COOKING METHOD&PRINCIPLE

Cooking is an act of preparing food for eating. It encompasses a vast range of methods, tools and combinations of ingredients to improve the flavour or digestibility of food. It generally requires the selection, measurement and combining of ingredients in an ordered procedure in an effort to achieve the desired result. Constraints on success include the variability of ingredients, ambient conditions, tools, and the skill of the individual cooking. The diversity of cooking worldwide is a reflection of the myriad nutritional, aesthetic, agricultural, economic, cultural and religious considerations that impact upon it. Cooking requires applying heat to a food which usually, though not always, chemically transforms it, thus changing its flavor, texture, appearance, and nutritional properties. Cooking proper, as opposed to roasting, requires the boiling of water in a receptable, and was practiced at least since the 10th millennium BC with the introduction of pottery. Cooking techniques Some major hot cooking techniques: 1. Baking 1. Baking Blind 2. Broiling 3. FlashBake Baking Baking is the technique of cooking food in an oven by dry heat applied evenly throughout the oven or only from the bottom element. Many household ovens in North America are usually provided with two heating elements, one in the bottom for baking, and one in the top for broiling. The person who does the baking is called a baker. Breads, desserts, and meat (see also roasting) are often baked, and baking is the primary cooking technique used to produce cakes and pastry-based goods such as pies, tarts, and quiches. Such items are sometimes referred to as "baked goods," and are sold at a bakery. Overview The dry heat of baking changes the structures of starches in the food and causes its outer surfaces to brown, giving it an attractive appearance and taste, while partially sealing in the food's moisture. The browning is caused by caramelization of sugars and the Maillard reaction. Ingredients often used in baking http://tangkapgambar.blogspot.com/

Butter, margarine or other shortening Flour Sugar eggs Salt Leavening agents: Baking powder Yeast

soft bun cooked by baked

Brownie also cooked by baked

Boiling Boiling is the rapid vaporization of a liquid, which typically occurs when a liquid is heated to a temperature such that its vapor pressure is above that of the surroundings, such as air pressure. Thus, a liquid may also boil when the pressure of the surrounding atmosphere is

sufficiently reduced, such as the use of a vacuum pump or at high altitudes. Boiling occurs in three characteristic stages, which are nucleate, transition and film boiling. These stages generally take place from low to high surface temperatures, respectively.

Boiling water

In cookery, boiling is cooking food in boiling water, or other water-based liquid such as stock or milk. Simmering is gentle boiling, while in poaching the cooking liquid moves but scarcely bubbles. Due to variations in composition and pressure, the boiling point of water is almost never 212 F / 100 C, but rather close enough for cooking. Foods suitable for boiling include: Fish. Vegetables. Farinaceous foods such as pasta. Eggs. Meats. Sauces. Stocks and soups.

Advantages: Older, tougher, cheaper joints 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. It can be a slow method Foods can look unattractive 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. http://tangkapgambar.blogspot.com/

Frying

Frying is the cooking of food in oil or fat. Chemically, oils and fats are the same, differing only in melting point, but the distinction is only made when needed. In commerce, many fats are called oils by custom, e.g. palm oil and coconut oil, which are solid at room temperature. Fats can reach much higher temperatures than water at normal atmospheric pressure. Through frying, one can sear or even carbonize the surface of foods while caramelizing sugars. The food is cooked much more quickly and has a special crispness and texture. Depending on the food, the fat will penetrate it to varying degrees, contributing richness, lubricity, and its own flavour. Frying techniques vary in the amount of fat required, the cooking time, the type of cooking vessel required, and the manipulation of the food. Sauting, stir frying, pan frying, shallow frying, and deep frying are all standard frying techniques.

Sauteing Sauting and stir-frying involve cooking foods in a thin layer of fat on a hot surface, such as a frying pan, griddle, wok, or sauteuse. Stir frying involves frying quickly at very high temperatures, requiring that the food be stirred continuously to prevent it from adhering to the cooking surface and burning.

Shallow frying Shallow frying is a type of pan frying using only enough fat to immerse approximately one-third to one-half of each piece of food; fat used in this technique is typically only used once. Deep-frying, on the other hand, involves totally immersing the food in hot oil, which is normally topped up and used several times before being disposed. Deep-frying is typically a much more involved process, and may require specialized oils for optimal results.

Deep frying Deep frying is now the basis of a very large and expanding world-wide industry. Fried products have great consumer appeal in all age groups, and the process is quick, can easily be made continuous for mass production, and the food emerges sterile and dry, with a relatively long shelf life. The end products can then be easily packaged for storage and distribution. Examples are potato crisps, French fries, nuts, doughnuts, instant noodles, etc. There is some criticism of fried food for their low nutritional value. Frying, especially deep frying, imbues the food with fat from the oil, lowering their nutrient density. 4. Deep frying 5. Hot salt frying 6. Hot sand frying 7. Pan frying 8. Pressure frying 9. Sauting 10. Stir frying 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 flavor 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. Vegetables and poultry prepared in this way are referred to as roasted (e.g. roasted chicken or roasted squash). Some foods such as coffee and chocolate are always roasted. Until the late 19th century, roasting by dry heat in an oven was called baking. Roasting originally meant turning meat or a bird on a spit in front a fire. It is one of the oldest forms of cooking known. Formerly, the kitchens of great houses were equipped with treadmills, powered by dogs or humans, for turning the spit. Traditionally, recognized roasting methods consist only of baking and cooking over or near an open fire. Grilling is normally not technically a roast, since grilled meat is usually seasoned with wet ingredients or marinated. Smoking is not roasting because of the lower heat and controlled smoke application. http://tangkapgambar.blogspot.com/

Smoking Smoking is the process of flavoring, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to the smoke from burning or smoldering plant materials, most often wood. Meats and fish are the most common smoked foods, though cheeses, vegetables, and ingredients used to make beverages such as Scotch whiskey and lapsang souchong tea are also smoked. In Europe, alderwood is the traditional smoking wood, but oak is more often used now, and beech to a lesser extent. In North America, hickory, mesquite, oak, pecan, alder, maple, and fruit-tree woods such as apple, cherry and plum are commonly used for smoking. Other fuels besides wood can also be employed, sometimes with the addition of flavoring ingredients. Chinese tea-smoking uses a mixture of uncooked rice, sugar, and tea, heated at the base of a wok. Some North American ham and bacon makers smoke their products over burning corn cobs. Peat is burned to dry and smoke the barley malt used to make Scotch whisky and some beers. Preservation

Smoke is a decent antimicrobial and antioxidant, but smoke alone is insufficient for preserving food in practice. The main problem is that the smoke compounds adhere only to the outer surfaces of the food; smoke doesn't actually penetrate far into meat or fish. In modern times, almost all smoking is carried out for its flavor, not its preservative qualities. In the past, smoking was a useful preservation tool, in combination with other techniques, most commonly salt-curing or drying. For some long-smoked foods, the smoking time also served to dry the food. Drying, curing, or other techniques can render the interior of foods inhospitable to bacterial life, while the smoking gives the vulnerable exterior surfaces an extra layer of protection. For oily fish, smoking is especially useful, as its antioxident properties delay surface fat rancidification. (Interior fat isn't as exposed to oxygen, which is what causes rancidity.) This antioxident effect could be especially important for salted meats and fish, since salt itself is a prooxidant. (Hui 512) Some heavily salted, long-smoked fish could keep without refrigeration for weeks or months. Such heavily-preserved foods usually required a treatment such as boiling in fresh water to make them palatable before eating.