Preparing Food: Steam Cooking
Steaming is a great cooking methods because of its speed and minimal impact on flavor and texture of food. The method is particularly appropriate with ingredients that bring a delicate flavor. Fresh vegetables, such as pea pods, broccoli, green beans, and many others are perfectly suited to steam cooking, as they have subtle, delicious flavors that are lost to more aggressive heat.
Cook to Cook
Fresh snap beans—steamed until just cooked but still slightly crispy and topped with butter, a sprinkling of tarragon, and salt—are one of the pleasures of summer.
Another “hot list” of foods, this time vegetables just perfect for steaming:
- Peas and snow peas
- Broccoli
- Cut corn
- Asparagus
- Summer squash
Poultry, pork, and many kinds of seafood (steamed clams!) are also beautiful matches with this form of cooking. Steaming is quick, does not require the use of any fats or oils, and enables precise control over doneness. Because added ingredients are not generally necessary, flavor is again enhanced.
More on: Cooking Tips and Basics
Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to 20-Minute Meals © 2003 by CWL Publishing Enterprises, Inc., John Woods, President. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
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