In this episode of Epicurious 101, professional chef Eric Huang explains the art of steaming, a cooking technique often overlooked yet essential in kitchens around the world. Far from bland or boring, steaming unlocks vibrant flavors, preserves nutrients, and delivers refined textures. Say goodbye to soggy vegetables and hello to perfectly cooked meals as Chef Eric shows you how to master this gentle method.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Steaming has a PR problem.
00:02You're assuming like really bland, flavorless vegetables
00:06your doctor told you to eat.
00:08It's not that.
00:09Steaming is how professional chefs achieve light textures,
00:12really clean flavors, and really delicious results.
00:14And all you're going to need is water.
00:17This is Steaming 101.
00:20Hi, I'm Eric, I'm a professional chef,
00:22and today I'm gonna teach you how to harness the power
00:26of steam.
00:27It's an efficient method of heat transfer.
00:29It keeps your food really moist and delicious
00:31with great texture.
00:32It's healthy, there's no nutrient loss, and it's delicious.
00:39Steaming versus boiling, they are different,
00:42but they both harness the power of water boiling.
00:45Boiling is pretty violent.
00:46Steaming, gentle.
00:47You are mainly using conductive heat
00:49when you are boiling with water.
00:52A product that you're cooking is absorbing the energy
00:54from the boiling water directly.
00:55And with steaming, you are using conductive
00:58and convective heat.
01:00And the water that is evaporating condenses back
01:03onto what you're cooking and releases a great deal of energy.
01:06It's more efficient this way.
01:07It transfers heat more quickly.
01:09And most importantly, because it's not in contact
01:11with the water, it is not taking anything
01:13from the product you're cooking.
01:14Steaming is an incredibly efficient method
01:16of heat transfer.
01:18The physics are very complicated,
01:19but just think about it this way.
01:21You can stick your hand into a 450 degree oven.
01:24It'll be fine for a few seconds.
01:26If you put your hand over a boiling tea kettle
01:28with all the steam coming out of the spout,
01:30you are going to hurt yourself
01:31and you need to probably go to the doctor.
01:32So we're going to cook broccoli two different ways.
01:34We're going to steam one, we're going to boil one,
01:37and you're going to see the difference.
01:38I'm going to start by steaming broccoli.
01:40This is a metal steamer basket.
01:41It's a handy dandy design.
01:42It fits in any pot, really.
01:44Open this guy up.
01:45It's going to fit nicely in the pan.
01:46We're going to start off with our broccoli stems.
01:49The broccoli stems are obviously tougher,
01:52give it a little more cook time, a little more love.
01:54It's a really wonderful part of the vegetable.
01:56You don't actually want too much water.
01:58You just need about an inch or two.
01:59You obviously don't want it in contact
02:01with whatever you're touching,
02:02which is why steamer baskets keep things lifted.
02:05Other than that, you just need some sort of lid.
02:07You want the steam to be trapped,
02:09it to be condensing on itself.
02:10It's going to keep the relative humidity
02:12of the container higher,
02:13which is going to cook things more efficiently.
02:15My stems are looking good.
02:17Before I put my florets in,
02:18you want to arrange stuff evenly,
02:20give them space for the steam to circulate.
02:23That's true for all things we steam.
02:25You need space for the steam
02:26to condense onto the product,
02:27so you can't crowd them too closely together.
02:29And like a little bit of salt on top, nothing crazy.
02:32Lid back on, steaming.
02:36We obviously want something that has some texture,
02:38but isn't mushy,
02:38so I'm aiming for about four minutes of steaming.
02:41All right, we have our boiled broccoli.
02:42For just about the same amount of time,
02:44it has turned an army green.
02:46It's a lot softer.
02:47The florets are beginning to disintegrate, if we will.
02:50The stem's a lot softer.
02:51I mean, it's all right.
02:54And then here, steamed broccoli here, bright green.
02:57The florets are all still intact.
02:59Stem looks like it has some texture.
03:01It looks great.
03:02Dress it with just a bit of oyster sauce.
03:05You want real oyster sauce,
03:06it's worth spending the money on.
03:08You just need a little bit to really take your broccoli
03:10to the next level.
03:12A little bit of sesame seed.
03:13Super simple, really delicious.
03:15Vibrant, good for you.
03:17This is a really versatile technique
03:18for all kinds of vegetables.
03:20You can do asparagus, bok choy.
03:22You're not leaching away nutrients and flavor
03:24to the water that you're going to dump down the sink.
03:27It kind of keeps the integrity of the vegetable.
03:29It lets the vegetable be the vegetable it wants to be.
03:32So, steam your vegetables.
03:37What we have here is a bamboo steamer,
03:39and we're gonna use it to make Cantonese-style steamed fish.
03:41This is one of the great seafood recipes of the world.
03:45It's very simple, it's very healthy,
03:47and the steam is actually a key component here.
03:49Because the relative humidity and the temperature
03:52never really exceeds 212 degrees Fahrenheit,
03:55the point of boiling,
03:56it's much more forgiving on the temperature of the fish,
03:58and it keeps it moist as it cooks.
04:00You can use the metal steamer,
04:01you can use any other sort of rig.
04:03There's a lot of ways to improvise a steamer,
04:05but this is my favorite.
04:06They're inexpensive, they're very easy to use,
04:09and they feel good.
04:11It feels like you're really doing some Chinese cooking.
04:13You just need some sort of vessel that fits the steamer
04:15to boil water in.
04:16You can stack steamers really, really high,
04:18making your already efficient cooking method
04:21even more efficient.
04:22Create a steam stack, steam tower.
04:24We are working with black sea bass.
04:27Wonderful colors, light flaky flesh, halibut, cod, bream,
04:32any of these things would do great.
04:33I have about an inch of water.
04:35I'm going to get a plate here.
04:37I'm forming a bed of aromatics here.
04:39This serves a couple purposes.
04:41One, it raises the protein slightly
04:43so that the steam can circulate
04:44and condense on every surface,
04:45and then the moisture is conveying
04:48all those water-soluble aromas and flavors
04:50onto your food.
04:51It's subtle, but it's a meaningful difference.
04:53A little bit of salt on both sides,
04:57and then I'm going to cook its skin up.
04:58I have Shaoxing wine here.
05:00This is a rice wine,
05:01a huge cooking component in Chinese cuisine.
05:03We just need a little bit on top to just curfume.
05:06This flavor is very aromatic, floral,
05:09and we're just going to pop the lid on,
05:11and we're going to steam a fish.
05:12While my fish is steaming,
05:13I'm going to make my seasoned soy sauce.
05:15You can buy this ready-made in a bottle,
05:18but just to show you what's in it,
05:19it's a bit of light soy sauce here.
05:21Need sugar to balance out the flavor of the soy.
05:25Some black vinegar, ching-kyung vinegar,
05:28sesame oil, just a splash,
05:30and I like to add a little pinch of MSG.
05:32It's very well balanced, and it pairs really well
05:35with white flesh fish.
05:37We've been steaming here for six, seven minutes.
05:39These are small fillets, so they happen pretty quickly.
05:41I'm just going to use a chopstick
05:42to kind of test the sides here.
05:44I judge fish more on texture
05:45than I do on temperature, on like meat.
05:47We just want it to be nice and juicy and to fall apart.
05:50We're ready to go.
05:51Steam tongs.
05:52Inexpensive little contraption.
05:54Claw, machine, game.
05:56Look at that.
05:57Sick.
06:00Okay, the steaming here is very forgiving.
06:02It is extracting a lot of the gelatin in the fish.
06:06This is going to be really moist,
06:07despite being a lean, flaky white fish.
06:10I got my seasoned soy sauce.
06:12I'm just going to spoon a little bit over here.
06:14I'm putting ginger and scallion on top here,
06:17and a bit of cilantro as well.
06:19And for a very last touch,
06:20we're going to put some boiling hot oil over top.
06:23Raw ginger and scallion and cilantro.
06:26Not super enjoyable,
06:27but just with a kiss of hot oil,
06:28you express and just gently wilt those vegetables.
06:31The oil flows down to the soy sauce,
06:33mixes all together and forms a vinaigrette.
06:35And it's a really delicious way to eat a fish.
06:38So the oil is kind of mixing up with the soy sauce underneath.
06:42The fish is nicely cooked.
06:44So steaming yields really wonderful results.
06:46This is a really nice, easy weeknight meal.
06:49Add it to your repertoire.
06:54Here we have some frozen store-bought shumai.
06:57The technology of frozen dumplings these days is highly advanced.
07:00There are restaurants that just buy these now.
07:02And I'm going to show you how to steam these properly.
07:04So what I have down here are just tough exterior Napa cabbage leaves.
07:08These are nature's nonstick layer for steaming.
07:11What we're looking for here is for the steam,
07:13be able to circulate evenly across the entire surface of the dumpling.
07:18This is how you get dumpling dough to hydrate and cook correctly.
07:21Do not do this. Do not crowd them.
07:23Do not treat your dumplings like penguins on the ice.
07:25Huddle together for warmth.
07:27Give them room to breathe.
07:28Cows on the pasture.
07:29The whole way that steam cooks food
07:31is that the steam condenses on the surface of the food
07:34and releases energy into it.
07:36If it's stuck up against something else,
07:38steam's not going to reach that part.
07:39It's not going to cook evenly.
07:40And this is true for pretty much anything you cook,
07:43whether you're searing, you're roasting, or you're steaming.
07:45But definitely with steaming,
07:46really important if you're steaming crab legs or lobsters,
07:49you can't jam them all in there, all right?
07:51You got to give them space to breathe.
07:53Let them live.
07:53I would steam these for seven to 10 minutes.
07:56Then we're going to eat them.
07:57Hot out the steamer.
07:58Dangerously hot.
07:59All right, these are ready to eat.
08:00All that's left is to literally risk my life
08:04by eating a super hot freshly steamed dumpling.
08:11It's hot.
08:12It's good though.
08:16The beautiful thing about steaming is that there's a natural
08:19built-in temperature control.
08:21Because of the boiling point of water,
08:22it cannot exceed 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
08:26For any of you who ever made creme brulee
08:28and used the bain-marie, a hot water bath,
08:30to protect your custard as it was baking,
08:33it is for that exact reason.
08:34The water is preventing the heat from accelerating too quickly
08:38so that your eggs curdle.
08:39That's how you get it to set into a beautiful,
08:42jiggly, smooth custard.
08:44And to show this concept, I'm going to make a very simple dish
08:48of steamed eggs.
08:49I grew up eating this probably twice a week.
08:51Once you learn it, I promise you're going to want to make it all the time.
08:53I've got four eggs.
08:55I'm adding a pinch of salt to season the eggs through,
08:58and it prevents them from coagulating too tightly.
09:01I'm going to add the stock or water.
09:03I prefer stock.
09:04It adds a little bit of savoriness, a little extra flavor.
09:05One-to-one ratio, that is the correct amount
09:09to keep the custard nicely set without being curdled.
09:14I'm going to beat this all together.
09:16The most time-consuming step.
09:18It's worth it to really make sure this is smooth.
09:22Obviously, it's going to incorporate some air,
09:23so you want to try to minimize that
09:25so you don't get these unattractive bubbles
09:27on the surface of your custard later.
09:28But the smooth texture is everything to this dish at the end.
09:32So I'm going to strain this egg mixture through a fine-mesh sieve
09:35into the bowl I'm going to steam and eat out of.
09:37This step is really important for a really nice, smooth mixture.
09:41It's such a simple dish.
09:42It's worth taking a few extra steps to make it really great.
09:46I'm just going to take a second to skim off any major foaming bubbles.
09:49They're just kind of unsightly once they kind of come through at the end.
09:53And then this is ready to go in the steamer.
09:56I've got two inches of water.
09:57It's getting hot.
09:59This is all you need to steam the egg.
10:01You're going to eat it right out of the bowl we strained it into.
10:03So I'm going to take this, invert it gently.
10:10We don't want the egg to be on the bottom.
10:13We want it to be suspended above so that it has some room to circulate
10:19and then the heat won't be too intense on the bottom.
10:21It'll cause the eggs to scramble.
10:23And then I'm going to put a plate on top,
10:25prevent it from any sort of condensation that will come afterwards.
10:30Bring to a boil.
10:32Steam day.
10:33Medium heat for three minutes at a boil.
10:36And then I'm going to turn the heat off.
10:38Leave the lid on and let it sit for 18 to 20 minutes.
10:42It can cruise to the finish line,
10:44become a really beautiful, smooth, delicious custard.
10:47I'm going to take this plate off.
10:49Everything is very hot.
10:50Be careful.
10:53Steam tongs, custard, looking pretty nice.
10:59Look at that jiggle.
11:00Set, tap the bowl.
11:02Look at it dance.
11:04Again, that was two ingredients,
11:05one of which could have been water.
11:07Now we just need to season it.
11:08So I like to put a bit of soy sauce on top,
11:11a touch of sesame oil, some sliced scallions,
11:13white rice, you're in business.
11:15Nice. Really good.
11:21It's just so silky smooth.
11:22It's so easy.
11:23You can do all sorts of things with it.
11:25It's such a simple, economic, efficient way to cook.
11:28I love it. It's great.
11:29So steaming.
11:30I hope you appreciate it.
11:31It's simple, delicious, healthy, and versatile.
11:35I hope you have taken away some strong steaming knowledge.
11:39Please use this power only for good, not for evil,
11:43and eat dumplings.
11:45You have to use the холод
11:56to leave somewhere within a lecture.
11:58We'll try them out if you want to listen.
11:59Screw them.
12:01I will try them using aluminum shine onto my None by 확진
12:11and if you want to turn it inside,