Gravy's Cooking Thread

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TJT

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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a_skeleton_01 said:
I've never tried to steam vegetables by putting them over the top of a meal I'm already cooking in a pan. I'll have to try that.

I'll take a look at bamboo steamers at my local asian grocery next time I'm in for sauces. If they're small enough to fit inside my stock pot while it's in the cupboard, I'll probably pick one up.

TJT TJT the Amazon recommendation looks great, I'm just trying hard not to expand my kitchen devices further, even with things I use regularly. I'll report back on how the fryer basket in the stock pot works for steaming in the next day or so; seems like something that'd be on Cutthroat Kitchen or the like.
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I acquired multiple Steaming Friendly dishes like the one it comes with. The one rule I have learned is there is no benefit to steaming food outside if the dish like it has. Makes things cleaner and easier overall. Given I've never steamed shit in bamboo but I have used the flower type ones in stock pots and this is infinitely more efficient. Steaming vegetables is only good if you want to eat it right now. They don't keep well. But steaming meats, dumplings, dim sum, bao and shit is great and they keep well in the fridge.
 
BrutulTM

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The bamboo steamer works great and you can pretty much set it on top of any pot.
 
LiquidDeath

LiquidDeath

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a_skeleton_01 said:
See the problem is not that I don't know how to steam, it's that I'm trying to figure out how to do a larger quantity than your figure 1 can do, WITHOUT getting a lot more specialty items to take up space in my kitchen. The rice cooker I had was great because it did rice (which I ate a lot of) perfect, and had a steamer basket that would do a shit ton of any vegetable I wanted. I dropped the rice cooker for the instant pot, but I really miss the steamer function. Most of what I find just doesn't do the volume I want it to.

I'm hesitant to get a double boiler because I just replaced a couple of shitty IKEA pots with two big quality stock pots a year ago. Problem is, they don't fit a commercial steamer basket because my cheap ass bought a stock pot 1" too small.

Based on the politics thread I assume you've got Asian family hand me downs or new purchases for steaming, which I do not. I'm sure those dim sum looking baskets would work perfectly, but I'm trying hard to maximize space in my kitchen and not get specialty shit. That said, I make steamed vegetables very, very often. If you can tell me how you use your bamboo steamers I'm happy to hear it. The worst food in a bamboo basket is still fun to open.

EDIT: to add on, I trust your judgment with cooking based on this thread, and my only real objection to a bamboo steamer is that I probably can't fit it into the stock pot I have right now like I can with the fry basket I'm half-assing it with. I'm really just trying to save space. What I really want is a stock pot that's an inch wider.
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What quantity of food are we talking?

I have been using a covered 8x11 pyrex dish to steam broccoli, green beans, etc. in my microwave for years now. Just throw the vegetables in the dish with 2 tablespoons of water and some butter, cover but leave one corner cracked, and microwave for a few minutes. Comes out perfect every time.
 
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a_skeleton_01

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LiquidDeath said:
What quantity of food are we talking?

I have been using a covered 8x11 pyrex dish to steam broccoli, green beans, etc. in my microwave for years now. Just throw the vegetables in the dish with 2 tablespoons of water and some butter, cover but leave one corner cracked, and microwave for a few minutes. Comes out perfect every time.
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I'm trying to steam pretty large quantities, like ~3-4 cups roughly chopped broccoli at a time. About 2.5x the amount my tiny flower petal strainer does. I've never tried steaming in the microwave.

Deathwing said:
That seems like a good way to cover the insides of your microwave with aerosolized butterfat.
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Waaaaay ahead of you there. If my microwave were a skillet I think you could call it 'seasoned.'
 
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LiquidDeath

LiquidDeath

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Deathwing said:
That seems like a good way to cover the insides of your microwave with aerosolized butterfat.
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I guess I didn't explain very well. The corner is just not pressed all the way down. It is still sealed, but in the event that it needs to release steam then it can do so in a non-catastrophic way. It is a safety precaution.
 
LiquidDeath

LiquidDeath

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Deathwing said:
I'm just messing with you. Why not add the butter after steaming?
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I do it both before and after, because butter is amazing.

To be fair, I only do it before since it was recommended in the directions I found originally and has always worked well.
 
Lanx

Lanx

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jooka said:
Ya, the more I look at it, getting the bigger size makes sense. Oddly, the biggest Philips is listed as 3lbs/4qt($250) and cheaper than the 3.5 qt($299) GoWise has a 5.8qt($75) that looks pretty good. Put a alert on the bigger Philips on slickdeals, if something comes through in a couple days might get it or just go with the GoWise if nothing pops up.
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also large fits a full chicken
IMG_20190514_222330.jpg


you can also put some hard vegges on the bottom like carrots/potatoes/celery for that roasted flavor and it'd still fit. (cuz the juices will drip down to it)
 
TJT

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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Oh because I forgot. Behold bathtub berry wine. Yeast was a little too active at first so had a minor explosion. Kind of like how you have sourdough with active years overflow a bowl.

IMG_20190520_051230.jpg
 
TJT

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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I said before. It's in there because it requires a lower temperature. My house is like 80F most of the time and apparently wine needs 68-75. Unused second Bathroom is this temperature without having to turn up the ac a lot or anything.
 
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a_skeleton_01

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a_skeleton_01 said:
Gonna bitch about my utensils now.

I like steaming vegetables as an easy supplement to meals. I have done a lot less of it since I got rid of the rice cooker that had a steamer tray in favor of an instant pot. The one thing I'm missing is easy steamed vegetables. I go to the commercial kitchen supply store where I get my kitchen utensils, and I find the smallest steamer basket they have is about 3/4ths an inch larger than the big stock pot I bought from them last year. GOD DAMNIT.

I picked up a deep fry basket that fits the stock pot almost perfectly, so I'm going to try that today with the lid on the stock pot to see if I can steam broccoli well with my kludged together solution.

I did have one of the steamer inserts that folds together like a dome, and while it worked well it was super tiny. I'm trying to steam enough vegetables for two people at once at least, and that's half my meal when I have them available.
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I ended up trying out the fryer basket in my stock pot as a kludged together steamer. It worked really well! I was able to do more than 3 cups of broccoli and have it all cooked very consistently and quickly. Plus the basket fits nicely into the stock pot for cabinet storage.
 
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