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Cooking encyclopedia Techniques

Steaming

Cooking in the vapour above boiling liquid, without the food touching it.

100 °C (212 °F)

What it is

Keep the water boiling and the lid on; a stalled steamer is a warming drawer. Leave room for the steam to move around what you are cooking.

Why it works

Condensing steam gives up a great deal of heat at 100 °C, so food cooks quickly at a temperature that cannot scorch it, and nothing soluble washes away into the water.

When to use it

Fish, dumplings, buns, custards, green vegetables, rice cakes, whole grains.

What goes wrong

Letting the water touch the food, which boils it; lifting the lid constantly; packing the basket so tightly steam cannot circulate; steaming green vegetables long past bright.

Meridian cooking encyclopedia — Watchman Productions

More on this shelf

  • Blanching Brief cooking in heavily boiling water, usually followed by cooling.
  • Blooming spices Heating spices briefly in fat or a dry pan to release their aroma before they meet anything else.
  • Braising Browning, then cooking slowly in a small amount of liquid in a covered pot.
  • Deep-frying Cooking fully submerged in hot fat, usually 160–190 °C.
  • Deglazing Dissolving the browned residue in a pan with liquid, to turn it into sauce.
  • Emulsifying Dispersing fat and water into each other so they behave as one smooth sauce.
  • Grilling Cooking over or under direct radiant heat, close to the source.
  • Poaching Cooking submerged in liquid held below a simmer, around 70–85 °C.
  • Reducing Simmering a liquid uncovered to evaporate water and concentrate what is left.
  • Resting meat Leaving cooked meat off the heat before cutting it.
  • Roasting Cooking in dry oven heat, uncovered, so the surface browns while the inside cooks.
  • Sautéing Cooking small or thin pieces quickly in a little fat over fairly high heat, moving them often.