium firmness. [15] Phenolic compounds with antioxidant properties have been found to retain significantly better through steaming than through boiling or microwaving. [16] Steaming compared to boiling retained β-carotene in carrots. [17] The effect of cooking food may increase or decrease the nutrients. [14] [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shanghai cuisine</span> Cuisine originating from Shanghai, China

Shanghai cuisine, also known as Hu cuisine, is a popular style of Chinese food. In a narrow sense, Shanghai cuisine refers only to what is traditionally called Benbang cuisine which originated in Shanghai. In a broader sense, it refers to complex styles of cooking developed under the influence of neighboring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vietnamese cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of Vietnam

Vietnamese cuisine encompasses the foods and beverages originated from Vietnam. Meals feature a combination of five fundamental tastes : sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and spicy. The distinctive nature of each dish reflects one or more elements, which are also based around a five-pronged philosophy. Vietnamese recipes use ingredients like lemongrass, ginger, mint, Vietnamese mint, long coriander, Saigon cinnamon, bird's eye chili, lime, and Thai basil leaves. Traditional Vietnamese cooking has often been characterised as using fresh ingredients, not using much dairy or oil, having interesting textures, and making use of herbs and vegetables. The cuisine is also low in sugar and is almost always naturally gluten-free, as many of the dishes are rice-based instead of wheat-based, made with rice noodles, papers and flour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glutinous rice</span> Type of rice

Glutinous rice is a type of rice grown mainly in Southeast and East Asia, and the northeastern regions of South Asia, which has opaque grains, very low amylose content, and is especially sticky when cooked. It is widely consumed across Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malaysian cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of Malaysia

Malaysian cuisine consists of cooking traditions and practices found in Malaysia, and reflects the multi-ethnic makeup of its population. The vast majority of Malaysia's population can roughly be divided among three major ethnic groups: Malays, Chinese and Indians. The remainder consists of the indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia, the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia, the Peranakan and Eurasian creole communities, as well as a significant number of foreign workers and expatriates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malay cuisine</span> Cuisine of Malay people

Malay cuisine is the traditional food of the ethnic Malays of Southeast Asia, residing in modern-day Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand and the Philippines as well as Cocos Islands, Christmas Island, Sri Lanka and South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lion's Head (food)</span> Chinese stewed meatball dish

Lion's Head or stewed meatball is a dish from the Huaiyang cuisine of eastern China, consisting of large pork meatballs or beef meatballs stewed with vegetables. There are two varieties: white, and red. The plain variety is usually stewed or steamed with napa cabbage. The red variety can be stewed with cabbage or cooked with bamboo shoots and tofu derivatives. The minced meat rich in fat is more likely to bring better texture, addition of chopped water chestnut also works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese Indonesian cuisine</span> Cuisine of the people of Chinese Indonesians

Chinese Indonesian cuisine is characterized by the mixture of Chinese with local Indonesian style. Chinese Indonesians, mostly descendant of Han ethnic Hokkien and Hakka speakers, brought their legacy of Chinese cuisine, and modified some of the dishes with the addition of Indonesian ingredients, such as kecap manis, palm sugar, peanut sauce, chili, santan and local spices to form a hybrid Chinese-Indonesian cuisine. Some of the dishes and cakes share the same style as in Malaysia and Singapore, known as Nyonya cuisine by the Peranakan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rice cake</span> Food item made from rice

A rice cake may be any kind of food item made from rice that has been shaped, condensed, or otherwise combined into a single object. A wide variety of rice cakes exist in many different cultures in which rice is eaten. Common variations include cakes made with rice flour, those made from ground rice, and those made from whole grains of rice compressed together or combined with some other binding substance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese Chinese cuisine</span> Japanese reinterpretation of Chinese culinary traditions

Japanese Chinese cuisine, also known as chūka, represents a unique fusion of Japanese and Chinese culinary traditions that have evolved over the late 19th century and more recent times. This style, served predominantly by Chinese restaurants in Japan, stands distinct from the "authentic Chinese food" found in areas such as Yokohama Chinatown. Despite this difference, the cuisine retains strong influences from various Chinese culinary styles, as seen in the shippoku cooking style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shumai</span> Type of traditional Chinese dumpling

Shumai is a type of traditional Chinese dumpling made of ground pork. In Cantonese cuisine, it is usually served as a dim sum snack. In addition to accompanying the Chinese diaspora, variations of shumai are found in Japan and Southeast Asia, such as the Indonesian siomay. In Australia, it developed into dim sim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Javanese cuisine</span> Cuisine of the Javanese people, Indonesia

Javanese cuisine is the cuisine of Javanese people, a major ethnic group in Indonesia, more precisely the province of Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meatball</span> Dish of ground meat rolled into a ball

A meatball is ground meat (mince) rolled into a ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, minced onion, eggs, butter, and seasoning. Meatballs are cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce. There are many types of meatballs using different types of meats and spices. The term is sometimes extended to meatless versions based on legumes, vegetables or fish; the latter are also commonly known as fish balls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese regional cuisine</span> Regional cuisines of China

Chinese regional cuisines are amongst the many different cuisines found in different provinces and prefectures of China as well as from larger overseas Chinese communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Okowa</span> Japanese steamed rice dish

Okowa おこわ (強飯) is a Japanese steamed rice dish made with glutinous rice mixed with meat or vegetables. It is sometimes combined with wild herbs and vessel chestnuts. It is generally boiled glutinous rice blended with azuki beans to give it red color for festive look, made by boiling regular rice with azuki beans. Since okowa is meant to be eaten at room temperature, it is used to make onigiri for its capacity to be frozen well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indonesian noodles</span> Indonesian dish

Indonesian noodles are a significant aspect of Indonesian cuisine which is itself very diverse. Indonesian cuisine recognizes many types of noodles, with each region of the country often developing its own distinct recipes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pearl meatballs</span> Type of traditional Chinese meatball

Pearl meatballs, also called pearl balls or glutinous rice balls, are traditional Chinese meatballs from Hubei and Hunan. They are usually made of ground pork and vegetables, then covered in glutinous rice and steamed.

References

  1. Chen, Cheng-Yih (1995). Early Chinese Work in Natural Science. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. p. 198. ISBN   962-209-385-X..
  2. Harunari, Hideji (2001). "Transition from the Palaeolithic to the Jomon Period". The Quaternary Research (Daiyonki-Kenkyu). 40 (6): 517–526. doi: 10.4116/jaqua.40.517 . Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  3. "どんな料 りょうり- 4 理があったのだろうか?" (PDF). midori.gunma.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  4. "Functional analysis" (PDF). iipp.it. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  5. Rich Johnson (March 1999). Richard L. Jamison (ed.). "Ancient Steam Pit Cooking". Primitive Outdoor Skills. Horizon Publishers: 33. ISBN   0-88290-666-6.
  6. "Steaming, the quintessential cooking method in Chinese and modern cuisine".
  7. 1 2 Vaculin, Kendra (22 June 2020). "The Best Steamer Basket for Every Kitchen".
  8. The Australian Women's Weekly. "Steaming fish in Thai-style". Bauer Media Pty Limited . Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  9. "Steamed Dishes — www.hospemag.me - world's largest hospitality career emag". www.hospemag.me. 25 April 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  10. 1 2 Kōjien (5 ed.). Iwanami Shoten. 1998. ISBN   978-4-00-080111-9.
  11. Hiro, Sachiya (27 December 2013). 本日「いいかげん」日和: そのまんま楽しく生きる一日一話 (Honjitsu iikagen-biyori: sonomanma tanoshiku ikiru ichinichi ichiwa [It's 'easy-going' day today: living life happily with day-to-day episodes] (in Japanese). PHP Kenkyūjo. p. 424. ISBN   9784569791203. OCLC   666225791 . Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  12. 四季日本の料理 秋[Four Seasons of Japanese Cooking: Autumn] (in Japanese). Kōdansha. 25 July 1998. ISBN   4-06-267453-X.
  13. Seitōsha Editorial, ed. (December 1997). 楽しむ釣り魚料理 (Tanoshimu tsurizakana ryōri) [Enjoy cooking your catch with fish cuisine]. Seitōsha. pp. 38–39. ISBN   4791609336.
  14. 1 2 Nutrient Data Laboratory (December 2007). "USDA Table of Nutrient Retention Factors, Release 6" (PDF). USDA.
  15. Bongoni, R; Verkerk, R; Steenbekkers, B; Dekker, M; Stieger (September 2014). "Evaluation of Different Cooking Conditions on Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica) to Improve the Nutritional Value and Consumer Acceptance". Plant Foods for Human Nutrition. 69 (3): 228–234. doi:10.1007/s11130-014-0420-2. PMID   24853375. S2CID   35228794.
  16. Vallejo, F; Tomás-Barberón, FA; García-Viguera, C (November 2003). "Phenolic compound contents in edible parts of broccoli inflorescences after domestic cooking". Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. 83 (14): 1511–1516. Bibcode:2003JSFA...83.1511V. doi:10.1002/jsfa.1585.
  17. Bongoni, R; Stieger, M; Dekker, M; Steenbekkers, B; Verkerk, R (November 2014). "Sensory and health properties of steamed and boiled carrots (Daucus carota ssp. sativus)". International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition. 65 (7): 809–815. doi:10.3109/09637486.2014.931360. PMID   24964285. S2CID   2864999.
  18. Sushma Subramanian (31 March 2009). "Fact or Fiction: Raw veggies are healthier than cooked ones". Scientific American.