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Cooking Method

There are two main classifications of cooking methods - moist heat and dry heat, with a third combining the two. Moist heat methods include boiling, simmering, poaching and steaming, which cook food in water or other liquids. Dry heat methods include roasting, broiling, grilling, sauteing, frying, and baking, which use heat from ovens, grills or pans without added liquid. The document provides details on each of these common cooking techniques.

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7K views

Cooking Method

There are two main classifications of cooking methods - moist heat and dry heat, with a third combining the two. Moist heat methods include boiling, simmering, poaching and steaming, which cook food in water or other liquids. Dry heat methods include roasting, broiling, grilling, sauteing, frying, and baking, which use heat from ovens, grills or pans without added liquid. The document provides details on each of these common cooking techniques.

Uploaded by

b.mars
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Cooking Methods

There are two classifications of cooking methods, moist heat and dry heat. There is
also a third classification which is a combination of moist and dry heat methods.

Moist Heat Cooking Methods


Moist heat cooking methods include boiling, simmering, poaching and steaming.

Boiling
Boiling is cooking in liquid at 212 degrees at sea level. The liquid may be water, a
seasoned liquid, wine, stock, or a combination. Boiling is usually reserved for certain
vegetables and starches such as potatoes and pasta. Meats, fish and eggs outside
the shell are never boiled. The higher temperature and agitation toughens protein
and breaks up delicate foods.

Simmering
Simmering is cooking in a liquid just below the boiling point. Bubbles usually rise and
break just below or at the surface. The temperature of the liquid is 185 degrees to
205 degrees.

Poaching
Poaching is to cook in a liquid that is not actually bubbling at 165 to 180 degrees. It
is usually used to cook delicate foods such as fish and eggs.

Steaming
Steaming is cooking foods by exposing them directly to steam. It can be
accomplished in a number of ways; on a rack above boiling liquid, by wrapping foods
tightly, or in a covered pan allowing the food item to cook in its own steam.
Steaming is a preferred method of cooking for vegetables since it minimizes the loss
of nutrients and the vegetables can be cooked rapidly without agitation.

Blanching
To cook food items briefly in boiling water is known as blanching. Foods are placed in
cold water and brought to a boil or placed directly into boiling water. After a brief
cooking time they are removed and plunged in icewater to stop the cooking process
and to set color. Meats are blanched briefly to leach out impurities or salt, while
vegetables are blanched to set color, remove harmful enzymes or to loosen skin for
easier peeling.

Dry Heat Cooking Methods


Dry heat cooking methods include roasting, broiling, grilling, sauteing, frying, and
baking.

Roasting
Roasting is to cook foods by surrounding them in dry heat usually in an oven. It can
also be accomplished by spit roasting over an open fire or on an outdoor grill. There
are two schools of thought about roasting. One is that meats should be roasted first
at a high temperature, usually 400 to 425 degrees, to brown the meat and seal in
natural juices. After the meat is browned the temperature is reduced to 325 degrees
to allow the meat to cook slowly. The other method is to cook meats by roasting at
325 degrees for the entire cooking period. The thought for each method is that it
reduces shrinkage and gives a more moist finished product. You will find recipes that
use both methods of roasting on our site.

Baking is essentially the same as roasting however it is normally associated with


baking bread or cakes.

Broiling
Broiling is to cook foods at a high temperature with an overhead heat source.
Sometimes the temperature may be as high as 1500 to 2000 degrees in some
commercial broilers. The food usually rests on a grate four to six inches below the
heat source and is usually only turned once during the cooking process

Grilling
Grilling is done an on open grid or grate over a heat source. The heat source may be
an electrical element, charcoal, or a gas flame. Pan broiling is done in a skillet or
saute pan. It is done without the use of fat or the process is known as pan frying.

NOTE: It should be noted that barbecuing is defined as cooking over charcoal or


ashes and may be confused with some of the above-mentioned cooking methods.

Sauteing
Sauteing is to cook quickly in a small amount of fat. The pan should be preheated.
This will allow the food to be seared quickly. Small pieces of foods such as diced
onions must be stirred or otherwise kept in motion during sauteing. Larger cuts of
vegetables or slices of meat are usually only turned once.

Frying
There are two types of frying that we will discuss briefly. The first is pan frying. Pan
frying is done in a moderate amount of fat over moderate heat. This method is used
for larger pieces of food and usually takes longer than sauteing. Varying amounts of
fats are used and the food may be turned more than once during cooking.
Deep fat frying is to fry foods completely submerged in fat. Although it seems fairly
simple, deep fat frying is not as easy as one would think. Foods must be fried at the
correct temperature, 350 to 360 degrees to minimize fat absorption. Only small
amounts of food should be fried at any one time. Larger amounts of food cause the
temperature to drop drastically.

A NOTE: Blanching can also be done in fat. French fries may be partially cooked in
deep fat and allowed to drain and cool before cooking completely done.

If you follow these cooking methods, your results will always be great.

http://therecipeforcooking.com/cookingmethods.html

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