Mastering The Art Of Cooking and Preparation Techniques: Series 01

The practical Culinarian tips and techniques which are required while working in the culinarian Industries.

1. ADJUSTING SALT

Sometimes, we add more salt in the gravies and curries by mistake and we don't have any other option instead of adding more water and simmer it and bring again in a required consistency, but it effects in the taste and flavor of food to the some extent, but it is done in the kitchen, However, you can adjust the salt by adding potatoes, which is a best techniques of adjust the salty food, take a large potatoes cut into big parts and put into the gravy and simmer for some minutes, minimum 30 minutes, it observe the salt and take out later on. Potatoes is a starchy tuber vegetables, it absorb liquid, potatoes doesn't absorb the salt in particular, but absorb the salty water, Similarly, make a small balls of flour dough and put into the salty curries and gravies and simmer for 15-20 minutes and take out the flour dough balls. It is also works better as potatoes to absorb the salty.

2. STOP FRUITS TURN INTO BROWN

The fruits and vegetables which are turn into brown are apple, Guava, Brinjal, egg plant and avocado. Phenols and the enzymes phenols are the molecules which are found in the cells and tissue of fruits. These enzymes helps fruits to ripe and turn brown. When fruits are cut, the tissue and cells of fruits are breakdown and enzymes is release from the tissue of the fruits and when these enzymes expose to oxygen in the air, the fruits is rapidly change its color and turn into brown gradually. This process is called enzymic browning or an oxidation reaction.

The culinarian techniques of stopping sliced fruits turning into brown are coating fruits in syrup, sugar syrup and sugar, It can reduce the oxygen diffusion at the surface of fruits which slow down the oxidation reaction or an enzymic browning. Lemon and pineapple juice is an another option to use for stopping fruits from turning brown. It contains full of ascorbic acid ( vitamin c ) and has a low PH scale which can stop the enzymes working properly because enzymes work good at a certain PH. You can use both sugar syrup and acidic fruits juice for preventing the fruits from turning brown according to the recipe requirement. for example if you are using avocado for salad use lemon juice in place of sugar syrup to prevent it from turning brown.

3. BOILING UNDER AND ABOVE THE GROUND GROUND VEGETABLES

Vegetables which are grown under the ground such as carrot, potatoes, beets and turnips are started to boil in cold water. According to 'steven Satterfield' Root vegetables are very dense, so if you drop them into boiling water, they will cooked on the outside but be raw in the middle or when they are desired texture in the middle, they will be mushy on the outside. starting them in cold water brings the temperature up gradually and evenly all the way through so that they cook perfectly inside and out. The new potatoes and baby undergrounds vegetables only need to be cook in a boiling water because new potatoes are much smaller, softer, thinner skin, higher moisture content and much lower in starch than mature vegetables.

Vegetables which are grown above the ground such as greens, peas, corn and so on are started to boil in the boiling and salted water because aboveground veggies have thin cell walls, it simply needs softening the cell walls to make them more palatable and digestible, this process doesn't take very longer. The reason of boiling above ground vegetables in salted water are cooking vegetables in salted liquid helps to season through out the vegetables which enhance the taste of vegetables. An another main reason of boiling above ground vegetables in a salted water is to increase the temperature of water faster. Adding salt to water increase the boiling point and decrease the specific heat capacity of water. It is refers to the amount of heat requires to raise the temperature of a substance by one degree Celsius. The another advantage of adding salt at the boiling water during boiling vegetable is to keep the vegetables bright and green. The another reason of starting to cook above ground vegetable in boiling water is to retain the nutrition and to maintain the physical properties of the vegetables. As you know that vegetables are water soluble, so if you started to boil above ground vegetable from cold water, takes longer time to cook which is the causes loss of severe nutrition and stay in the cooking water such as vitamins. As you know that above ground vegetables have thin cell wall which easily break down during short cooking and make food digestible then why it is needed to started cooking from cold water. The properties of vegetables [Appearance and texture] is also changed if it is cooked from cold water. cooking above ground vegetables for a long time likely be mushy - texture veggies which is called over cooked. It is also changed in the color of the vegetables.

4. BOILED DRIED VEGETABLES

Dried vegetables are started in cold water. salt is added only after the vegetables are tender.

5. SEAFOOD, SHELLFISH AND FISH BOIL

Fish, seafood and shellfish shouldn't be put into the hot water to allowed fish to simmer, not to boil. the protein of fish, seafood and shellfish is fragile, it start to coagulate [denature] at 40℃. if you boil the fish , it goes floury and loses its elasticity, so cook the fish slowly which cook your fish evenly form both outer and inner side.

6. MEAT AND POULTRY BOIL

Boiling to meat and poultry are restricted for few minutes at the starting in order to seal the pores of meat. The meat and poultry should be gentle boiling which is known as simmering T 82-99℃ to retain natural juice of meats.

7. BOIL PASTA

There are different kinds and thickness of pasta in the market such spaghetti, penne, fusilli, ravioli, linguine, farfalle (Bow Ties ), angel hair pasta, fettuccine and so on. Every pasta has their different time of cooking, but keep it mind that whatever pasta you cook, always cook till al dente, al dente is an Italian term translated as 'to the tooth', It is used to describe the ideal consistency of pasta and rice. Al dente pasta is little firm when bitten without being chalky or hard. Pasta should be al dente when serving. so don't boil completely, just boil 85%. Remember that when you take out the pasta after boiling it is still in the cooking process so try to cook pasta just 85% and some of percent will be cooked after taking out it from the pot.

Always set the timer and check the pasta time to time. An another tips of boiling pasta is stir the pasta when added in the boiling water and also stir time to time to prevent the pasta from sticking together especially It happens with spaghetti.

8. BEST TIME TO ADD PASTA INTO SAUCE

The best time to add pasta in sauce is just before serving. First make the sauce and keep it hot to ready to go, but pasta always boil just before serving.

Add al dente pasta in a hot sauce and give a little toss and serve. Don't cook pasta again in sauce. Stuffed pasta like ravioli can be broken when again cook and stir more in sauce, be gentle with the stuffed pasta.

9. OIL AND SALT FOR PASTA

Pasta always boil in a hot boiling water with salt and oil. Oil is used to prevent the pasta from sticking. Salt is used to seasoned the pasta.

10. NEUTRALIZE SALT IN FOOD

Neutralize means stop something from being effected. Acidic ingredients like lemon juice, lime juice, vinegar, apple cider can be used to neutralize the saltiness in food. Tomato products such as tomato sauce or tomato pasta will also work better because tomato are also acidic.

Some condiments like sour cream, avocado, ricotta can work to neutralize the saltiness of food because creaminess in the condiments helps to dilute the salt slightly.

Dairy products such as thickening cream, heavy cream, full cream milk and other dairy product can helps to neutralize the salty flavor in dish. Dairy products contains sugar which helps to cut down the taste of salt. Non-dairy products like coconut milk, coconut cream, oat milk, almond milk and other kinds of non-dairy products almost work similarly.

Sugar such as brown and white sugar and sweetener like maple syrup can be used to neutralize the saltiness. As we know that sweet and salt as a classic flavor combination.

The most important things keep in mind while using these ingredients to neutralize the salt is that use that ingredients that match to the dish. If nothing match with the dish, then the last option is to use potatoes and flour dough.

11.FRESH HERBS AT THE END OF COOKING PROCESS

Fresh herbs should be added 10 - 20 minutes before the dish is done or as the final touch or garnish. Don't use at the beginning or in the middle of cooking, Add at the end of cooking process 10 to 20 minutes before the dish is done to go to plate because fresh herbs have robust flavor, the prolong cooking can diminish the intensity ( strength ) of flavors due to heat exposure or heat damage. As a result, you can't get more flavors in dish as you should get.

12.DRIED HERBS AT THE BEGINNING OF COOKING PROCESS

Dried herbs should be added at the starting of cooking or during the cooking process because dried herbs need time to rehydrate and infuse | release their flavors. Crushing dried herbs between the palm before adding into the dish helps to release the flavor little faster than using chunky particles.

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