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Steaming is a method of
cooking Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to Outline of food preparation, prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric ...
using
steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
. This is often done with a
food steamer A food steamer or steam cooker is a small kitchen appliance used to cook or prepare various foods with steam heat by means of holding the food in a closed vessel reducing steam escape. This manner of cooking is called steaming. History F ...
, 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. 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

Some of the world's earliest examples of steam cooking were found in China's
Yellow River Valley The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Ha ...
, early steam cookers made of stoneware have been found dating back as far as 5,000 BCE. And also in Gunma Prefecture,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, created during the
Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...
. Some of the second earliest examples of steam cooking have been found in Italy and Sardinia, created during the Bronze Age, and in
Cochise County, Arizona Cochise County () is a county in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is named after the Native American chief Cochise. The population was 125,447 at the 2020 census. The county seat is Bisbee and the most populous city is ...
, where steam pits were used for cooking about 10,000 years ago. From the eighth century CE, 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. While steaming has not caught up in the west for assorted dishes, the technique was heavily popularized worldwide by Chinese and East Asian cuisine. The two main classic steamers feature the ancient bamboo steamer as well as the modern metal (aluminum 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. Other developments were the creations of microwaveable silicone steamers and plastic-hybrid steamers.


Method

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 A bain-marie (; also known as a water bath or double boiler), a type of heated bath, is a piece of equipment used in science, industry, and cooking to heat materials gently or to keep materials warm over a period of time. A bain-marie is also us ...
, in which food is not directly exposed to steam, or
pressure cooking Pressure cooking is the process of cooking food under high pressure steam and water or a water-based cooking liquid, in a sealed vessel known as a ''pressure cooker''. High pressure limits boiling, and creates higher cooking temperatures which c ...
, which uses a sealed vessel, but which is capable of pressure steaming or submerging. Such cooking is most often done by placing the food into a food steamer, typically a circular container made of metal or wood and bamboo. The steamer usually has a lid that is placed on the 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 by steam vapor produced in a separate water container, providing a similar result to being cooked on stove. There are also specialized steam ovens available. File:Steam glutinous rice with simple japanese hearth,Katori-city,Japan.JPG, A simple hearth with a metal pan holding two wooden steaming vessels and a wooden lid used in Japan. File:Steaming frozen food 1.jpg, A makeshift steaming vessel with lid removed; a frozen dish is placed on a metal frame in a single handled wok with water.


Steamed foods

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. 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 Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...
, steamed pork spare ribs, steamed
ground Ground may refer to: Geology * Land, the surface of the Earth not covered by water * Soil, a mixture of clay, sand and organic matter present on the surface of the Earth Electricity * Ground (electricity), the reference point in an electrical c ...
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. Wheat foods are steamed as well. Examples include buns and Chinese steamed cakes. Similarly, in
Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
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 Dim sum () is a large range of small Chinese dishes that are traditionally enjoyed in restaurants for brunch. Most modern dim sum dishes are commonly associated with Cantonese cuisine, although dim sum dishes also exist in other Chinese cuis ...
) are less common in Chinese restaurants than in traditional home cooking, because meats usually require longer cooking times to steam than to stir fry. Commercially sold
frozen food Freezing food preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Since early times, farmers, fishermen, and trappers have preserved grains and produce in unheated buildings during the winter season. Freezing food slows decompositi ...
s (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

Staple foods * Mantou, steamed bread * Wotou, Chinese cornbread
Chinese steamed eggs Chinese steamed eggs or water egg is a traditional Chinese dish found all over China. Eggs are beaten to a consistency similar to that used for an omelette and then steamed. It is sometimes referred to as egg custard on menus. If eaten cold, it ...
similar to custard with local variety of ingredients and vessels.
Dim sum Dim sum () is a large range of small Chinese dishes that are traditionally enjoyed in restaurants for brunch. Most modern dim sum dishes are commonly associated with Cantonese cuisine, although dim sum dishes also exist in other Chinese cuis ...
( Shaomai, Baozi,
dumpling Dumpling is a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of dough (made from a variety of starch sources), oftentimes wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, flour, buckwheat or potatoes, and may be filled with meat, fi ...
) Rice *Steamed rice with crab,
Fujian cuisine Fujian cuisine or Fujianese cuisine, also known as Min cuisine, is one of the native Chinese cuisines derived from the cooking style of China's Fujian Province, most notably from the provincial capital, Fuzhou. "Fujian cuisine" in this articl ...
called 蠘飯 (蟳飯). *Steamed Pork with rice: pork steamed with crushed rice called 粉蒸肉. Seafood *Fish:
Chinese perch ''Siniperca chuatsi'', the mandarin fish (,), is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish from the family Sinipercidae, the Oriental perches. It is the type species of the genus ''Siniperca'' (Chinese perches). Description ''Siniperca chautsi'' ...
, grouper,
Japanese black porgy ''Acanthopagrus schlegelii'', commonly known as the blackhead seabream, Japanese black porgy or sea bream, is a fish often farmed for food in Japan. It is one of the most popular fishes for game fishing in Japan. The body is ovoid and compressed, ...
. *Crab: Chinese mitten crab, Shanghai cuisine for the autumn. Soup *Steamed Pork Rib Soup: a
Jiangxi cuisine Jiangxi cuisine (), also known as Gan cuisine (), is a style of Chinese cuisine derived from the native cooking styles of Jiangxi province in southern China. According to the East China Travel Guide published in 1983, Jiangxi Cuisine has its uniqu ...
called :zh:煨汤. * Buddha Jumps Over the Wall: a Fujian cuisine. *Winter Melon Soup: use a hollowed out and sculpted gourd as a vessel. *Qi Guoji Steamed Chicken Soup: soup of chicken cooked with double steamer, a Yunnan cuisine called :zh:汽锅鸡. Sweets *Milk Pudding: called Daliang Milk Pudding ( 大良双皮奶) as said to be made in the 1850s in Daliang in
Foshan Foshan (, ), alternately romanized as Fatshan, is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. The entire prefecture covers and had a population of 9,498,863 as of the 2020 census. The city is part of the western side of the ...
, Guangdong. *
Guilinggao ''Guilinggao'' (), also known as tortoise jelly (though not technically correct) or turtle powder, is a jelly-like Chinese medicine, also sold as a dessert. It was traditionally made from the ''gao'', or paste of the plastron (bottom shell) fr ...
: also known as Turtle Jelly, a jelly-like Chinese medicine, also sold as a dessert. File:Dim sum.jpg, Variety of dim sum. File:Buddha soup2.jpg, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, or Buddha's Temptation. File:Wintermelonsoup.jpg, A small bowl of winter melon soup. File:Qi Guoji.jpg, Steamed silkie soup. File:Guilinggao.jpg, Turtle jelly.


Japanese dishes

Bread Chawanmushi (Savory egg custard): beaten egg, dashi soup and ingredients (chicken, shrimp, ginkgo nuts,
kamaboko is a type of cured , a processed seafood product common in Japanese cuisine. is made by forming various pureed deboned white fish with either natural or man-made additives and flavorings into distinctive loaves, which are then steamed u ...
and mitsuba) into a bowl with a lid. *Odamaki-mushi: udon in a cup of chawan-mushi. Osaka specialty. Glutinous rice. Instead of boiling, glutinous rice is steamed to eat. *Okowa as it is called, receipts with ingredients and vessel chestnuts (kuri okowa) or wild herbs (sansai okowa) are popular. :*: 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. *Awayukimushi: egg meringue over fish or seafood and keep moisture as well as retain aroma. *Kaburamushi: grated or shredded turnip covers crabs and fish to keep moisture. *Sakamushi: add sake to steam sea bream and clams which will reduce fishy smell. Recipes named after the container. *Dobin-mushi: matsutake and fish in a pot together with dashi soup. *Yugama: yuzu citrus is hollowed out into a cup to hold and add zest to the food. :*Sea bream milt steamed in yugama Sweets: steaming is an important process in Japanese sweets making such as manjū,
yōkan is a wagashi (Japanese confection) made of red bean paste, agar, and sugar. It is usually sold in a block form, and eaten in slices. There are two main types: ''neri yōkan'' and ''mizu yōkan''. "Mizu" means "water", and indicates that it i ...
,
uirō ''Uirō'' (Japanese: , , ), also known as , is a traditional Japanese steamed cake made of glutinous rice flour and sugar. It is chewy, similar to ''mochi'', and subtly sweet. Flavors include azuki bean paste, green tea (matcha), ''yuzu'', ...
, karukan or suama. File:Chawanmushi by nyaa birdies perch in Yugashima, Shizuoka.jpg, Chawanmushi (foreground) File:Kohaku manju - white bun - march 2014.jpg, Manjū File:Kagami mochi by tamakisono.jpg, Mochi as offering to the deities


Korean dishes

* Gyeran-jjim, a custardy dish


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%. Steaming, compared to boiling, showed 42% higher amount of
glucosinolate Glucosinolates are natural components of many pungent plants such as mustard, cabbage, and horseradish. The pungency of those plants is due to mustard oils produced from glucosinolates when the plant material is chewed, cut, or otherwise damaged. T ...
s in broccoli cooked for medium firmness.
Phenolic Phenolic is an adjective and a substantive (noun) that may apply to : * Phenol (or carbolic acid), a colorless crystalline solid and aromatic compound * Phenols, a class of chemical compounds that include phenol * Phenolic content in wine * Phenol ...
compounds with antioxidant properties have been found to retain significantly better through steaming than through boiling or microwaving. Steaming compared to boiling retained β-carotene in carrots. The effect of cooking food may increase or decrease the nutrients.


See also

* Double steaming * List of steamed foods * Bamboo steamer, an East Asian steamer made from bamboo *'' Siru'', a Korean earthenware steamer


References


External links

{{Authority control Cooking techniques Culinary terminology