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Cooking is said to be an art. But cooking is also a science.
There is lot of science involved in cooking. If one has the time and interest,
a lot of experimentation can be done using various cooking techniques. Some
cooking techniques are the traditional ones which are used in our day to day
cooking. Let us look at some of these fantastico cooking techniques.
Steam Cooking
There are lot of food varieties that we cooking with the
steam technique. To apply the steam, a stand is kept in an enclosed vessel with
boiling water. There is no direct contact of the water with the food item. It
is only through the steam coming out of the water that the food is cooked. Steam
keeps the nutrients in the food item intact also it does not loses the
different flavors. Also there is no need to add oil while steaming so you can
prepare lot of healthy food items. The most common preparations with steam are
the idlis, momos, dhokals etc.
Baking
Baking is another cooking technique that we use in lot of
preparations. Here the cooking is bit slow as there is no direct flame applied
to the container. The cooking is done by providing the conventional heat in an
enclosed space like an oven. Cakes, cookies, breads are all prepared by the
baking method of cooking.
Grilling
Grilling is also used in lot of food preparations these
days. People in villages also cook food using the traditional grilling method.
Here the food is cooked on a hot charcoal kept over open fire. The food item is
directly kept on the charcoal is cooked by the heat generated by charcoal. It
gives a very awesome charcoal flavor to the food. Now a days lot restaurants
are using this traditional cooking method to produce that authentic charcoal
flavor in the food. The modern grilling technique is using the grilling oven or
stove. Here the food is slowly grilled with the heat generated by the griller.
This is also a very good technique to grill your vegetables and meat as it also
keeps the flavor and intact and the nutrient value is also not lost.
Sauteing
Sauteing is a generally done over a gas stove. We use the
pan and heat it on the stove. The food item, for example vegetables cut in
small pieces are put in the hot pan with some oil and sauteed. The food is
turned or tossed regularly to promote uniform heat and even cooking. Here no
water is used and food item is kept dry. Generally the food is not overcooked
with this technique.
Frying
Frying can be either pan frying or deep frying. In pan
frying the food is fried with very little oil. It is not totally submerged in
the oil. While in the deep frying method
the food is fried in a vessel filled with hot oil. The pan frying method is healthier
as compared to the deep frying as very less oil penetrates the food item. Also
the food cooked by deep frying is crunchier than cooked by pan frying.
Above are some of the fantastic cooking methods that we
generally use in our kitchens. By cooking the same thing using different
techniques we can provide a new taste and flavors to our cooking.
