Braising & Stewing (merebus/stew) With braising, the item to be cooked is first seared or sauted, then partially covered

with liquid and simmered slowly at a relatively low temperature. Braising can be done on the stovetop, but it's best done in the oven so that the heat will fully surround the pot, causing the food to cook more evenly than if it were only heated from below. Braising is a good technique for cooking tougher cuts of meat, such as those from older animals, or ones that naturally contain more connective tissues. These tissues are what can make these cuts of meat tough and chewy when improperly cooked. But the long, slow application of moist heat dissolves these tissues, with the result being a tender piece of meat. What's more, as the connective tissues break down, they dissolve and form gelatin, which thickens the cooking liquid and gives it body and shine. Meanwhile, braising causes the muscle fibers to absorb moisture from the cooking liquid and steam. That gives you a juicy piece of meat. Braising also melds flavors from the stock, vegetables and any herbs and seasonings. Here's a list of 10 great braised recipes. Poaching, Simmering & Boiling ((rebus, mereneh, merendidih) Poaching, simmering and boiling are really three different stages of the same cooking method. Each of these methods describes cooking food by submerging it in hot water (or another waterlike liquid like stock). What defines each one is an approximate range of temperatures, which can be identified by observing how the water (or other cooking liquid) behaves. Each one boiling, simmering and poaching has certain telltale characteristics:

Poaching refers to cooking food in liquid that has a temperature ranging from 140F to 180F. Poaching is typically reserved for cooking very delicate items like eggs and fish. At poaching temperatures, the liquid won't be bubbling at all, though small bubbles may form at the bottom of the pot. Simmering is distinguished by cooking temperatures that are a bit hotter than with poaching from 180F to 205F. Here we will see bubbles forming and gently rising to the surface of the water, but the water is not yet at a full rolling boil. Because it surrounds the food in water that stays at a fairly constant temperature, food that is simmered cooks very evenly. It's the standard method for preparing stocks and soups, starchy items such as potatoes or pastas, and many others. One of the downsides to simmering is that vitamins and other nutrients can be leached out of the food and into the cooking liquid. Boiling is the hottest of these three stages, where the water reaches its highest possible temperature of 212F. It's actually the method that is least likely to be used in cooking. That's because the violent agitation caused by churning bubbles characteristic of a rolling boil will often damage the food. Boiling would be a bad choice for cooking an egg outside its shell, as when preparing poached eggs, because the agitation would basically destroy the egg. The same holds true for pastas and delicate fish.

Steaming (steam) Once water is heated past the 212F mark, it stops being water and turns into steam. As far as physical agitation goes, steaming is very gentle, making it ideal for cooking seafood and other delicate items. It also has the advantage of cooking quickly while avoiding the loss of nutrients through leaching. Interestingly, steam's maximum temperature is also 212F, just like water. But unlike water, steam can be forced to exceed this natural temperature limit by pressurizing it. The higher the pressure, the hotter the steam becomes. Cooking with pressurized steam requires specialized equipment, though, so it's not something that a home cook would typically use.

Dry-Heat Cooking Methods Dry-heat cooking refers to any cooking technique where the heat is transfered to the food item without using any moisture. Dry-heat cooking typically involves high temperatures, meaning 300F or hotter. Brown is Beautiful Note that the browning of food, as when bread is toasted, can only be achieved through dry-heat cooking. This browning in turn leads to the development of complex flavors and aromas that can't be attained through moist-heat cooking techniques.

Sauting & Pan-Frying Sauting requires a very hot pan. When sauting, it's important to heat the pan for a minute, then add a small amount of fat and let the fat get hot as well, before adding the food to the pan. Another key is not overloading or crowding the pan. The pan must stay hot in order to achieve the desired browning of the food. Too much food in the pan dissipates the heat, causing the food to steam or boil rather than saut. One method for maintaining a hot pan and ensuring the food cooks evenly is through tossing or flipping the food in the pan saut actually means "jump" in French. Some saut pans have sloped sides to facilitate this, but it's generally only done with smaller pieces of food, especially vegetables. For a demonstration, here's a video on how to saut vegetables. Pan-frying closely resembles sauting, with the main difference being that pan-frying uses slightly more fat and slightly lower temperatures than sauting. This makes it a good method for cooking larger pieces of meat that would not have time to cook through because with sauting, the food isn't in the pan for very long. For that reason, larger pieces of meat are often finished in the oven after the surface has been cooked to the desired degree. Roasting & Baking The words roasting and baking are largely synonymous in that they both describe a method of cooking an item by enveloping it in hot, dry air, generally inside an oven and at temperatures of at least 300F (but often much hotter). This technique cooks food fairly evenly since all of the food's surfaces are exposed to much the same degree. This differs from pan-searing, for instance, where the surface that touches the hot pan gets much hotter than the side that faces up. Roasting and baking both require that the food be cooked

uncovered, so that it's the hot, dry air that delivers the heat, not steam from the food. Despite these similarities, roasting and baking can mean slightly different things depending on who you ask. Some chefs use the word "baking" only when speaking of bread, pastry and other bakery items. Some may use the word "roasting" only when referring to meats, poultry and vegetables, but use the term "baking" for fish and other seafood. Yet another distinction can be made with respect to temperature, with "roasting" implying greater heat and thus faster and more pronounced browning. Broiling & Grilling Broiling is another dry-heat cooking method that relies on heat being conducted through the air. Because air is a relatively poor conductor of heat, broiling and grilling require the food to be quite close to the heat source, which in this case is likely to be an open flame. Thus the surface of the food cooks very quickly, making this type of cooking ideal for poultry, fish and the tenderest cuts of meat. In fact, because of the extremely hot and dry nature of this cooking method, it is customary to marinate meats that will be broiled or grilled. Incidentally, there is one significant distinction between broiling and grilling, which is that grilling involves heating the food from below, while broiling involves heating from above. In both cases, the food is typically turned once during cooking, and a grid or grate of some kind is used, which gives the food the distinctive grill-marks that are the hallmark of this cooking technique. As with sauting, it's critical to heat the broiler or grill before putting the food on it. Deep-Frying Since deep-frying involves submerging the food in hot, liquid fat, it might take some time to get used to the idea that it's actually a form of dry-heat cooking. But if you've ever seen the violent reaction of hot oil to even a tiny drop of water, you know that oil and water are a couple of opposites that want nothing to do with each other. To avoid that, make sure anything you place into the hot fat is free from excess moisture. That might mean patting an item dry with a paper towel before frying it. Deep-frying requires keeping the oil at temperatures between 325F and 400F. Hotter than that and the oil may start to smoke, and if it's any cooler, it starts to seep into the food and make it greasy. After cooking, deep-fried items should actually have very little oil on them, assuming they've been fried properly. The key to keeping the oil hot is to fry items in small batches, as introducing too much food to the oil will cool it off. Another clue that deep-frying is in fact a form of dry-heat cooking is the attractive golden-brown color of foods cooked using this method. Foods are often coated in a simple batter to protect it and seal in its moisture.