Methods of Cooking !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Daanyeer]

Source: Gomestic
December 16, 2007 Author: NathanD




Boiling:
In cookery, boiling is cooking food in boiling water, or other water-based liquid such as stock or milk. Boiling can be done in two ways: The food can be placed into already rapidly boiling water and left to cook, the heat can be turned down and the food can be simmered; or the food can also be placed into the pot, and cold water may be added to the pot. This may then be boiled until the food is satisfactory. Water on the outside of a pot, i.e. a wet pot, actually increases the time it takes the pot of water to boil. The pot will heat at a normal rate once all excess water on the outside of the pot evaporates.

Foods Suitable for Boiling Include:
Fish
Vegetables
Farinaceous foods such as pasta
Eggs
Meats
Sauces
Stocks and soups
Advantages:
Older, tougher, cheaper cuts of meat and poultry can be made digestible
It is appropriate for large-scale cookery
Nutritious, well flavoured stock is produced
It is safe and simple
Maximum colour and nutritive value is retained when cooking green vegetables, provided boiling time is kept to the minimum
Disadvantages:
There is a loss of soluble vitamins in the water
Boiling water with the lid on wears out the pot
It can be a slow method
Foods can look unattractive
Baking:
Baking is the technique of prolonged cooking of food by dry heat acting by conduction, and not by radiation, normally in an oven. It is primarily used for the preparation of bread, cakes, pastries and pies, tarts, and quiches. It is also used for the preparation of baked potatoes; baked apples; baked beans; some pasta dishes, such as lasagne; and various other foods, such as the pretzel.

Ingredients often used in baking
Butter, margarine or other shortening
Flour
Sugar
Cocoa
Egg
Salt
Leavening agents:
Baking powder
Yeast
Baking soda
Some examples of baked food.
Grilled:
Grilling is a form of cooking that involves direct heat. Devices that grill are called grills. The definition varies widely by region and culture. Grilling generally refers to cooking food directly under a source of direct, dry heat. The grill is usually a separate part of an oven where the food is inserted just under the element.

Commonly grilled food and cooking methods
Steaks
Hot Dogs
Hamburger Patties, Cube Steaks
Sausage
Chicken Breasts
Chicken Thighs and Legs
Pork Chops
Fish
Shrimp
Asparagus
Potatoes
Kebabs
Fruits
Mushrooms, Edible mushrooms, Portobello mushrooms
Squash
Sweet corn, corn on the cob
Vegetables, Root vegetables
Deep Fat Frying:
Deep-frying is a cooking method whereby food is submerged in hot oil or fat. This is normally performed with a deep fryer or chip pan; industrially, a pressure fryer or vacuum fryer may be used. Deep frying is classified as a dry cooking method because no water is used. Due to the high temperature involved and the high heat conduction of oil, it cooks food extremely fast. If performed properly, deep-frying does not make food excessively greasy because the moisture in the food repels the oil: The hot oil heats the water within the food, steaming it from the inside out, oil cannot go against the direction of this powerful flow. As long as the oil is hot enough and the food is not immersed in the oil for too long, oil penetration will be confined to the outer surface. However, if the food is cooked in the oil for too long, too much of the water will be lost and the oil will begin to penetrate the food. The correct frying temperature depends on the thickness and type of food, but in most cases it lies between 175 and 190 °C.

Disadvantages
Deep frying produces large amounts of waste oil, which must be properly disposed.
Deep fry shortenings contain trans fat. Overall this is very hazardous to your health.
Cooking oil is flammable, and there have occasionally been fires caused by the oil igniting due to too high temperature. If one attempts to extinguish an oil fire with water, the water will boil, sending the burning oil in all directions and thus aggravating the fire. Instead, oil fires must be extinguished with dry powder or fire fighting foam. For this reason, most commercial deep fryers are equipped with automatic fire suppression systems using foam.
Stir Fry:
Stir frying is an English umbrella term used to describe two fast Chinese cooking techniques: chao and bào. The two techniques differ in their speed of execution, the amount of heat used, and the amount of tossing done to cook the food in the wok. A traditionally round-bottom iron pan called a wok is heated to a high temperature. A small amount of cooking oil is then poured down the side of the wok, followed by dry seasonings then at the first moment the seasonings can be smelled, meats are added and agitated. Once the meat is seared, vegetables along with liquid ingredients are added.

Dry Fry:
In these health-conscious times, dry-frying has become a popular way of cooking fish and meat, especially bacon rashers. First heat a frying pan with a heavy bottom on a high flame until it is hot. Meanwhile, prepare the meat or fish. If it has little fat of its own, drizzle a small amount of oil over the surface and rub it in. However, if the meat has natural fat or the fish is oily, simply season with freshly ground black pepper. When the pan is hot, add the meat or fish and then leave it. Do not be tempted to move the food around in the pan until a crust has formed. You will then be able to slide an egg slice or palette knife underneath and turn to cook on the other side. Dry-frying is also used to extract and bring out the flavour of whole spices, seeds or nuts. Fry them without fat in a heavy-bottomed pan over a high heat, shaking the pan from time to time. Continue cooking, watching carefully to avoid burning, until they give off a distinct aroma, and then tip them onto a cold plate.

Shallow Fry:
Shallow frying is the cooking of food in a small quantity of pre-heated fat or oil in a shallow pan or on a flat surface (griddle plate).

There are three methods of frying using a shallow amount of fat or oil.

Shallow Fry: cooking of food in a small amount of fat or oil in a frying pan or sauté pan. The presentation side of the food should be fried first as this side will have the better appearance because the fat is clean, then turned so that both sides are cooked and coloured.
Sauté: cooking tender cuts of meat and poultry in a sauté or frying pan. After cooking, the fat is discarded and the pan is deglazed with stock or wine. This forms an important part of the finished sauce. Only tender foods can be used. Also used when cooking, for example, potatoes or onions when they are cut into slices or pieces and tossed in hot shallow fat or oil in a frying pan till golden brown.
Griddle: e.g. hamburgers, sausages, sliced onions, are placed on a lightly oiled, pre-heated griddle (solid metal plate), and turned frequently during cooking.
Advantages
Quick method of cooking
No loss of soluble nutrients
Good colour
Disadvantages
Only suitable for expensive cuts of meat
Not easily digested
Requires to be supervised
Roasting:
Roasting is a cooking method that utilizes dry heat, whether an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting usually causes caramelization of the surface of the food, which is considered a flavour enhancement. Meats and most root and bulb vegetables can be roasted. Any piece of meat, especially red meat, that has been cooked in this fashion is called a roast. Also, meats and vegetables prepared in this way are described as "roast", e.g., roast chicken or roast squash. Some foods such as coffee and chocolate are always roasted.

Microwaving:
Microwaving is employing microwave radiation primarily to cook or heat food. Microwaving is an extremely rapid method of cooking meat. The use of lower power (30% power) is recommended for more uniform cooking especially for larger meat cuts. Microwave cooking is not recommended for cuts which are less tender as microwave cooking does not tenderize meats as slower cooking methods do. Meats which are suitable for microwave cooking include:

processed meats such as hotdogs, bacon, and meat loaves
precooked items
some boneless fresh meat cuts
Stewing:
In cooking, stewing means preparing vegetables or meat by simmering in liquid. Unlike braising, the ingredients are generally diced. A stew may be either simmered in a pot on the stove top or cooked in a covered casserole in the oven. Stewing is suitable for the least tender cuts of meat that become tender and juicy with the slow moist heat method. This makes it popular in low-cost cooking. Cuts having a certain amount of marbling and gelatinous connective tissue give moist, juicy stews, while lean meat may easily become dry. Stews may be thickened by reduction, but are more often thickened with flour, either by coating pieces of meat with flour before searing, or by using a roux or beurre manié, a dough consisting of equal parts of butter and flour.

Poaching:
Poaching is the process of gently simmering food in liquid, generally water, stock or wine. Poaching is particularly suitable for fragile food, such as eggs, poultry, fish and fruit, which might easily fall apart or dry out. For this reason, it is important to keep the heat low and to keep the poaching time to a bare minimum, which will also preserve the flavour of the food. The poaching liquid is called court bouillon and a classical court bouillon consists of: an acid (wine, lemon juice), aromatic (bouquet garni), poaching liquid, and mirepoix. The liquid should be around 160-185°F (70-85°C), and always remember that to serve chicken safely it has to have reached a temperature of 165°F (74°C) in the core. Poached eggs are generally cooked in water, fish in white wine, poultry in stock and fruit in red wine.

Steaming:
Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. It is a preferred cooking method for health conscious individuals because no cooking oil is needed, thus resulting in a lower fat content. Steaming also results in a more nutritious food than boiling because fewer nutrients are destroyed or leached away into the water (which is usually discarded). It is also easier to avoid burning food when steaming. Steaming works by first boiling water, causing it to evaporate into steam; the steam then carries heat to the food, thus cooking the food. Such cooking is most often done by placing the food into a steamer, which is a typically a circular container made of metal or bamboo. The steamer usually has a lid that is placed on the top of the container during cooking, to allow the steam to cook the food.

Toasting:
To heat and brown (bread, for example) by placing in a toaster or an oven or close to a fire. Cooking to a brown crispiness over a fire or on a grill; "proper toasting should brown both sides of a piece of bread". This is done using a toaster like the one below.

Slow Cooking:
Raw food, and a liquid which is predominantly water, such as water, wine, stock, (but not oil without water), are placed in the slow cooker. Some recipes work best if the liquid which is added to the other ingredients has been already heated to boiling point, for example, in a kettle. Recipes intended for other cooking methods must be modified for slow cookers. Often water must be decreased, as cooking at higher temperatures requires enough liquid to allow for evaporation. Some slow cookers are supplied with recipe booklets; many slow cooker recipes are to be found in cookbooks and on the internet. A small number of cookbooks seek to make complete dishes in a slow cooker using fewer than five ingredients, while others treat the slow cooker as a serious piece of culinary equipment capable of producing gourmet meals. With some experience, timing and recipe adjustments can be successfully made for many recipes not originally intended for these cookers. The long, moist nature of the cooking method gives good results even with cheaper (and tougher) cuts of meat in fact, cheaper cuts often have more flavour.

Methods Of Heat Transfers:
Radiation:
Radiation is the transfer of heat through electromagnetic radiation. Hot or cold, all objects radiate energy at a rate equal to their emissivity times the rate at which energy would radiate from them if they were a black body. No medium is necessary for radiation to occur; radiation works even in and through a perfect vacuum. The energy from the Sun travels through the vacuum of space before warming the earth. Also, the only way that energy can leave earth is by being radiated to space. Both reflectivity and emissivity of all bodies is wavelength dependent. The temperature determines the wavelength distribution of the electromagnetic radiation as limited in intensity by Plank’s law of black-body radiation. For any body the reflectivity depends on the wavelength distribution of incoming electromagnetic radiation and therefore the temperature of the source of the radiation while the emissivity depends on the wave length distribution and therefore the temperature of the body itself.

Conduction:
Conduction is the transfer of thermal energy from a region of higher temperature to a region of lower temperature through direct molecular communication within a medium or between mediums in direct physical contact without a flow of the material medium. The transfer of energy could be primarily by elastic impact as in fluids or by free electron diffusion as predominant in metals or phonon vibration as predominant in insulators. In other words, heat is transferred by conduction when adjacent atoms vibrate against one another, or as electrons move from atom to atom. Conduction is greater in solids, where atoms are in constant contact. In liquids (except liquid metals) and gases, the molecules are usually further apart, giving a lower chance of molecules colliding and passing on thermal energy.

Heat conduction is directly analogous to diffusion of particles into a fluid, in the situation where there are no fluid currents. This type of heat diffusion differs from mass diffusion in behaviour, only inasmuch as it can occur in solids, whereas mass diffusion is limited to fluids.

Convection:
Convection is a combination of conduction and the transfer of thermal energy by fluid circulation or movement of the hot particles in bulk to cooler areas in a material medium. Unlike the case of pure conduction, now currents in fluids are additionally involved in convection. This movement occurs into a fluid or within a fluid, and cannot happen in solids. In solids, molecules keep their relative position to such an extent that bulk movement or flow is prohibited, and therefore convection does not occur.

Convection occurs in two forms: natural and forced convection.

In natural convection, fluid surrounding a heat source receives heat, becomes less dense and rises. The surrounding, cooler fluid then moves to replace it. This cooler fluid is then heated and the process continues, forming a convection current. The driving force for natural convection is buoyancy, a result of differences in fluid density when gravity or any type of acceleration is present in the system.

Forced convection, by contrast, occurs when pumps, fans or other means are used to propel the fluid and create an artificially induced convection current. Forced heat convection is sometimes referred to as heat advection, or sometimes simply advection for short. But advection is a more general process, and in heat advection, the substance being "advected" in the fluid field is simply heat.

[Gifted]

LOL Great topic 8)