12 Different ways of cooking

The objective of cooking food

The objective of cooking food is to make it pleasing to the eye and receptive to the palate in order to help stimulate the digestive juices, thereby creating an appetite.

BOILING

This is cooking in a liquid, usually water or stock.

Meat and Poultry

Boiling is restricted to the first few minutes in order to seal the pores, this helps to retain the natural juices. After this, gentle boiling must take place, otherwise known as simmering. Rapid boiling or over-cooking causes the protein to harden and the connective tissues holding the meat fibers together to dissolve. Only just sufficient liquid should cover the article to be cooked. To retain the flavor in the joint, plunge into a boiling liquid and allow to reboil, and then simmer. If a well-flavoured stock is required, start slowly in cold water, then bring to boil and simmer. Salted or pickled meats should always be started in cold water.

No exact rules can be given as to the time required to boil meat and poultry as age, size and quality must be allowed for. The approximate cooking times are 25 minutes per 1/2 kg (1 lb) for beef, mutton, pork, bacon, and ham. For Poultry, allow approximately 30 min per 1/2 kg (1 lb), but the age of the bird has a great bearing on the time required.

Vegetables

Vegetables grown above the ground are cooked in boiling salted water; vegetables grown below the ground are started in cold salted water, with the exception of new potatoes. When cooking vegetables such as turnips and cauliflower, boiling should be gentle otherwise the cellulose breaks down and the vegetable becomes mashed.

Fish

Whole or sliced fish are covered with the liquid and allowed to boil very gently.

POACHING

Poaching is cooking slowly in a minimum amount of liquid which should never be allowed to boil but should reach a degree of heat as near as possible to boiling point. It's usually applied to fish and fruit, but one exception is poached eggs.

STEAMING

This is cooking in moist heat by steam either:

(a). by placing the article in a perforated container or on a covered plate over a saucepan of water; or

(b). in a steamer with a minimum pressure of 11/4 kg/cm2 (2 lb 8 oz per in2).

Vegetables

Certain vegetables are sometimes steamed, e.g. potatoes(particularly when required for sauté potatoes) and beetroot.

Puddings

These must be protected with grease-proof paper or foil and if possible a cloth or foil, to prevent water from getting into the pudding.

STEWING

Stewing is getting simmering in the smallest quantity of water, stock, or sauce. The food is always cut up, and both the liquid and the food are served together.

This method has economical and nutritional advantages, as it will render tender and palatable the coarser, older, and cheaper types of poultry or meat which would be unsuitable for grilling or roasting.

The success of cooking such food depends on not allowing the liquid to reach too high a temperature. In the slow process of cooking by gentle heat, the connective tissue is converted into gelatine so that the meat fibers fall apart easily and become digestible. The protein is coagulated without being over-hardened and the soluble nutrients and flavor pass into the liquid, all of which is served.

All the cheaper cuts of meat and certain fish dishes, e.g. bouilla-baisse and matelote, which are fish stews, and certain vegetable dishes, e.g. marrow provençale and petits pois à la française, are cooked by this method.

BRAISING

This is a combination of roasting and stewing in a pan with a tight-fitting lid (braisière or casserole) to prevent evaporation so that the food retains its own juices together with the articles added for flavoring, e.g. bacon, ham, vegetables, herbs, etc.

Meat

The meat should be sealed by browning on all sides, placed on a lightly fried bed of roots, and the stock, jus-lié or demi-glace two-thirds of the way up the joint, and flavorings then added.

It is covered with a lid and allowed to cook gently in the oven till the meat is very tender. If the joint is to be served whole, the lid should be removed approximately three-quarters of the way through cooking, the joint is then frequently basted in order to glaze it. Certain joints, e.g. venison and beef, are sometimes marinated with red wine, vegetables, and herbs for a few hours.

Vegetables

Certain vegetables are frequently braised, e.g. celery, cabbage, onions endive, and lettuce.

POT ROASTING

This is cooking on a bed of root vegetables in a covered casserole or pan, using butter for basting. Only good-quality meats, game, and poultry are used in this way, the chief advantage being that most of the flavor and goodness are retained in the joint. After the joint is removed, the vegetables and juices are used with a good stock to form the basis of the accompanying sauce or gravy.

ROASTING

(a) Spit Roasting

Spit Roasting is cooking by direct (radiated) heat with the aid of fat in the form of basting (the spit must constantly revolve). It's applied to first-quality joints of meat and game and poultry. It's the original form of roasting, but because of many disadvantages in practice, oven roasting has developed in its place.

(b) Oven Roasting

Oven roasting is cooking in an oven with the aid of fat and is applied to first-class meat and poultry and certain vegetables.

Meat and Poultry

Joints should always be raised out of the fat by means of bones or a trivet (with small joints, even halves of raw peeled potatoes are used) to prevent the meat from frying and becoming hard.

Joints should always go into a hot oven in order to seal the pores. Exposure to a high temperature for the first ten minutes rapidly coagulates the surface albumen and prevents the escape of meat juices. Heat is then reduced according to the size of the joint. Frequent basting is essential.

Vegetables

Potatoes and parsnips may be roasted.

BAKING

This is cooking by dry heat usually in an oven, in which the action of the dry heat is modified by the presence of steam which arises from the food whilst cooking. Bread, cakes, and potatoes may be cooked by this method.

GRILLING

( a ) Over heat - Grill

This is cooking on greased grill bars, with the aid of fat over direct heat, only first-class cuts of meat and poultry and certain fish may be used.

The grill bars which may be heated by charcoal, coke, electricity, or gas should be made hot and brushed with oil to prevent the food from sticking. The bars should char the article on both sides to give the distinctive flavor of grilling.

Most foods are started on a hot part of the grill and then moved to a cooler part to complete the cooking. The thickness of the food and the heat of the grill determines the cooking time.

Grills are typical à-la-carte dishes and are ordered by the customer to the degree of cooking required.

( b ) Under heat - Salamander

This is cooking on grill bars or on trays under direct heat. Steaks, chops, etc, may be cooked on the bars, but fish, tomatoes, bacon, and mushrooms are usually cooked on trays.

The salamander is also used for browning by grating and glazing certain dishes, e.g macaroni au gratin, filets de sole bonne-femme.

( c )Between the heat

This is grilling between electrically heated grill bars and is usually applied to meat.

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