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The Joy of Steam

Steamed Beetroots and Turnips with Beluga Lentils, Pickled Garlic and Lemon

I bought my steamer in a junk shop a few months ago. In

almost burnished aluminium, it is an old-fashioned, double

compartment, fish kettle sort of affair. Espying it among

the usual detritus to be found in a West London flea

market, it was love at first sight. Since that day when I beat

the dealer down to £9 for this splendid apparatus, the love

has blossomed.

Previously I steamed when I had to. The odd beetroot,

a chicken or duck prior to roasting and a bit of fish would

be committed to a wire rack suspended across a wok with

a steel bowl inverted over the top, a procedure that just

about did the job, but I needed something more. I have

always been excited by the process. Thirty years ago I

went to a restaurant in Paris (Le Dodin Bouffant, long

since gone) and loved the food: as I used to in those days,

I bought the chef’s cookbook, despite its laborious title, Le

Grand Livre de la Cuisine à la Vapeur. The chef, Jacques

Manière, aimed to prove not only that steaming was the

new healthy cuisine of the future, but also – not entirely

successfully – that there was nothing in the kitchen that

could not be achieved by steam.

Sadly, Manière died quite young and would be

disappointed that his enthusiasm for steam has borne

such little fruit. I am surprised that it has not taken hold in

the public imagination. In restaurants, chefs tend to either

pan-fry protein in a great deal of butter or they put it in

a bag and cook it in a water bath for a couple of hours.

Whereas I am using my steamer for all manner of fish and

meat, it is seeing a lot of vegetation, too, and here, in the

spirit of virtuous February, is a vegetarian main course

which is popular both at home and with my customers in

Hong Kong.

soft as the rain

and sweet as the end of pain

a star gleaming

bright as fire in the night

a theme

whenever I think of Steam

Archie Shepp, Attica Blues

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