An example of a bad how-to video on steaming.
Giving food and nutrition advice is rather easy, until you have to follow it yourself. As I wrote recently, I could sympathize with Regis Philbin's lack of enthusiasm for seafood (though I'm still miles ahead of him).
I like several different kinds of seafood, if we aren't counting fish. The problem with fish is that it tastes too much like fish. And even if I liked fish, there would still be the issue of cooking the fish.
But I discovered a bamboo steamer set at a garage sale for only $1, and thought if I bought the set, I would use it to cook fish. $1 poorer, I took my set home and set on a quest to learn how to cook fish in a steamer.
Having a steamer from a garage sale means no instruction booklet. And the only steaming I've ever done was with a small basket inside a larger pan.
I consulted the almighty Internet, and I found some bad videos and other videos that were more helpful. I read a few articles, and came up with a game plan for the fish.
Since I was trying out the steamer, I thought to cook potatoes as well in the steamer. This way, if the fish didn't turn out well, I wouldn't starve.
I bought a plain, basic tilapia filet. I could have tried a stronger fish, but I'm still learning. I already had the red potatoes, so I was set for my fish experiment.
The preparation was extremely basic: cut up the potatoes into small pieces, threw in a cut mushroom to see what would happen, and garnished the vegetables with garlic powder.
The fish was laid out on the parchment paper, giving it a small lemon juice bath, sprinkled with salt-free lemon pepper, and garnished with green onions.
I wrapped the fish up with the parchment paper. One video had it open-faced on parchment paper.
There should have been the art teacher's result, mine was closer to the best finger painting in a kindergarten class. Still, everything stayed inside the paper, which was the goal.
I guessed, based on cooking experience, to cook the potatoes for 15 minutes and the fish for 10 minutes.
The time for the water to boil was minuscule, and once everything was prepared, I had time to make a salad and relax.
The potato and fish were both definitely done, and probably had too much cooking time. They were both plenty soft, and the fish came off onto my fork rather easily.
I probably underseasoned both foods, but ate them pretty quickly. Getting me to eat a piece of fish isn't an easy task.
I could probably name 4-5 things I would change the next time I use a steamer, yet the meal was good enough for me to clean the plate. And the prep/cooking time wasn't much more than throwing a frozen pizza into the oven after coming home from work (if I had a full-time job).
I also enjoyed knowing that the meal was healthier than normal, since steaming has great benefits. And steamers are helpful even if you think you can't cook.
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