The enthusiasm for steaming foods seems to come and go, depending on who’s the diet guru this week, which is a shame, because steaming is one of the best ways to cook fish, chicken and young vegetables to accentuate their flavor. Forget the low fat part — I’ll give you a butter sauce recipe if you don’t want to get caught up in the fat game — and enjoy how juicy the fish and chicken turn out, as well as the bright color of the vegetables.

Steamers come in several forms — metal inserts for saucepans, a perforated separate pan like a double boiler that fits over a saucepan and bamboo steamers that you can stack atop a wokful of boiling water. Aluminum steamers to stack over a wok also exist, but they’re harder to find. I’ve also seen plastic steamers to use in the microwave, but I have never tried one.

By the way, technically a pressure cooker is a steamer too, but with the high heat and pounds of pressure you get under that sealed lid, cooking is a whole different ball game. We’ll save it for another time.

For regular use, I think the bamboo baskets are most appealing and least expensive. They’re available these days not only in import stores but often in discount stores, too. (Of course discount stores have become import stores, haven’t they?)

If I just want to cook one thing, asparagus or broccoli for example, I use the perforated pan over a saucepan of boiling water because the cleanup is so quick and simple, but the real fun is in preparing an entire meal in the baskets, which will hold an astonishing amount of food.

You can cook a different food on each tray. The top tier, with a high-domed lid, will accommodate a small whole chicken.

When I first started steaming, I puzzled over whether to set the food right on the bamboo or to use a plate. I discovered that a plate or casserole is usually better because otherwise the juices from the food drip down into the boiling water. On the other hand, that water, flavored with everything you’ve steamed, makes a great base for soup.

When you use a container inside the steamer, it’s important that it be small enough to allow at least an inch of open space around the sides for the steam to come through. Also, if you use a steamer to reheat leftovers, a container inside the basket is essential. And don’t gag on the leftover idea. Rice reheated this way is almost like new, as are mashed potatoes.

Nothing much in the way of technique is necessary. You get the water to a rolling boil, add the steamer baskets full of food, put on the lid and let ’er rip. For a long steaming period you’ll need to replenish the water sometimes. And be careful. You can get a nasty burn from steam. Some people actually wear gloves. If you need to work with the food in a basket, take it from the heat to do it, then return the basket to the steam.

I can’t give you exact timings for steaming because it depends on the size of the pieces of food, the number of tiers and whether the steamer is metal or bamboo, but steam is forgiving in that a few minutes extra don’t ruin the food. Here are some approximate times: Whole small chicken, 1 hour; chicken breasts, 20 to 30 minutes; whole fish such as trout, 20 minutes; thick fish fillets, 20 minutes; small potatoes, 30 minutes; small whole carrots, 30 minutes; asparagus, 5 minutes; broccoli florets, 7 minutes.

An Entire Steamed Dinner

When I lived in Columbia, S.C., I used to go to a restaurant to order this as a change from the barbecue, beans and greens routine. I paid too much for it, but it was worth it. Now I do it myself.

For each serving allow:

1 small chicken breast, skin removed

2 -3 small potatoes, preferable red, skin on

2 - 3 small carrots, peeled

1 1-inch slice rutabaga, peeled

1-2 stalks broccoli, with the tough end trimmed

Except for the broccoli, all these items will take about the same amount of time to cook. Steam everything but the broccoli until almost done, then add the broccoli for a few minutes more. You could layer the baskets by ingredient or assemble each plate separately so it comes from the steamer ready to serve. Serve with simple butter sauce.

Simple Butter Sauce

For each serving allow:

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon dried dill

Whip together with a fork. The mixture will separate again fairly quickly, so pour it over the food right away.

Steamed Fish with Ginger Sauce

Unless you live with an angler, I don’t know where you can reliably get whole fish, but whole trout would be my pick for this recipe. Otherwise, thick slices of orange roughy or haddock will do. Allow 1/2 pound of fish or a little less for each person. Thick fillets will steam in about 15-20 minutes, a 1 1/2 pound whole fish will take about 20 minutes. A really big guy, 3 pounds or so, will need to steam 30 to 35 minutes.

I found the sauce for this fish in “The Cuisines of Asia” by Jennifer Brennan. She gives a more complicated method of steaming the fish, which I’ve simplified.

To steam the fish, lay it on a plate in the steamer. Mix together:

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon dry sherry

1 1-inch ginger root, minced

1 scallion, chopped

Pour the mixture over the fish. If using a whole fish, rub a little inside the cavity. Steam until just done.

In the last five minutes of cooking, lay a handful of raw snow peas or frozen English peas beside the fish.

When the fish is done, remove from heat. (Do not let the fish sit over the boiling water even though you’ve turned it off, because it will continue to cook.)

Serve the fish with Ginger Sauce.

Ginger Sauce

1 tablespoon peanut oil

2 scallions, chopped

2-inch piece ginger root, minced

1/4 cup white vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon dry sherry

1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)

Stir the sauce ingredients together in a small pan, then stir and simmer over low heat until the sauce turns clear. This will take only a few minutes. Pour the sauce over the cooked fish. For an absolutely delightful aroma, drizzle the sesame oil over everything just before serving.

Lemon Chicken

Here is a recipe that you can prepare ahead of time and reheat in the steamer with perfect results. It’s my own concoction — kind of a blend of Marcella Hazen’s roast chicken with two lemons and Jennifer Brennan’s Chinese steamed lemon chicken.

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 tablespoon soy sauce

6 shitake mushrooms

1 lemon, sliced

1 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Liquid from the steamer

Marinate the chicken in the soy sauce for a few minutes, then mix all the ingredients, except for parsley and liquid, in a casserole in the steamer.

Cover and steam for about 20 minutes.

Remove from heat, sprinkle with parsley and serve with rice and a few spoonsfull of liquid from the steamer.

Caper Sauce

Use the small capers canned in vinegar and brine, not the large Spanish capers for this sauce. If you don’t have capers, chopped green olives with pimiento is a reasonable substitute. It won’t be the same, but it will still be good on steamed vegetables.

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon capers

1 thin slice onion, minced

1 thin slice garlic, minced

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Lemon juice (optional)

Mix all ingredients together with a fork.

Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving. Thin with lemon juice for a less thick sauce.

To serve, spoon over vegetables. Makes 1/2 cup.