CHRM 1030 Day 2

Cooking

The preparation of food by the application of heat, changing the food’s structure, texture, flavor, aroma and, or appearance.

Cooking is the application of heat to food.  Heat changes a food’s physical properties and makes it more palatable.  Some foods aren’t edible, or safe to eat unless cooked sufficiently.  Fruit is about the only food that isn’t improved by cooking.  There’s really nothing you can do to a perfectly ripe peach to make it better. 

Humans lack the ability to easily digest raw starchy carbohydrates.  These starchy carbohydrates lack nutritional value to humans unless cooked.  Cooking makes food easier to chew and minimizes pathogens.  Cooking can concentrate nutrients and liberate nutrients unavailable in the raw state.  Cooking can also destroy some nutrients.

In Foundations 1, we explore the application of heat to food.  We will see what happens to proteins, fats and carbohydrates when we apply heat. We will also explore the methods of heat transfer in the various dry, and moist cooking methods.  Along the way, we will focus on important kitchen skills, including mise en place, safety, sanitation, knife skills and common product knowledge.  

Objectives of Cooking

The primary objective of cooking food is to improve its taste and quality.  For example, in their raw state, many would find onions or garlic unpalatable.  Cooked onions or garlic however, are used in abundance in cuisines around the world.  Many vegetables have defenses from being eaten.  For onions and garlic, it is their caustic sulfur compounds that keep predators at bay and what we seek to tame in the cooking process.

Cooking foods can reduce the numbers pathogenic organisms in food to levels that are normally considered safe.  It is important to understand that cooking however, does not eliminate pathogenic organisms from food.  Naturally occurring plant toxins cannot be cooked out but some can be reduced to safe levels.  Bamboo shoots, cassava roots, morels are some examples of foods with plant-based toxins that are reduced to safe-levels when properly cooked.

Some foods are difficult, if not impossible for humans to digest and must be processed to remove indigestible parts like husks and shells and then softened in the cooking process.  Lacking the complex digestive organs that allow herbivores to eat most any vegetable matter, humans have developed cultivation, processing and cooking techniques that allow us to eat foods like potatoes, rice, grains and legumes.  These techniques have also allowed to to increase the variety of foods available to us.  Consider all that foods that can be made from soy beans, wheat or corn.

Cooking food softens the food, essentially begins the process of digestion.  This allows more food to be eaten and more nutrition to be gained from the food.  Consider how long it would take you to chew and eat one pound of raw spinach versus one pound of cooked spinach.

Cooking plants breaks their cell walls, liberating minerals and activating many vitamins like vitamin A and C.  A baked potato contains far more vitamin C than a raw potato.  Sauerkraut, cabbage cooked by fermentation, contains up to ten times as much vitamin C as raw cabbage.  Some water soluble vitamins are lost into the cooking water but even accounting for that loss, cooked vegetables yield a much greater nutritional value.  Steaming vegetables (versus boiling) can significantly reduce vitamin loss in vegetables by as much as 97%.

Heat Transfer

When food is cooked, heat is transferred via conduction, convection, or radiation.  Most forms of cooking actually involve all three types of heat transfer with one type being the dominant heat source.  Conduction involves the direct transfer of heat through direct contact, such as the heat from a frying pan to an egg.  Convection involves the transfer of heat via a fluid such as air, water or fat.  Deep Frying or steaming would be predominantly convection heat.  Radiant heat  involves the transfer of energy from waves of heat or light such as microwave cooking or broiling.

Heat Capacity

Imagine a 200°F oven. We know that we can briefly put our hand in that 200ËšF oven without getting burned.  We also know (or should) that directly touching any metal or food in the oven will likely burn us.  Everything in the oven is the same temperature but the rate that the heat is transferred to our skin determines if we will get burned.  Liquid water has a very high heat capacity.  Touching water at 200ËšF would quickly damage your skin.  Exposing your skin to 200ËšF air would take much longer to feel discomfort or get burned.  Oil’s heat capacity is approximately halfway between air and water.  Oil’s lower heat capacity or specific heat is also why a given amount of oil will heat up much faster than the same amount of water.  In cooking, we utilize the different heat capacities of substances to achieve different effects.  Poaching a piece of fish in 165ËšF olive oil vs. 165ËšF water will result in a more tender and juicer piece of fish

The Effects of Heat on Food

As heat is applied to a protein, the large protein strands uncoil exposing the protein bonds that held the large protein molecules together.  As more heat is applied, these exposed bonds reform into curds as the proteins begin to coagulate.  In eggs, the whites which are mostly protein are clear and liquid at room temperature.  As heat is applied, the proteins reform into tight bonds that prevent light from passing through and the egg starts to turn opaque white.  As the protein coagulate, they also trap water, causing meats to firm and liquid eggs to solidify.  As the heat continues, or increases, the trapped water is forced out and meats will dry out and eggs become rubbery.  Acids have a similar effect on proteins.

Solid fats melt or render, as heat is applied.  An oil is a fat that is liquid at room temperature.  The temperature or range of temperatures at which different fats melt is an important consideration in cooking.  For example, butter has a very narrow range of melting temperatures compared with shortening.  A cookie made with all butter will be thin and spread out more than one made with shortening.  An oil’s smoke point, the temperature at which an oil begins to seriously degrade and smoke is also a major consideration in cooking with fats.

Carbohydrates, in the form of sugars caramelize as heat is applied.  Starches, in the presence of water and heat gelantinize forming a base for thickening sauces or custards.

Browning

There are two types of browning.  Enzymatic and non-enzymatic.  Enzymatic browning happens when certain enzymes are exposed to oxygen, like the browning that occurs when an apple is sliced.  An acid, heat and certain chemicals are used to stop or slow down the enzymatic action.  In some cases, enzymatic browning is encouraged for flavor development as in the production of tea or dried fruit like raisins.  In other cases, enzymatic browning is detrimental to the appearance or is an indicator of spoilage of certain foods like bananas or shrimp.

Non-enzymatic browning that occurs on foods, usually in the presence of heat, results in the critical formation of flavor compounds.  The two main forms of non-enzymatic browning are caramelization and the Maillard reaction. 

Caramelization is the browning of sugars, resulting in a nutty flavor and brown color. As the process occurs, volatile chemicals are released, producing the characteristic caramel flavor. 

The Maillard reaction is one of the most important processes for flavor development in cooking.  It results from a chemical reaction between a protein and certain sugars in the presence of heat.  It is commonly seen in caramelized exteriors of roasted meats, the browned exteriors of baked goods and the flavor development of roasted coffee.  The process produces hundreds of different flavor compounds.  These compounds, in turn, break down to form yet more new flavor compounds, and so on. 

Cooking Methods

Cooking methods are classified based on the amount of water used in the process.  Dry methods use air or fat as the principle cooking medium, moist methods use steam or water and some methods use aspects of both dry and moist methods. 

• The Dry Methods (No Added Oil)
  • Broiling
  • Grilling
  • Griddling
  • Pan-Grilling
  • Roasting
  • Baking
• The Dry Methods (Added Oil)
  • Sautéing
  • Pan or Shallow Frying
  • Deep Frying
• The Moist Methods
  • Poaching
  • Blanching
  • Simmering
  • Boiling
  • Steaming
  • Braising
  • Stewing
  • Poêléing

Flavor

People eat food because they enjoy the food’s flavor and not just to satisfy their hunger.  The ability to deliver flavorful food is the first job of a cook.  Flavor is the quality of a food or drink as perceived by the primary senses of smell, taste, touch and, to a lesser degree, sight and sound.  Though all the senses can play a role in the perception of flavor, the sense of smell is the primary determinant of flavor.  The perception of flavor is also influenced by an individual’s genetics, awareness, experience, and surroundings.

• Smell

Aromas are the odors that we perceive as they enter the nose or up the back of the mouth into the nasal areas.  The average person can discriminate between 4,000 to 10,000 different odor molecules!

• Taste

Taste is the sensory input exclusively from taste receptors (taste buds) to the brain.  It is widely accepted that there are five basic tastes: sweetness, sourness, saltiness, bitterness and umami.  Other sensations, like pungency, spiciness or astringency are different from the 5 tastes because they respond to sensory receptors in other parts of the mouth and not exclusively to the taste buds.

• Sweetness–Sweetness is usually considered a pleasurable sensation and is produced by the presence of sugars.  Our ability to recognize sweetness diminishes the more sweet-tasting foods we eat.  Sweetness can sometimes be enhanced by adding a small amount of sourness, saltiness or bitterness.
• Sourness–Sourness is the taste that detects acidity.  The most common food group that contains naturally sour foods is fruit, such as lemon, grape, orange, tamarind, and sometimes melon.  Small amounts of added sweetness can enhance sourness.  Larger amounts of sweetness can neutralize sourness.
• Saltiness–Saltiness is a taste produced primarily by the presence of sodium ions, usually from sodium chloride (NaCl). Other ions such as lithium and potassium resemble those of sodium and produce similar salty tastes.  Other than salt on potato chips or pretzels, or the saltiness of oysters, very few foods should taste salty.  When using salt for seasoning, salt is used as a flavor enhancer and the salt itself should not be tasted. 
• Bitterness–Bitterness is generally perceived as unpleasant, sharp, or disagreeable, but it is sometimes desirable and intentionally added to foods and drinks. Common bitter foods and beverages include coffee, unsweetened cocoa, beer, citrus peel, dandelion greens, wild chicory, and escarole.  Many naturally occurring toxins are strongly bitter. The ability to detect bitter-tasting, toxic compounds at low thresholds is considered to be a primitive defense mechanism.  Bitterness can be offset by added sweetness or saltiness.
• Umami–Umami is described as a savory or meaty taste. It can be tasted in glutamate-rich foods such as cheese, soy sauce, fermented or aged foods and monosodium glutamate (MSG).  The taste of umami itself is subtle and blends with other tastes to expand and round out flavors, most people don’t recognize umami when they encounter it, but it plays an important role making food taste delicious.

• Touch

Mouthfeel is the sense of touch inside the mouth.  It refers to the texture, moistness or dryness, softness or crispness that is felt.  Temperature is a significant contributor to mouthfeel.

• Temperature–The perception of flavors is enhanced when the food is warm.  The final seasoning for a food should be checked at its serving temperature.  A food that is cooked and then served chilled will need more seasoning when tasted at a warm temperature.
• Texture or Consistency– Texture or consistency is mainly a function of moisture content, the texture of food plays a significant role in its perception of flavor.  

Seven More “Tastes”

There are other flavors that are perceived in the mouth but not necessarily on our taste buds.  Those flavors include calcium, kokumi or “heartiness”, piquance, coolness, metallicity, fat, carbon dioxide.

Palate

A chef’s most important tool, a palate is the ability to recognize and appreciate a range of flavors.  One is said to have a 

Flavor Profiles

The primary and supporting flavors in a dish is said to be its flavor profile.  Primary flavors identify the dish and supporting flavors enhance the primary flavors with complimentary or contrasting flavors.  For example, the meat, tomatoes, chiles and cumin might be the primary flavors in a chili with onion, cilantro and cheddar cheese being supporting flavors.

Complimentary Flavors–Flavors can be enhanced by the presence of complimentary flavors that amplify the same shared taste.  Coffee and chocolate for example compliment each other by amplifying the bitter notes in each.

Contrasting Tastes â€“ Contrasting flavors bring balance to a flavor profile.  For example sugar and cream tames coffee’s bitterness and lemon brings a balance to the greasiness of fried fish.  When using contrasting flavors, it is generally preferred to balance the flavors and not let one flavor dominate. 

Where possible, create intentional flavors that compliment or brings harmony to a dish or contrasting flavors.  Many of the most successful dishes have both.

When developing a dish and its flavor profiles consider the accompaniments to that dish and how they bring harmony and/or contrast to the dish.

It is too often the case that inexperienced cooks comparing two recipes for the same dish, decide that the one with the longer list of ingredients or the one with most “exotic” ingredients is the better recipe.  More experienced cooks tend to work with fewer ingredients, fully developing the flavors of those ingredients for given dish.  

Every ingredient in a dish should play a role in the flavor profile of the dish.

Presence of Fats
The presence of fats transmits flavor and coats the tongue contributing to mouthfeel.

Color
We use visual cues from color to identify and judge the quality and taste of what we eat.  We associate certain colors with various types of foods from birth, and equate these colors to certain tastes and flavors throughout life.  For example, we may expect yellow pudding to have a banana or lemon flavor and red jelly beans to have a cherry or cinnamon flavor.  In fresh foods, such as fruits and vegetables, we rely on the color to determine their level of ripeness and/or freshness.  If the color of a food product does not match our expectations, we may perceive its taste and flavor differently.  Food companies exploit knowledge by altering a food’s color to make it more appealing, replacing or enhancing color lost in processing with artificial colors.

We eat with our eyes first.

Describing Flavors-The Limits of Language

It is difficult to describe an aroma or taste without comparing it to another smell or food.  Imagine how you might describe the taste and aroma of cinnamon.  Here are some great adjectives to describe the taste of food.  

Acidic, Acrid, Aftertaste, Aged, Appealing, Appetizing, Astringent, Biting, Bitter, Bittersweet, Bland, Burnt, Buttery, Chalky, Cheesy, Chewy, Chocolaty, Choice, Citrusy, Cool, Creamy, Crispy, Crumbly, Crunchy, Crusty, Delectable, Delicious, Divine, Doughy, Dry, Dulcet, Earthy, Eggy, Fatty, Fermented, Fiery, Fishy, Fizzy, Flakey, Flat, Flavorful, Fresh, Fried, Fruity, Full-bodied, Gamy, Garlicky, Gelatinous, Gingery, Glazed, Grainy, Greasy, Gooey, Gritty, Harsh, Hearty, Heavenly, Herbal, Honey, Hot, Icy, Infused, Juicy, Lean, Light, Lemony, Malty, Meaty, Mellow, Mild, Minty, Moist, Mouthwatering, Mushy, Nutty, Oily, Oniony, Overripe, Palatable, Pasty, Peppery, Pickled, Piquant, Plain, Powdery, Pungent, Rancid, Rank, Raw, Refreshing, Rich, Ripe, Roasted, Robust, Rubbery, Saccharine, Saline, Salty, Sapid, Sautéed, Savory, Seared, Scrumptious, Sec, Sharp, Silky, Sour, Spicy, Stale, Stringy, Strong, Succulent, Sweet, Sweet and Sour, Syrupy, Tangy, Tart, Tasteless, Tasty, Tender, Toasted, Toothsome, Tough, Unflavored, Unsweetened, Velvety, Vinegary, Watery, Whipped, Woody, Yeasty, Yummy, Zesty, Zingy 

Flavor Profiles

Flavor is described much the same way that aromas are described by professional fragrance manufacturers.  The language is symbolic of notes on a musical score.  

Top or high notes– are the first flavors experienced like the splash of citrus, the handful of fresh herbs, and minced hot peppers.  

Middle notes– are the second flavors in this range are much more subtle. They’re not as immediately identifiable and don’t hang around as long as the low and high notes.  Think raw vegetables and chicken. (And this is why those often taste bland and boring without any other flavors to fancy them up!)  

Low or bass notes– are the primary tastes of sweet, salty, and sour.  They are also the deep lingering flavors in foods that form the base or the backdrop for other flavors. Think earthy and umami, like mushrooms, seared meat, and beans.  

Aftertaste or finish– describe the last flavor, like the lingering taste of pepper or mustard.

Roundness–describes how well many tastes meld together.  The way a chili or stews improves overnight suggests that the flavors have melded together and the overall flavor is more rounded.

Depth of Flavor–describes how many flavors can be detected.  A good wine, coffee or chocolate is said to have  many tastes and complex flavors.  

Flavoring vs. Seasoning

A flavoring adds a new taste to a food & alters natural flavor.  Seasoning enhances or amplifies a foods natural flavors, commonly salt.  (Seasoning also refers to creating a thin patina of carbon on a steel or cast iron pan or on a grill grate.  This seasoning makes a fair non-stick surface and is considered a quality of a good pan.)

Herbs and Spices

An herb is the leaves, stems or flowers of an aromatic plant…the soft parts.  A spice is the bark, roots, seeds, buds or berries of an aromatic plant…the hard parts.

Salt

Iodized Salt

Iodine is an essential nutrient for humans.  Since the early 20th century, iodine has been added to table salt to counter a common deficiency in iodine in the US and some other countries.  Iodized salt may be used in place of non-iodized salt in cooking applications with generally no noticeable difference.  Directly tasting iodized vs. non-iodized salt, one may be able to detect a slight metallic bitterness in the iodized salt.

Fleur de sel

Metal Cookware

The quality of a pan is determined by the material its made of and how thick that material is.  A thick, heavy pan cooks more evenly and is less likely to have hotspots that may scorch the food.  Most pans used in commercial kitchens are either made of aluminum, stainless steel or high-carbon steel.  Some high-end restaurants use copper pans in part for their show value in open kitchens.

While copper is a superior conductor of heat, it is also very expensive.  Because copper is reactive and toxic, copper pans are generally either coated with tin or clad with layers of stainless steel or aluminum.  Copper pots used exclusively for melting sugar are unlined because the copper is non-reactive with the melting sugar and provides the best conduction of heat for sugar work.

Aluminum is a very good conductor of heat, lightweight and inexpensive.  It is reactive and should not be used to cook or store acidic foods.  Aluminum is also very soft.  It warps and dents easily.  It also can turn a white sauce grey if the sauce is stirred with a metal whisk or spoon.

Cast-iron pans, and high-carbon steel pans like woks, crepe pans and blue-steel pans are very durable and can take the abuse of a commercial kitchen. Steel pans are also reactive with foods and rust easily.  Cast-iron and steel pans must be seasoned to create a thin-protecive (and somewhat non-stick) patina of carbon.

Stainless-steel pans are poor conductors of heat though they are durable and less-reactive.  Better stainless pans have cores of aluminum or copper.

Glass and enamel-coated pans aren’t suitable for commercial kitchens but have uses in the home kitchen.  Pie pans and casserole pans insulate outer ingredients while the inner ingredients cook.  Enameled cast-iron pans are excellent soup pots for the home kitchen but the enameled exterior easily chips making it unsuitable for a commercial kitchen.

Non-stick coated pans also have limited use in a commercial kitchen.  The coatings chip and scratch easily and some of them should not be used over high heat or hot ovens because the coatings give off toxic fumes in high heat.  

DO NOT wash seasoned cast-iron or steel pans.  Wipe them out with a towel.  Use some course salt if necessary.  Non-stick pans can be washed, but can also be cleaned by just wiping with a damp towel.

 

Sautéing

In French, sauté means “to jump.”  It is a dry-heat cooking method where bite-sized pieces of food are stirred or tossed until cooked through. Sautéing uses very little oil and relatively high heat.  This method is used not only to cook foods, but to reheat foods that have been par-cooked.  Sautéing is often confused with shallow or pan frying.  The distinction being in the amount of oil.  Sautéing uses just enough oil to coat a pan with a thin film.  Shallow or pan frying uses enough oil to partially submerge the food.  Stir-frying is a similar to sautéing, but uses much higher heat and is traditionally done in a wok.  Ingredients are constantly moved from the intense heat of the center of the wok to the cooler regions up the sides.  In sautéing, the pan is evenly heated all over and ingredients are flipped or tossed to finish cooking.

When some ingredients are sautéed, they are seared over high heat to caramelize their exteriors and create a fond or sucs in the bottom of the pan that will be deglazed, reconstituted and thickened into a pan sauce.  The seared exteriors of the meat are much more flavorful in a process known as the [recipe id=’2130′ slug=’millard-reaction’ /].

When vegetables, especially aromatic vegetables used in a mirepoix, are sautéed they are sometimes only cooked or sweated until softened and translucent, with little or no browning.
Blackening

Sautéing Procedure

• Use a pan with sloped sides, commonly know as a fry pan or a sauteuse in French.  Counterintuitively, a sauté pan has straight sides and isn’t designed to toss food commonly done in a sauté.
• Use a pan of the appropriate size that allows ingredients to cover the surface in a single layer.
• Preheat the pan.  Add cold oil to a hot pan.  Add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan, plus a teaspoon or so.
• Because of the high heat that’s usually used in a sauté, use an oil with a high smoke point.  If using butter, use butter with oil, to prevent the butter from burning.
• Cut the food into small or bite-sized pieces, all roughly the same size.  To maximize browning, food should be cut uniformly and diced or sliced to maximize surface area.
• Have all mise en place ready before starting the sauté.
• Food should be dry and not too cold or frozen.
• Don’t crowd ingredients, especially proteins or vegetables that need browning.
• Listen to the “sizzle” and begin to learn the sound that indicates the food is cooking at the proper temperature.
• Don’t be afraid of high heat.  Return the pan quickly to the heat after tossing and don’t toss too much.
• When cooking proteins, shake the pan to see if they release on their own.  After they release, toss or turn them.
• Starchy foods like potatoes, are seasoned at the end of cooking to keep them moist on the inside and protect the golden brown crust from softening.
• Starchy foods also take a little longer to cook and form a crust.  For this reason, use only oil or oil and clarified butter. Do not toss until the golden brown crust begins to form.  Once the crust is formed, turn down the heat and  allow to cook through.
• When sautéing high-water content vegetables like zucchini or eggplant, use high-heat. Season only at end, to prevent too much moisture loss and limp vegetables.
• Sautéed mushrooms are best cooked over high-heat in whole butter and oil.  Mushrooms should be seasoned at the beginning of cooking to help release their moisture.  Add a splash of lemon juice to help the mushrooms brown.  Toss the mushrooms often and adjust the heat as the mushrooms brown.
• Blanched vegetables or quick-cooking vegetables may be sautéed without browning and cooked quickly to preserve their texture and color.
• Deglaze the pan with a bit of liquid to incorporate the flavor back into the sauté.  Add a bit more liquid when preparing to make a pan sauce.

Blanching or Parboiling and Shocking

Blanched vegetables are boiled briefly, usually 1-2 minutes, in salted water, just past the raw stage.  Blanching helps to bring out a vegetables flavor and vibrant color.  Blanched vegetables are often used for crudités.  Blanching deactivates enzymes that can turn plants soft, brown, or otherwise unsavory. Take basil, for example, which turns an ugly dark brown (and eventually blackens) when cut. Blanching basil leaves for a few seconds before puréeing them with oil makes for a bright green garnish.  

Parboiled or par-cooked vegetables are boiled in the same way but cooked almost completely, to the [recipe id=’2605′ slug=’al-dente’ /] stage.  Blanched or parboiled vegetables are usually submerged in an ice bath or “shocked”, to stop the cooking process and preserve their color.  The vegetables are only submerged long enough to cool them so they don’t become soft and water-logged.  Blanched and shocked vegetables may be store refrigerated and quickly reheated by sautéing, steaming or plunged briefly back into boiling water.

For blanching or parboiling, taste the vegetables every 30 seconds or so,  until the desired level of doneness is achieved.  Use a large pot with plenty of boiling water and heavily salt the water with about 2 tablespoons of salt per quart of water.  Use sufficient water so that it doesn’t fall off the boil when the vegetables are added.  The additional water also dilutes the acids that vegetables give off that turn them brown.  The salt seasons the vegetables and raises the boiling point of water, cooking the vegetables faster

Reasons to Blanch

• Loosen Thin Skins from Fruits and Vegetables
• Brighten and Fix Color
• Achieve “Crisp-Tender” Texture
• Remove Bitterness from Some Vegetables, ex. Broccoli Rabe
• Par-cook Vegetables for Mise en Place
• Prepare Fruits and Vegetables for Long-Term Freezer Storage