Steam Microwaves

A large portion of the nutrients in food are stored in a water soluble form. Cooking, unfortunately, destroys some of those nutrients by heating up the juices and breaking the enzyme chains. So, the dryer a food item, the less nutritious it is. One of the goals of a foodservice establishment is to provide nutritious food as quickly as possible. Microwave cooking is one method that allows kitchens to cook some food items very fast, since the heat energy passes through the food and cooks it from the inside out, but with most conventional cooking methods, microwave heat can dry out the food and reduce its nutrient content.

Cooking with steam is the primary cooking method used to reduce nutrient loss. Rather than injecting moisture back into the food, steam simply creates a humid cooking cabinet, giving the juices and nutrients nowhere to evaporate to, so they stay locked in the food.