Cooking 101

Posted on by

Have you ever felt hungry but couldn’t decide what to eat? Or have you ever wondered what various effects different preparations may have on the body and to your health? The discrepancy of cooking proteins may be quite a surprise to you. It may just look like a piece of meat, but there is a vast array of benefits based on different ways of cooking. 

 

Starting off strong with grilling. Imagine sitting in your backyard with your friends and you’re in front of a barbecue. Sizzling steak and dripping sauce. Grilling your food allows for excess fat to drip away from the meat, potentially reducing the overall fat content of the dish. When grilling, much of the essential nutrients are preserved. If we look at a piece of pork for example, protein, niacin and vitamin B6, zinc and selenium are heavily retained. The taste of being on the grill? Extra smoky flavour is present without having to add extra calories from oils or heavy sauces. 

 

 

But for those who don’t like the fiery taste of the barbecue, you can also put your food in the oven to bake. Baking allows for even cooking and can help retain moisture and nutrients in the dish. If you have little to no oil, this could be a good option for you as baking requires little oil, often making it a healthier option than frying for example. It’s also convenient as it doesn’t require much attention, just a simple timer so that you can catch your favourite reality TV show while your food is in the oven. Baking is easy; you put your food on a tin tray, add some seasoning if you’d like, and then turn on the oven and wait. Simple right?

 

We can’t forget about boiling. As basic as boiling can be, it is a very healthy cooking method, as no oil or fats are needed. Boiling simply requires water and heat. It can preserve your food’s nutritional value, especially if cooking time is kept to a minimum. Do keep in mind however that water soluble vitamins like B6 can leach into the cooking water and may not be consumed. Although not everybody would like the texture of the wet meat, there are some folks who would prefer it to charred or darker cooked food. Boiling meat can be a good option for you if you don’t care too much about the flavour or colour of your food. It can also be a great option for those who like their food more pliable. This can also allow for you to add  more seasoning to your desire. 

 

 

Similar to boiling, there is also steaming. Steaming has little to no flavour like boiling, but it retains nutrients and vitamins better than the former because the food does not come in direct contact with water like it does in a boil. This is a commonly used method of cooking for traditional Asian dishes, and is often used with vegetables to add pliability while retaining the nutrients and flavour. Like boiling, steaming requires no added fats or oils, which is a healthy option, but you may still  want to add seasonings for extra flavour.

 

Additionally to boiling and steaming, there is also slow cooking. This is a better option for making proteins softer and easier to chew as it can tenderise some of the tougher cuts of meat. Slow cooking also allows for the flavours to meld and develop which oftentimes results in a richer taste to your plate. For example, birria beef, found commonly in traditional Mexican tacos is extremely flavourful and very easy to chew and digest. It’s a personal favourite to many, especially to chef Kuiack. It’s also important to keep in mind that the sodium content in slow cooking is often higher if the meat is prepackaged. Water-soluble vitamins and minerals are retained better when the cooking liquid is consumed as part of a dish (e.g., in soups or stews). 

 

Lower on the health list, there is sauteing. If you’re not too worried about the added oils or fats, this method is packed with flavour while retaining its nutrients. Adding in herbs, spices and some healthy oils can add depth to the flavour and nutritional profile of your choice of protein. Cooking at high temperatures can be detrimental as it can lead to the formation of unhealthy compounds. Using moderate heat and avoiding burning can help to avoid unhealthy compounds, which makes sauteing an optimal option to cook. 

 

Another water heavy option is poaching. Have you ever had a poached egg? Like slow cooking or boiling, poaching requires simmering in a liquid, which helps to retain natural moisture and flavour. Because poaching involves cooking at a lower temperature, it tends to preserve more of the nutrients, contrary to boiling or sauteing. The gentle cooking process helps maintain the protein’s tenderness and prevents it from becoming dry, which is particularly beneficial for delicate proteins like fish or poultry.

 

When eating raw preparations, it’s always a good idea to freeze the food first to kill off any potential parasites. Eating food raw is good in the sense that it preserves the nutrients and enzymes that would often get lost when cooked. On the flip side, eating raw food can be harder to digest as it’s not broken down. Food like sushi, and tartare are some of the more popular dishes that are eaten raw, they’re also better for dieting as the minimal preparation saves the added on calories from things like oil. 

 

Stir fry is good for cooking on a crunch as it’s often a quicker cook. It does not require a lot of oil, and because of it’s high heat it brings out the aroma and brightens the flavours of much of the ingredients without entirely drying them out oppositely to lower heat and longer cook times. It’s a very popular method of cooking in Asia as well as being very similar to the more western take of it being sauteing.

 

If you like grilling your food, you’ll love trying to broil it. Broiling in essence is upside down grilling where radiant heat is applied to the meat with minimal heat coming from the pan itself, slightly different from pan broiling where meat is put directly into the pan and cooked by conduction. In pan broiling the fat that builds up during the cooking process is often poured off.

 

We’ve come a long way from the days of bonfires in caves. Now that you have all the basics of different ways to cook, you can begin turning yourself into the chef that you always wanted to be. If you’re a dad who likes spending his time out on the back patio firing up a grill, you can try picking up a wok and making a stir fry. Maybe you’re someone who traditionally cooks sauteing, it might be time to broil that chicken. There are so many ways to cook all kinds of different food each providing their own unique spin on the dish. Or maybe you’ve never cooked a day in your life and you only eat raw foods and tap your Uber Eats app. Wherever you’re at in your cooking journey , there is so much to experience in the world of cooking and so many flavours to unlock. What are you going to try cooking next?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *