On 10/6/2015 9:08 PM, Xeno wrote:
> On 7/10/2015 6:00 PM, dsi1 wrote:
>> On Tuesday, October 6, 2015 at 7:25:20 PM UTC-10, Xeno wrote:
>>> On 7/10/2015 12:05 PM, dsi1 wrote:
>>>> On 10/5/2015 11:43 PM, sf wrote:
>>>>> On Mon, 5 Oct 2015 10:30:56 -0700 (PDT), dsi1 <d>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I bought some choy sum at the L&L down the street. It was tasty so I
>>>>>> asked the guy how he prepared the dish. I assumed that he steamed it
>>>>>> but he boiled it in some salted water. That's it. Dead simple. It was
>>>>>> served with a sauce of shoyu, and a little bit of oyster sauce and
>>>>>> vinegar. It's sublime stuff but quite simple.
>>>>>
>>>>> I bet it barely hit the water before he took it out.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I was surprised he didn't steam the choy sum. Chinese people love to
>>>> steam everything. He told me that you lose lots of vitamins in the
>>>> steam
>>>> so he boils it. He told me to boil it until it's done. I boiled mine
>>>> for
>>>> about 5 minutes. It comes out fine.
>>>
>>> I was always told you lose less when steaming, not more. Boiling loses
>>> lots of vitamins.
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Xeno
>>
>> I agree with you. That Chinese guy is totally bonkers! OTOH, I'm not
>> all that concerned with vitamins.
>>
> I am concerned with vitamins but I also find that steaming tends to
> retain much more of the flavour. That can't be a bad thing! ;-)
>

The reality is that most of us are well-fed of our guts have no shortage
of vitamins as they parade through there in massive numbers. Our guts
will mostly use what it can and reject the rest. Boiling some choy sum
won't make much difference because this is one huge parade. As far as
throwing vitamins down the drain, with boiling, you'll lose some and
make other nutrients available. It's typically not a zero sum game.

As far as tastes goes, not boiling food won't guarantee that it won't
taste good. Boiled choy sum is tender and delicious! I typically won't
steam veggies because it's more of a hassle for me. I've used the rice
cooker to steam vegetables while cooking rice. It seemed like a great
idea but the condensates dripped onto the rice and made it look dirty.
That's not good!