Do You Eat Chicken Skin?????? (Tefal Steam Cuisine 1000 Turbo Diffusion)

Member Name: Redhillmum

Product:	Tefal Steam Cuisine 1000 Turbo Diffusion
Date:	14/08/01 (1713 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Healthy, Convenient, Easy to Use

Disadvantages: Cleaning sometimes

Well, so did I. I knew that I shouldn't, but it always seemed like the 'best' bit, all crispy and crunchy!

I always told myself, 'right, that's it, I will throw the skin away next time then I won't be tempted'.

Did I? Did I eck!

Well, now I have found a way to cook the moistest, healthy chicken without having the temptation there.

Steam it!

No, I never imagined steaming chicken pieces before, probably because I didn't have a steamer (does help) and I thought they would be chewy or tough.

Nope, if you do already have a steamer and haven't tried cooking poultry in it yet then give it a go, you aren't using it to it's full potential.

If you haven't got a steamer, then why not?

Probably like me, you thought only 'Health Freaks', 'Trendies' or 'Veggies' used them!

Well, the reason I bought mine to be totally honest, was I had £30 worth of gift vouchers to use and didn’t have a clue what to buy with them. I know £30 is a lot when you are short of a few pounds but when you are limited to where you can use them you sometimes spend them on something you don’t really need.

This is what I did when I bought this steamer.

I thought, well, I don't really 'need' it but I have a kettle, toaster, etc. etc I'll use them for that.

Wow! Am I glad that I did?

This must be one of the few pieces of specialist equipment that I use every single day.

Unlike other steamers this has hundreds more holes in the bases of each tray to allow more steam through to the food.

Also the steam starts immediately, no need for the water to heat up.

The other main advantage is the base of each tray clips out; brilliant for cleaning.

However, the main reason is to allow you to cook a whole chicken or joint of ham in there. Ok, so you could cook a whole chicken
in a steamer without removable trays but it would only be a Poisson or two (even then you may have to cut it in half and flatten it)(now there is an idea!).

The main thing when cooking poultry is to remember to put veg in the trays 'above' it or you will get fat dripping onto your vegetables.

Anyway, you must put the food that takes the longest in the bottom tray, next longest in the one above etc.

I must admit I don’t buy a lot of fresh veg.
The price is probably the main reason and frozen is a lot more convenient for me.

A lot of frozen veg have the steamer cooking times on the bags, which I have never noticed before (Iceland does anyway), which is quite handy.

However, I tend to add about 5 minutes to these cooking times because although the food maybe cooked, it tends to cool down rather quickly.

Make sure that you have a window open when you use your steamer, sounds a bit obvious I know, but it's something that I didn't think of when I used mine for the first time, the neighbours probably thought I was mad! (Nothing knew there then).

Scalds...Yes, I did know that steam is hot, but not THAT hot. Yes, I did scald myself recently, just by being careless. Is it cooked enough I thought, I’ll just raise the lid 'away' from me, that way I won't get scalded WRONG!

DON'T raise the lid whilst the timer is still on without wearing oven gloves and no way peer into the steamer thinking you will be ok unless you want to go for skin grafts!

To be totally honest, I think steamed food takes a little getting used to if you were served the old 'cooked until nearly a pulp' school of veg like my mother.

You tend to wonder at first, is it cooked properly? Should it be this firm?

Well, yes it should!

You will be left with the healthiest, vitamin enriched, colourful veg and the moistest poultry that you can imagine.


I haven't tried fish yet, purely because we aren't keen on it (except prawn curries) but my mother-in-law tells me that it cooks it to perfection. You do get a clip on plastic handle with the steamer which fits onto the base trays to make it easier to lift out the fish but I really don't see the point to be honest!

I think the only thing that I don’t enjoy (as I haven’t got a dishwasher) is cleaning the trays especially if I have just cooked chicken.

This is the only minus point of having so many holes in the trays, they get clogged up.

But, I have just found the perfect cleaning solution, a ‘nail brush’!

Makes unblocking the holes a breeze.

The only other thing is the heating element in the centre of the steamer becomes discoloured after a few uses, so you need to clean it by using a mixture of white vinegar and water and leave it switched on for about 25 minutes. Now, the manual says to do this after 7 – 10 times, but I think it depends on what you cook. I find that if I am steaming potatoes the element is left with a brown coating on it so I should clean it more often (whether I do or not is another matter).

Make sure also that if you are cooking something for a long time to check the water level throught the visible indicator. The timer can be set up to 60 mins but you would have to check, refil and I would think pour some of the water out of the collecting tray or it would overflow.

So, all in all, a brilliant steamer which I am really glad that I bought.

I just wish that I had bought one years ago.

Oh, and by the way, if you decide to try your poultry in there I normally find that I can fit at least 18 drumsticks between the 3 trays and they take 40 minutes to cook!

I then divide them into 3’s, strip the meat off them and freeze them in cooking sauces, ready for the week ahead.

Simple, healthy and cheap!

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