.Cooking Techniques and Tools
Source of Recipe
Cooking for Graduate Students and Other Beginning Kitchen Dwellers (by James W. Cooper)
Recipe Link: http://wywahoos.org/wahoos/cookbook/tools.htm Cooking Techniques and Tools
Measurements
In U.S. kitchens, the British measurement system dominates: teaspoons, tablespoons, cups and pints. With the advent of metric education, people are less sure than they once were how these measures interrelate. So, here they are:
1 tsp 1 teaspoon
1 Tb 1 tablespoon There are 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon
1 Tb 1/2 oz 1/2 oz is the same as 1/2 ounce
1 c 1 cup 1 cup is 8 ounces (oz)
ergo There are 4 tablespoons in 1/4 cup.
There are 16 tablespoons in a cup.
1 pint 16 oz There are 2 cups in one pint
1 quart 32 oz There are 2 pints (4 cups) in a quart
1 gallon 128 oz There are 4 quarts in a gallon. Imagine how often you'll be cooking a gallon of anything!
Note that the ounces referred to here are "fluid ounces" and refer to the weight of water of that volume. Obviously denser materials like flour or sugar weigh more. However, they are usually measured by volume rather than weight, so a cup of water and a cup of flour have the same volume, but different weights. Measurements as small as 1/4 or even 1/8 of a teaspoon are often found in recipes, although anything less than 1/4 teaspoon is really a dash, a pinch or a skoshe ( Midw. dial.).
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Cooking Techniques
In this and other cooking books, you will find a number of commonly used terms which you may not find clear. Here are a few of the more common ones.
Breading
This usually means to coat meat or vegetables with a layer of bread crumbs or flour before frying. It gives a nice crispy crust.
Broiling
Broiling means placing meat or vegetables directly under intense dry heat, usually the oven element or gas flame. The temperature can be very high, up to 2000 degrees at the burner surface, and broiling thus is suitable for cooking relatively thin meats, since it is primarily surface cooking.
Braising
To braise means to cook covered with a small amount of liquid. The steam from that liquid becomes the actual cooking medium.
Stewing
Stewing is like braising, except that more liquid is used, which is intended to infuse the meat and exchange flavors with any accompanying vegetables.
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Sautéing
Sautéing meat or vegetables means frying in an open pan with a moderate amount of fat. The temperature is fairly moderate compared to broiling, since you must take care not to burn the fat. Before sautéing meat, you should dry it off on paper towels so that browning can occur. Otherwise you are performing a limited edition of braising.
Deep Frying
Deep frying means they you immerse the item in hot fat, usually at 375-425 degrees F. You can usually cool and reuse deep frying oil from 2-4 times depending on how hot you heat it and for how long. This also depends on whether particles contaminate the oil. You should strain the oil through a metal strainer while pouring it back into the bottle. As deep frying oil is used, it discolors and gradually develops an off-taste or "skunky" taste. You should discard it rather than risking spoiling the taste of your food or ruining your digestion.
Stir Frying
Stir frying is carried out at high temperatures with a minimum amount of fat, and is most common in Chinese cookery. The meat and vegetables are cooked briefly but the vegetables retain their crispness.
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Simmering
Simmering means cook, usually covered, at a low boil.
Searing
The concept of searing has a long and controversial history. The general theory was that cooking the outside of meat briefly at high temperature "sealed in the juices" and made the final product more juicy and nutritious. This idea was thoroughly discredited by actual measurements of fluid loss as early as 1930, but seems to continue to recur. However, many prefer to sear meat because the browning improves the flavor. This point is not in contention, although you must be careful not to cause too much liquid loss in the process.
Roasting
Roasting is the cooking of meat by dry heat in an oven.
Poaching
Poaching means cooking something in boiling liquid, usually water or stock.
Dredging
This peculiar term is used to mean shaking or rolling your food (usually meat) in flour and spices.
Boiling in Salted Water
Water with salt added boils at a higher temperature as well as imparting some flavor to the vegetable or meat your are cooking. You should add about 1 tsp of salt for every quart of boiling water.
Boiling water is just water whose vapor pressure equals that of the atmosphere, so at high altitudes water boils at a lower temperature and cooking takes longer. Further, since storms also occur in low pressure areas, it takes longer to cook food during a storm as well.
Water that is boiling slowly and water that is boiling vigorously have the same temperature and thus cook foods equally well. Vigorously boiling water may bump and damage foods and is to be avoided except where this agitation is especially desirable, such as when cooking pasta.
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Cooking in a Microwave Oven
The microwave oven is a terrific tool for a certain limited set of tasks. It is terrific at thawing frozen foods and warming leftovers. It also can be used extremely well for cooking vegetables.
The microwave works by causing the water in the food to vibrate at high frequency, generating heat. Thus, dry foods need additional liquid to cook in a microwave. Further, microwave energy passes through glass and plastic dishes, but is stopped by metal. So don't try to cook in a metal container: it might actually damage the microwave transmitter.
You can cook some meats like fish and chicken breasts in a microwave, but since you can't brown food in a microwave, other red meats don't do very well. Further, you can't bake anything very well in a microwave: better to use the over.
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Techniques for Dealing with Common Foods
Butter and Margarine
Irrespective of the controversy surrounding the relatively healthiness of these two, you should know that one US stick of butter is 1/4 pound and is also 1/2 cup. There are 8 tablespoons of butter in a stick and this is often marked on the wrappers.
Butter differs from margarine in that it is an emulsion of fat and water and thus is somewhat better for greasing pans and dishes before baking because the film of oil-water that forms lubricates a little better than oil alone. Butter also comes in both salted and unsalted varieties. This is primarily a matter of taste. Most butter in Europe is unsalted while most in the US is salted. Unsalted butter is preferred in baking of pastries and the like.
Pepper
Pepper has a much more vigorous flavor when it is freshly ground from a pepper mill. Black peppercorns are the most common form. You will also find white and green peppercorns in the stores. The white peppercorns have a milder flavor and can be used in white sauces to avoid discoloring them. Black pepper is made by picking the fruit green and allowing the fruit to dry and ferment in the sun. White pepper is made by allowing the fruits to ripen which turns it red, and then rubbing off the outer coating. It is naturally more expensive.
Green peppercorns are produced by picking the fruit green and pickling it instead of fermenting it. It has become trendy and is quite expensive.
Pepper can become quite bitter if cooked at high heats. So we recommend adding pepper at the end of cooking meats when you broil or roast them. If your are grilling or sautéing, you might compromise by peppering the cooked side after you turn the meat over on the grill.
Olive Oil
Olive oil comes in regular, virgin and extra virgin grades. The last has the most taste and the highest price. Ordinary olive oil from a reputable company will be fine for all the recipes in this book. Beware of cheap olive oil, which may contain many heavy oils which are hard to digest.
Cooking Oil
Vegetable oil from any major manufacturer is fine for all cooking. you should try to avoid the more saturated tropical oils, but recognize that even the priciest unsaturated oil quickly saturates and polymerizes at high temperatures. The smoke point of an oil is the temperature where the oil starts to smoke. As you use an oil, its smoke point lowers, so buying an oil with a higher smoke point means you can reuse it for deep frying more times. Hillman gives the following table of smokepoints of common oils
Safflower 510
Soybean 495
Corn 475
Peanut 440
Sesame 420
Olive 375
Pam
Pam is a commercial name of an aerosol spray of an unsaturated oil like canola oil, a solvent like ethyl alcohol and a nonstick agent such as lecithin. It can be used to grease pans and in conjunction with a Teflon coated pan, you can actually fry things in a Pam-coated pan. You can also use it to grease baking pans lightly.
Chopping an Onion
Peel the onion by pulling off the brown, tough outer skins. The onion has a root end, where you may see a few vestigial rootlets growing and a stem end, which usually comes to a point and stops. Cut off the stem point, but leave the root end in place.
Holding the onion by the root end, make several parallel cuts almost through to the root as if the slice the onion. Rotate the onion 90 degrees and make several more parallel cuts almost all the way through. Then, cut slices of the onion perpendicular to both of the previous cutting planes, and diced onion will fall onto the cutting board. Discard the root end.
Peeling and Chopping Garlic
Lay each clove on the cutting board, and lay the flat side of a large knife on top of it. To crush the clove and dislodge the peel, pound the top of the knife blade once smartly with your fist. Remove the peel and chop the flatten clove as finely as needed.
Garlic can leave a fairly strong smell on your hands. You can remove this smell by rubbing your hands with salt and then washing the salt off with soap and water.
Cracking Eggs
Strike the side of the egg smartly on the lip of a pan or cup. The intent it to break the shell less than halfway through. Turn the cracked side up and pull the egg apart with your fingers. Always break eggs into a cup before adding to the main recipe, in case the egg is defective (spoiled). This also prevents adding extra calcium to your recipe if the shell shatters.
If you have a lot of eggs to experiment with, you can break one in each hand simultaneously and pull them apart while holding one end in your little fingers and pulling them with your thumbs and forefingers.
Separating Eggs
Crack the egg as above, but instead of pouring the entire egg into the cup, let only the white pour out, holding the open end of the shell containing the yolk upright. Then pour the yolk from one shell half to the other, letting the remaining white pour into the cup. Repeat if needed. If you are making a meringue or other recipe requiring beaten egg whites, you should be careful not to let any of the yolk mix with the whites. Any trace of fat or oil will keep the whites from mounting up.
Hard Boiling Eggs
Place 1 to 3 eggs in a pan of salted water and bring to a rolling but not vigorous boil. If it is too bumpy, the eggs may crack. Do not drop cold eggs into boiling water: they will certainly crack. Boil for 10 minutes. Pour out the water and run cold water into the pan. These will cause the eggs to contract so they can be peeled more easily. Crack and peel under running water.
Mushrooms
Generally we have sautéed them in butter before using them. You must do this at rather high heat, since mushrooms contain a lot of water which must be evaporated. If a lot of liquid accumulates in your pan, you are just poaching them, and the taste and texture will be far less pleasing. Turn up the heat of the water is not evaporating.
Chicken and Beef Stock
You can make excellent chicken stocks by cooking left over chicken and bones with aromatic vegetables, but you can do nearly as well with canned chicken stock. Beef stock is also called beef bouillon and is made in a similar manner except that the bones are browned to make a browner color and richer taste in the stock.
Often times, you have one kind of stock and wish you had the other. This is the time to visit the stock exchange. Or, as my economist roommate note, go down to the gold market and get some bullion.
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Sugar, Brown Sugar and Molasses
More rubbish has been written about "refined sugar" than almost any other superstition. Sugar (sucrose) is obtained from sugar cane or sugar beets. Since sugar is a pure crystalline compound, there is no difference in whether sugar is obtained from cane or beets: the compound is identical.
Sucrose is known as a disaccharide since it is made up of two simpler sugar units: glucose and fructose. Glucose is also known as dextrose and fructose is also sometimes called levulose, because of the directions that their solutions rotate polarized light.
Sugar is crystallized from the juice pressed from cane or sugar beets. The initial unpurified residue is called raw sugar. It is purified by filtering the particles from a dissolved sugar solution, and using charcoal to adsorb the impurities on its surface. The charcoal is then filtered out. Sugar is then crystallized from this solution. The resulting white crystals are purified or refined sugar. It is pure sucrose and contains no significant impurities.
Commercial molasses is obtained from the residual crystallizing liquid and is a mixture of sucrose and other related sugars such as glucose and fructose. Brown sugar is manufactured by spraying molasses on white sugar. It is an attempt to simulate the raw sugar which is no longer sold. "Real" molasses has a very dark, bitter flavor and is the residue after all sugar has been crystallized several times. It is generally sold for animal feed.
Honey
Honey starts out as a syrup of sucrose, However, bees secrete an enzyme called invertase which causes the sucrose to divide into its two component smaller sugar units: glucose and fructose. Honey also contains excess fructose and is thus somewhat sweeter than sugar. However it has the same nutritional value as a sugar solution. Any differences in taste are caused by traces of the nectrars from the flowers. Since honey is mostly a mixture of glucose and fructose which rotates polarized light the opposite way from sucrose, it is sometimes called invert sugar. It has the chemical formula
Corn Syrup
This is a syrup of sugar prepared from corn, and is primarily glucose.
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Chocolate
Chocolate comes in three sweetnesses: unsweetened or baking chocolate, semisweet or German sweet, and sweet chocolate. Baking chocolate seems bitter or relatively tasteless, since it has no sugar content. Semisweet chocolate is used in chocolate chips and in making German chocolate cakes. Sweet chocolate is used primarily in candy making, and is most often lighter colored milk chocolate which has milk added.
Melting chocolate should be done over very low heat or over a double boiler. It is easy to scorch melting chocolate if you aren't careful. You can also do it quickly in a microwave.
Freezing
Freezing is the only safe way to store meats for more than a couple of days. If you buy fresh meat, you should decide within 24 hours whether to eat it or freeze it. Once you have frozen meat and thawed it, do not refreeze it: this will cause so many cells to break down in the meat that it will become mushy and tasteless. In general beef and pork freeze with the least deterioration: chicken freezes well but with more loss in flavor.
Since refrigerators are naturally dehydrating because of their automatic defrosting capabilities, you should wrap anything you want to freeze tightly in foil or plastic. The packages meat comes in from the supermarket are porous and should not be used for long term freezing.
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Kitchen Tools
Recommended tools
Apple slicer/corer a simple tool for slicing an apple and removing the core at the same time.
Baking sheet, round actually a flat pizza pan
Bulb baster For basting roast meats and removing grease
Casserole covered baking dish
Colander For straining and draining. Plastic ones are fine
Cutting board The plastic ones can easily be washed
Dish washing soap Liquid for hand washing and powder for auomatic diskwashers
Electric mixer, hand size Invaluable for whipping and beating eggs, batters and potatoes
Flour sifter for sifting together flour and other dry ingedients
Fork, meat large cooking fork
Frying pan, large covered For cooking main dishes. An electric frying pan is ideal
Frying pan, medium For sautéing
Frying pan, cast iron for most cooking and frying
Grater For cheese, potatoes, whatever
Griddle large flat frypan, electric frypan or actual griddle. Ideal for pancakes and French toast
Knife, paring For all kinds of delicate cutting
Knife, large For carving and chopping
Lettuce keeper the ubiquitous plastic covered green bowl for keeping lettuce from drying out
Loaf pan for meat loaf (and bread if you get adventuresome)
Measuring pitcher 1 or 2 cup
Measuring cups cup, half cup, etc.
Measuring spoons teaspoons and tablespoon
Mixing bowls small, medium and large
Paper towels for drying meat and draing off grease
Pastry blender A simple inexpensive hand tool for cutting and blending shortening into flour
Pepper mill For "freshly ground pepper, sir?"
Pizza pan, flat also doubles as a baking sheet
Pot holders for lifting hot pans
Potato spikes For baking potatoes
Roasting rack Either a broiler pan from your over or a rack to fit in your large frying pan
Rubber spatula For scraping and folding. You can't have too many of these
Saucepan, 2 qt For making sauces, nest with larger for double boiler
Saucepan, 4 qt For steaming vegetables
Scouring pad, plastic For removing stuck on food without scratching
Slotted spoon For lifting things from water or oil and draining them
Spaghetti cooker A large kettle with an interior strainer. Ideal for all pasta and any time you need a big kettle.
Spatula, small Also called a pancake turner
Spatula, large For turning large things like pancakes and French toast
Sponges For cleaning off your counter and stove
Thermometer, oven For discovering if your oven matches the dials
Thermometer, meat for roasting
Towels Hand towels both for dyring your hands and for covering dough
Vegetable peeler
Vegetable steamer For cooking fresh vegetables
Wire whisk The ideal mixing tool
Wooden spoon For stirring both hot sauces and thick mixtures
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Optional tools
Blender, electric for making hollandaise and cute drinkies
Electric fry pan for main dishes
Electric griddle for pancakes, hamburgers, French toast
Toaster cheaper way of making toast
Toaster oven for making toast
Wooden mallet for pounding veal
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Suggested Items for Your Pantry
Baking soda For baking (this is sodium bicarbonate)
Baking powder for baking (this is sodium bicarbonate along with the mild acids calcium acid phosphate and sodium aluminum sulfate to promote foaming when water is added.)
Basil For Pizza and Italian dishes
Bread crumbs for decoration and breading
Carrots Flavoring and cooking and salads and snacks
Cayenne pepper red pepper, to be used sparingly
Celery Flavoring and salads and casseroles
Cheddar cheese avoid processed "American"
Cinnamon for seasoning and baking
Cornstarch for thickening
Flour For cooking, thickening and baking. Get 5 lbs
Garlic
Lemon juice ` used in salads and sauces
Mustard prepared for your sandwiches
Mustard, dry for seasoning your cooking
Noodles for eating
Olive oil for many cooking chores
Onions get a bag
Oregano For Pizza and Italian dishes
Pam minimal spray shortening for non stick cooking
Paper towels for soaking grease up
Paprika for flavor as well as decoration, but hot Hungarian paprika
Parmesan cheese solid or grated
Potatoes, white for baking
Potatoes, red for boiling
Red wine any modest jug red wine will do
Rice Regular or converted
Rosemary Powerful spice, used in pizza and Italian cooking
Sage goes well with pork
Salt for cooking and seasoning
Sherry for flavoring cooking, or if you're a wino
Solid shortening the white stuff, Crisco or the store brand. Mostly for baking
Soy sauce for Chinese cooking
Sugar for drinks as well as cooking. Get 5 lbs
Sugar, brown for baking and topping
Syrup for pancakes and French toast
Tabasco sauce small bottle lasts forever
Tarragon Aromatic spice used in Bearnaise sauce
Thyme for many meat dishes
Tomato paste keep a can or two around
Tomatoes, canned get the plum tomatoes packed in puree
Vanilla extract artificial is fine: you'll never know the difference
Vegetable oil for frying and deep frying
Vinegar, wine for cooking
Vinegar, white for poaching eggs: very cheap
White wine any modest jug dry white wine will do
Worcestershire sauce for macaroni/cheese and hamburgers
Yeast get 3 packets and see if you use them
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Frying Pans
Teflon coated pans
Teflon coated frying pans are invaluable for low fat cooking. You can cook in just a few drops of oil or Pam. However, they do scratch and you need to treat them with a little care. Teflon coated pots are of little use and are seldom sold any more, although Teflon coated griddles and sandwich grills are the general rule. If you have something stick to a Teflon pan, remove it with a dish brush or plastic scouring pad, rather than with steel wool or a spatula.
Cast Iron pans
Cast iron frying pans distribute heat well and are over proof so they cna be used for baking after browning. When you are done using a cast iron pan, you should drain out any oil, and try to clean it wiht hot water only, perhaps with scrubbing, but should avoid soap if you can. Cast iron pans have a fairly rough microsurface and it is smoothed out but a coating of oil which cooks into the surface. Once this has been done to a pan, it is considered "seasoned." It then has much less tendency to stick to your food. If you have to use soap to get it clean, dry the pan and rub a few drops of oil into the pan with a paper towel before putting it away.
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Stoves
Electric Stoves
Electric stoves heat more slowly than gas stoves do, so you should always start by turning the electric burner to High and then, once it heats up, turning it down to the desired temperature. If you set the burner directly to the desired temperature, the stove will slowly and asymptotically approach the temperature you select.
Gas Stoves
Today's gas stoves incorporate an electric "striker" or starter to ignite the gas instead of the old-fashioned pilot light. Thus the stove surface and the surrounding kitchen are cooler then in the past. Most such stoves require that you turn the gas up to High or "Start" to ignite the flame and then down to the desired temperature. You should turn the burner setting away from Start once the flame has ignited to avoid wearing out the striker. You should also be careful not to turn the stove down so low that the burner goes out while the unburned gas continues to flow, as methane (natural gas) is toxic.
Grease fires
Everyone has a little flameout on the stove from time to time. Keep a pan lid handy so that you can smother any flames that might develop. Obviously, you shouldn't put out a grease fire with water: it will only spatter and may actually spread the fire so that the spatters catch as well. If this ever happens, be sure to turn off the burners. You can smother isolated patches of flame with flour.
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Apartment Cleanliness
Cooking and keeping food in an apartment can be more of a problem than in a house because there is so much food in among the apartments that even a few spills can end up attracting bugs. If you buy sugar or flour in large sacks, you should put them in plastic bags and seal with twist ties once you have opened them. Bread and rolls should also be kept sealed tightly. Avoid spilling cooking oil. While you can refrigerate bread to keep it from attracting wildlife, this tends to dry it out and make it rather leaden. You can also freeze bread and rolls to only minor detriment.
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