New Pasta Cooker and Steamer

It's Father's Day and what did I get? A new pasta cooker and steamer. I'll be the first to acknowledge that this isn't at all a typical Father's Day gift. But I bet I'll make more use of this than say a tie. Or a hunting knife. Or a fishing pole.

It wasn't exactly a surprise, since last week, after I off-handedly made mention of it and how I'd been eyeing it since last year, Elise went out to the store. Today, she told me that when I mentioned it, she couldn't understand why I'd be longing for yet another "pot" for the kitchen. But after she saw it, she fully understood why it looked so wonderfully useful.

Here's how it looks with all the pieces in its storage position.

And here are all the individual pieces.

It comes with a stockpot base, a large pasta insert, a smaller steamer insert, and a vented lid.

The pasta cooker fits inside but its bottom doesn't touch the pan bottom. That means that even if the cook isn't terribly conscientious about stirring the pasta, it won't stick and burn onto the bottom. Not only that, but the bottom layer gets the circulating water so that the pasta should cook more evenly. Once the pasta is done, just the insert needs to be lifted out, and all the draining happens within the pot. No lifting heavy pots from the burner over to the sink, tilting it into another colander to drain. And it also means that I don't have to remember to reserve cooking liquid for pasta sauce recipes that call for it. It seems that half (or more) of the time I forget to reserve and end up using plain water.

The steamer insert fits at the top of the pot. It's got handles that allow the insert to be conveniently lifted up and out of the pot. This will be particularly useful for a mashed potato recipe that includes a step of rinsing the potatoes midway through steaming (this step removes more of the stuff that causes "gumminess" in mashed potatoes). This insert is definitely more sturdy than the little folding one that is commonly available. Elise thinks it will be more convenient than the electric steamers (of which we have a fairly deluxe model), particularly when it comes to washing and cleaning.

As a related aside in case you don't know, when using stainless steel pots and pans, you should add salt only to boiling water. Otherwise salt can etch the pan surface.