Week 6 -- Steaming Method

  • Moist convective cooking method
  • Steam at normal, sea-level pressure is 212F, cooks more quickly than boiling, without agitation of the food product
  • Pressurized Steam, at 5psi water boils at 227F, at 10psi water water boils at 240F, at 15psi it boils at 250F, and that’s why pressure cookers are sometimes used, cook more quickly and preserve moisture
  • The best thing for vegetables is steaming, especially for delicate vegetables or fish
  • A pot with a steamer basket can be used for vegetables
  • For products needing more area space, use a square pan with a rack
  • Steaming preserves water-soluable vitamins A and C in the product, doesn't leach nutrients
  • Items can be composed, such as stuffed chicken breast or fish without disturbing the composition
  • Tilapia and Shrimp Pinwheels
    • Steaming is for the most delicate products, perfect for a fish/shrimp pinwheel, or something else that’s delicate, how about crabmeat or bay scallops instead of shrimp
    • Prepare liquid for steaming, use chicken broth, or simmer shrimp shells, tails, heads to get a nice flavorful shrimp broth
    • Flatten out 2 large tilapia fillets for even thickness, gently tapping tilapia (kitchen mallet) enclosed in plastic wrap
    • Split 12 peeled and deveined shrimp in half, cutting along vein line
    • Lay the tilapia out on a large piece of plastic wrap, twice as long as the fillets together are wide
    • Prepare a binding agent, goat cheese is great, add herbs/spices as desired, dill, Old Bay, and pepper are good, mix well
    • Put goat cheese mixture on top of tilapia (2 tilapia fillets together, slightly overlapping) and distribute the cheese evenly and flatten out by hand, keeping the two fillets together
    • Lay the half shrimps out evenly over the goat cheese and fillets
    • Roll the tilapia, goat cheese, shrimp up into logs, tricky, keep fillets together
    • Keep rolling and tightening until a nice firm log is formed within the plastic wrap, roll back and forth as needed
    • Put in freezer for 30 minutes, don’t want frozen solid, but goat cheese firm to keep things together
    • Cut into pinwheels, using serrated slicing knife to cut clean, without crushing, about 6 slices per log, 3/4 inch thick
    • Use a square pan and rack, large enough to hold all pinwheels, fill with broth below height of rack
    • How long do they cook? Use thermometer, after 10 min, finished temp 160F, remove them at 155F
    • Set aside for a few minutes for carryover cooking
    • Use broth to make a topping sauce, nicely flavored with fish, shrimp, goat cheese flavors, thicken the sauce with cornstarch slurry or roux
    • Plate on top of rice (or quinoa, grits, polenta, couscous, etc), ladle on sauce, sprinkle with paprika for color, serve with vegetable of choice, steamed broccoli is good

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