Getting-Steamed-Tips-for-Cooking-with-Steam
December 14, 2011
•Le Cordon Bleu
•Dallas
• 0 Comments
Getting Steamed: Tips for Cooking with Steam
Steaming is one of the best ways to bring out the natural flavor in foods without adding additional salt and fat. Steaming is a wet cooking technique that uses steam to conduct heat through the food being cooked. It is a gentle form of cooking that keeps foods intact and enables it to retain more of its nutrients than any other type of cooking, making it perfect for delicate foods like vegetables and seafood. Steaming is also ideal for cooking with fresh herbs and spices to keep the flavors distinct and separate.
Because steam is an excellent heat conductor, steaming is a relatively quick way to cook food. Steaming most vegetables and seafood takes about one third less time than other methods.
You may think that the culinary arts in Dallas are limited to grilling and barbequing, but you’d be wrong. Steaming is a technique used by both home cooks and seasoned chefs to bring out the best flavors in their food. Let’s take a look at some important aspects of using steam to cook.
Best Foods for Steaming
Vegetables
Because many vegetables get soggy and limp when simmered, steaming is an excellent way to preserve their natural crispness. Some of the best vegetables to steam include broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, asparagus, sugar snap peas, and carrots. Starchy foods like potatoes and rice are also excellent candidates for steaming.
After steaming, the vegetables can be drizzled with a light butter sauce or sprinkled with fresh herbs to further enhance their flavor. A pinch or two of salt may be used as well.
Seafood
Steaming is a culinary art perfectly suited for seafood. The seafood is usually sprinkled with herbs and lemon juice, wrapped in foil along with a delicate simmering liquid, and placed in an oven at 325 degrees F. After about 15 to 20 minutes the seafood is ready to emerge with all of the flavors of the herbs and cooking liquid infused into it.
Many shellfish like mussels, clams, and oysters are often cooked in a little wine and butter and allowed to steam in their own juices. This greatly enhances the natural taste of the shellfish.
How to Cook with Steam
Steam cooking occurs when water is heated to a temperature of 212 degrees F. At that temperature water boils and begins to convert to steam. To cook with steam, the food must not be submerged in the liquid used to create the steam, usually water, stock, juice, or any combination. The items to be cooked are suspended over a small amount of the boiling liquid and the cooking vessel is covered. The steam surrounds the food and cooks it. There are several different pieces of equipment used to steam food.
Steaming Equipment
Some of the most common equipment for steaming can be found at your local home store. Items like steaming racks, bamboo steamers, and rice steamers are readily available anywhere.
Other more exotic forms of steaming use banana leafs, corn husks, and en papillote, a culinary art that uses parchment pouches to cook seafood and other delicate foods.
Pressure cookers, which pressurize steam to about 15 psi, are also used to steam food. The pressurized steam heats to about 254 degrees F and can reduce cooking times for roasts and other meats by 70 percent.
Whatever you choose to steam and whichever equipment you choose, you will be rewarded with fresher, crisper, and more flavorful dishes than many other types of cooking. And since steaming uses very little fat, you will see some health benefits by consuming fewer calories and less fats and triglycerides.
This article is presented by Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Dallas. Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Dallas offers culinary arts and pâtisserie and baking training programs in Dallas, Texas. To learn more about the class offerings, please visit Chefs.edu/Dallas for more information.
Find disclosures on graduation rates, student financial obligations and more at www.chefs.edu/disclosures. Le Cordon Bleu® and the Le Cordon Bleu logo are registered trademarks of Career Education Corporation. Le Cordon Bleu cannot guarantee employment or salary. Credits earned are unlikely to transfer.