Method of Cooking: Broiling

The cooking process known as broiling consists in exposing directly to the source of heat the food that is to be cooked; that is, in cooking it over or before a clear bed of coals or a gas flame.

The aim of broiling is to retain the juices of food and develop flavor.

As it is a quick method, foods that are not tender, as, for example, tough meats, should not be broiled, because broiling does not help to render their fibres more tender. In applying this cooking process, which is particularly suitable for tender portions of meat and for young fowl, the food should be exposed to intense heat at first in order to sear all surfaces quickly\ and thus retain the juices.

Method

At the beginning of the cooking, the article that is being broiled should be turned often; then, as soon as the outside is browned, the heat should be reduced if possible, as with a gas stove, and the article allowed to cook until done. If the broiling is done over coals, it is necessary to continue the turning during the entire process. While broiling produces an especially good flavor in the foods to which it is applied, provided they are not tough, it is not the most economical way of cooking.

Method of Cooking: Poaching

Poaching is a moist method of cooking in which food is placed in liquid which is brought to and maintained at, a temperature just under boiling-point (650 to 900°C). The cooking liquid may be water, milk, stock, wine, or court bouillon

Heat Transfer
Conduction: In conduction, the heat flow is within and through the body itself. Heat spontaneously flows from a hotter to a colder body because of the movement of electrons within a body.

Convection: Convective heat transfer is a mechanism of heat transfer occurring because of bulk motion (observable movement) of fluids.

Depth Liquid
Shallow-Poaching: Most foods are poached by this method. A minimum amount of liquid is added and this is later used to make an accompanying sauce. Greased paper or a lid can be used to trap moisture and prevent drying out.

Deep-Poaching: When poaching some items, more liquid is used than in shallow-poaching. In the case of fruits, this is because they have to be completely covered to prevent discoloration. In other cases with eggs, depth of water is needed to prevent food from sticking to the cooking dish (or) other pieces of food during cooking.

Method of Poaching
Heat the liquid to the boiling point, then reduce the temperature that there is no movement.
Gently lower the food into the cooking liquid (The  exception is when cooking whole large fish, as it is placed in the  cold liquid and drought up to temperature)
Allow the food to remain in the liquid until cooked.
Remove the food and reserve the liquid if it is used for a sauce.

Advantages
The application of heat is gentle, so foods with delicate texture may be cooked without breaking up.
Poached foods are easily digested
No fat needs to be added to cook the food advantage for people who want to reduce the amount of fat in their diet.

Disadvantages
Poaching is not particularly suitable for large pieces of food
There are some flavor and nutrient loss from the food in the cooking liquid.
There is little development in colour and flavor.

Safety Rules
Equipment should be matched to the quantity of food to prevent spillages.

Care should be taken in handling dishes that brought to the temperature on the top of the stove and then transferred to the oven.

Methods of Cooking Food: Boiling

Boiling is a moist method of cooking in which foods are immersed in a liquid that is either at or brought to the boiling point. This liquid may be water stock, milk or court bouillon.

Heat Transfer
Heat is conducted through the equipment surfaces to the liquid in contact with them. The liquid transfers this heat to the food by convection currents. Heat is absorbed by the surface of the food and passes through it by conduction and the food cooks.

Techniques Associated With Boiling

Simmering:

This is gentle heat treatment which causes small bubbles to rise slowly from the liquid. The food remains whole, with a better texture and more and.  The water does not evaporate so quickly and less vigilance is required to maintain the correct level of a liquid.

Parboiling:

Parboiling is the boiling of food until it is only partially cooked. The food is placed in boiling water for a short time from 1 to 5 minutes, or until the outside becomes soft. The cooking process is then completed using another method. Potatoes, for example, maybe parboiled to reduce roasting time and to help brown them and give a crisper texture.

Blanching:

Blanching does involve placing food in boiling water. Food is plunged into boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes depending on the size of the food and then removed. It is then immediately refreshed in cold water.

Advantages

Tougher, cheaper cuts of meat may be used.
Heat transfer is fairly rapid and efficient
The food is not likely to burn unless the water is allowed to evaporate completely.
The food remains moist and is not likely to dry out and become hard.

Disadvantages

Flavour and some colour may be lost from the food into liquid.
Loss of nutrients (especially water-soluble vitamins) may be high.

Safety Rules

The boiling utensil should be matched with the quantity of food to be cooked. If not enough space is available water will spill as it boils.

The food handler should take care when placing foods into or removing items from, boiling liquids.

When reducing liquids adequate ventilation should be available to remove steam from the atmosphere. Condensation can cause slippery floors and dampness on electrical appliances.

CLASSIFICATION OF SOUP with Examples

Majorly soups are categories into four types as: Thin, Thick, Cold and International.

Thin soups are further devided into two types; Passed and Unpassed.

Thick soups are categorised as chowder, bisque, puree, cream and

Sl.	Classification	Base	Passed/Unpassed	Finish	Example
1	Clear	Stock	Passed	Usuallygarnish	Varieties ofconsommé
2	Broth	Stock and cuts of vegetables	unpassed	Choppedparsley	Minestrone and scotch broth.
3	Puree	Stock, fresh vegetable	Passed	Croutons	Lentil and potato Related soup.
4	Valuate	Blond roux,veg,and stock	Passed	cream	Chickenveloute
5	Cream	Stock and veg. puree and white sauce	passed	Cream and Creammilk	Cream of   mushroom cream of chicken.
6	Bisque	Fish stock and shell fish	Passed	Finishwith cream	Lobster
7	Chowder	Milk,	Passed	Cream	Oyster

Broths

The term broth and bouillon can be used interchangeably. Broths are among the simplest soups to prepare. Normally, their flavor comes from long-simmering of a variety of ingredients together in one pot. An assortment of separately cooked foods may be added at various times during cooking requirements of the individual items. All the ingredients should finish cooking at the same time.

Consome

This is concentrated, a thin, clear soup made from meat, poultry or fish. The word has the same origin as consummate, meaning to bring to completion or to perfection. A consommé is cooked long enough for most of the ingredients to be extracted into the liquid. In the most general sense, consommé is a meat, poultry or fish stock, which has gone through a special clarification process, served hot or cold.

Purees

They are slightly thicker than cream soups & are somewhat coarser in texture. They are normally based on dried peas, lentils or starchy vegetables, such as potatoes & carrots.

Cream Soups

Cream soups are based on béchamel sauces.

Chowders

Thick soup resembling a stew made with meat or fish and vegetables, often flavored with cheese.

Bisque

These are traditionally based on such crustaceans such as shrimp, lobster & crayfish. These share characteristics with both purees & cream soups.

Veloute

A veloute is based on a light veloute sauce, a sauce thickened with roux & finished with a liaison of egg yolk & cream.

Vegetable Soups

Any soup containing one or more vegetables, cut in dice, brunoise, julienne, chiffonade or paysanne and eaten with the liquid they have flavored, is classified as vegetable soup or potage.

Cold Soups

This is a special category because this grouping of soups is served differently from any other: Well chilled, in chilled cups or bowls. The popularity of cold soup has recently increased. Many soups that are prepared to be a hot soup can be changed into a cold soup by simply chilling them well and making minor alterations to the structure and flavor. For instance, many purees can be served

chilled if they are made with little or no butter and thinned with cream after chilling.

International Soups

• Gazpacho – Spain
• Mulligatawny – Sri Lanka
• Chicken Broth – England
• Cockie Leekie – Scotland
• Clam Chowder – U.S.A
• Bortsch – Russia
• Beer soup – Germany
• French Onion Soup – France
• Minestrone – Italian.

Special Points for the Service and Preparation

• The first-class, clean, strong and flavourful stock should be used, as it would help in producing good quality soup.

• If there is a heavy entrée, the soup should be thin or light.

• If the heavy soup is served, the portion should be small.

• The soups should not in any way be filling or consist of food particles that require much chewing

• The garnish should be small and dainty so that they can be picked up easily by soup-spoon.

• Soups should be always moderately seasoned.

• Serve hot soups; piping hot, and cold soups; very cold.

• A little sugar should be added to tone the acidity of the soup, before mixing cream as it prevents curdling.

• Consommé should be amber in color (onions halved and browned on the hot plate are added to the soup for color)

• Accompaniments of the soups should be of a crisp character, e.g. Melba toast, various crackers, breadsticks, cheese croutons, bread rolls, etc.

• Entrée portions of one liter of soup yield five portions.

BASIC RECIPES OF CONSOMME WITH 10 GARNISHES

What is consomme?

The consomme comes from the word ‘consummate’ which means to bring to complete or perfect. It is a clear soup which is prepared from beef, chicken stock, and garnish with verities of ingredients. This can be served hot or chilled, consomme take it name generally from of the garnish for example:
Consomme Julienne: Julienne cuts of vegetable.

Basic Consomme (1 lit)

S No. Ingredients          Quantity

01         Minced meat          225gm.

02         Onion                  70gm.

03         Carrot                  50gm.

04         Turnips                  30gm.

05         Stock                  ½ lit

06         Egg white          2 no.

07         Celery                  40gm.

08         Thyme                  ¼ tsp

09         Bay leaf                  1 no.

10         Peppercorns          3 -6 no.

Method:

Mix minced meat and chopped onions, carrots, turnips, celery and mix well with egg whites. Add cold stock, thyme, bay leaf and peppercorns. Then put on fire and go on starring so that the ingredients do not stick to the button of the pan and the articles are suspended. When the mixture starts boiling then control the temperature. And let it simmer until the coagulated mass come to the top. Simmer for ½ hour. When the consommé is clear and tasty then strain through a double muslin cloth and adding the seasoning agent.

Variation of consommé

SL.          Name                                            Garnish

01 Consommé Royal                    Dice of savoury, egg custard.
02 Consommé Julienne            Julienne cuts of vegetables.
03 Consommé Brunnoise            Small dice cuts of veg. (2mm)
04 Consommé Celestine            Julienne cuts of thin pan cake.
05 Consommé vermicelli            Fine noodles.
06 Consommé entasse                    Lightly jelly with gelatin.
07 Consommé Breton                    Julienne cuts of celery, onions lack.
08 Consommé Daubery            Floweret’s of caulis flower
09 Consommé Madrilène            Dice cuts of tomato and green peas.
10 Consommé st. German            Green peas.
11 Consommé cereals                    Rice and barley.
12 Consommé Paysanme            Uniform size cuts of fresh vegetables.
13 Consommé Diabolism            Diamond cuts of cheese bisque.
14 Consommé Aurora                    Tomato puree and tapioca.
15 Consommé Caroline            Dry cook rice.
16 Consommé Hungarian            Paprika powder and saute tomato.
17 Consommé Leopold            Semolina, Julienne of chervil.
18 Consommé Egg-drops            Beaten egg.
19 Consommé Thunderstone    Slice mushroom.
20 Consommé Florentine            Julienne cuts of spinach.
21 Consommé Washington            Sweet corn.
22 Consommé Permentiere            Potato
23 Consommé A ‘I’ Agnon            Golden brown onion.

SOUPS

Soups are a generally warm food made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are characterised by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth. Traditionally, soups are classified into two main groups: clear soups and thick soups. The established French classifications of clear soups are bouillon and consommé. Thick soups are classified depending upon the type of thickening agent used: purees are vegetable soups thickened with starch; bisque are made from pureed shellfish or vegetables thickened with cream; cream soups may be thickened with béchamel sauce; and veloutés are thickened with eggs, butter, and cream. Other ingredients commonly used to thicken soups and broths include rice, lentils, flour, and grains; many popular soups also include carrots and potatoes.

Definition

It is probable that soup in its earliest form was a complete meal because it was found hearty, nourishing, economical and wholesome.

Soup is a liquid food consisting of meat, seafood, vegetables cereals or poultry. They play an important role on the menu and are regarded as appetizers as they stimulate the appetite for the heavier food to follow. On the menu, they are
served as the first course, if hors d‘oeuvre is not being served. If hors d‘ oeuvre is served then the soup is served as the second course.

Composition of soups

From the above explanation, it is evident that for making any kind of soup the following group of ingredients are obvious.

• Stock: of any variety.
• Main body ingredients: the soup will gets its name.
• Herbs: to match the flavor.
• Butter: as cooking medium.
• Seasonings: for the taste.
• Thickening agent: for binding solids and liquids.
• Garnish: for presentation and eye appeal.

The function of soup on the menu is to stimulate the customer’s appetite rather than act as a complete meal.  For this reason many soups are of alight and delicate nature.  Hot soups are a welcome feature on winter menus; conversely cold soups are ideal in the summertime.As the soup preparation needs very less amount of butter or fat and also not very spicy,it can be easily an ideal food for invalids.

EGG COOKERY

Introduction to Egg Cookery

An egg is a nutritious alternative source of protein to ovavagens. It is packed with a lot of protein and other energy-giving nutrients.

Initially, eggs were treated as non-vegetarian in nature, but today science has proved that unfertilised egg can be treated as vegetarian.

Egg cookery is very vast by itself. Eggs are used for cooking, baking, poaching, etc. be it in Indian style of cooking or continental, it plays a vital role. Eggs of hens, ducks, geese, quails, ostrich, and emu are used frequently nowadays.

The most popular and widely used eggs are of hens in India, although eggs of turkeys, guinea fowls, ducks, and geese are also used.

Colour
The colour of eggshells and egg yolks varies with the breed of hen and the food they eat, but this makes no difference to the food value.

Temperature
The ideal storage temperature for eggs is 2-5 degree Celsius.

Significance
Eggs are essential to all kinds of cooking, not only in the preparation but as food in their own right. They produce meals that are economical in price, and with a minimum of waste and time. By the term egg we mean those of the domestic hen, but these are not the only edible eggs. There are those of ducks, geese, turkeys, also of wild birds such as plovers and gulls.

An egg has been described as a “Complete Food” because they are highly nutritious and used in a range of recipes. Yolks and eggs are used separately.

In all culinary preparations, eggs are used for binding, colouring, enriching, increasing volume, coating, etc.