Roasting Definition When you roast something, you are cooking it with dry heat, and the heat surrounds the food. Roasting is different from steaming or braising because you don’t want to add moisture to the food. For instance, a pot roast is actually a braised dish, because you add moisture and cover it to moisten and tenderize the food. Roast beef, on the other hand, is cooked without adding moisture.
A Sunday roast consisting of roast beef, roast potatoes, vegetables and yorkshire pudding.
Culinary Terms The purpose of roasting is to create a golden brown crust on whatever it is we are roasting and, at the same time, make sure the meat, fish, or vegetable properly cooks in the center. When roasting, no liquid such as broth, wine, or water comes in contact with the food —only hot air, or, if the roast is being basted, hot fat. Roasting is both simple and complex—simple because there’s very little to do except slide the food into the oven; complex because if the temperature isn’t right, the food may never brown or cook properly.
Food Used For Roasting is a good cooking method for large, tender cuts of beef, pork or lamb. It’s also a great way to cook poultry and fish. You can roast vegetables, too, especially if you roast them alongside the meat. The best vegetables for roasting are starchy root vegetables. You can roast firm fruits, like apples, pears and tomatoes, too.
How Do You Do It? Lightly coat the meat or whatever you are roasting with oil, salt and pepper or other seasonings, and place it in a roasting pan. Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the meat. You can use a rack to keep the meat up out of the drippings if you want to, but don’t cover it. Place the pan in the center of the oven so that it gets heat evenly all around it. Low heat: Cook at 200 degrees F. You are less likely to overcook the food on low heat, but it takes longer to cook, and it does not develop a nice crust on the outside. Roasting on low heat gives results similar to braising or steaming the food. High heat: Cook at 500 degrees F. On high heat, there is danger of overcooking the food. Roasted foods continue to cook after you remove them from the oven, and if you cook it too long, it will be dry. With high heat, however, the meat does develop a crust. Low, then high: Start at 200 degrees. When the food is almost done, remove it and turn the heat up to 500 degrees. Put the food back in the oven and let it finish cooking. This gives you a nice crust, and a moist roast. High, then low: Start at 500 degrees and cook until a crust forms, then turn the heat down to 200 degrees and finish cooking it. This, too, produces a nice crust and a moist product.
Baking Definition Baking is defined as cooking food in an oven using dry heat. That’s all well and good, but since baking is one of the primary ways in which we cook food, let’s take a minute to look at baking, in depth. When we think of the term “baking” we are generally talking about cakes, breads, and pastries.
Culinary Terms The purpose of roasting is to create a golden brown crust on whatever it is we are roasting and, at the same time, make sure the meat, fish, or vegetable properly cooks in the center. When roasting, no liquid such as broth, wine, or water comes in contact with the food —only hot air, or, if the roast is being basted, hot fat.
Roasting is both simple and complex— simple because there’s very little to do except slide the food into the oven; complex because if the temperature isn’t right, the food may never brown or cook properly.
Food Used For You can bake various foods such as cakes, pies, muffins, cookies and bread.
Mixing Methods Creaming In the creaming method, fats are mixed with sugar to form a mixture that is either smooth and creamy (cookie dough) or light and fluffy (cakes). Then, eggs are added one at a time, followed by adding dry ingredients (flours + salt + spices + chemical leaveners) alternately with wet ingredients (milk/water + liquid flavorings). The resultant batter can be very thick, as in cookie dough, or “spoonable,” like cake batter. Rarely does the creaming method produce a batter that is truly pourable. Muffin The muffin method is the method by which we make muffins, scones, pancake and waffle batter and other quick breads. It’s a pretty easy method, but like many easy things, it must be done correctly to be successful. In the muffin method, all dry ingredients are combined (flour + salt + sugar + chemical leaveners + spices). Biscuit The biscuit method is the method used to make biscuits, scones and many pie doughs. In the mixing method, dry ingredients are combined (flour + sugar + salt + chemical leaveners + dry flavorings). Two-Stage The two stage mixing method was originally applied to high ratio cakes. The term high ratio refers to a high ratio of water to flour held together by the emulsifiers in the “new fangled” solid shortenings. Since the emulsifiers could hold more water, the batter could also hold more sugar, since sugar dissolves in water. This helped to increase shelf life and moistness in cakes.
Grilling Definition First of all grilling is a lot like broiling. Both use direct heat, but when grilling the heat source comes from below and when broiling the heat source is from above. Both methods are great when cooking tender cuts of beef, chicken, fish and vegetables. Make sure whatever you are cooking isn’t too thick or it will burn on the exterior by the time the inside is done. Although grilling is considered a healthy way of cooking because much of the fat will drip into the fire, be careful to avoid flare-ups from the fat. Not only will you potentially burn what you are cooking and give it an acrid flavor; you can create a nasty fire hazard. Culinary Terms To cook above the heat source (traditionally over wood coals) in the open air.
Grills
Foods
Clean Grill The time to remove all the residue with a wire brush is right after you finish cooking while the grate is still hot. If you wait until it’s time to start cooking, some of the scrapings can fall into the flames and cause a flare-up. Before you begin heating the grill, brush it or spray it with a little vegetable oil to prevent food from sticking.
Lamb, Chicken, Beef, Fish, Turkey, Pork, Ribs, Bratwurst, Shellfish, Mushrooms, Onions, Garlic, Peppers, Potatoes and Corn on the cob.
Hot Grill It’s also vital that your grill is hot well before you start. Many of us, especially with gas grills, wait until right before we start cooking before we crank up the heat. Mistake. Preheat that grill 15 to 30 minutes before you intend to start cooking. Have all your cooking tools ready and standing by. This not only includes apron and utensils, but seasonings and basting sauces as well. And be sure to have a spray water bottle on hand in case of flare-ups.
How Do You Do It? For example, as a general rule, I like to cook a 1 1/2-inch New York Strip steak for a total of ten minutes. I start by grilling for 2 1/2 minutes, then turning it 90 degrees and cooking for another 2 1/2 minutes, flip the steak over to it’s other side and repeat the process thus giving the steak the classic grill marks. At the same time I test the steak with my finger to feel for various degrees of firmness. Medium cooked feels like touching your cheek. If you really want to get specific, you can use an instant thermometer. For steak, 115 – 120 degrees is rare, 125-130 degrees is medium rare and 135 – 140 degrees is medium. Don't forget, the meat will continue to cook once you remove it from the grill to rest, so you may want to remove it before hitting your target temperature so you don't overcook it.
Shallow Frying Definition The cooking of food in a small amount of fat or oil in a shallow pre-heated pan, or on a metal surface, at a high temperature. Shallow frying is a skillful process that requires constant care and attention, the resulting product should be crispy and lightly browned with little evidence of fat. Culinary Terms Meuniére: a classic method of frying fish coat with seasoned flour, place presentation side in pan with heated clarified butter., finish with beurre noisette, lemon, chopped parsley. Sauter: from the French for 'jump'tossed in a frying-pan
Sauté: also applies to the name of a dish where the main item is fried and the pan is deglazed - the resulting reduction is made into a sauce to which the item is returned and finished
Crepes: small thin pancakes used in French cookery,
Griddle: this means to cook on a metal surface. For example on griddle plates, S c o t ch p a n c a k e s, We l s h c a k e s, hamburger.
Eggs omelette, fried, pancakes, crepes
Stir Frying: where food is cooked in a Wok or frying pan the food is usually cut into thin strips.
Meat and poultry-prime cuts such as:
Omelette: eggs beaten, seasoned and pan fried in an omelette pan often with other ingredients added before, during or after cooking.
-Chicken Supremes
Food Used For Fresh vegetables in season
Fish-fresh/frozen-various cuts-filletssmall whole fish
-Filet Steak
-Fruit and sweet products
How Do You Do It? COATING - flour, pané (flour, eggs & breadcrumbs), seasoning - to coat the surface of the food and to enhance flavour, texture, and appearance. BROWNING - speed, degree, appearance, and taste are all important factors in browning of food , remember presentation side should always be cooked first TOSSING - Sauter - helps brown food evenly - care must be taken that the food does not break up too much - care must be taken - safety and skills - food kept in constant motion in pan to prevent sticking/burning. TURNING - care must be taken with delicate foods e.g. fillets of fish - use appropriate equipment fish slice or palette knife for long pieces of food. HOLDING for service - fried foods do not hold well - food timed to be cooked as close as possible to service - a la carte - cool easily - lose crispness become soft and become overdone.
Deep Frying Definition The cooking of food by submerging in deep fat or oil at a high temperature. (from 160 - 200oC) Culinary Terms Friture/Friteuse- the pan used for deep frying - 'Friture' can mean the fat used, the food fried in it, or the verb to deep fry. - a 'Friteuse' can be - a straight sided, flat bottomed pan on the stove top (use a thermometer) - a free standing single or multiple pan unit with manual or automatic (computerised) control - a pressure fryer continuous fryer with belt feed ( as used to produce doughnuts etc. )
Spiders- are used to remove or turn food usually when the basket is not in use i.e. with battered foods. Wok- can be used with clip on rack for draining. Straining- the cleaning process whereby sediment is removed from the oil usually with a filter - should be carried out on a regular and controlled basis e.g. daily in a busy Kitchen. Food Used For Savoury and Cheese dishes for example deep fried Camenbert or rissoles Saint Flour (pate brisee turnovers filled with cantal cheeses, chives and chervil. )
Eggs and egg dishes e.g. scotch eggs, French fried eggs etc. Potatoes can be deep fried in various forms. Meat and poultry in appropriate cuts/ forms - care must be taken that poultry is cooked through. Fresh Vegetables which are cut or prepared in an appropriate manner. Examples: Brocoli, Courgette, Onions, Parnips Fresh or Frozen Fish Convenience products like canned pineapple rings or fish fingers.
How Do You Do It? (l)-Coating- protects the surface of the food from the high temperature of the fat - also provides texture, crispness, and contrasting taste preventing food becoming greasy. (2)-Basket- do not use a basket for food coated in batter as the mesh will stick to it. (3)-Temperature- do not add too much food at once, adjust heat if chilled food lower temp. of oil. (4)-Portions- cut or prepare food in even sized pieces so that it cooks at the same speed- the smaller the pieces the higher the temperature. (5)-Handling- do not touch or stir the food while frying and take care shaking the basket as coating can easily be damaged. (6)-Holding- can be achieved by bain maries, in a warm air cabinet or convection oven - however deep fried food is best served immediately a6 it goes soggy/hard within ten minutes of cooking. (7)-Draining- to drain food in order to reduce greasiness - use of basket or rack - drying on kitchen paper.