On Apr 17, 5:14*am, blackhead > wrote:
> Currenty I put just 3-5mm of watter at the bottom of a saucepan, put a
> lid on, turn the gas down very low so that the flame just comes on,
> and use this to steam steam vegetables, fish, meat together, which
> works a treat because the water at the bottom collects the juices
> which I can then use to flavour at the end. So I use everything and
> the method is extremely economical since I barely use gas and not
> waste energy heating water to heat vegetables and then throwing it
> down the sink again. [snip]

That's interesting but it's not what most people think of as
"steaming" and it's not what steamer appliances are designed to do.
Steaming, for most people, means boiling/simmering water to produce
steam. The food is raised out of the water, not in it, and the heat
is high enough to produce the initial boil, then lowered but still
high enough to continue production of steam. There's enough water,
an inch or two in depth, to keep producing steam throughout the
process. What you're doing sounds more like slow-cooking in minimal
water so you're looking for a crock pot, not a steamer.

As for your gas/electric comparison, it doesn't matter whether you're
right or wrong about thermal efficiency. The difference can't be
measurable in anything bigger than pennies/pence. -aem