Oster 5712 Electronic 2-Tier 6-Quart Food Steamer
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Oster 5712 Electronic 2-Tier 6-Quart Food Steamer
Customer Review: Almost, but not quite a good unit
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this unit to replace a Black and Decker steamer we had used for years that finally died.
This unit appears to have everything, but in usage, it has a huge shortcoming.
Pros:
You can add water without removing the food trays. (A big plus, this is why we bought it)
Large oval steamer that fits food without trimming
Neutral:
The digital timer. Really no easier than the dial my previous unit had
Cons:
The drip tray (The tray that goes under the food and catches the condensed steam) has no handles on it. This may seem like a minor inconvenience, but the very first thing we prepared in our new steamer was a corned beef for St. Paddies day. After about 30 minutes the drip tray was full (the CB takes 2 hours) and needed to be emptied. Now my old B and D steamer had handles on the drip tray, but no handles on this one.
So now I am faced with a problem, how do you remove a tray full of steaming dirty water out of the top of the steamer with no handles?
After scratching my head I used a pair of tongs to pick up the tray. This worked OK the first two times, then the tongs slipped the third time and I gave my counter, and myself a bath in dirty hot water.
The last time, I used a turkey baster to suck the dirty water out. Talk about time consuming.
All they would have to have done was mold a couple of handles on the drip tray, like Black and Decker did.
::: Sigh:::
So close, yet so far from a perfect unit.
Customer Review: Good value, sturdy and stores easily
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the third electric steamer I have owned. The first two were mechanically timed Black and Decker models. The heating element ceased in the first of these after several years of continual usage. So, I purchased another about 4 years ago. The second is still working. However, somehow the clear compartments are cracked, almost in two. I guess they where smashed in the cabinets at some point. I use the steamer quite often. Cooking rice and frozen vegetables is worry free as there is not an open flame to tend to.
I replaced the Black and Decker steamer with this Oster unit. I have noticed that the plastic parts seem to be made of a denser/sturdier material. I perfer the durable feel of this model. Also, the baskets are graduated and stack into each other. This makes for storing this unit much easier than the Black and Decker model. It is a family size appliance. We have five in our family and this unit is perfect for us. The stay warm feature and the delay cooking feature are also additions in comparison to the Black and Decker model. I used the Oster to cook carrots and as others have said about the manual, I had to cook a little longer than indicated. Still, I love using this appliance--as I had from the Black and Decker models. The Oster units begins to steam immediately and I hope to get many years of service from this appliance. We are going to try steaming shellfish tonight. I can't wait to enjoy!
Customer Review: Defective Steamer
Summary: 1 Stars
Now that the holidays are past, decided to test-drive my new Oster 5712 food steamer. Filled it to about 1/4" below the maximum water line, placed the bottom tier and steaming basket, added the eggs I wanted to hard boil, covered with lid, plugged it in, set the cook time to 15 minutes, and pressed on. One minute later, the ERR message came on, indicating there's not enough water in the unit to steam. Turned it off, tried again, and one minute later, got the ERR again. Turned it off, decided to cook the eggs with the preset time of five minutes, so didn't adjust cooking time, pressed on...one minute later got the ERR message. Decided to try the cooking time at six minutes, then seven, but with the same ERR message. I must have received the lemon in the batch, because I bought this based on its high reviews. Cannot return the steamer, because I unpacked it and cleaned it per owner's manual upon receipt...about a month earlier...and disposed of all the packaging (my mistake!). Cannot find any information on troubleshooting this problem, although one site said a similar model has a blue wire that probably is detatched inside the machine....hmmmm...will decide if this will be my non-handy husband's next honey-do project. If I could have given this highly-rated steamer a negative rating rather than one star, I would have, because my steamer does not work and I'm stuck with it since I don't have the original packaging.Customer Review: A very good thing
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this to augment (not replace) an older discontinued Oster/Sunbeam two tier steamer. Refreshingly, the "improvements" over the prior model were actually improvements.
This one has a keep-warm feature after timed steaming is done.
I use it to steam potatoes for "whipped" potatoes, now I only use instant flakes to thicken gravies. By steaming the potatoes in the large upper tier, and putting small bowls in the lower smaller tier, I can collect potato water.
I bought a ExcelSteel Professional Quality 6-1/2-Inch Heavy Gauge Mesh Colander With Santopreme Handles so I could steam frozen peas, and it works extremely well.
It doesn't need constant attention, so in the summer it steams away politely in the garage.
For rice I use a Zojirushi NHS-06 3-Cup Rice Cooker, or its larger brother the Zojirushi NHS-10 6-Cup Rice Cooker/Steamer & Warmer, White--'too good and too easy.
Hint: when steaming asparagaus, raise them off the steamer's container floor'I break bamboo chopsticks for this. Even better, roast in the oven or sauté the asparagus in a little extra virgin olive oil & butter!
Customer Review: Useful product but only "1/2" green
Summary: 4 Stars
We purchased the Oster 5712 steamer 4 years ago. It features a number of nice improvements over previous generations of food steamers. It has a basin system to catch drips from the food and a steaming chamber that rapidly gets the steam going. The electronic controls are pleasant and practical. If you have other things to prepare, you can have the rice (for example) loaded into the steamer hours in advance and have the steamer start on its own while you are busy with other things.
We like this product very much. Alas, the plastic bowls have started to wear out, and in particular, the rice bowl now has a crack through which liquids leak through. Worse still, the crack is under the stream heating element where the basin system cannot catch the drippings, so the food juices are getting into the water reservoir and will damage the heating element eventually.
We have looked for replacement bowls to no avail. They are made of recyclable plastics. Yet, unless you can obtain replacement bowls, you have no choice but to buy a whole new unit even if the heating element is working just fine and isn't otherwise recyclable.
We like the unit so much, we'll go ahead and buy a new one. However, it is disappointing to see how products for a "sustainable lifestyle" has yet to extend to the good old fashioned tradition of having replacement parts for appliances.