News - Why Buy A Food Steamer?

The best food steamers are fantastic for creating healthy meals with lots of different elements and will make a great addition to any kitchen. They’re an excellent way to preserve the flavor and moisture of ingredients, as well as being better for your health by locking in more nutrients than boiling. Food steamers can also free up valuable space on your kitchen’s stovetop, so you have more freedom over the elements you want to cook.

The best food steamers often come with multiple tiers so you can cook an entire meal in just one appliance. They also usually have digital controls so you can adjust the heat and intensity of the cooking process depending on your preferences. Food steamers aren’t only great for cooking vegetables either, as some appliances have larger tiers to accommodate meat or fish, with the tiered design allowing the flavors to mix as cooking goes on.

Why buy a food steamer?

Steaming is one of the healthiest way to cook everything from beef to broccoli, according an article published by Healthy Options. Among other things, eating steamed food can help you lower your cholesterol – steaming meat removes fat, unlike frying, baking and grilling. Also, you don’t need to use butter, oil or any other fat to cook meat when you use a steamer.

Steaming is also an excellent way to prepare vegetables since it cooks them thoroughly without sapping them of essential vitamins and minerals. In addition, steamed vegetables retain their taste, color, juices and freshness better than those cooked other ways. Other cooking methods, such as boiling, can destroy naturally occurring vitamin B, riboflavin, thiamine, niacin, biotin B12, pantothenic acid and vitamin C as well as minerals like calcium, phosphorous, potassium and zinc.

An article published online by Shape Magazine also encourages steaming many foods, especially vegetables, chicken breasts, fish and shellfish. “It’s perfect for fish and shellfish because it doesn’t dry out the delicate flesh. Halibut, cod and snapper steam particularly well,” the article states. Shape recommends jazzing up your steamed meals with herbs and other natural flavorings and to avoid using salt, which will wash off. For example, you can steam a fish fillet in foil with some garlic, grated ginger, onion, basil leaves and a bit of lemon juice.

How to choose a food steamer

Size

Food steamer size is measured in quarts, and most models are 3 quarts or bigger. They also usually have one to three tiers. When you buy a model with more than one tier, you can stack different items and steam them at the same time or cook large foods and big batches.

If you buy a combination rice cooker and food steamer, the size is relative to the number of cups of rice the cooker makes. The larger the rice cooker, the larger the steamer basket will be. Small steamers are great for cooking a single dish, while a three-tier model can cook a whole meal.

Dedicated food steamers can accommodate a variety of foods, but if you often cook rice, it makes sense to get a rice cooker and food steamer combo. These machines typically limit the variety of food you can prepare at the same time because there is only one basket for steaming other foods. Still, if you usually eat rice and meats or vegetables together, a food steamer and rice cooker combo is a convenient way to prepare a meal.

Ease of Use

Food steamers come in electronic and stovetop varieties. Electronic steamers have timers, so you can set them and do other things while you wait for your food to cook. Stovetop varieties need some monitoring – you have to keep an eye on water levels and perfect your timing so your food is cooked the way you want it. The best steamers are dishwasher safe so there are no pots to clean.

Post time: Jun-05-2022