Serves: 5
Get a large wide pot (such as a Dutch oven or roaster) with a close-fitting lid. Add about 2 to 3 inches of boiling water. In the pot, set a rack device-standing 3 1/2 to 4 inches high--which will support the dish of ingredients to be steamed and at the same time keep it elevated above the boiling water. The rack device can be any of the following:
(1) an upright coffee cup, on which is set an inverted metal pie pan with a few dozen holes punched in it:
(2) a 1-pound coffee can (the type that's 3 1/2 inches tall) with a few dozen holes punched in the bottom, placed upside down-without its lid-at the bottom of the pot:
(3) any 1 or 2 can with both the top and bottom removed, set upright in the pot. (If the dish of ingredients to be steamed is large, two cans of the same size can be used for steadier support.):
(4) a rack-like cake cooler that stands about 3 1/2 inches high:
(5) a vegetable steamer set out flat rather than in its characteristic basket-like shape OR
(6) a roaster rack set on 2 upright coffee cups.
NOTE: The devices above are used for steaming fish, eggs, meatballs, pastries and any small or finely cut ingredients which will fit in a shallow dish that is to be set on the rack. However, when a large cut of meat or whole poultry is involved, this is usually placed in a deep heatproof bowl. The bowl can then be set on a rack (if the pot is deep enough) or else it can be set directly on the bottom of the pot in a few inches of boiling water. The latter is known as the bowl-in-a-pot or pot-within-a-pot method. Whichever method of steaming is used, whether it be rack or bowl, the outer pot is always covered to contain the live steam which will cook the food.
Still another way to handle particularly large cuts of meat or poultry is to use a big enamel basin with a rack in it, covered with a second enamel basin of the same size. Or to suspend a colander in a pot large enough to hold it and place a whole chicken or duck in that colander. Boiling water is then added to within one inch of the bottom of the colander and the pot is covered with its own lid, or else the colander itself is covered tightly with aluminum foil to contain the steam.
The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook. ©1994 by Gloria Bley Miller.
This _Steamers: To make your own recipe is from the Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook Cookbook. Download this Cookbook today.
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