Customer Reviews

Joyce Chen 10-Inch Bamboo Steamer Set

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although I have not tried other bamboo steamers, I'm quite pleased the quality. I cook with this several times a week. Chicken and all kinds of fish never tasted so good and healthy. I've already purchased a 2nd steamer for my 2nd home.
Fish and chicken cook in 10 minutes guaranteed! This is the healthiest way to eat.

This steamer worked really well. I've never steamed before but my experience thus far have been great. It's perfect for the single or couple that are looking for a quick and no mess way to fix a meal. I come home from work, put the water on, prep my food, and put it in the steamer. By the time, I've changed into casual clothes, dinner is ready.

It's opened the door to a whole new way of cooking!

I love the fact that you can cook an entire meal in one of these. I just steamed fish, veggies, and a fruit custard in about 15 minutes. No oils, no butter - it's great. The steamer contains all the steam (I also bought a deep saute pan that looks like a small wok with a handle and the steamer fits perfectly on it) and doesn't get hot. My kitchen does not smell like fish either. I highly recommend this item.

This is my second one. The bamboo steamer's cover will not drop the water, which is condensed from the steam, back to the food being cooked which may ruin the texture and flavor of the delicacies. That is the reason why I prefer the bamboo one to the aluminum one.

Basically, these bamboo steamers:
* cook much more easily than the standard metal mesh kind; the clearance from the water is higher, the air is trapped a bit more, improving the steaming efficacy, and the size (and multi-tier stacking) means you can cook virtually anything
* are essentially idiot-proof; no matter how little attention you pay, you really aren't going to have a kitchen disaster
* produce very healthy food (at least in terms of the cooking process) - no oil at all!
* keep food soft and moist, preferable to baking
* are energy efficient (relative to ovens, or even pan-cooking) and bamboo is a renewable crop, so these are environmentally friendly!

-RS

These are very user-friendly, inexpensive, and impressive. I have used them to make asian-style dumplings and other dishes (like vegan sausages) with great results. They clean up very easily and do not take up a lot of room. Somewhere along the line I was told to line them with parchment paper when cooking so that is typically what I do. The result is whatever I am making doesn't stick. The only time I do not use parchment paper is when I am making something like a vegan sausage, which is typically wrapped tightly in tinfoil.

Best of all, people seem to be impressed when I cook with them. Even though I have a lot of foodie friends people seem to assume my food tastes better when I use these steamers. Overall this is a great gadget that is much more than a novelty. That said, I have found these steamers all over at various price points. The construction often seems identical so if you can find one elsewhere, like an Asian supermarket, for less you're probably not sacreficing much (if anything) in quality. That said, these seem to be fairly priced compared to what I have seen.

This thing is great. I am very spatially challenged, so I had trouble picturing the size and how it would fit into a pot. I do not own a wok. Well, my pots were all too small, so I've been using my electric skillet, which works perfectly, but the nonstick surface gets a little screwed up from boiling water in it.

I really like that you can either use both tiers or only one. So far I've made an entire dinner of stringbeans and frozen won tons on two tiers (came out great), fish and veggies on two tiers (that time I boiled the water off by accident so it had a bit of a strange taste, but still pretty good), and lots of broccoli and other veggies on just one tier. I put parchment paper down every time so I don't have to spend much time cleaning, and that works great.

My only suggestion is that amazon/the seller include a picture of the steamer inside both a pot and a wok to see how to properly use it. I searched online for days for a diagram or picture like that, and then I finally bought it anyway because it was so cheap.

The Joyce Chen 10-Inch Bamboo Steamer Set is all that it is touted to be. When I buy a Joyce Chen product, I expect to buy quality, and Chen's streak continues with this product. It is well made, simple to use, and offers a quick and healthy way to cook food. Also, the price was right. My only critique, and it has nothing to do with the product, it has more to do with the marketing department at Joyce Chen. Being a first time steamer user, I would have liked, and found helpful a booklet or leaflet with a couple of basic steamer recipes, and maybe even a chart with suggested steaming times for certain meats, fish, and vegetables. Instead, I had to travel the internet to find this information. Just an idea Joyce.

This is my first steamer, and it's absolutely easy to use. Needed some brushing to get the thin slivers of bamboo smoothed down, but that's common practice when you buy a steamer anyway. So far, it's preformed beautifully, we've used it about a dozen times and it has remained in perfect condition. The size of the steamer is generous enough to steam whole, medium sized fish, holds tons of gyoza, wontons, dumplings, and potstickers, and is SO MUCH BETTER than a metal steamer when making vegetables. Everything comes out tasting really, really good.

We're going to buy another, smaller steamer from the Joyce Chen product line in the near future for other stuff. Chen's bamboo handled knives are also worth looking into - good for years.

I found this steamer at a thrift store, brand new, never been used, and still in the box, for a mere $4. But I had already been researching bamboo steamers, including seeing this one on Amazon (where I would likely have bought it otherwise). I have used it a few times, with super results. The construction is sturdy, and the lid is also very well-made, better than the first steamer I bought at a bix-box home store (which was overpriced, in my humble opinion). I used store-bought parchment paper that I cut to an appropriate size, tracing around a salad plate for the shape. Then I steamed over a 14" wok. I think I could have used a bigger steamer, but I managed fine. I've read in many places, that a steamer should be almost the same size as the wok (only about 1-2" smaller than the wok). But with a metal trivet placed at the bottom (which I also found at the thrift store -- not required for success, but I found it very helpful for stabilization. Four chopsticks in a criss-crossed pattern work well too.), and adequate water used, I was able to cook up some delicious chicken. It's been a learning experience, and fun! I plan to cook up more veggies, more chicken (Kung Pao is my favorite dish), maybe even try rice, and whatever else that trips my trigger. I'd recommend that potential buyers do some additional research online and at the library, checking out how to use bamboo steamers, and Chinese cooking. That's what has helped me tremendously. If I wanted and needed another steamer, I'd SO get another Joyce Chen model here on Amazon. Two chopsticks up from me! :-)