The principle of a steam cooker is
simple but extremely effective. Instead
of being immersed in water as in
conventional cooking, food is placed in
a container over boiling water. Hot
steam rises and passes through
perforations in the container base,
accesses the food and transfers its heat
from all sides. This allows several
containers to be used in a steam
cooker, one above the other.
As the food being cooked is not
immersed in water, virtually all valuable
vitamins and nutrients are retained. As
a result, steaming preserves the natural
and intensive flavour of the food and
obviates the need for fat, salt and
seasoning.
h i s to r i ca l background
6
Simple and effective
“Everyone eats and drinks, but only few
savour the flavour…”
(Confucius, 551–479 BC).
Steaming is a process of cooking food in
steam, a method steeped in tradition
and dating back thousands of years. It
is likely that before fire was discovered,
prehistoric man cooked food over hot
springs.
The roots of today's steam cooking can
be found in China, where steaming has
always been the main method of
cooking. Even in pre-
Christian times, double-skinned pans
were used to keep the food being
cooked separate from the water.
