Is cooking a talent? Yes it is! Everyone can cook, but
not everyone has a talent in cooking. People that are talented in the field of cooking
could make their own delicious dish.
At its most basic, the word cooking means applying heat to food. But cooking is as
much about the ways heat changes the food as it is about the heat itself.
That's because heating food does more than just make it hotter. It changes the
food in other ways, too.
DIFFERENT
METHODS OF COOKING
In cooking, there are
some basic methods of cooking that are used. These commonly used basic cooking
methods are divided into two general groups. The groups are: Dry heat cookery
methods and moist heat cookery methods. The methods of cooking are divided into
these two groups because of the way food is cooked and the type of heat that is
used. Let us have a look at the Dry Heat cookery methods.
1. Dry heat Cookery Methods. In dry heat cooking
methods, the food being cooked does not use water to cook the food. The food is
left dry and heat is applied to cook the food. Such methods of cooking are:
baking, steaming, grilling, and roasting. When heat is applied to the food, the
food cooks in its own juice or the water added to the food during its
preparation evaporates during the heating process and this cooks the food. Heat
is applied directly to the food by way of convection thus making the food to
get cooked. The action or movement of air around the food cooks it. Let us now
have a look at each of these cooking methods.
Baking.In baking method of cooking, the
food is cooked using convection heating. The food is put into an enclosed area
where heat is then applied and the movement of heat within the confined space,
acts on the food that make it get cooked.
Steaming.To steam food, water is added to a
pot and then a stand is placed inside the pot. The water level should be under
the stand and not above it. There is no contact between the food and the water
that is added to the pot. Food is then placed on the stand and heat is applied.
The hot steam rising from the boiling water acts on the food and the food gets
cooked. It is the hot steam that cooks the food, as there is no contact between
the food and the water inside the pot. This method of cooking for vegetables is
very good as the food does not lose its flavour and much of the nutrients are
not lost during the cooking.
Grilling.There are two methods of grilling
that are used these days. One type of grilling is the one that is commonly used
by the people in the village. This is when food is cooked over hot charcoal on
an open fire. The food is placed on top of the burning charcoal. Sometimes
people improvise by using wire mesh and place it over the open fire to grill
fish or vegetables. The other method is using grills that are inbuilt in
stoves. In this method, the griller, which has a tray, is heated up and the
food is placed on the grill tray to cook. The heat can be gas-generated or
electric-generated depending on the type of stove used. The food is again left
to cook on the grill with the doors of the grill open. People who can afford to
buy a stove would use the grilling part to grill their food. What happens in
this type of cooking is the heat seals the outside part of the food and the
juice inside the food cooks it. The flavour of the food is not lost and much of
the nutrients are not lost either. Food is frequently turned over to prevent it
from burning and to ensure that equal heating and cooking time is applied to
both sides of the food. By doing this, the food is cooked evenly and
thoroughly.
Roasting.With roasting, direct heat is
applied to the food. The heat seals the outside part of the food and the juice
inside the food cooks the food. Roasting is mainly used when cooking fleshy
food like fish, meat or chicken. When heat is applied to the outer covering of
the food, it seals it up thereby trapping all the juices inside the food. The
action of direct heating, heats up the juices inside the food, which then cooks
the food. Again there is very little nutrient lost and the flavour is not
spoilt. Food is frequently rotated over the spit so that there is even heating
applied to all parts of the food. This is so that heat is applied evenly to the
food to make it get cooked properly.
2. Moist Heat Cookery Methods. In moist heat cookery methods,
liquid is used as a medium to cook the food. Such medium could be water,
coconut cream or oil. These liquids are added to the food before heat is
applied to it or sometimes heat is applied to the liquid before the food is
added into the cooking utensils to be cooked. The moist heat cookery methods
include: boiling, stewing, shallow frying, deep frying, barbequing and basting.
All these moist heat cooking methods use liquid to cook the food in.
Boiling.This is the most common method of
cooking and is also the simplest. With this method of cooking, enough water is
added to food and it is then cooked over the fire. The action of the heated
water makes the food to get cooked. The liquid is usually thrown away after the
food is cooked. In the case of cooking rice, all the water is absorbed by the
rice grains to make it get cooked. During the heating process, the nutrients
can get lost or destroyed and the flavour can be reduced with this method of
cooking. If you over cooked the cabbage, all the nutrients can get lost.
Stewing.In the process of cooking using the
stewing method, food is cooked using a lot of liquid. Different kinds of
vegetables are chopped, diced or cubed and added to the pot. Sometimes pieces
of selected meat, fish or chicken is also chopped and added to the stew. The
liquid is slightly thickened and stewed food is served in that manner. This
method is also used when preparing fruits that are going to be served as
desserts. With this cooking method, every food is cooked together at the same
time in one pot. The flavour, colours, shapes and textures of the different
vegetables that are used, makes stewing a handy method of cooking. The only
disadvantage is that some of the vegetables might be overcooked and thus the
nutrient content becomes much less. It is therefore important that the
vegetables that take the longest to cook to be put into the pot first and the
ones that need least cooking to be put in last. In this way much of the
nutrient contents of the food do not get lost.
Frying.When food is fried using oil or solid
fat it is important that you observe some rules in handling oil or fat.Simple
rules to follow when frying: 1.Make sure there is enough oil or fat
put in the frying pan or a deep frying pan. 2.The food to be cooked must not
have water dripping from it. This is because when water comes into contact with
hot oil or fat, you will have the oil sizzling and spitting out of the pan,
which could burn your skin if you are not careful. 3.Put the food into the hot
oil carefully. Try not to make a big splash as the oil could burn your skin.
4.The oil of fat should be heated to the right temperature before putting food
into the pan to be fried. If the food is put in when the oil or fat is not
heated to the right temperature, the food will soak up the oil and you will
have food that is all oily or greasy. If the oil or fat is over heated, you
will end up with food that is burnt. Sometimes the food especially doughnuts
will turn brown on the outside but the dough inside is uncooked. To cook food
using the frying method, there are two ways of doing it. There is the shallow
frying and the deep frying methods.
Shallow Frying.In shallow frying, food
is cooked in a frying pan with a little amount of oil or fat. The oil or fat is
heated to the correct amount and the food is put into the heated oil. The food
is turned over a few minutes or is stirred around a couple of times before it is
cooked and dished out. If patties, potato chips or coated foods are fried, it
is best to put a piece of brown paper or paper napkin inside the tray to soak
up any oil from the food before serving it.
Deep Frying.This is when a lot of oil
or fat is used in cooking the food. The oil or fat is usually put into a deep
pan and is heated to boiling point. Food is then put into the hot boiling oil
and is cooked in that way. Such food as fish fingers, potato chips, meat balls,
and dough nuts to name a few, is cooked using the deep frying method.
Barbequing.The method of cooking
food by barbequing is usually associated with fund raising activities, parties
or picnics. It is most suitable to cooking meat cutlets, fish or chicken
pieces. The food is usually marinated with spices and tenderizers (for meat
cuts) for some time before it is cooked. With this method of cooking, a sheet
of metal with stands is heated up and oil is used to cook the food. A
sufficient amount of oil is heated up and food is added. The food is then
turned over a couple of times before it is dished out.
Basting.This method of cooking is usually
associated with roasting. The juice or liquid that comes out of the meat being
cooked is spooned over the roast frequently while it is being roasted. The
outer part of the meat is moistened frequently during the cooking process with
the juice that is being spooned over. Usually, the extra juice from the cooked
meat is added to a mixture to make the meat sauce.
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