Double steaming, sometimes also dubbed double boiling, is a Chinese cooking techniques

Chinese cooking techniques

Chinese cooking techniques are a set of methods and techniques traditionally used in Chinese cuisine. The cooking techniques can either be grouped into ones that use a single cooking method or a combination of wet and dry cooking methods.-Wet:...

 to prepare delicate food such as bird nests

Bird's nest soup

Bird's nest soup is a delicacy in Chinese cuisine. A few species of swift, the cave swifts, are renowned for building the saliva nests used to produce the unique texture of this soup....

, shark fin

Shark Fin

Shark Fin is the peak which has the triangular shape of a shark fin when viewed from the south....

s, etc. The food is covered with water and put in a covered ceramic jar and the jar is then steamed for several hours. This technique ensures there is no loss of liquid or moisture (its essences) from the food being cooked, hence it is often used with expensive ingredients like Chinese herbal medicines.

In Cantonese, double steaming is called dan . Note that the Cantonese usage of this Chinese character deviates from its original meaning which is simmer or stew

Stew

A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables , meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as beef. Poultry, sausages, and seafood are also used...

 in Mandarin. This technique is also common in the neighboring province of Fujian

Fujian

' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...

.

Famous examples

Cantonese cuisine

Cantonese cuisine

Cantonese cuisine comes from Guangdong Province in southern China and is one of 8 superdivisions of Chinese cuisine. Its prominence outside China is due to the great numbers of early emigrants from Guangdong. Cantonese chefs are highly sought after throughout the country...

 is famous for its slow cooked soup.
One famous dish of this kind is called the Winter melon urn (冬瓜盅).
It is prepared by emptying the inside of a winter melon

Winter melon

The winter melon, also called white gourd, ash gourd, or "fuzzy melon", is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable when mature. It is the only member of the genus Benincasa. The fruit is fuzzy when young. The immature melon has thick white flesh that is sweet when eaten...

 to make an urn. The outside of the winter melon is often carved with artistic patterns. The inside is then filled with soup ingredients such as Chinese cured ham, and several Chinese herbs. The whole urn completed with its original melon lid is double steamed for at least four hours. The flavor of the soup is soaked into the "flesh" of the melon. The whole melon and its content is brought to the dinner table. The soup is served by scooping out the liquid and the inside wall of the melon. In this case, the edible melon takes the place of the double steaming jar. This application is possible because winter melon has a waxy, and thus waterproof, rind. Winter melon is believed to be nourishing

Chinese food therapy

Chinese food therapy is a practice in the belief of healing through the use of natural foods instead of medications.Chinese food or Nutrition therapy, is a modality of traditional Chinese medicine, as opposed to evidence-based medicine....

 and it is seldom cooked with ingredients that are believed to be too yin or too yang.

There is another dessert dish called double steamed frog ovaries in a coconut (椰青燉雪蛤膏), which is recommended for women. The Chinese medicinal ingredients (including hasma

Hasma

Hasma is a Chinese and widely Central Asian dessert ingredient made from the dried fatty tissue found near the fallopian tubes of true frogs, typically the Asiatic Grass Frog . Hasma is often mistakenly described as toad or frog fat, since it is sometimes referred to as "toad oil"...

), spices, and rock sugar are placed inside a young coconut

Coconut

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

 to soak in the original coconut juice. The filled coconut is then double steamed for several hours. The whole coconut is served whole at the table after dinner. The contents and the inside wall of the coconut are scooped out to be consumed.

See also

• Steaming
  Steaming
  Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. Steaming is considered a healthy cooking technique and capable of cooking almost all kinds of food.-Method:...
  
  
• Double boiler
  Double boiler
  A double boiler, also known as a bain Marie, is a stove top apparatus used to cook delicate sauces such as beurre blanc, to melt chocolate without burning or seizing, or cook any other thick liquid or porridge that would normally burn if not stirred constantly. It consists of an upper vessel...
  
  
• Bain-marie
  Bain-marie
  A bain-marie is a French term for a piece of equipment used in science, industry, and cooking to heat materials gently and gradually to fixed temperatures, or to keep materials warm over a period of time.- Description :...