Heat treatment of foods, that is, bringing them to readiness by thermal action, is the most important part of the cooking process. In cooking, there are several methods of heat treatment.
When products are heated, various processes occur with them: a change in consistency, density, taste. In fact, it is heat treatment that turns a semi-finished product into a finished food product. Despite the significant number of methods for heat treatment of products, there are only two main methods and two combined ones. The main methods are cooking and frying. Depending on the heating medium, its quantity, temperature, duration of processing, cooking and roasting are divided into several types.
Cooking in the main way
The main method of cooking is heating the product in liquid (water, milk, broth). The ratio of volumes of liquid to product should be at least one to one, and in some cases more liquid is needed. There are two cooking modes: bringing to a boil and maintaining a certain temperature, as well as bringing to a boil, turning off the heat and bringing to readiness due to the heat accumulated in the liquid.
Blanching is a short-term cooking of food (usually vegetables). It is used to facilitate cleaning, remove unwanted tastes, and decontamination.
In addition, food can be steamed or simmered. Adding is meant immersing the product in a small volume of liquid, which allows the lower part of the semi-finished product to be cooked and heated from the condensing steam - the upper one. Simmering can only be done with the lid closed.
Some foods must be cooked at a lower temperature than the boiling point of water. For such cases, a water bath or reduced pressure cooking is used, allowing food to be cooked at 80-90 ° C.
Frying products
There are several more varieties of roasting than cooking. They are classified by the presence or absence of fat, the amount, use of the pan or oven. The most traditional way is to fry in a pan with a little oil or fat, preheated to a high temperature.
In the process of such processing, a crust forms on the products, which prevents the release of juices. Fat-free frying is mainly used for baking pastry made from dough to which some oil has already been added. In addition, deep-fried cooking is a popular method of frying. Finally, raw vegetables are often sauteed, that is, roasted at a low temperature (up to 120 ° C), in order to give them color, and the fat in which they are fried - the taste and aroma of vegetables.
Other processing methods
Combined cooking methods include braising and baking. Stewing is cooking by simmering products that have been pre-fried until a crust appears. As with the normal seam allowance, the lid on the pan should be tightly closed.
As for baking, this is the processing of pre-prepared foods in the oven. As a rule, food is baked to obtain a crust or simply to cook (for example, in the case of cutlets). Often, various sauces are added during the baking process.
