The Art of Healthy Cooking - The Principles of Scientific Cookery

We lay so much emphasis on the taste factor in cooking that we often forget that the key to healthy eating lies in not just the food elements that are chosen, but also the way in which these elements are cooked. The process of cooking changes almost all the elements of food except for fat, and therefore, it is essential that we ensure proper and scientific cooking if we want to retain all the goodness of these elements.

If you want to know how to cook healthy recipes, then you also need to know the right manner in which the cooking process should be undertaken.

Any of the healthy recipes cooked without adequate preparation is not likely to give the right benefit that you are seeking from your food. While it is sometimes necessary to indulge in the sensory aspects of cooking, you also need to make sure that you learn how to cook to retain all the goodness in the food.

The dictionary meaning of cooking states that cooking is the process of preparing food for consumption with the application of heat, but this heat can be applied to the food in various ways, and so, we have the various forms of cooking that include roasting, baking, broiling, boiling, simmering, stewing, steaming and frying:

- Roasting - Roasting is a process in which you allow the food to cook in its own juices, and this is done on an open fire most of the time. Also known as grilling, this process uses radiant heat to allow the food to be cooked. In most cases when the food is large or compact, the process of roasting is recommended.

The radiation heat works on the surface of the food and travels inwards to ensure that the food is cooked properly. Since the radiation heat sears the surface of the food, the juices in the food are not allowed to escape and the inside of the large food is cooked in its own juices. It is recommended that the food that is being roasted be turned to ensure even heating.

- Baking - This is a process of cooking in which the food is cooked by the dry heat in an oven that is almost always closed. This is a style of cooking that is often used for food that contains a fair amount of moisture so as to ensure that the food does not dry up or burn in the closed environment. This is because the dry and hot air in the oven tends to take up the moisture in the food. If the food that is put in the oven does not contain adequate moisture, it is likely to get too dry or burnt in the process.

- Boiling - As a well-known process of cooking, boiling requires a fair amount of boiling water for the food to be cooked. As the water boils, it gives out minute bubbles of air, and these tend to form at the base of the vessel as the water increases in temperature. As the bubbles of hot air continue to rise, the water becomes a hub of mechanical energy and soon enough, the water begins to show rapid activity.

Boiling something hurriedly does not ensure that the food will get cooked any faster; it only ensures the wear and tear of the food particles that are in the water. Hurried steaming actually causes a lot of wastage of fuel and also makes food less palatable. In most cases, the liquid used for boiling is water, but there are also some healthy recipes that use milk as the liquid used for boiling. Boiling starchy foods such as macaroni, rice, farina, etc. in water or even milk is recommended since it makes the overall dish more nutritious and fitter for healthy eating.

When using milk for boiling, it should be remembered that milk is denser and creates less steam. However, not many know that it also boils faster than water.

- Stewing - The process of stewing is another process that is commonly used in healthy recipes. It is a process in which food is cooked in a liquid that is kept just below the boiling point. This process is often confused with simmering, which indicates cooking the food at boiling point.

To ensure that the stewing is taking place in a proper manner, you can use a double boiler in which the liquid in the outside vessel boils. This ensures that the liquid in the inner vessel is just below the boiling point since the inner vessel is always a few degrees cooler than the outer one.

- Steaming - Steaming is the form of healthy cooking that uses the heat of the steam to prepare food. There are various ways in which people use steam to cook food. The most common style is to put food in a vessel that has holes and to place this vessel on a pot of boiling water.

Foods that have high water content are best suited for steaming. Sometimes, the vessel that contains food can be put inside another vessel that contains boiling water too. This apparatus is called the double boiler.

- Frying - This is not really a healthy process of cooking food, since it involves cooking what you want to eat in hot fat. Once fat is cooked, it becomes less easy to digest, and therefore, people who are looking at healthy eating should not opt for this method. The process of frying actually requires you to heat up large quantities of fat in a vessel and bring it to a high temperature.

The food is then dropped in the hot oil and allowed to remain in it till it is cooked. Most people drain the excess fat from the outer part of the food, but a large amount of fat is always absorbed in the food while it is being cooked.

Each of these cooking processes, except for frying, allow for healthy recipes and healthy eating if done properly.

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Microwave Cooking Tips - Cooking Microwave Meat

As a busy individual, the least that you would focus your spare time to is cooking your meal. Going through drive-through fast foods will not usually equal the home-made cooking that you can get. If only you have sufficient time to attend to the busy preparations in cooking. As you know, cooking meat can be a really taxing work especially if you lack adequate time for this thing. So what is the microwave doing? Don't just let your microwave oven sulk in one corner of your kitchen. Make use of it and cook your meat!

Cooking meat in the microwave oven? This can be a big NO for most people. They will oppose to this idea, so to speak. Their reason will usually be the same as their usual claims that the chicken meat can eventually end up feeling like a rubber and that the ground beef will not be entirely cooked. But these things can be a myth after all! Why so? Because if only you know of the microwave cooking tips for meats, you will not say the same thing. The secret i know the right types of cooking utensils to be utilized!

There are clamors against the use of plastic materials in cooking food inside the microwave. Yes, there are those unsafe plastic utensils which may be harmful for the meat that you cook. It is because some of the plastic containers include certain chemicals in their overall make-up which get triggered due to a high rate of heat in the surroundings. In turn, these chemicals will get mixed up with the food inside the microwave oven. Again, as emphasized earlier, one of the effective microwave cooking tips for meat is to employ only the proper utensil. There are basically containers which are obviously designed for microwave cooking.

One safe microwave cooking utensil to be used is the Tupperware. If you are sure that the container which you are about to employ is fit for microwave use, then you can be guaranteed that no sorts of chemicals can get activated although there is too much heat inside the microwave oven. One utensil again, the Oval Cooker, is particularly styled in a way that the meat moisture is kept so that the meat does not end up to be rubbery and dry.

When you are cooking beef remember to cook each pound beef for about 6 minutes, and let the meat wait a few minutes before you take it out. When cooking a whole chicken the cooker must be filled in with half cup of water in the bottom part, and like the beef it take about 6 minutes for each pound. This time can be different in some microwaves depending their power.

As opposed to the prevailing opinion that it's not possible to cook food in microwaves, you find out that you can, but there is a few cooking ways & instruments that can help you achieve this goal, try it first with small amounts of meat and after a few times you will be able to cook the meat exactly in the way you like it. From this point it will be easy for you to make your meal using this tip and impress all you friend and family.

Microwave Meat Cooking and Meats Microwave Cooking advice and Tips can be found at: http://microwave.zupatips.com

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What Makes a Good Cook?

Trained chefs are supposed to be good cooks, but I have had lousy meals at famous restaurants. I have also had five-star meals in friends' homes. One friend served pork tenderloin, sourdough bread, Napa cabbage slaw, and chocolate souffle. Her simple meal was a gourmet meal in every sense of the word.

In the dictionary the word cook is defined as "to prepare food by the action of heat." I think there is more to cooking than that. What makes a good cook?

A good cook understands recipes. Before the cook starts to prepare a recipe he or she reads it all the way through. The cook understands abbreviations, cooking terms, and follows the recipe step-by-step. After the cook is familiar with the recipe he or she may change it to suit personal tastes.

A good cook can use equipment. The cook can use a mixer, food processor, blender, immersion blender, grill pan, and other appliances. This cook is also familiar with kitchen tools like a whisk, mellon-baller, and microplane.

A good cook masters basic techniques. The cook knows how to saute, poach, braise, steam, grill, shallow-fry, stir-fry, and microwave food. In addition, the cook knows how to make a white sauce, thicken sauces with flour and cornstarch, beat egg whites, and temper eggs.

A good cook relies on fresh ingredients. Seasonal fruits and vegetables are the starting point for meals. The cook buys fresh fish and flavorful cuts of meat.

A good cook sharpens knives. As the old adage says, a dull knife is a dangerous knife. For this reason and cutting ease, a good cook cares for knives properly, keeps them sharp, and stores them safely.

A good cook practices food safety. He or she washes hands thoroughly before touching food and during preparation. Separate cutting boards are used for meat and chicken and washed well after use.

Cold food is kept really cold and hot food is refrigerated promptly after a meal.

A good cook plans interesting menus. Some cooks prepare recipes from one culture, while others prepare recipes from many. Each part of the meal fits together like a fascinating puzzle.

A good cook makes simple things well. Only a good cook can make rich coffee, fabulous soup, and fluffy scrambled eggs. Though the cook is able to prepare complex recipes, he or she excels at the simple ones.

A good cook cleans up the kitchen. My mother told me this when I was a teenager and I have never forgotten it. She was an excellent cook and I learned a lot from her. She taught me to take good care of pots, pans, and dishes.

A good cook always adds love. You cannot rush when you are adding love, you must pay attention to what you are doing, and take the time to do it. Whether it is the first ingredient or last, a cook's love is what makes food so delicious.

Copyright 2007 by Harriet Hodgson

http://www.harriethodgson.com
Harriet Hodgson has been a freelance nonfiction writer for 28 years. She is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Association for Death Education and Counseling. Her 24th book, "Smiling Through Your Tears: Anticipating Grief," written with Lois Krahn, MD, is available from http://www.amazon.com A five-star review of the book is posted on Amazon. You will find additional reviews on the American Hospice Foundation Web site ("School Corner" heading) and the Health Ministries Association Web site.

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Cooking For Beginners, Or How You Can Improve Your Cooking

You should not take on a turkey dinner for 10 when you first learn to cook. You will quit before the first course starts to cook. I am a little overwhelmed when I undertake the Thanksgiving turkey dinner, and I spent some time in cooking school. So do not make a thanksgiving dinner your first cooking assignment.

There are many people around you that can help you learn to cook. One or both of your parents can help you to cook. Even though one person primarily does most of the cooking, do not be afraid to ask the other person for some help. Even though my mother did most of the cooking in our family, my father was no slouch when it came to cooking.

There are videos that you can purchase, or you can even sign them out at the library. YouTube has many great videos that you can watch to learn how to make some dishes. I watched as many YouTube videos when I was making jerky in my smoker. I learned quite a bit about making jerky.

There are so many cooking sites on the internet, where people are constantly asking for advice. When I am looking for a particular recipe, I will always comb the comments section to see if people are having a hard time with the recipe.

The Food Network is of course one of the best places to learn how to cook, you can find simple dishes that you can cook or even rather elaborate dishes that you can cook, especially after your cooking improves. You will find that there are cooks that you like and then there are some that you do not have the time of day for. I personally enjoyed Rachael Ray's cooking when she was on the Food Network. I am usually hard pressed for time when it comes to cooking, and her cooking was perfect for me.

Of course, there is the old fashion cook book. These are still one of the best resources available, and there are so many of them out there. You can purchase them new, used, at garage sales, off of eBay, etc. There are just so many of them available, for so many different types of cooking.

If you want to learn how to cook, there are so many resources available for you to learn how to cook. But first of all start small and simple. Maybe in a year or two you will be ready to cook that turkey dinner.

Richard McDuff has been selling on the internet for 7 years. He has a website at #1 Meals on a Budget that deals with cooking.

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Get the Confidence to Stop Guessing and Take the Mystery Out of Cooking

My goal is to help make cooking easy for you. While understanding how to cook with a cooking method rather than following a recipe, it's also important that you get cooking tips that help rather than confuse. One of the reasons cooking can be difficult or even a little intimidating is the result of guessing.

1. Guessing while cooking is bad. Let me give you an example. In my early days of cooking for a living, I was working with a chef that told me, "Todd, you can't put too much butter in the hollandaise." The problem is, I wasn't sure if I was in trouble for putting too much butter in the hollandaise sauce or if I needed to load up the butter. In the end, I had no idea if I was going to be able to make the sauce to his liking.

Guessing and not knowing if you'll be success is stressful! Stress can increase your fear of cooking which does not help to make cooking easy and it should be.

Are you ever surprised by the results of your cooking?
Does your meal with come out terribly wrong?
Perhaps, once in a while, the meal that you've cooked comes out unexpectedly great?

These are the results of guessing. Maybe you're guessing because:

You're not sure how your meal is going to be received.
You lack experience or confidence with the presentation of your food.
You feel such a responsibility when you cook that you feel you may let people down when you cook.

So, while you're cooking, you're constantly second guessing yourself. You may be guessing because you are cooking ingredients that you haven't worked with before. What in the world does...

A cooked brussel sprouts look like?
Swordfish get cooked completely?
A person do with eggplant?

It's enough to make a person terrified!

2. Guessing leads to inconsistency and surprise results.

Have you ever been cooking rice and while it's boiling, you think it needs more rice? Were you surprised when the rice was done and some of the rice was crunchy?
What about turning an item over and over again while you're sauteing?
Are you gashing your steaks or burgers to test to see if it's done?

3. Guessing can't be duplicated.

If you've cooked a great meal, do you know how you did it? What if you tried to duplicate it and it wasn't as good the next time? Now, you have even less confidence and begin guessing even more!

I want to help you stop guessing at your cooking and gain the confidence to be able to depend on great results each time. I want to make cooking easy for you and give you tips that will make your cooking great every time your cook.

I want you to start with this cooking tip: In your cooking tonight, try to take notice of the things that you guess at, and start considering ways to quantify your cooking in the future.

Chef Todd Mohr is a classically trained chef, entrepreneur, cooking educator and founder of WebCookingClasses. You CAN learn to cook without written recipes by taking his FREE cooking class that will change the way you think about cooking forever!

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Cooking Ideas That Will Save You Time And Money

The saying, "time is money" certainly applies in the business world, but it applies in the kitchen, too. Saving time and money in the kitchen really helps with family time and the family budget. So it works in our favor when we come up with cooking ideas that save time and money in the kitchen. There are a lot of kitchen shortcuts out there, but no matter which way you cut the roast, cooking is still cooking. So what are some cooking ideas that will save you time and money?

Easy cooking is a great place to start. We all like to think of ourselves as good cooks, but not everything has to be complicated. It's hard to save time and money if you aren't organized. So get organized by focusing on what to cook and when to cook. Write your cooking ideas down and put them in your own personal cooking book. Along with planning what to cook, you should plan when to cook. Most people assume they have to cook dinner between the hours of 4 pm and 7 pm. As the norm this is great, but make sure you are using easy recipes for dinner.

Here is another one we found works in our house. Cook dinner at breakfast. No, most would not classify this as a normal habit. Think of it this way. By cooking your dinner in the morning, you will not have the evening rush of "what to cook" which regularly translates into "where can I order out" because you don't have the time or energy to make a home cooked meal. Prepare your dinner meal while you are fixing breakfast, and then put it in the refrigerator. When you get home, you will only have to reheat and a home cooked meal is on the table in a jiffy. This is especially good when you are cooking for kids.

Here is a another one from the cooking book. Dig out the crock pot. We do this a lot on Sundays. There are healthy and great tasting dishes that you can make in a crock pot. In the morning, all your ingredients get added to the pot. By dinner, it's ready to serve. How much prep time do you have when you get home? Just long enough to set the table. Talk about easy cooking! To us, this is as close as it comes to having someone cook your dinner for you. Shop around. There are some great crock pot recipes available that will tantalize your taste bud.

Along with those quick and easy recipes, try this. Plan a kitchen table picnic. What does that mean? It means you use paper plates and plastic ware. Does that beat washing the dishes or what?! Even the kids can get involved with throwing out the plates when they are done eating. I f you do this when you do crock pot cooking, then you have only one dish to wash, the crock pot!

This one needs prep time, but offers you a real break on a day to day basis. We do this about five or six times a year. We cook for a whole month a one time. Everything goes in the freezer. When we are done, there are 30 dinners in the freezer. It takes two days to get it all done, but for a month, dinner is on the table about 20 minutes after we get home. If a month seems overwhelming, start with doing meals for a week or two. Every night then has easy recipes for dinner!

Save time. Save money. It's a great way to run a kitchen. The more easy cooking and cost effective cooking you can do, the better off your kitchen is!

Chris & Michelle Grimbilas both have backgrounds in teaching and education. Cooking is one of the things they both enjoy. They have five children who have shared the kitchen with them over the years. You can get more great easy cooking ideas at their Creative Cookery website. You'll find more cooking ideas,real resources that will help you in the kitchen, and best of all FREE GIFTS! Get software that shows you how to cook almost anything! Get free dessert recipes! Claim your gifts today at the Creative Cookery!

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Solar Cooking

Most people to some extent are entrepreneurial by nature. In fact I have yet to meet the person who does not either enjoy making money or at least saving money. Solar cooking not only achieves this naturally, but by the very nature of cooking with the sun perpetuates the concept of cooking without using electricity, and therein reinforcing the embedded opportunity cost saving.

There is an unavoidable initial cost of either purchasing a commercial solar cooker or purchasing the raw materials to construct your own solar cooker, but that is a once off cost that is easily recouped assuming you cook a reasonable proportion of your meals in a solar oven. A fun approach to this would be to cook the majority of your weekend meals in the solar oven when you are not under routine weekday time pressures associated with work and domestic time deadlines.

Whilst one will never become a millionaire in this fashion, it is still nonetheless exciting to realize that cooking with sun actually puts money back into your pocket and comes with the added bonus of an absolutely nil carbon footprint.

Solar cooking over the weekend using solar energy exclusively can also become a full family activity with even children getting involved, provided of course that there is appropriate supervision.

Budding solar chefs can sometimes underestimate the admittedly limited, but real inherent dangers associated with solar cooking. A solar oven left standing in full sunshine can develop extremely high internal temperatures and inexperienced users can inadvertently burn themselves by accidentally touching the internal reflective material of the cooker.

Similarly a parabolic reflector left unattended and uncovered in full sunshine can concentrate and reflect sunshine on to any form of wooden structure in close proximity to the reflector, thereby causing a fire.

If the ultimate business model is to have nil fixed costs and an entirely variable cost structure, than solar cooking and solar ovens have to be an excellent example, albeit on a small, domestic scale.

After all to cook for free with no associated electricity cost has to be the ultimate form of cheap solar and a no-brainer. Whist you admittedly do not have the same level of control and predictability that you do with a conventional oven or stove, you do have numerous benefits with solar cooking with a solar oven which include, but are not limited to the following:

Economical: No electricity is required first-and-for most. There is a once-off, small cost in acquiring the solar cooker and thereafter no overhead cost implications.

Skill: Most solar cookers are easy to use and do not require an advanced level of technical skill. A basic education on how to use the solar cooker is necessary and thereafter the user can use the cooker day in and day out on a regular basis.

Slow-cooking concept: The process dynamic is slow cooking. The food cooks properly over an extended time and due to the low thermal flux dynamic food does not burn. Despite the longer cooking times in comparison to conventional cooking, solar cooked foods retain and preserve the vitamin and nutrient content of the food as well as, or even better than foods cooked by conventional methods.

Wikipedia describes the advantages of slow cooking as being: " Cheaper cuts of meat with connective tissue and lean muscle fibre are suitable for stewing, and tastier than stews using expensive cuts, as long slow cooking will soften the connective tissue without toughening the muscle. Slow cooking leaves the gelatinised tissue in the meat, so that it may be advantageous to start with a richer liquid. The low temperature of slow-cooking makes it impossible to burn food even if cooked too long..."

No fuel requirement: The raw material is sunshine which is abundant and free (although not necessarily always available). As a consequence there is no fuel requirement which reduces and potentially eliminates deforestation and related health disadvantages such as smoke-pollution.

No need to walk long distances to find and retrieve fuel, for example wood. It has been recently extrapolated that one solar cooker saves approximately the equivalent of 2 tons of trees per annum.

In terms of the macro environment greater reliance on sunshine and reduced reliance on burning fuel translates into a reduced greenhouse effect, reduced reliance on fossil fuels, an improved contribution to reducing global warming and a lower carbon footprint loading.

A further specific benefit of solar cooking is the reduction of black carbon emissions. Black carbon is a consequence of incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biofuels and is particularly prevalent in Africa as a consequence of open fires. Black carbon emissions are postulated to be disproportionately detrimental to the greenhouse effect and particularly severe on human health.

Water sterilization and pasteurization: Water can be heated and pasteurized using a solar oven thereby sharply reducing the risk and occurrence of water-borne diseases such as cholera, enteritis and diarrhoea. In areas where communities live in close proximity to water the use of a solar still, be it a domestic model or a commercial model, can generate pure, uncontaminated water on a daily basis.

Portability: Certain of the makes of solar cookers, for example the box and panel solar cookers, are light weight and can be easily folded up into a compact unit and transported. In many instances the solar cookers weigh less than 11lbs (5 kg).

Longevity: Most commercial solar cookers are assembled and constructed from robust materials which if properly cleaned and maintained should last for an extended period of time. An additional benefit is that most cookers do not have a multiplicity of moving parts or interlinking components, hence minimal maintenance requirements.

About The Author

Lee Elliott is an Author on Solar Cooking and related solar cooking activities. As an Author on the subject, he is at the forefront to provide solutions to information related to solar cooking and using solar cookers.

For more articles on Solar Cooking or to get your FREE Mini Course on Solar Cooking go to http://www.solarcooking.mobi.

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