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BORA X BO. The professional steam oven for your home.
The perfect addition for a top-class, complete cooking and baking experience.
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Steam cooking: full steam ahead for flavour

23/10/2024

6 min.

Steam cooking is a gentle and healthy way of preparing food.

There are now numerous combination appliances with this function, which also replace a conventional microwave and in some cases even an oven. But how does steam cooking work and what advantages does it offer? We tell you everything you need to know about this method of preparation.

Contents

The principle of steam cooking
Advantages of steam cooking
Tips & tricks for steaming

The principle: What is steam cooking?

Water vapour not only escapes when you heat food - it can even be used for cooking. In principle, anything you can cook in a pot can also be cooked with steam. These include vegetables from asparagus to spinach, side dishes such as rice and potatoes, desserts such as yeast dumplings and many types of fish and meat.

When steaming food, it is placed on a large, perforated stainless steel tray, surrounded by hot steam It cooks food evenly at up to 100 °C. Depending on the product, the temperature can be adjusted during steam cooking.

Steaming is easy with a steam cooking insert for the cooking pot, which you place over the simmering water. There are metal versions for this, and steaming is also possible with a bamboo basket. You can achieve better results with a steam cookerspecially developed for this purpose. It offers several levels for cooking and is visually reminiscent of an oven.

The advantages of steam cooking at a glance

There are a whole range of advantages that steam cooking has over traditional cooking in water:

The food is not immersed in water, so the flavour, vitamins and minerals are preserved as well as possible - as are the colour, shape and consistency. The green broccoli is just as bright after preparation as the orange-coloured carrots. The food retains its own flavour, which you can emphasise by seasoning sparingly.
When steaming nothing burns or boils over. You can prepare the rest of the meal in peace or attend to your guests on the side.
Unlike cooking in a pan or in the oven, there is no need to add fat. This is not only in the interests of healthy, conscious eating - it also reduces odours.
In a steam cooker, you can cook different dishes simultaneously at all levels because the flavour is hardly transferred.
It is possible to remove or add individual ingredients or dishes during the steaming process. This way, everything has the perfect bite at the end.

A disadvantage of pure steam cookers: They only master this one type of preparation. In this respect, appliances such as steam ovens are superior for steam cooking. They combine the functions of a steam oven and an oven.

With the BORA X BO, you can achieve the best results when steam cooking in the oven - juicy, tender, crispy. To make operation easier, important presettings for temperature and humidity are stored in the automatic programmes. Beginners should follow the instructions when steaming. Experienced chefs can also select these manually. The BORA multi-drawer rounds off the outstanding convenience as required.

BORA X BO

The professional steam oven for your kitchen

Innovative steam and hot air technology as well as cooking on three levels are combined with simple operation via touch display - for perfect results.

Find out more about the BORA X BO

Practical tips & tricks for steaming

Steam cooking is basically uncomplicated, but has some special features. The following tips will help you achieve optimum results.

The cooking time can be influenced by different sizes when chopping the individual ingredients. If you cut the food into small pieces, you save energy.
Because more flavours are retained than with other cooking methods, you should use salt and spices more sparingly when steaming. It is best to add spices or butter after the cooking process and flavour the food beforehand.
You can also place vegetables or herbs in a perforated dish above the food. The flavours dissolved in the steam drip down onto the food.
Another option is to add herbs or wine to the water simmering under the food. The circulating steam distributes the flavours.
Pasta can also be prepared in a steam oven: To do this, simply place the pasta in a container without holes in the steamer with a little water and salt.
Most appliances have special rice bowls or unperforated containers that are suitable for cooking rice. The rule of thumb for the amount of water: Add about one and a half parts water to one part rice - i.e. 1.5 cups of water to one cup of rice.