steaming

Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. Steaming is considered a relatively healthier cooking technique and capable of cooking almost all kinds of food.

Steaming works by first boiling water, causing it to evaporate into steam; the steam then carries heat to the food, thus cooking the food. Such cooking is most often done by placing the food into a steamer, which is typically a circular container made of metal or bamboo. The steamer usually has a lid that is placed on the top of the container during cooking to allow the steam to cook the food. When a steamer is unavailable, a wok filled less than half with water is a decent replacement by placing a metal frame made of stainless steel in the middle of the wok. Some modern home microwave ovens include the structure to cook food by steam evaporated from a separate water container, providing a similar result to being cooked by fire. Although the food can be separated from the boiling water, it is usually intended to have direct contact with the steam, resulting in a moist texture to the dishes.

Benefit and disadvantage:

Overcooking or burning food is easily avoided when steaming it. Health conscious individuals may prefer steaming to other methods which require cooking oil, resulting in lower fat content. Steaming also results in a more nutritious food than boiling because fewer nutrients are leeched away into the water, which is usually discarded. A 2007 USDA comparison between steaming and boiling vegetables shows the most affected nutrients are folic acid and vitamin C. Compared to raw consumption, steaming reduces folic acid by 15%, and boiling reduces it by 35%. Again compared to raw consumption, steaming reduces vitamin C by 15%, and boiling reduces it by 25%. All other nutrients are reduced by a similar amount by both methods of cooking . The only drawback of steaming is that it requires more energy to cook than other techniques because the heat energy does not carry to the food directly. Most energy is lost to the low-efficient medium, water.

reference:wikipedia