STEAM MACHINE (Tefal Steam Cuisine 1000 Turbo Diffusion)

Member Name: CoupeQueen

Product:	Tefal Steam Cuisine 1000 Turbo Diffusion
Date:	28/01/09 (611 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: HEALTHY, TASTY, EASY TO USE

Disadvantages: 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 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.


PRICE - Unfortunately, I can't remember how much we paid for the steamer and I've failed to find the price online.

Summary: A great concept, bad design.