Unlike other more aggressive cooking modes, steam cooking helps keep certain nutrients of food and limit the production of toxic molecules. Explanations with Juliette Pouyat, book author The right choice to cook.
Since the appearance of fire in prehistoric times, man has developed many ways to cook his food. But what is the point of heating your food before eating them?
Food cooking makes it more digestible and facilitate chewing (1). Crushes, certain foods have antinutritional factors that cooking will destroy. For example, explains the DRE Juliette Pouyat in the guide The right choice to cook,, “The starch of pasta or rice becomes digestible after cooking with water thanks to a modification of its structure more favorable to the action of the amylase which cuts the starch into glucose molecules.” The temperature will also distort proteins, open their folded structure and facilitate the action of digestive enzymes.
We also cook food to make them edible, destroy microorganisms harmful and better keep them. Cooking also makes it possible to obtain pleasant aromas which come from chemical reactions grouped under the name of Maillard’s reaction. But this reaction is double -edged: it leads to flavors much appreciated by the consumer but the molecules involved are suspected of promoting the development of certain cancers or inflammatory reactions.
Cooking can however lead to a degradation of the nutritional quality of the food, with a loss of vitamins, denatured by heat, and the appearance of unwanted compounds. For healthy cuisine, the assets of steam cooking are often praised.
What is the interest in steaming?
With soft steam cooking, the temperature does not exceed 100 ° C and the initial taste of food is preserved. “It has the advantage of minimizing the dissemination loss of vitamins and minerals and makes it possible to create a humid environment which does not promote the formation of Maillard compoundsexplains Juliette Pouyat. This cooking method avoids the use of fat, which allows dietary cuisine. “
Cooking vs microwaves and others cooking at high temperature
The benefits of steam cooking have been demonstrated in an experience carried out at the University of Zhejiang in Hangzhou (China) where scientists compared five common cooking modes on broccoli (2): steam cooking, microwave, boiling, jumped frying alone, and saved frying followed by a boil.
The results show that all cooking treatments, with the exception of steam cooking, cause significant losses of chlorophyll and vitamin C and decreases of total soluble proteins and soluble sugars. Glucosinolates, beneficial molecules present in cabbage such as broccoli, have been significantly modified by all cooking treatments, except by steaming.
Practical questions in the kitchen
Potatoes, broccoli, asparagus, carrots … What foods for steam cooking?
Almost all foods can be cooked with soft steam: vegetables, meats, fish, cereals (wheat, barley, quinoa), legumes (flageolets, chickpeas, beans, lentils, etc.), fruits.
A recipe: steam salmon with sea glitter
You can even prepare yogurts thanks to steam cooking!
Hoofer, casserole … What steam cooking device?
Soft steam cooking can be done with electric steam cooks, stainless steel patsters with holes, with Marion’s vitalizer. But an appropriate saucepan and lid can also do the trick (see below).
To cook food under pressure, you need a pressure cooker. There are a wide variety of self -buyers of this type, some offer programs that adapt to the type of food to be cooked. In these devices, foods cook steam at a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure and a temperature not exceeding 100 ° C. “Admittedly, this high temperature is unfavorable to the preservation of vitamins but the cooking time is shorterreports Juliette Pouyat. In addition, some models of self -buyers (Seb Nutricook for example) are capable of evacuating 90 % of the air in the utensil, which makes it possible to avoid too much exposure of food to air oxygen. ” However, oxygen is at the origin of undesirable reactions: degradation of certain vitamins and lipid peroxidation. By reacting with air oxygen, antioxidant substances (vitamin C, vitamin E, polyphenols …) and polyunsaturated fatty acids lose their nutritional interest. These reactions can also generate highly reactive compounds that will attack other molecules.
How to steam when you don’t have a steam cooker?
You can use a large saucepan. Pour about 2 cm of water to the bottom of the pan and bring to a boil. Place the food and close with a glass cover, preferably with a small hole so that the steam can escape. Otherwise, open the cover from time to time.
There are also steam ovens equipped with a special compartment to put water. The oven uses the heat released to cook food.
How long to steam?
The steam cooking time is variable and depends on the type of cooked food but also on their size, the desired cooking (crunchy or fondant vegetables). “”The cooking time of cereals and legumes also varies depending on the soaking preceding cooking “, specifies Juliette Pouyat.
A recipe that uses steam cooking: pistou and tuna vegetables
Source : Symbioticby Marion Kaplan
This very greedy recipe is quickly prepared and then takes its time to cook. Take the opportunity to rejoice in advance: you will enjoy it!
Preparation : 15 min
Cooking : 1 h
Ingredients for 4 people
- 4 steaks or tuna cobblestones
- 1 small bowl of overwhelmed coconut beans
- 3 zucchini
- 3 Cebettes
- 300 g of green bean
- 1 basil bouquet
- 1 garlic clove
- 5 cl of olive oil
- Sea gray salt or herbs salt
Preparation
Pour 15 cm of water into the vitalizer Dutchor, cover and bring to a boil. Pour the coconut beans in the steam basket and place them above boiling water, cover and cook 50 min.
Meanwhile, wash the vegetables, the basil and the garlic. Cut the zucchini, cebettes and beans into equal size pieces, namely 1 cm.
Prepare the pistou: Mix the stripped basil, garlic, oil and a little salt for 20 s. Back the herbs stuck to the walls and mix again.
When the 50 min are sold, taste the beans and adjust the cooking time. When they are to your liking, add the green beans, cover and cook for 4 min, then add the zucchini and cebettes and cook for 3-4 min.
Remove the cooking basket and pour all the vegetables into the tone with the pistou, mix and cover to keep the heat.
Place the tuna steaks in the steam basket, cover and cook between 2 and 4 min depending on the desired cooking.
For other recipe ideas that use Marion’s vitalizer, read: Symbiotic
How to steam vegetables?
For a pressure cooker steam : Fill the bottom of the casserole dish with a little water, place the vegetables and close the casserole dish. Cook over low heat to the whistle of the valve. Decount the cooking time according to the prepared food (of the order of 10 minutes for green beans for example).
For steam cooking in a steam cooker : Follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Generally, fill a water tank and place the food in the various cooking compartments. The cooking time depends on the food.
In conclusion
The advantage of steam cooking is to keep vitamins and minerals that could be lost in other cooking modes. With soft steam, the low temperature limits the production of toxic molecules.
