Optimum: my Vitaliseur in 12 tips

If soft-steaming, particularly with the Vitaliseur, doesn’t require to be a rocket scientist (all for the best !), there remain some tips to know in order to optimize its use. The more you’ll handle it, the more pleasure you’ll get simply making great dishes… and you’ll see how steaming will impress your guests. So follow us, we’ll tell you everything !

What is the Vitaliseur made of ?

The Vitaliseur is made of 18/10 stainless steel (18% chrome and 10% nickel). 18/10 inox is inert and coatless. It is therefore harmless when in contact with food : it doesn’t alter the taste, nor the appearance or smell of food, and it guarantees a perfect longevity. It’s been around for more than 30 years !

How to clean my Vitaliseur ?

The Vitaliseur is easily hand-cleaned with simple dish soap or directly into a dishwasher. To make it shine for great occasions, get some white clay foam or bicarbonate of soda with white vinegar. And if your water is hard, add 1/2 lemon to the vat’s water during the cooking to avoid staining the Vitaliseur.

How much water to use ?

Filling the vat to the third or quarter for short cooking can be enough if there’s little to cook. For bigger cooking, such as artichoke or chicken, it is preferable to fill the Vitaliseur’s vat to the half with the water of your choice.

Can you cook meat ?

You can cook all sorts of meats. For instance, a whole farmer chicken will be perfectly tender in 30-35 minutes (instead of 1H15 to 1H30 in the oven !). Prime rib of beef is very tender, it’s surprising and delicious, I suggest you try. Please mind the cooking times because proteins cook very quickly in the Vitaliseur. Better under-cooked than over-cooked.

Can you cook fish ?

You can cook all fish, they’ll be tenderer than with any other cooking type ! Some fish make the vat’s water foam; don’t worry, it is a normal phenomenon. A recently caught fish doesn’t foam; only less fresh fish can foam (cod, coley…). A few drops of cooking oil help reduce this phenomenon.

How does the tureen work ?

The tureen is a utensil only adapted to the big version of the Vitaliseur. It is a plain bottomed-container used instead of the sieve (between the vat and the lid). The tureen allows to cook food with bain-marie technique. After filling the vat with water (as usual), place the tureen on it. To cook cereals, it like as a saucepan : pour a volume of rice and two of water into the tureen and let cook. The cooking time will be a bit longer than a classic cooking. The water in the vat must simmer and not boil, you can thus decrees the heat. Little advice: only salt after cooking. The tureen also allows to keep your dish warm, make broths or sauces. 

I only buy organic vegetables, is the Vitaliseur still useful as my vegetables don’t contain any pesticides ?

It is obviously very important de buy organic vegetables, or at least produced by a reasonable agriculture that mitigates the impact of pesticides. Moreover, an organic vegetable is never 100% pesticide-free, as these get airborne through winds and rains across fields. The Vitaliseur allows the elimination of surface fats and pesticides in the vat’s water, so the ideal remain to consume high quality food only. Beware not to consume the cooking water that was used to steam vegetables, no matter how organic !

I haven’t got any tureen… how to make a soup ?

You can easily make a soup without the tureen (included in the pack format). First, pre-steam the vegetables for your soup on the sieve. Once the cooking done, pour your vegetables into a new container then add some hot mineral water. With a blender, grind your soup directly in the container and enjoy !

Can you cook in the lower part of the Vitaliseur if you decide to cook without steam, to make a stew for instance ?

The Vitaliseur is strictly meant to soft-steam cooking, in order to avoid any Maillard reaction, chemical reactions which can occur while cooking food. however, you can use the vat as a regular cooking pot to prepare your broths such as stew or poule-au-pot.

Should I use mineral or osmosed water in the vat ?

Spring water and osmosed water are useless since the steam is always composed of distilled water, therefore pure (hence the uselessness of salting or flavoring the vat’s water).

Once the water boils, can we decrease the heat ?

You can decrease the heat once the water boils so it just gets simmering.

Can I cook several foods at the same time ?

We advise you to cook several foods at the same. Thanks to the dome-shaped lid, the condensation water doesn’t fall back on foods, which avoids saturating them, lose taste, colors and main vitamins (even the most sensitive) and minerals. Thus, flavors don’t mix up and you can cook a fish or meat with vegetables without their flavor mixing up !