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Sometimes weird carp works!

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

Today, I was just trying to get the fridge cleared out and cook what needed cooking so it could be used later. Steaming the asparagus and broiling the eggplant were no brainers. I had a package of chicken breasts and a package of fajita cut beef that needed to be just cooked. The chicken breasts, also no brainer--dump into a sheet pan, add a little sauce and seasoning, and steam oven for 25 minutes. I just wasn't about to make fajitas or a stir fry and just needed to get the meat cooked. So tempting just to cook it with the chicken!

So I did.

Chose hoisin sauce because it would work on both, mushroom salt and garlic pepper, plus Herbes de Provence because they were at hand. While grabbing the hoisin sauce, I thought, why not?, and grabbed the plum vinegar as well. Two big boneless skinless breasts and a pound of little beef squiggies. I figured if I was steam roasting it was just about making them the same size and thickness, so slid out the beef in a block, brushed the hoisin and sprinkled the seasoning both sides, like the chicken, but before doing that to the second side of the beef, sprinkled the plum vinegar all over it.

Well. The chicken was as usual, and the beef is actually fantastic. Nicely med-well toward well (perfect for me), and despite the steam, some toasty edges. Really tasty. Still comes apart into strips. I only nibbled a few pieces, but this is going to work well for sandwiches/tacos/etc. A new trick born of desperation!

Featured Answer

jakkom

5 years ago

Don't you just love serendipity? Sometimes the oddest things work out beautifully! Congrats on a new recipe!

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Comments (8)

bragu_DSM 5
5 years ago
beef squiggies???
plllog
Original Author
5 years ago
Check the first paragraph.
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lindac92
5 years ago
Steam? on a sheet pan? In the oven?
plllog
Original Author
5 years ago
Yep. Combi-steam oven. 360 F at 60% steam. That's the standard setting for the chicken. The fajita meat had been vacuum sealed in a bag from the grower, so was kind of compressed together about an inch thick in a block. I was careful to preserve the block. A large corner came free when I turned it over, so I just pushed it back in place. I needed the size and density to match the chicken if they were going to cook together. The result is great for snacking on, btw. :). Both the beef and the chicken came out great, which, honestly, surprised me a bit. :)
nancyjane_gardener
5 years ago
Steam oven? Never heard of it and we just went range shopping.
plllog
Original Author
5 years ago
Nancyjane, I know there have been a few ranges with steam assist, but most steam ovens are wall ovens. They've been available for regular home kitchens for about 20 years, but have been in use commercially much longer. Some of the first steam ovens only did steam. They're small, like a microwave because they don't need a large air surround. At the time I did my kitchen over, about 12 years ago, there were only a couple "combi-steam" (convection heat as well as steam) ovens, like mine, on the market, and all high end. I'm really picky about ovens, so I put them first at whatever I had to pay and made the compromises elsewhere in the budget.

Since then, many more models and many more steam features have become available. There are table top models that are convection with a steam assist, and other wall ovens. Most have a water reservoir that you fill. Mine is plumbed into my water pipe system. Someone told me that they don't make the plumbed ones anymore, which is a shame because it's so good! The ones with just steam assist sometimes also have shot of steam, but the steam is either on or off. My Gaggenau adjusts for 100%, 60%, 30% or zero steam, and you can set any temperature. Just steam at 210-220 F. Roast and steam at 360 F. It's fab!

BUT, you can get a lot of the same effect in a regular oven with a bain marie for some things, and a pan of water on a lower shelf for others. Steaming is nothing new. The convenient turn the dial and magic happens is.
nancyjane_gardener
5 years ago
Thanks for the info.

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