Steamer inserts in the pan

Steam cooking allows you to preserve the maximum vitamins in your food. In addition, products processed in this way are dietary and retain their color and shape. Not every housewife has a place in the kitchen for a double boiler, but a special insert in the pan will be an excellent replacement for such a kitchen unit. What are they? What to focus on when choosing and how to use?

The choice of such designs is very rich, and you can find yourself a steam cooking device for every taste and wallet. There are even foldable options that take up little space in the kitchen. Let's analyze each of them separately.

Glass is environmentally friendly material, moreover, does not corrode. Glass insert-steamers in the pan resemble a bowl with handles in shape, only low and having many holes in the bottom for the passage of steam. From above, such a device is usually closed with a lid.

Conveniently, glass heats up quickly and does not emit harmful substances under the influence of high temperatures. Therefore, in a glass insert-steamer, you can safely cook food for children and not worry about their health.

They are usually made of stainless steel. You can often find an aluminum steamer, it is cheaper, but not very durable and not suitable for cooking for children. The most beautiful option is enamelled insert for steaming pot... It is durable and easy to use, but when dropped and hit, the enamel is often damaged.

The design of a metal steamer is a grate on a stand, the height of which will be a reference point for the level of boiling water.

The downside of the metal insert-steamer is that sooner or later it begins to oxidize and release harmful compounds. Cooking with this appliance not suitable for children and people with poor health.

Such material has been used for the manufacture of kitchen utensils for a long time. It is convenient to wash it, food does not stick to it, moreover, it is flexible, it will not break when dropped or hit.

The silicone attachments on the pan allow you to steam any food, like other steamers, and there is a very wide range of them.

The glass pan in the pot is usually a small bowl or saucepan. They are kept in weight thanks to the side handles or rim. The diameter and height are selected based on the size of the pan in which the food will be cooked.

Metal and silicone inserts for steamers can be foldable, which is very convenient. They are also called petal. They can change their diameter thanks to these petals, which change their opening angle.

Double or triple steamer inserts are very popular. They allow you to cook several products at the same time without mixing them together. Thus, it is easy to prepare food that has different cooking times. Multilevel structures are made of different materials: glass, metal, silicone.

In order for the products prepared with this device to be really healthy and tasty, it is necessary to take into account several nuances of using the insert-steamer.

• Water should not touch its bottom. The distance between the surface of the boiling water and the bottom of the steamer should be at least a few centimeters.
• To speed up the cooking process, boil the water beforehand. For example, while you are chopping vegetables.
• The food pieces should be roughly the same. This will result in evenly cooked food without any damp areas.
• Food should not be too tight. Otherwise, the steam will not be able to penetrate and act correctly on the pieces of food.
• Pay attention to the cooking time of the food in the 2-level steamer. Place meat, fish, potatoes on the first tier, and vegetables on the second. Once the vegetables are cooked, it will be easy to remove them, and other foods will continue to steam.

For information on how to steam without a steamer, see the next video.