Such a steamer permits of the cooking of several
foods at the same time without the need of additional fuel, because a
different food may be placed in each vessel.
Steaming is preferable to boiling in some cases, because by it there is
no loss of mineral salts nor food substances; besides, the flavor is not
so likely to be lost as when food is boiled. Vegetables prepared in this
way prove very palatable, and very often variety is added to the diet by
steaming bread, cake, and pudding mixtures and then, provided a crisp
outside is desired, placing them in a hot oven to dry out the
moist surface.
41. DRY STEAMING.--Cooking foods in a vessel that is suspended in
another one containing boiling water constitutes the cooking method
known as dry steaming. The double boiler is a cooking utensil devised
especially for carrying on this process. The food placed in the
suspended, or inner, vessel does not reach the boiling point, but is
cooked by the transfer of heat from the water in the outside, or lower,
vessel. A decided advantage of this method is that no watching is
required except to see that the water in the lower vessel does not boil
away completely, for as long as there is water between the food and the
fire, the food will neither boil nor burn.
Because of the nature of certain foods, cooking them by this process is
especially desirable.
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