Cooking the favourite delicacies for everyone at home can bring in a great sense of accomplishment. Can it get any better than experiencing your family enjoy the food you made by putting in all those efforts?
But cooking is also about using the appropriate method and techniques to make it a healthy affair for everyone. This article shows you the importance of choosing a suitable cooking medium and the different methods you can adopt to stay healthy.
Importance of choosing the right cooking method
Using the appropriate cooking method for a particular food item is one of the most important decisions you will have to make. If you choose the wrong cooking technique, it wouldn’t matter how hard you try. The outcome would be far from your expectations.
To elaborate further, let’s consider the example of veggies like carrots, broccoli, or bell peppers. You would not want to steam them as it would kill all their nutritional elements. Similarly, boiling vegetables is not a healthy practice as their nutrition get lost in the process. It is thus vital to choose the right cooking methods.
What are the different ways of cooking food?
Understanding the cooking methods can help you cook delicious food items. Cooking principles vary when you cook a vegetable, meat, or seafood. So, let’s take a look at the three main cooking methods.
Dry-heat cooking method
It is an example of a cooking method that involves the use of oil or fats as the cooking medium. You can sauté, stir-fry, deep-fry, or even pan-fry the food item. Roasting and grilling are some dry-heat methods that do not require oil or fat. The food gets cooked because of the direct or indirect contact of food with radiant heat.
No liquid gets used during cooking. Even if any fat gets used, it is only to add flavour to food items. It does not get used as a cooking medium. You can expect a moist interior of the food item with a rich aroma.
Moist-heat cooking method
Shallow or deep poaching, steaming, and simmering are some moist-heat cooking techniques. They are some of the traditional cooking methods and also economical. The water-soluble nutrients of food items do not get drawn out in this method of cooking food.
It makes the moist-heat technique famous for many popular dishes. You can expect food items cooked to perfection with delicate flavours.
Dry and moist heat combination cooking method
It is not possible to cook some food items through the above two methods. So a combination of dry and moist heat methods are beneficial in such cases. You can also braise and stew vegetables and fish. They would not require much liquid to cook. It will additionally involve less cooking time and lower temperature.
In combination methods, searing the food item is the first step. Braising is the next step once searing gets completed. It is applicable for food items with a large portion or sizes like fish. In stewing, the amount of liquid depends on the preparation style of the food item.
Bottom line
Choosing the appropriate cooking method is essential to prepare flavourful and healthy dishes. Different food items require varying cooking methods. It is critical to opt for a suitable cooking method from a health perspective as well. Eating healthy will help you stay fit in the long run.
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