A glimpse of the various methods of cooking
Cooking can be defined as the art, technology and craft of preparing food for consumption with or without the aid of fire. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world. It reflects the environmental, economic and cultural trend of the place. Preparing food with heat or fire is definitely an activity that is unique to only the human race and it came into existence more than two million years ago.
There are many recipes that can be prepared without the use of fire as well. At times, like with the cooking of a ceviche, which is a traditional South American dish where fish or meat is cooked with the acids present in lime or lemon juice, cooking occurs through chemical reactions that does not require heat. The following cooking techniques are used to cook different types of food items as per its requirement.
Let’s take a glimpse at the various methods of cooking practiced by people all over the world:
- Broiling: This method makes use of radiant heat from an overhead source to cook food. By placing the food to be broiled on a preheated metal grate where radiant heat from the overhead cooks the food, you get attractive crosshatch marks on the food item from the metal grate.
- Grilling: Although very similar to broiling, grilling uses the heat source located beneath the cooking surface. The crosshatch mark usually indicates that the food has been grilled.
- Roasting and Baking: These are both processes where food is surrounded with dry, heated air in a closed environment. Roasting usually refers to meat and poultry whereas the term baking refers to fish, fruits, pastry items and vegetables.
- Sautéing: The process of sautéing uses conduction to transfer heat to the food from a hot sauté pan with the aid of a small amount of hot fat.
- Pan-frying: The method of pan-frying food shares similarities with both the processes of sautéing and deep-frying. This cooking method transfers heat by conduction from the pan to the food, using a moderate amount of oil.
- Deep-frying: Here heat is transferred by conduction to the food from the pan submerged in hot fat.
- Poaching: Poaching is usually associated with delicately flavored foods that don’t require a lengthy cooking time to tenderize them like fish, eggs or fruits. There are two types of poaching submerged and shallow poaching.
- Simmering: Food items like tender cuts of meat that usually require a lengthy cooking time to help tenderize them through a long, slow cooking process are simmered.
- Steaming: Steaming is a moist heat cooking method in which heat is transferred from steam to the food being cooked by direct contact.
- Braising: Braising employs both dry and moist heat cooking and is used to tenderize large pieces of meat. The liquid which is used for the same will enhance the taste of the dish.
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