Simmering: is a food preparation technique in which foods are cooked in hot liquids kept at or just below the boiling point of water (which is 100 °C or 212 °F at average sea level air pressure), but higher than poaching temperature. To keep a pot simmering, one brings it to a boil and then reduces the heat to a point where the formation of steam bubbles has all but ceased, typically a water temperature of about 94 °C (200 °F). Simmering ensures gentler treatment than boiling to prevent food from toughening and/or breaking up. Simmering is usually a rapid and efficient method of cooking. Food that has simmered in milk or cream instead of water is referred to as creamed. The appropriate simmering temperature is a topic of debate among chefs, with some contending that a simmer is as low as 82 °C (180 °F).For example, tough cuts of meat and old fowl can be made tender and tasty by long cooking at a low temperature, for this method tends to soften the fiber and to develop an excellent flavor. Tough vegetables, too, can be cooked tender by the simmering process without using so much fuel as would be used if they were boiled. Making beef or chicken stock requires a simmering method.
Stewing:
| Stewing, the process of cooking by slowly simmering ingredients in a little liquid until all the ingredients are tender. |
| Stewing is a popular method because stews can be prepared in advance and generally left unattended till the gravy is thickened just before serving. This thickening not only creates a rich, creamy sauce that can be eaten with rice, but also gives body to the tender and easily digestable food. Another advantage that makes stews a cook's favourite is that a stewed dish can be kept for nearly a week, its flavour improving with each reheating. Besides the basic slow stewing method, there are variations of this technique. They are fast stewing, braising, spicy stewing and sauteed stewing. More on this another time. Stewing cooks small pieces of food in ample liquid to cover. It differs from simmering as stewing requires less liquid and and the end result, the liquid, becomes part of the dish, so in a way it is reducing as it cooks and tenderizes. Example: Beef Stew. Steeping: Saturation in a liquid solvent to extract a soluble ingredient, where the solvent is the desired product. Tea is prepared for drinking by steeping the leaves in heated water to release the flavor and nutrients. Herbal teas may be prepared by decoction, infusion, or maceration; or Soaking to remove an ingredient; Example: salt from smoked ham or salted cod, where the solvent is not the desired product. One example is the steeping of maize, part of the milling process. Harvested kernels of maize are cleaned and then steeped in water at a temperature of 50 °C (120 °F) for 30 to 40 hours. In the process their moisture content rises from 15% to 45% and their volume more than doubles. The gluten bonds in the maize are weakened and starch is released. The maize is then ground to break free the germ and other components, and the water used (steepwater), which has absorbed various nutrients, is recycled for use in animal feeds. Tea is another example of stewing, you steep a tea bag in hot water until the desired flavor/color is reached. Pressure cooking: is a method of cooking in a sealed vessel that does not permit air or liquids to escape below a preset pressure. Because the boiling point of water increases as the pressure increases, the pressure built up inside the cooker allows the liquid in the pot to rise to a higher temperature before boiling. Pressure is created at the beginning with boiling liquid, such as water, inside the closed pressure cooker and the trapped steam increases the internal pressure and temperature, which is maintained throughout cooking time. Pressure cookers may be referred to by several other names. An early pressure cooker, called a steam digester, was invented by Denis Papin, a French physicist, in 1679. Large pressure cookers are often called pressure canners, due to their capacity to hold jars used in canning. A version of a pressure cooker used by laboratories and hospitals to sterilize materials is known as an autoclave. In the food industry, pressure cookers are often referred to as retorts or "canning retorts". The higher temperature causes the food to cook faster; cooking times can typically be reduced to 1/3 of the time of conventional cooking methods. Note that the actual cooking time depends on thickness, as thicker foods will take longer to cook. Meat - and some other foods like sponge puddings - are timed according to their weight. Also frozen foods need a little extra cooking time. When pressure cooking at 15 psi, cooking times are typically as follows: Shredded cabbage is cooked in one minute, fresh green beans in three minutes, potatoes cook in about 5 - 7 minutes (the actual cooking time for potatoes depends on type, initial temperature of the potatoes and thickness) and a whole chicken takes only twenty minutes. Brown rice, lentils and beans can be cooked in ten minutes, instead of 45 minutes of simmering in an ordinary saucepan. |
0 comments:
Post a Comment