Hot method
Mostly hot method of making foodstuff and ingredients ready for use brings the cooking process to an end but sometimes hot method precedes or happens before cold method (cutting into pieces, peeling). This is to be done when cooking some cold collations as light informal meals and sweet dishes for example fruits. In some cases using hot method play ancillary (support) function. It provides necessary support to the cold method (scald vegetables to prevent them from darkening, scald meat products to remove any of the fine thread-like strands growing from the skin of animals)
Scald means to immerse (meat, fruits and vegetables) briefly in boiling water for various purposes, such as to facilitate the removal of skin from fruit or to preserve meat.
The use of hot method makes foodstuff and ingredients softer and leads to new flavor, enhances the taste of food and increase food assimilability.
Assimilability is the way the human body absorbs and digests food and nutrients.
To a greater extend hot method decontaminates foodstuff and ingredients by removing most of the germs, destroys dangerous substances from food.
Hot method techniques
Technique is a skilful or efficient way of cooking
The most reliable hot method technique is to put foodstuff and ingredients into boiling water, because it guarantees almost always foodstuff and ingredients warm up to 100 ° C or 212 ° F, though frying foodstuff and ingredients in hot fat or oil does not guarantees deep warm up.
Parasitic worms and pathogens are affected by the use hot method techniques.
A pathogen is any organism which can cause disease in a person, animal, or plant.
Some raw foodstuff and ingredients contain poison substances pesticides and insecticide. These substances are destroyed using hot method techniques or captured, accumulated in the first broth. Therefore it is recommended to pour out the first broth with many poison of plant or animal origin.
Culinary technique has many ways of carrying out a particular task and efficient ways of applying hot method ways of cooking. The main ones are boiling and frying. Stewing and braising go for combined cooking techniques.
When you stew meat, vegetables, or fruit, you cook them slowly in liquid in a closed dish.
When you braise meat or a vegetable, you fry it quickly and then cook it slowly in a covered dish with a small amount of liquid.
In addition to main ones there are ancillary techniques of cooking that provide necessary support to main ones. They are passerate and blanching.
Passerate is a light fry in small amount of fat or oil.
Blanching is the process of making vegetables ready for further cooking by immersing briefly in boiling water.
Boiling or heating of foodstuff and ingredients as a method of cooking can be done in plenty or small amount of water, au jus or in its own juice and steam. In some cases foodstuff and ingredients are boiled with low temperature (egg porridge or egg sauce). It is called bain-marie or water bath.
Bain-marie a pan of hot water in which a cooking container is placed for slow cooking.
Foodstuff and ingredients can be fried with low amount fat or oil (main technique), can be fried in deep fat (immerse food in fat or oil), open fire (spit, roast), can be fried in oven.
Spit is a long, thin metal rod pushed through meat in order to hold and turn it while it is roasted over an open fire.
Roast is the process a foodstuff and ingredients by subjecting it to intense heat
Baking means to cook food by dry heat without direct exposure to a flame.
One of the most essential rule that is recommended to follow is that foodstuff and ingredients heating should not last longer than necessary. As a result of heating that lasts more than needed is that foodstuff and ingredients change. They lose vitamins, flavor substances and taste.
Boiling or heating as a cooking technique
Broth is the base or foundation for the soup. Broth could be cooked using meat, fish or vegetables. Imagine you are going to cook a meat broth. In order to get nourishing meat broth that contains substances necessary for growth, health, and good condition the following recommendations are better to follow.
Step 1. Immerse meat in cold water for 1 hour. Make it soak. Water will take some unwanted substances such as antibiotics, hormones and unfortunately some vitamins.
—2. Pour out wasted water and wash out the meat.
—3. Immerse meat in new cold water and place on the stove. Heat lever is set to high. Dish is closed.
—4. Once it starts boiling pour out wasted water again.
—5. Immerse meat in one more new cold water and place on the stove. Heat lever is set to high. Drop one bulb of peeled onion and one peeled potato. Dish is slightly open.
—6. Once it starts boiling reduce the heat to level slightly above minimum and keep cooking for 2-4 hours. Time depends on how fresh meat is. If it becomes soft and tender in 2 hours that will be enough time for cooking.
—7. Add salt and remove the onion 1 hour before the broth is ready.
Once the broth is cooled down you`d better place it in the freezer. Relatively low temperature extends broth lifetime and saves proteins and other nutrients.
