Culinary arts is the art of cooking. Cooking is a way to prepare
food that will be eaten or served to other people.
The culinary arts is comprised of many categories - some of
which are tools, methods, combination of spices and ingredients
that adds flavour to the food. It normally needs the right
measurements, proper selection and accurate combination of
ingredients involved to reach desired result.
The diversity of the Culinary arts around the world mirrors many
considerations such as:
- Economic - Aesthetic - Nutritional - Religious - Cultural
1. The Dawn Of Fire
The culinary arts, if not always, is associated with fire. The
heat generated by fire is oftentimes required to be applied to
be able to change the food's texture, flavour, nutritional
contents and even its appearance. Heating is important in the
culinary arts because it disinfects the food and makes it
softer. The food danger zone is between 4 to 60 degrees Celsius.
Within these temperatures, the bacteria found in the found or
even those that were transferred to the food can grow at a very
alarming rate. Under ideal conditions bacteria can double their
population every twenty minutes. Although at a glance, these
foods may not appear harmful, when ingested they can be. Many
people have the misconception that bacteria will die when we
freeze our food or refrigerate them, but this actually does not
rid the food of bacteria, merely it slows down their expansion.
2. Baking
Baking is probably the most famous department in the culinary
arts. In the culinary arts, baking is the art of cooking food
using an oven. The food is cooked through applying dry heat
evenly through the oven and onto the food. It is used in
producing pastry based goodies such as pies, tarts and cakes.
The dry heat in the oven causes the starch to gelatinize and
results to the browning or charring of the outside of the food.
Some uneducated in the culinary arts might think that the
charred part or the brown part is not as tasty as it sounds, but
this part is actually what gives taste and flavour to the baked
good, partly sealing the moisture of the food. The browning
apparent in the baked good is caused by the sugar caramelizing
and the chemical reaction that happens between the reduction of
sugar and the amino acid (Maillard reaction). Moisture in the
baked goody, on the other hand, is not really completely kept
in, in time as the goody is being baked it will become drier and
drier.
3. Boiling
Another category is boiling. Boiling is when there is a rapid
vaporization of any liquid when the liquid is heated. In
cooking, boiling is divided into many other categories.
Blanching, a cooking term used to describe the submersion of
food into boiling water and removing it after a certain period
of time and then throwing it into cold water or letting water
run over it causing the firming of food. Pressure cooking is
when food is cooked inside an enclosed cooking tool that would
limit the air that's coming in or going out of that tool - this
technique speeds up the pace of cooking. Stewing would probably
be the most popular cooking technique in the culinary arts
division. It is a method where meats are cut up into smaller
pieces and along with some vegetables are simmered into a
liquid. Simmering, then again is a cooking method where the
liquid is barely kept away from its boiling point. Other boiling
techniques are braising, codding, steaming, infusion, poaching,
double steaming, steeping and vacuum flask cooking.
4. Other
To most Americans, microwaving and grilling are the most common
forms of cooking. Microwaving is the easiest and simplest form
of cooking; it is a technique used mostly to reheat sumptuous
meals ready to be consumed. And for grilling, most Americans
have a grill station in their backyard. Grilling is a roasting
method that is cooking directly under a source of heat. Other
roasting methods are Barbecuing, Searing and Rotisserie. A less
common method is smoking meat, or even salting it.
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