Everybody’s got to eat and most dietary experts agree that cooking at home is the best way to do that. Eating out is expensive, potentially filthy and, eventually, boring. Cooking at home may seem daunting to some, but instead of trying to accumulate a mound of tried and true recipes, it may help to focus on the various cooking methods available to you in your pursuit of a good meal. These methods are all common place in the professional kitchen, but can be easily accomplished at home with the right ingredients, tools and techniques. Below is a guide to eight of the most common cooking methods used today. Enjoy.
1. Grilling/Broiling
Grilling and broiling are simply to different ways to cook something with radiant heat. In grilling, that source is located below the meat in the form of charcoal, wood or a gas produced flame, while in broiling the source is located above the food in an oven or commercial broiler. This mono-directional heat is far hotter than temperatures used in roasting and is more suited to thinner, tender cuts of meat and fatty fish fillets. For successful grilling it is important to get the meat on the grill grates using the proper procedure. The grill should be preheated to loosen particles from previous foods, scrubbed with a wire brush and then lightly oiled with a rag and tongs. Once the grill is oiled and heated, the meats should be placed on the grill according to the level of heat needed to achieve the intended ‘doneness’. The hottest part of the grill should be used for searing and rare cooks, the medium heat for medium/medium-rare cooks and the low heat for warming and thicker cuts of meat. The meat should be left alone on one side for most of the cook, only being flipped when the meat freely pulls away from the grill. If it sticks, leave it alone (considering you oiled your grill well that is) and flip it when ready. This flipping and sticking can make certain flakier fish a nightmare on the grill and this is where broiling has an advantage. Broiled items can be placed on platters and slid under the broiler rack and removed without any flipping or sticking to worry about. The down side of broiling is that you largely miss out on the ability to use wood and other aromatics to season the meat like you can with a non-propane grill. When it comes to the decision to grill or broil it really comes down to this; how nice is it outside and do I want to heat up my house right now broiling shit? Answer those two questions and the decision makes itself.
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