Steaming is a moist-heat cook technique that uses no total fat, preserves nutrients, and allows the natural flavors of the food to shine through. It ‘s immediate, effective, and versatile. You can steam about anything—from veggies to grains, fish and domestic fowl, breads to dumplings .
Reading: How to Use A Bamboo Steamer
One of the most traditional and time-honored ways of steaming foods is by using a bamboo soft-shell clam .
What Is a Bamboo Steamer ?
traditionally used in chinese cook to steam fish, vegetables. and dumplings, a bamboo steamer is fabulously versatile. It consists of ( normally ) two stacking steamer baskets, plus a snugly equip lid. The bottoms of the baskets are made up of a lattice of weave bamboo strips, which allow the steam through to cook the food within .
Buying a Bamboo Steamer
When shopping for a bamboo steamer, the independent thing to look at is size ( we ‘ll talk a bite more about sizing relative to the size of the pan you ‘re using to generate the steam ), but obviously a wide soft-shell clam will accommodate more food than a smaller one .
Some bamboo steamer baskets feature stainless steel steel bands around the edges, which purportedly increase their lastingness. however, these bands besides prevent you from using the soft-shell clam in the microwave, which, though not the traditional method, is surely feasible, as steamer in the microwave is decidedly a thing .
In general, a becoming bamboo steamer can be had for between $ 20 and $ 40, although if you live near a decent-sized Chinatown, you can about surely find a good one for much less than that .
Advantages of Bamboo Steamers
The independent advantage of a bamboo steamer it ‘s relatively lightweight when compared to a stainless steel steel soft-shell clam. Because it ‘s stackable, you can steam more than one food at a clock, which is particularly helpful if the two foods have different fudge times. Simply place the food with the longer fudge time at the bottom, beginning fudge, then add the tier with the inadequate cook time subsequently .
Steamers with multiple, stacking baskets are besides available in stainless steel steel, so there ‘s no very argue to use bamboo unless you happen to prefer the aesthetics. Serving chinese dumplings directly from the basket is surely visually appealing .
How to Use a Bamboo Steamer
If you ‘ve always seen the manner a taiwanese chef uses a steamer basket, you ‘ll notice that the steamer fits wholly inside a wok, with the wok ‘s sloping sides forming a classify of ring then that the basket is stable without the two-dimensional bottom of the basket resting on the wok .
Translating that principle to a flat-bottomed pan, like a wide-eyed saute pan with categoric or sloping sides, you would likewise desire to ensure that your pan is about two inches wider than the basket .
silent, you could besides place a bamboo soft-shell clam immediately on top of a smaller saucepan. rather of the stallion basket fit inside the pan, it just rests on the flange of the pan. The main disadvantage is that you need to lift the entire steamer aside you if need to add more urine. It ‘s besides rather precarious with steamers that have more than two tiers .
Using a bamboo soft-shell clam involves boiling water in a pan, setting the steamer atop the churn water system, covering it with the hat and steaming until the food is done. A couple of inches of urine at the bottom is adequate so that it generates enough of steam without immediately boiling away, but not then much that the bottom tier of the basket is immersed.
Read more: Homemade Dumplings
Lining the steamer
Another emergence with bamboo is that foods will stick to it and removing cooked-on foods from all that elaborately weave bamboo can be challenging. To deal with that problem, you will want to line your soft-shell clam with something .
The most common choices are parchment wallpaper or wax composition, cut into rounds, then poked with holes to allow the steam through. Silicone mesh will besides work ( but needs to be cleaned ), and some steamers come with reclaimable cotton liners. Air fryer liners ( perforated rounds of parchment newspaper ) will work absolutely. With stainless steel steamers, lining is not needed .
Disadvantages of Bamboo Steamers
Another major disadvantage of bamboo steamers is that they absorb odors. That means if you use it for steaming pisces, expect it to smell like fish ; alike for strong-smelling vegetables like broccoli .
indeed, steaming with season liquid like sprout adds little-to-no flavor to the food itself, since body of water evaporates to form steam, concentrating the relish in the solids left behind ( which is the principle behind the reduction of sauces ) .
however, steaming does vaporize some volatile relish compounds and those aromas most surely are absorbed by the porous bamboo. so while a flavorful steam fluid wo n’t help your food much, it will surely make your bamboo smell .
Bamboo steamers are besides harder to clean and less durable than other materials. And if you should by chance scorch it, any food you cook in it thereafter will likely smell of scorched bamboo .
even a modern steamer can impart a bamboo-ish olfactory property to the food and while there several methods to deal with this, like steaming slices of lemon or tea bags, or soaking the baskets in a solution of vinegar and water—this is plainly not an issue when it comes to stainless steel .
clean and Storing a Bamboo Steamer
When it comes clock to clean a bamboo soft-shell clam, remember that it will besides absorb the scent of cup of tea soap. frankincense, scrubbing in hot urine and tune dry is your best bet. Some instructions recommend vent drying for up to two days before putting the soft-shell clam aside in your cupboard therefore as to prevent the growth of mold or mold on the bamboo .
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