Your New Favorite Cooking Tips

Cooking can be extremely fun and easy especially if you are equipped with the proper knowledge on how to execute certain methods. Many people have been cooking their whole lives and never really know the exact ways to do certain things such as how to add oil to a wok for a stir-fry, or how to properly broil. So I have reviewed the two main categories of cooking methods including some various tips. The two cooking methods are dry-heat cooking and moist-heat cooking. Dry-heat cooking consists of baking, grilling, broiling, roasting, stir-frying, and deep-frying. Moist heat consists of boiling, poaching, braising, and steaming.

DRY-HEAT COOKING METHODS

BAKING

• Baking is used mostly for sweet dishes and occasionally some that are savory. Food will brown faster when using a dark metal, or non-stick baking pan. When using these types of pans, it is important to check food before the suggested time in the recipe.
• Pyrex glass pans are more efficient at holding heat; therefore, it is important to bake with a lower oven temperature. Decrease heat by 25 degrees.
• Average baking temperature will range from 300 degrees F to 400 degrees F.
• Convection baking is when a fan blows hot air throughout the oven. This is used primarily for cookies, cakes, and bread.

GRILLING

• Make sure food is not too wet from marinades before putting it on the grill.
• If there are foods that need to be grilled, but they are small enough to fall through the grill, use a grill rack that can be placed on top of the grill.
• Once food is on the grill, it is important to wait until it is done searing. You should not try and move it before hand because it will stick to the grill until it releases on its own.
• Since the grill usually cooks with high heat, foods that have short cooking times should be cooked using the grilling method.
• To create the famous crosshatching grill marks, rotate the food 45 degrees on each side once it has cooked two-thirds of the way.

BROILING

• Make your own broiler pan by using a rimmed baking sheet and placing a wire cooling rack on top of it. The baking sheet should be very sturdy.
• With the tray elevated, it ensures that the juices from the meat will drain so that it won't cook in its own juices.
• Broil with the oven door partly open so that the food can caramelize properly. This caramelization will occur better as more steam escapes from the oven.
• Don't broil items such as minced garlic because it has a tendency to burn faster.

ROASTING

• It is better to coat roasting pan with oil rather than parchment paper because the paper does not help with caramelization.
• Pan-roasting consists of two steps. Browning the food on top of the stove and then moving it into the oven to finish.
• Start roasting denser vegetables that accompany the main dish sooner so that everything finishes at the same time.
• To achieve a crispy, dark crust, roast food on 425-450 degrees for the first 20-30 minutes and then turn down the heat to 350 or 325 degrees F.
• Meat roasted on the bone contains more flavor than boneless.

STIR-FRYING

• Foods should be cut thinly before stir-frying. This is because stir-frying is done at rather high temperatures.
• If using a wok or stir-fry pan, it should be heated first before oil or butter is added. Then the oil should be poured down the sides of the pan.
• If adding minced garlic, it is important to continue to stir the garlic once it has been added to prevent it from burning.
• Do not start stirring food until steam from the pan is visible so that the food can be caramelized properly.

DEEP-FRYING

• To keep a consistent temperature in the oil, use a heavy cast iron pot.
• The food that is placed into the oil must be sizzling once it is submerged. This ensures that the oil is hot enough.
• If the oil does not sizzle when the food is placed into it, then it is not hot enough and the oil will be absorbed.
• Adding numerous amounts of items into hot oil at the same time will lower the temperature of the oil resulting in absorption instead of the crispy outside.
• To make sure that all food is cooked evenly within the same batch, it should all be close to the same sizes.

MOIST-HEAT METHODS

BOILING

• When boiling potatoes, carrots, and any other root vegetable, put them in cold water before it begins to boil. Using this method will guarantee even cooking.
• When boiling broccoli and cauliflower, keep the top covering the pot so that the odor stays concealed.
• Water used for boiling should be salted for flavor.
• Add some olive oil to the water to keep green vegetables alive with green color.
• Soak pot used in boiling pasta or rice in cold water instead of hot water. The hot water makes the rice or pasta stick to the pot.

POACHING

• Poaching is a technique that involves putting fish, eggs, meats, and poultry completely in liquid.
• The liquid should not become hot enough to boil, just simmer.
• Use a thermometer to check whether or not the protein that you are poaching is finished.
• To add flavor to the liquid that is being used, add celery, onion, carrots, herbs and some cracked black pepper.
• Adding a little white vinegar into the water used for poaching eggs will help keep the shape of the eggs.

BRAISING

• Braising describes cooking a dish in a flavored liquid that eventually becomes part of dish.
• When braising, use just enough liquid, such as a tomato sauce or curry, to cover the top of the food.
• Before braising, to get great flavor in your food, season it with salt and pepper, cover in a light coat of flour, tap off any excess flour and then sauté in oil or butter until brown on all sides. Then put the sautéed food into the flavored liquid for braising.
• Braising should be done with a lid to cover the food. Use a concave lid rather than a flat one so that when your remove it, the steam can be trapped. Then immediately turn upside down so that the water does not pour back into the dish.
• Foods made with the braising method taste better the next day once the flavors have really set in.

STEAMING

• To steam food, place it on a rack that sits above boiling water. The food should be tightly covered.
• Replace a different cooking method with steaming to reduce fat content in the dish because it does not use any oil or fat to cook, only steam.
• Use fresh items such as fresh fish or vegetables that can be cooked relatively quickly.
• To make sure that the water boiling underneath your steaming rack does not run out, dropping a coin in the water. If it starts to rattle, then the water level is getting low.
• Steam fish, or any other moist food on a big lettuce leaf as it will absorb any drips.