Steaming on a budget: the 5-euro steamer that rivals the pressure cooker

Steaming: the 5-euro steamer that rivals the pressure cooker

One glass of water. That is all the fuel a steamer needs to cook seafood, vegetables or a flan. Compared with the litre and a half required to boil in a pot, the energy savings are obvious, and the flavour, according to those who use it daily, comes out ahead: the water doesn't wash away soluble minerals or aromas. The case, made enthusiastically by someone who bought one a few days ago and now cooks almost everything with it, runs head-on into the camp that considers steaming a slow, bland and dispensable way to cook.

What you can steam and what goes wrong

Seafood and vegetables are where steaming wins by a landslide. Prawns and mussels come out with their hint of sea salt without adding anything. Carrots keep an intense flavour that boiling dilutes. Courgette turns out tender, sometimes too much if you overdo the time. Potatoes, on the other hand, divide opinion: since they don't lose their starch, they come out mushy, with a texture that tasters describe as "different", neither better nor worse.

Meat is more contested. Chicken breast comes out with a texture and consistency similar to ham, with a look some call plasticky. Frankfurter-type sausages cook quickly and cleanly, but soft. And there lies the sceptics' red line: steamed chicken, ugh. For them, neither the griddle pan nor the oven admits comparison.

The microwave steams too

The question running through the whole conversation is whether putting potatoes in a container with a shot glass of water and 12 to 15 minutes in the microwave counts as steaming. The technical answer given is yes, in part: the steam released by the food itself, trapped in the container, cooks by contact while the microwaves peine the inside. The result is an omelette 15 or 20 minutes faster and with far less oil.

Silicone microwave steamers, the Lekue type, cost between 25 and 30 euros and let you cook almost anything. Some people simply use a glass dish covered with cling film. The warning that comes up is that covering traps the steam and speeds up cooking, but also heats by contact, which some consider less efficient than letting the moisture escape.

Pressure cooker vs steamer, head to head

Here the consensus breaks down. One camp holds that the pressure cooker is superior in every way: it cooks at higher pressure to cut the time, handles complex stews like lentils or seasoned fish, and uses just a decilitre of water for potatoes cut into chunks in four minutes, green beans in five and brown lentils in seven. The steamer, they argue, does exactly the opposite: it lengthens cooking and wastes energy.

The reply comes with kitchen data: green beans take 15 minutes boiled, 6 or 7 in a pressure cooker and 6 or 7 steamed. The times even out. Where the pressure cooker falls short is cleanup: a steamer barely needs rinsing, whereas the bottom of a pot with a stew demands scrubbing. And there is one use nobody disputes: reheating food by steam works better than in the microwave.

The price: from 5 to 30 euros

The price range is wide. An electric steamer with a timer and several tiers costs between 20 and 30 euros and takes up space, but lets you set it and forget it. The manual version, a folding metal basket that fits in any pot, can be found in hardware stores for a couple of euros. And the cheapest option mentioned in the conversation is a 5-euro steamer at a German supermarket chain. Bamboo, with centuries of history, is championed as the easiest alternative to clean.

The recurring problem is the same as with any kitchen gadget: the space it takes up and the cleaning. Some people bought two and left them gathering dust in the cupboard for precisely that reason. The polycarbonate tray raises doubts about whether it is as harmless as bamboo. And single-use plastic bags are another open front.

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Two weeks after the purchase, the steamer is still in the kitchen, not in the cupboard. Use has focused on vegetables, with the odd corn on the cob that takes half an hour. The verdict is that less fat is consumed per day. What nobody can settle is whether that makes up for the extra time or the space it takes up.