Bamboo steamer

Stacked bamboo trays over a wok of water: dumplings, fish, and rice that cook in perfume instead of fat.

Also called zhēnglóng, seiro · From China, then the kitchens of East and Southeast Asia

Stacked bamboo steamer trays with dumplings, a cabbage leaf liner, and a wok of simmering water.

The journey

A bamboo steamer is a lid that breathes. Chinese dim sum kitchens stack trays over a wok; Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, and Indonesian houses use the same idea for fish, rice cakes, and sweets. The rings stain with years of vapor.

A metal insert works. Bamboo keeps condensation from raining back as cold water.

A woodblock of the Chinese kitchen god — the hearth that still holds a wok and a steamer. — Anonymous Chinese nianhua of the Kitchen God (Zao Jun), public-domain woodblock · Public domain. Source

In the kitchen

Line with leaf or paper. Water at a hard simmer, not a drowning boil. Stack from longest-cooking on the bottom.

Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Indonesian, and Filipino pages in the series all assume this stack beside the wok.

Used in these ComidaTime kitchens

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