areselle

Yes, it is fascinating. For me, it's a bit like speaking a foreign language in which I'm not completely fluent. I'm having to convert the procedures and principles into terms that are familiar to me, and I have to confess that I don't feel I'm on top of it. I will eventually try to convert the stove top steamer to my steam oven and cook something using his method and recipes, but as I sit back and contemplate it, the stove top steamer seems like a totally different beast than my Gaggenau, not to mention, first off, that the Gaggenau steams from temperatures from 80degrees to 400. I might go get a bamboo steamer just as a dry run.

The ISBN is 0-688-10507-6. My copy was obviously sold to the used book market by the Bowertston, Ohio, Public Library. It may be hard to find. I might trade you the English for the French if you can get a copy. It's interesting (as one who's done a lot of translation myself), the frontispiece says "Translated and Interpreted by Stephanie Lyness." I don't know who she is, but she obviously knew his cooking very well,, as she comments on how he sometimes used various recipes, or even mentions substitutes of familiar products for less familiar ones. Reg

The implements that he discusses are all familiar stove-top pieces that have mesh, screen, or colander-like holes for steam to pass through. As far as I can tell, there is no discussion of any method that doesn't involve steam (212 degrees F). When using stackable Chinese-type steamers, he says, for instance, 'if using one rack, steam for 3 minutes, if using 2, 6 minutes. I'm not sure how one would cook using these implements with water that was below boiling. He gives steaming times, but you have to know when the product is cooked. He has several pages of charts of steaming time for various things -- for instance, Duck (5 pounds, whole) 60 minutes with lid closed, 15 minutes with lid ajar, and 10 minutes browning in oven. He has hints like: "Most standard recipes tell yo to cover the poultry with foil and let stand in a warm place. The steamer works better: After steaming the poultry, turn the heat to very low and set the lid ajar; the poultry will stay warm without continuing to cook." I'm assuming that this is a sort of 'sous vide' principle of low moist heat doesn't continue to cook. Reg

I have "The Art of Cooking With Steam," published in 1995, translated by Stephanie Lyness.

I have a Gaggenau steam oven in my home kitchen that cooks as low as 85F and 30-100% humidity. I experiment a lot, but I'm having difficulty finding recipes for cooking with steam (not in a stove-top steamer). Any clues out there? I've found one book by Jacques Maniere, but his recipes are all stove top. Also, I've wondered if my steam oven could function as a sous vide oven. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Reg