TEFAL - A LITTLE HISTORY
Tefal is a French cookware and small appliance manufacturer owned by Groupe SEB. Groupe SEB is a leading manufacturer in small domestic equipment.
The name Tefal is short for the combination of the words Teflon and aluminium. In North America, Brazil and Japan, ... Read review
Advantages: HEALTHY, TASTY, SIMPLE TO USE Disadvantages: BAD DESIGN - BASKET BASES EASILY BROKEN
TEFAL - A LITTLE HISTORY
Tefal is a French cookware and small appliance manufacturer owned by Groupe SEB. Groupe SEB is a leading manufacturer in small domestic equipment.
The name Tefal is short for the combination of the words Teflon and aluminium. In North America, Brazil and Japan, the company's products are sold under the name T-Fal.
Tefal is known for creating the non-stick cookware category. They ... .../>
I am reviewing the Tefal Steam Cuisine, which is a food steamer. I had the 1000cl model but it also comes in a 700cl model as well.
WHAT'S IN THE BOX?
3 separate food baskets which have removable bases - the baskets and bases are made of plastic. Each basket has its own base which just clips into place. Its is then easily removed by just pushing up the base from underneath.
I had a problem with the ... more
TEFAL - A LITTLE HISTORY
Tefal is a French cookware and small appliance manufacturer owned by Groupe SEB. Groupe SEB is a leading manufacturer in small domestic equipment.
The name Tefal is short for the combination of the words Teflon and aluminium. In North America, Brazil and Japan, the company's products are sold under the name T-Fal.
Tefal is known for creating the non-stick cookware category. They invented the first non-stick frying pan in 1954.
Their mission is to make cooking and ironing easier and faster.
STEAM CUISINE
I am reviewing the Tefal Steam Cuisine, which is a food steamer. I had the 1000cl model but it also comes in a 700cl model as well.
WHAT'S IN THE BOX?
3 separate food baskets which have removable bases - the baskets and bases are made of plastic. Each basket has its own base which just clips into place. Its is then easily removed by just pushing up the base from underneath. I had a problem with the bases, the clips that held them in position broke off very quickly and never actually sat in position correctly often resulting in the base falling through and causing my food to spill everywhere!! The baskets and lids are fully dish-washable and are very easily stored away as the 3 baskets sit inside each other in order of size. The baskets are labelled 1,2 and 3. They fit on top of the juice collector in ascending order and then store away in descending order.
A lid - which fits on top
Rice bowl - the rice bowl fits inside the steam basket, water and rice go in the bowl and cooked appropriate time.
Juice collector compartment - this collects all of the juices and water from the food which is being steamed. A lot of people like to use these juices to make gravy. I must admit to have never tried it with this steamer.
Water tank - the water tank obviously holds the water which is used to steam the food. There is an element in the centre which heats up the water, a turbo ring is place around this element when cooking. On the front on the tank there is a water level indicator which makes it very easy to see if more water is needed when steaming - 1 litre capacity gives 1 hour continuous use, a 60 minute timer and an on/off light. The electric cable comes out of the back of the tank which needs to be plugged into an electrical socket.
There is a clip-it handle which just clips on to the top of each basket, this makes it easy to lift the baskets out without getting harmed by the very hot steam.
There is also a built in egg holder in each base, these are just dips in the plastic in which an egg fits.
A steam cooking recipe book - there are 8 sections in the recipe book, cold starters, hot starters, vegetables, meal and offal, poultry, fish, shellfish and desserts. There are a few recipes in this book which look alright but a lot of recipes which don't look or sound very nice, maybe I'm not very adventurous but rabbit and prune pate doesn't appeal to me at all. I've never tried any recipe in the book and am very unlikely to. The moist chocolate cake sounds nice though.
USING THE APPLIANCE
It is very simple to use. I mostly used it for steaming vegetables but quite surprisingly it can be used for so much more - fish, meat, rice, pasta, eggs. In the back of the manual there is a list of foods and cooking times. Once you have worked out how long each food is going to take to cook you just place them into the baskets. So, when I steam vegetables I place the carrots in the bottom basket as they take the longest to cook, then I put the broccoli/cauliflower/green beans or whatever veg in the next basket and so on. During cooking you just need to check the water level and top it up if needed. I hardly ever had to do this as it holds quite a lot of water.
The timer makes a 'pinging' noise and automatically turns off when the timer has run down to zero. The on light then goes out.
The steamer can get very hot during cooking especially when lifting the lid off and placing or removing the baskets - a lot of steam escapes and is extremely hot. The juice collector and tank also need to cool before emptying the contents.
ADVANTAGES
It is a fact that when vegetables are steamed, they are less likely to lose nutrients, which is what happens when they are boiled. You are less likely to burn food in a steamer. You don't need to use oil or fat when cooking food, making it much healthier. Meat such as chicken is a lot more moist.
VERDICT
In my opinion, vegetables cooked in the steamer taste far better than when they're boiled. I've noticed this especially with carrots, they have a much stronger taste to them. The appliance is very easy to use, saves the need for all those saucepans. Easy to keep clean, the baskets are dishwasher safe and the water tank just needs a wipe down with a cloth. Easy to store, the baskets fit inside each other to help save space. The only problem I had with the tefal steamer is the bases that fit into the baskets break very easily, mine broke very early on and then had problems with the base not sitting properly in the basket and causing food to fall out!
All in all, the concept of cooking food in an electric steamer is brilliant but I doubt I'll ever buy a Tefal steamer again unless they change the design of the basket bases! I currently have a Morphy Richards steamer and the it is designed much better.
CoupeQueen 28.01.2009 (28.01.2009)
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Review of Tefal Steam Cuisine 1000 Turbo Diffusion Steamer
Advantages: Tasty vegetables Disadvantages: The timer works even if the machine is not switched on
I had never considered buying a steamer before I was given this as a present by my mother in law last Christmas, purely for selfish reasons. I’m not a veggie lover myself, I can take them or leave them so have never been that concerned about the way they are cooked. I must admit since using this, I have noticed a difference in the way the vegetables look and taste.
The steamer costs between £30 and £40 and can be purchased from Argos and other ... ...The base unit which is white, and on which there is a water level indicator, the timer button and an LED light to show that the machine is switched on. The water reservoir holds a litre of water and will last for an hour but if you are only cooking vegetables, you will not need to use the steamer for this length of time.
Into the base unit is placed a removable turbo ring and on top of this, a juice collector, which does as it says, collects the ...
Lizard_Lover 11.06.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tefal Steam Cuisine 1000 Turbo Diffusion Steamer
Advantages: Great idea saves time Disadvantages: None
...that much!") we discovered the Tefal stand.
We both fell in love with the Tefal Steam Cuisine Steamer. My comment was: "My god, it looks like something out of Star Trek voyager!" For yes, indeed, the Tefal Steam Cuisine steam cooker does look incredibly funky and very, very modern. It also has, for the amount of food that it can cook, a relatively small footprint. And this is, in the tiny and pokey areas of houses, apartments and flats apparently ... ...An advantage of the Tefal Steam Cuisine Steamer is that has an electronic timer and the version we have comes complete with a built-in Vitamin+ touchpad. This is something to do with vitamins. Apparently. And vitamins are important. Or so someone told me. No, seriously, this is a fantastic feature as it mean that you can use it to increase the cooking speed to "extra fast" and thus reduce the depletion of vitamins that can occur during the cooking ...
Martinscholes 26.11.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tefal Steam Cuisine 1000 Turbo Diffusion Steamer
Advantages: No more boiling over of pans Disadvantages: fragile bases
...first). I have been using Tefal steamers now for about 3 1/2 years, and I love them.
I am one of those people who just hate it when the pan boils over. It drives me mad. I also hate having to watch for the pan boiling in order to turn it down. The other thing that annoys me is having to put different veggies on to boil at different times. I first discovered steamers when I visited my aunt for dinner. She’d just bought hers, and was telling me about ... ...around Powerhouse, I found the Tefal for around £30. I know that you can now pick up steamers from around £17, so the prices have come down, making them really affordable. ***The first attempt***
I was quite nervous about getting the cooking of the veggies just right, so I tried this out when there was just me and my husband. I added the water to the base up to the max mark. The ring goes around the heating element, juice tray on top. There are ...
Testarossa 29.02.2004 (29.05.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tefal Steam Cuisine 1000 Turbo Diffusion Steamer
Advantages: Simple to use and easy to clean Disadvantages: Not too sturdy when stacked
...is and opted for this Tefal model.
Once we got it home, the unit and utensils were well packed so there was no damage, the instructions were clear and concise and we even got a free recipe book. I found to my surprise that we could steam eggs and meat as well as vegetables - well blow me down... or is that steam me down?
The cooking or steaming times seemed to be quicker that conventional cooking, less mess and generally easier. Considering that ... ...little one, we can safely say that they smell and taste more disgusting - which must be a good thing.
I like how you can choose only the number of levels you need to cook what you have.
The design is good, it all folds and packs away nicely on a shelf and I'm generally very happy with it. ...
ahevans 30.12.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Tefal Steam Cuisine 1000 Turbo Diffusion Steamer
