electric food steamer

[Bob]

I had a rival electric food steamer(as opposed to a rice cooker) that worked
perfectly and lasted about 20 years. It was very basic-you put in the
prescribed amount of water and it cooked vegetables etc, perfectly. It had a
clear plastic dome and heavy plastic bottom. Eventually it literally fell
apart.

After a fair amount of research, I purchased a Deni brand electric food
steamer(the most expensive model they had with a stainless steel base).
It featured a digital timer as well as a three high stack of plastic
baskets.

After about one year and a day, the digital timer has stopped working
properly thus making the unit impossible to use. As you can guess the
warranty was for one year!

Anyway, any advice that you all can provide about quality electric food
steamers would be very much appreciated.

Thank you,

P.S. I do have a top of the line rice cooker which can perform some steaming
functions-but I really like having the electric food steamer for so many
things.

[zydecogary]

I used to own several electric steamers -- but they've gone
to GoodWill. I've even used my rice cooker for steaming at
times.

But now I use my Induction Hob (it has a built in time and
temperature control) coupled with either a Chinese large
wok with a high dome lid or one of my induction
capable pots with cover.

It is very quick and very easy to clean -- no variety of
plastic parts to mess with in the sink. And certainly cheap
-- as I already have them.

I either use a round wire trivet or one of those
collapsible steam baskets to keep the food above the water.
I've tried one of the new silicon steam baskets but I
didn't like it -- to flexible for my food.

Last night I heated a large rotisserie chicken from the
refrigerator via my steam/wok. It heats quickly and stays
moist.

By the way, I find that cleaning a wok is extremely easy,
much easier than a sauce pan or pot.

Gary Hayman
Greenbelt, Maryland