steaming

File:HK TKL 調景嶺 Tiu Keng Leng 都會駅 Metro Town Shopping Mall shop 豪宴海鮮酒家 Ho Yin Seafood Restaurant December 2019 SS2 dim sum take-away food counter.jpgs at a restaurant in Hong Kong]]

Some of the world's earliest examples of steam cooking were found in China's Yellow River Valley; early steam cookers made of stoneware have been found dating back as far as 5,000 BCE.{{cite book|last=Chen|first=Cheng-Yih|year=1995|title=Early Chinese Work in Natural Science|location=Hong Kong|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|page=198|isbn=962-209-385-X}}. And also in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, created during the Stone Age.{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jaqua1957/40/6/40_6_517/_article/-char/en | doi=10.4116/jaqua.40.517 | year=2001 | last1=Harunari | first1=Hideji | journal=The Quaternary Research (Daiyonki-Kenkyu) | volume=40 | issue=6 | pages=517{{ndash}}526 | doi-access=free |url-status=live |archive-date=2023-07-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230714102215/https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jaqua1957/40/6/40_6_517/_article/-char/en |title=Transition from the Palaeolithic to the Jomon Period |language=en |access-date=14 July 2023}}{{cite web |website=City of Midori |url=https://www.city.midori.gunma.jp/www/contents/1000000001754/simple/23.pdf |title=どんな料 りょうり- 4 理があったのだろうか？|language=ja |access-date=16 January 2024 |trans-title=What kind of cuisine was there?}} Some of the earliest examples of steam cooking have been found in Italy and Sardinia, created during the Bronze Age,{{cite web |url=https://preistoriadelcibo.iipp.it/contributi/3_21.pdf |title=Functional analysis of the Nuragic vascular repertoire. |work=Preistoria del Cibo |publisher=L’Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria |access-date=16 January 2024 |date=October 7, 2015 |first1=Anna |last1=DePalmas |first2=C. |last2=Bulla |first3=Giovanna |last3=Fundoni}} and in Cochise County, Arizona, where steam pits were used for cooking about 10,000 years ago.{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=II7dCNi-ibYC&q=ancient+pit+steam+cooking&pg=PA33 |title=Ancient Steam Pit Cooking |first=Rich |last=Johnson |date=March 1999 |journal=Primitive Outdoor Skills |editor-first=Richard L. |editor-last=Jamison |publisher=Horizon Publishers |page=33 |isbn=0-88290-666-6 |via=Google Books}} From the eighth century CE,{{Citation needed|date=February 2015}} 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.{{Citation needed|date=January 2018}}

While steaming has not caught up in the west for assorted dishes, the technique has been heavily popularized worldwide by Chinese and East Asian cuisine.{{Cite web |title=Steaming, the quintessential cooking method in Chinese and modern cuisine |url=https://www.lkkprofessional.com/chefs-inspiration.php?item=steaming |date=May 20, 2019 |work=Lee Kum Kee (Europe) Ltd.}} The two main classic steamers feature the ancient bamboo steamer as well as the modern metal (aluminium 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.{{Cite web |last=Vaculin |first=Kendra |title=The Best Steamer Basket for Every Kitchen |url=https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/the-best-steamer-basket-for-every-kitchen-article |date=2020-06-22 |work=Epicurious}} Other developments were the creation of microwaveable silicone steamers and plastic-hybrid steamers.

{{See also|Bamboo steamer}}

File:Steamers.jpg

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, in which food is not directly exposed to steam, or pressure cooking, which uses a sealed vessel but is capable of pressure steaming or submerging.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

Such cooking is most often done by placing the food in a food steamer, typically a circular container made of metal, wood, or bamboo. The steamer usually has a lid that is placed on 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 with steam vapor produced in a separate water container, providing a similar result to being cooked on a stove. There are also specialized steam ovens available.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

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.

File:CantoneseSteamedfish.jpg, coriander and Welsh onion]]

{{See also|List of 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.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

File:ChineseSteamedEgg.jpg]]

In Western cooking, steaming is most often used to cook vegetables{{mdash}}it 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, steamed pork spare ribs, steamed ground pork or beef, steamed chicken and steamed goose.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.foodtolove.com.au/recipes/whole-thai-style-steamed-fish-17775|title= Steaming fish in Thai-style|author=The Australian Women's Weekly|author-link=The Australian Women's Weekly|publisher= Bauer Media Pty Limited|access-date=2018-01-28}} Wheat foods are steamed as well. Examples include buns and Chinese steamed cakes. Similarly, in Mexican 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.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

Steamed meat dishes (except fish and some dim sum) are less common in Chinese restaurants than in traditional home cooking,{{Cite web |title=Steamed Dishes — www.hospemag.me - world's largest hospitality career emag |url=https://www.hospemag.me/cms/tag/Steamed+Dishes |access-date=2022-08-12 |website=www.hospemag.me |date=25 April 2022 |language=en-US}} because meats usually require longer cooking times to steam than to stir fry. Commercially sold frozen foods (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.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

File:Har Gow and Shumai at DK Chinese Restaurtant.jpg and siu mai]]

File:Pearl Meatballs with Sticky Rice.jpg]]

Staple foods

• Mantou, steamed buns
• Wotou, Chinese cornbread

Dim sum

• Siu mai, meat dumplings
• Har gao, shrimp dumplings
• Baozi, filled buns
• Lion's head meatballs
• Steamed meatballs
• Pearl meatballs, pork meatballs covered in sticky rice

Rice

• Steamed rice with crab, Fujian cuisine called 蠘飯 (蟳飯)
• Fenzhengrou (粉蒸肉): Steamed pork with rice flour

Seafood

• Fish: Chinese perch, grouper, Japanese black porgy
• Crab: Chinese mitten crab, Shanghai cuisine for the autumn

Soup

• Weitang: Steamed pork rib soup, Jiangxi cuisine
• Buddha Jumps Over the Wall: Fujian cuisine
• Winter Melon Soup: Using a hollowed out and sculpted gourd as a vessel
• Qi Guoji Steamed Chicken Soup: Chicken soup cook in a double steamer, Yunnan cuisine

Sweets

• Double skin milk, said to be made in the 1850s in Daliang in Foshan, Guangdong
• Guilinggao: also known as Turtle Jelly, a jelly-like Chinese medicine, also sold as a dessert

Others

• Chinese steamed eggs similar to custard with local variety of ingredients and vessels.

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

• Glutinous rice. Instead of boiling, glutinous rice is steamed to eat. {{nihongo||おこわ (強飯)|Okowa}} as it is called, receipts with ingredients and vessel chestnuts (kuri okowa) or wild herbs (sansai okowa) are popular.

:*{{nihongo|Red rice|赤飯|sekihan}}: served at festive occasions with azuki bean and color agent added to enhance red color.

:*Mochi: prepared with steamed rice and kneaded.

• Chawanmushi: savory egg custard
• Odamaki-mushi: udon in a cup of chawan-mushi. Osaka specialty.

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.{{cite book|title= Kōjien|edition=5|publisher= Iwanami Shoten|isbn= 978-4-00-080111-9|year= 1998}}
• 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{{cite book|title=本日「いいかげん」日和: そのまんま楽しく生きる一日一話 (Honjitsu iikagen-biyori: sonomanma tanoshiku ikiru ichinichi ichiwa|oclc=666225791|trans-title= It's 'easy-going' day today: living life happily with day-to-day episodes|language= ja|last= Hiro|first= Sachiya|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1DM7BAAAQBAJ&q=%E6%9F%9A%E5%AD%90%E9%87%9C&pg=PA424|publisher= PHP Kenkyūjo|page= 424|date= 2013-12-27|isbn=9784569791203|access-date=2018-01-28 }} to hold and add zest to the food.{{cite book|title=四季日本の料理 秋|date=25 July 1998|trans-title=Four Seasons of Japanese Cooking: Autumn|language=ja|publisher=Kōdansha|isbn=4-06-267453-X}}

:*Sea bream milt steamed in yugama{{cite book|title= 楽しむ釣り魚料理 (Tanoshimu tsurizakana ryōri)|trans-title= Enjoy cooking your catch with fish cuisine|editor= Seitōsha Editorial|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=pY9oSWJt9wIC&q=%E6%9F%9A%E5%AD%90%E9%87%9C%E8%92%B8&pg=PA38|publisher= Seitōsha|pages=38–39|isbn= 4791609336|date= December 1997}}

Sweets: steaming is an important process in Japanese sweets making such as manjū, yōkan, uirō, 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

• Gyeran-jjim, a custardy dish

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.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

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%.{{cite web | url=https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80400525/Data/retn/retn06.pdf|title=USDA Table of Nutrient Retention Factors, Release 6|date=December 2007|author=Nutrient Data Laboratory|publisher=USDA}}

Steaming, compared to boiling, showed 42% higher amount of glucosinolates in broccoli cooked for medium firmness.{{cite journal|last1=Bongoni|first1=R|last2=Verkerk|first2=R|last3=Steenbekkers|first3=B|last4=Dekker| last5=Stieger|first4=M|title= Evaluation of Different Cooking Conditions on Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica) to Improve the Nutritional Value and Consumer Acceptance.|journal= Plant Foods for Human Nutrition|doi=10.1007/s11130-014-0420-2|date=September 2014|volume=69|issue=3|pages=228–234|pmid=24853375|s2cid=35228794}} Phenolic compounds with antioxidant properties have been found to retain significantly better through steaming than through boiling or microwaving.{{Cite journal | title=Phenolic compound contents in edible parts of broccoli inflorescences after domestic cooking | first3=C | last3=García-Viguera | journal=Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture | date=November 2003 | first2=FA | volume=83 | last2=Tomás-Barberón | issue=14 | pages=1511–1516 | doi=10.1002/jsfa.1585 | last1=Vallejo | first1=F| bibcode=2003JSFA...83.1511V }} Steaming compared to boiling retained β-carotene in carrots.{{cite journal|last1=Bongoni|first1=R|last2=Stieger|first2=M|last3=Dekker|first3=M|last4=Steenbekkers| first4=B|last5=Verkerk|first5=R|title= Sensory and health properties of steamed and boiled carrots (Daucus carota ssp. sativus)|journal= International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition|doi= 10.3109/09637486.2014.931360|date=November 2014|volume=65|number=7|pages=809–815|pmid=24964285|s2cid=2864999}} The effect of cooking food may increase or decrease the nutrients.{{cite news | url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=raw-veggies-are-healthier|title=Fact or Fiction: Raw veggies are healthier than cooked ones|work=Scientific American|date=March 31, 2009|author=Sushma Subramanian}}

{{Portal|Cooking|Food}}

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

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