Hinari Steam Supreme > Reviews > Something not to get steamed up about

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Saves on washing up
Disadvantages:	A bit cumbersome  -  and beware of scalding yourself !

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

The Hinari Super Steamer is not (as I first thought when presented with the mystery box as a house warming present), a steam iron. It is, in fact, a food steamer. As I'm sure you are aware, steamed vegetables are considered the healthiest way of cooking your veg. Unlike conventional veg cooking techniques the vegetables do not lose their vitamins, texture or flavour when steamed over a pool of gently bubbling water.

However, this modern convenience, like so many other modern (not to mention convenient) kitchen appliances seems to make what was, in ye olden (but not very convenient) days a relatively straight-forward procedure into something altogether more .... well, bothersome. Consider the following:

In the days when to steam veg you would need to use a pan, what would you do? Put a pan of water on the stove to boil, stick a colander (or other suitable kitchen utensil) over the top, put the veg in and cover the top. Bingo! Lovely steamed veg with not a great deal of effort.

Now, however, thanks to the nice designers at Hinari, what do you do? Scramble around in the cupboard under the sink trying to unearth the steamer from its hiding place behind all the pans (and other modern and convenient kitchen appliances that you bought on a whim but no longer use), and attempt to bring it out without causing everything else in the cupboard to fall out on top of you. Then what? You assemble the steamer, remembering to put the water in the bottom section, and placing the first plastic steaming basket on top. You then fill the steamer, piling on extra steam-basket layers as required.

Next, you turn the timer device to set the cooking time for your stack of soon-to-be-steamed food stuffs. Or at least you would if the poorly designed (and attatched) twiddly thing had not dropped off after the first three times you had used it. So, what do you do instead? You get a knife and twist the little metal disc around until it is turned approximately to the number of minutes you want to steam your food for. (Children who are reading note: Always ask an adult to do this bit for you as knives can be very dangerous things!)

After that you bimble around the kitchen watching the steam rise and getting a lovely scald thanks to the steam spewing forth from the vents - and that's despite taking the safety precautions advised. When the little bell goes 'ping' in a metal and untuneful way - bingo! Your veg are all crisp and lovely. And scalded - but don't worry about the carrots - they were bred for consumption, so their feelings don't really count.

Hmmmmmm - call me old fashioned, but I cannot help but feel that the old way was simpler and less hassle. Despite my gripes, I do see why this steamer may be considered convenient: it saves creating vast amounts of washing up, courtesy of extra pans. In comparison, the steamer baskets are a doddle to use and clean. It does save space in a small kitchen, although it does need quite a lot of storage space. And (now this just may be me), when you put it away, it is easy to forget about. I use mine once every two or three months, if that. Not because I like stewed, flavourless veg, but because I can get crisp, flavoursome veg in easier ways (if you want to save vitamins etc, just eat your carrots raw!).

As I mentioned earlier, the steamer was bought for me as a house warming gift. If it had not been given to us, I do not believe I would have gone down to my local electrical store and bought one. It is useful (did I tell you about the exquisite steam puddings you can make in it?), but on the whole I could live without it and not miss it.

My final conclusion? I do think it's a fine example of one of those fine modern and convenient appliances designed under the pretence of making life easier in the kitchen when, in reality, the manufacturers are more interested in parting the consumer from their hard earned cash. (Aside .... now, where did I put that Breville machine ......?)