# Steamer question



## Kgp (Mar 24, 2021)

We are moving to a different house next week. It has a Wolf cooktop with a built-in steamer. We use a cooktop steamer for vegetables, but, being a small town country boy, this looks like it opens the door to new adventures. However, I'm not finding much online regarding steamer cooking. It has both a perforated pan and a solid pan, Temp can be set from 140f to 212f.

Anyone have any great ideas to get me started or have any steamer cooking books to recommend?

Thanks
Ken


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## Bensbites (Mar 24, 2021)

If you can set the temp to 140, you can SV in there.


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## stringer (Mar 24, 2021)

Steamed veggies is the most obvious, but there are a lot of things steam is good for.
A steamer is very handy for seafood especially shellfish.
Poached fish, fish in parchment and fish roulade recipes can usually be done in a steamer.
It's the best way to make hard-boiled eggs and can work great for some types of egg casseroles.
Dumplings and spring rolls. You can buy them frozen or make your own.
It works well for cooking grains like rice, quinoa, millet.
Steamed potatoes are great as is or you can process them into mashed potatoes, hash browns, gnocchi, etc.
It works great with beans, lentils, and legumes.
Some spongecake and bread recipes work best with steam.


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## GorillaGrunt (Mar 24, 2021)

Maybe check out Chinese recipes and that area of the world too; I feel like that cuisine has the best flavors for steamed foods whereas in many others browning is desired and steaming is a fault.

I was also gonna repeat a bunch of stuff stringer just said but luckily scrolled up, so yeah +1 all that, eggs and so on.


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## DavidPF (Mar 24, 2021)

It sounds like "Tuesdays are haggis night" is now within your grasp. Be bold! 

Far less boldly, grilling hot dogs becomes a snap when you've steamed them first.


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## GorillaGrunt (Mar 24, 2021)

Also frying chicken


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## DavidPF (Mar 24, 2021)

stringer said:


> fish in parchment


It's most often fish, but obviously most other "... in parchment" recipes would be equally suitable.

Also tamales and most other "steamed in a leaf" recipes - I can't remember the name of some of the Asian versions of this idea.


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## MarcelNL (Mar 24, 2021)

We bought a steamer/over a few years ago and have used so much that it's a must have for the new house, especially when it can do sous vide it's a great asset! Used ours a LOT for chinese, but also all sorts of veg, and SV.


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## DavidPF (Mar 24, 2021)

GorillaGrunt said:


> Also frying chicken


I never tried that - do you steam it till done, or part way?


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## DavidPF (Mar 24, 2021)

Steamed puddings (in the style of England or Great Britain in general). Translated to an American way of categorizing things, they're a type of cake where the batter is put into a mold or container, and then it's steamed in its container.

(... just like a haggis ... except it's cake. I mean pudding.  )


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## MarcelNL (Mar 24, 2021)

steamed egg/custard (Chinese) is something else!


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## MowgFace (Mar 24, 2021)

Chicken wings for sure. Render off as much of the fat so you can get crispy wings in the oven with much less smoke.


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## GorillaGrunt (Mar 24, 2021)

DavidPF said:


> I never tried that - do you steam it till done, or part way?



Most of the way; it helps for making it faster and if you have a breading that burns easily. We used to keep brined chicken in a SV and then bread and fry to order; it was quick, juicy, and much less hassle than frying it all the way through.


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## Rangen (Mar 24, 2021)

Steamed buns filled with juicy Chinese BBQ pork or even curried chicken. Steamed whole fish with ginger and scallions and fermented black beans. Steamed egg custard. Steamed pork hash with salted fish. 

Yeah, I agree with Gorilla Grunt. The Chinese have the steaming thing nailed.


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## Kgp (Mar 24, 2021)

Wow! Some really great ideas. i steam veggies all the time but this is really inspiring e.

Thanks and keep them coming.


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## Vdark (Mar 24, 2021)

DavidPF said:


> It's most often fish, but obviously most other "... in parchment" recipes would be equally suitable.
> 
> Also tamales and most other "steamed in a leaf" recipes - I can't remember the name of some of the Asian versions of this idea.











Lo mai gai - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org












Zongzi - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org





Oh yeah


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## parbaked (Mar 24, 2021)

The Cantonese steamed pork hash can be done with salted eggs or shiitakes and lap cheung (chinese sausage) if you can't find or don't like salted fish.
The Chinese steamed egg dish is great with clams. The Japanese alternative is chawanmushi. 
@stringer suggestions were all great except the spring rolls...where I grew up we never steamed spring rolls...
The new kitchen looks super fancy...congrats!!


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## Rangen (Mar 24, 2021)

I didn't even mention:

Chicken and ham in Yunnan pot (requires special equipment, in the form of a clay pot with a chimney that is not at all expensive)
Double-boiled soup (one of the top dishes of Cantonese cuisine IMO) -- the name is a misnomer, steaming is involved.

And of course the great dumplings, including siu mai, a thin-skinned, open-top pork and shrimp dumpling that is stunning when well-made.


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## Lpn562 (Mar 25, 2021)

Chawanmushi


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## Kgp (Mar 25, 2021)

parbaked said:


> The Cantonese steamed pork hash can be done with salted eggs or shiitakes and lap cheung (chinese sausage) if you can't find or don't like salted fish.
> The Chinese steamed egg dish is great with clams. The Japanese alternative is chawanmushi.
> @stringer suggestions were all great except the spring rolls...where I grew up we never steamed spring rolls...
> The new kitchen looks super fancy...congrats!!


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## Kgp (Mar 25, 2021)

Thanks. It’s the kitchen of my dreams. Wolf and sub zero appliances, zephyr range hood, Downsview cabinets. Way out of my class but the market for high end homes here sucks. They had it on market for 2 years. Made them a stupid offer and we bought it, less than half what they paid to have it built.


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## Tristan (Mar 25, 2021)

Wolf is stupid expensive here, as is subzero. A subzero pro fridge is 38k usd here. I have massive envy.


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## tostadas (Mar 25, 2021)

Couple things to add to the list:

Steamed chicken (hainanese style) with ginger/scallions
Steamed black bean spare ribs
Reheating food instead of using the microwave


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## Keith Sinclair (Mar 25, 2021)

Kgp said:


> Thanks. It’s the kitchen of my dreams. Wolf and sub zero appliances, zephyr range hood, Downsview cabinets. Way out of my class but the market for high end homes here sucks. They had it on market for 2 years. Made them a stupid offer and we bought it, less than half what they paid to have it built.



Congrats on a good house score that is a bitchen kitchen. 

Lau Lau pork, chicken, butterfish. 

Hawaii Chinese style steam fish.
Snapper like Onaga & Opakapaka are outstanding steamed.

One whole snapper 3-4 pounds. Pat dry
Salt & white pepper
4 oz shitake mushrooms
1/4 cp slivered fresh ginger
One small bunch green onion slivered
Cilantro coarse chop
1/4 cp. Ponzu
2/3 cp. Peanut oil
1 tsp. sesame oil

Put large fish in steamer with mushrooms steam till fish white important not to over cook fish perfect is a little pink at spine. For tender fish. 
Add ginger, green onion, & cilantro on top the fish. Pour Ponzu over.
Heat the peanut, sesame oils to just below smoke level. Pour over fish locks in moisture, flavor of fish. Garnish with sprig of cilantro

Eat right away.


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## Keith Sinclair (Mar 25, 2021)

Got this off web but same as steamed at work. 
When you pour hot oil over ginger, onions, & cilantro it will crackle from the heat. Try not to get too much oil on fish itself, any extra put around the plate will mix with Ponzu. 

Get local fresh snapper from Chinatown. Have a fish steamer use at home. Like to steam white fish. Salmon cook in a skillet.


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## Kgp (Mar 26, 2021)

MarcelNL said:


> We bought a steamer/over a few years ago and have used so much that it's a must have for the new house, especially when it can do sous vide it's a great asset! Used ours a LOT for chinese, but also all sorts of veg, and SV.


I use my Anova quite a bit and intrigued by using this as sous vide device. Would I still vacuum seal the food?


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## Carlo (Mar 26, 2021)

These are all great suggestions but I gotta say it: when I read “steamer” I think “Cleveland”.


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## stringer (Mar 26, 2021)

Carlo said:


> These are all great suggestions but I gotta say it: when I read “steamer” I think “Cleveland”.



Cleveland is a pretty good brand.






I was surprised to learn that Cleveland Steamers were actually originally just Steam Ovens too.


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## Kgp (Mar 26, 2021)

Carlo said:


> These are all great suggestions but I gotta say it: when I read “steamer” I think “Cleveland”.


You been reading the urban dictionary?


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## MarcelNL (Mar 26, 2021)

in the end I put the food in a vac bag in a container of water to buffer large temperature swings, not having a vacuum machine I substituted that with immersing a zip lock bag in water.


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## DavidPF (Mar 26, 2021)

Kgp said:


> I use my Anova quite a bit and intrigued by using this as sous vide device. Would I still vacuum seal the food?


Yes, sous vide is always sealed. "Sous vide" means "under vacuum" (i.e. under vacuum-ified conditions).


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## Carlo (Mar 26, 2021)

TIL where the Cleveland Steamer got its name!


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