Timeline for Can you steam liquid food in deli, takeaway or microwave containers?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 23 at 0:24 | comment | added | Greybeard | Experimented with instant pot and a frozen curry in a Pyrex dish covered with foil. After 20 minutes full pressure, the curry was still semi-frozen. So it seems that covering the item is not a good idea, this makes scientific sense as air is a good insulator. | |
| Jan 22 at 22:27 | comment | added | bob1 | @ChrisH I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I've done this empirically at home, though admittedly not in the exact same dimension containers with steamed egg, and plastic (~1-2 mm) was still liquid when glass (~5 mm) was done. Muffins in silicone cups (inside a metal muffin tray) take 1-2 min longer than those in metal tray in my experience too. | |
| Jan 22 at 21:10 | comment | added | Chris H | @bob1 the difference between a really high thermal conductivity container (aluminium, say) and a really bad one (plastic) is tiny in the context of needing to get the middle of the food hot. It won't mean faster heating on measurable timescales. And thicker is always going to be slower - significantly so for poor thermal conductors. Good thermal conductors tend to have high specific heat capacities, so the container will take some heating unless thin (like foil) | |
| Jan 22 at 20:56 | comment | added | bob1 | @ChrisH What I was referring to there was that a conductive container will have greater heat transfer capacity than a non-conductive, purely based on surface area, which will mean faster heating of the food. The thickness of the material doesn't matter much, it's the rate of heat transfer that is the problem here. This applies in the case of the steamer as in the question, not the microwave obviously. | |
| Jan 22 at 19:29 | comment | added | Chris H | Heat transfer within the food will dominate over heat transfer through the container. You have cm of food compared to no more than about 1mm of container, and nearly all foods have low thermal conductivity. This is the limiting factor even in microwaving, where a fairly thick surface layer is heated, instead of the thin layer in oven or steam reheating | |
| Jan 21 at 20:33 | history | edited | bob1 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added more information
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| Jan 21 at 20:17 | comment | added | bob1 | @quarague good point, was writing a general answer and then added about microwaves. I will edit to fix. | |
| Jan 19 at 13:09 | comment | added | Greybeard | Thank you @bob1 for your extensive answer. I was thinking more of heat transfer and efficiency etc. rather than food safety per se, but I completely agree with your answer. I am always careful to avoid any suspect plastic containers. In the UK at least, most containers are marked with a symbol that denotes what they are manufactured from. | |
| Jan 19 at 9:40 | comment | added | quarague | Steel is safe to reheat say in the oven but should not go in the microwave. Most clay or porcelain items are microwave safe but not all of them. For plastic it is easiest to just not put it into the microwave, although it is probably safe for some plastics but not for others. | |
| Jan 19 at 0:01 | history | answered | bob1 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |