0:04 [music] >> Welcome you all to the week two of basics of food and nutrition course. In part four, we are going to look at the combination of cooking methods and modern methods of cooking. Last three parts, we would have listened to the different methods of cooking, moist heat method of cooking, dry heat method of cooking, and different methods of cooking. So, this is going to be this session will help you to understand the combination methods of cooking. At the end of this session, the student will be able to
0:50 understand the combination methods of cooking, which enhances the flavor and aroma through combined cooking techniques, to improve the tenderness of tough foods, to achieve desirable texture, to ensure uniform and thorough cooking. That is the major uh understanding that you will get out of this particular session. And there are different modern methods of cooking also available that should be understood with regard to the usage of advanced cooking technologies, and they also reduce the cooking time and energy consumption to retain maximum nutrients and food quality, to promote safe, hygienic, and efficient cooking practices also. So, we are going to look at the combination
1:36 methods of cooking as well as modern methods of cooking in this particular session. So, what do you understand by the term combination cooking methods? As discussed in the previous session, we have understood about moist heat cooking and dry heat cooking. There are uh where types where the cooking has to be combined using both the techniques. So, that is called combination cooking methods. If you see a combination cooking method will involve the use of both dry heat as well as moist heat in the food preparation. So, what are the things
2:22 that come under dry moist heat? Which is including your pressure cooking, blanching boiling everything. Similarly for dry heat, it is nothing but roasting, grilling. If you use both the method of cooking, we call it as a combination cooking method. So, initially dry heat is applied to develop some flavor, color, and browning. And then we follow it by moist heat cooking method to ensure the tenderness and uniform cooking. So, any food can be a combination of cooking methods. So, this particular combination of cooking methods will help us to improve the texture, taste, and
3:09 overall quality and acceptability of that particular food item. So, I'm giving an example of a combination of cooking method. The terminology is called braising where you use stewing and pressure cooking. That's the common method and we term it as braising. This is mainly used for curry preparation. For our day-to-day food preparation, this is this is a technique that is a combination cooking method that is followed where we stew the particular food item and then it can be pressure cooked followed by curry preparation.
3:54 So, you can see how the process is being given in the picture as well. If you see, food is first seared using a dry heat so that it gets developed with the color and flavor is maintained and that comes under dry heat method of cooking. And then it is slowly cooked in a small amount of liquid. So, we can either use a water or any other liquid or stewed liquid that can be added. Which results in tender flavorful dishes. The meat is usually sealed by browning all the sides and then placed on slightly fried bed of vegetables. This is one particular example that I wanted to make you understand is braising method,
4:42 which is a combination of dry heat as well as moist heat method of cooking. Examples meat curry and vegetable korma, which is normally prepared at home in as well as in hotels and food industries. Coming to the merits of this particular method, it enhances the flavor and aroma. It produces tender and juicy texture of the food item. It retains the nutrients due to minimal liquid. Demerits include it is really a time-consuming method because you're combining both of the techniques, dry heat as well as moist heat. So, it is really a time-consuming process. And there may be some
5:28 loss of heat-sensitive nutrients are seen. Therefore, it requires a very careful temperature control over here. So, the combination method of cooking, especially braising, is having an advantage and disadvantages of this particular uh method. Next, we move on to uh next process called stewing. Food is cut into small and uniform pieces. It is cooked slowly in a large amount of liquid. So, if you see compared to the braising method, the cook uh food is cooked in large amount of liquid. Initially, no any uh browning is required, and the liquid covers the food completely during cooking.
6:16 The results would be very soft, well-cooked, and flavored dish that you will obtain. So, here the main advantage is uh you have to cut into small uniform pieces. So, only if the pieces are uniform, you can have a uniformity in the cooking, also. All the ingredients, like meat, vegetables, spices, liquid, are cooked all together. Example [snorts] would be vegetable stew, chicken stew. Merits include uh it has it produces a very soft and easily digestible food. It enhances the flavor as ingredients are cooked together. It also retains the nutrient when the liquid is consumed.
7:03 So, if you see the merits are really good when compared to the other type of cooking. Demerits, as it involves both the method of cooking, it is really time-consuming. >> [snorts] >> Food may become mushy if it is overcooked. And similar to the braising method, there will be a loss of heat-sensitive nutrient, which is due to prolonged method of heating or cooking. So, as you can see in the slide, it produces uh easily digestible food. It enhances the flavor, and ingredient is uh when it is all cooked together, the flavor gets enhanced. So, that is the method of cooking that we follow here under stewing method.
7:48 Next, we move on to the pressure cooking method where food is cooked in a steel sealed container using high pressure steam. Usually, pressure cooking is what we normally use in our day-to-day life. High pressure will increase the boiling point of water allowing faster cooking. So, food is cooked in a very small amount of liquid or its own moisture. Heat gets transferred rapidly and thereby the cooking time is reduced significantly. Unlike the previous method of cooking like stewing and braising, pressure cooking really saves time because the heat gets transferred
8:34 rapidly and thereby it reduces the cooking time also. Commonly used uh food groups are cereals, pulses, meats, and root vegetables. Examples include dal, rice, mutton curry, chickpea. So, these items can be prepared using the pressure cooking method of technique. So, the merits include as I said, it has a very fast cooking method. It saves the fuel if you're if you're using it uh via uh gas or electricity, it can be saving the fuel and also the energy that is being used. It retains the nutrients
9:20 due to shorter cooking time. The demerits include a risk of overcooking if the time is not controlled. It requires careful handling for safety purpose because most of the time it involves high pressure. and people not having enough knowledge to handle it. The pressure may get released and it may cause serious effects. So, that has to be carefully monitored and handled for safety. It is not suitable for certain delicate foods like soups and the vegetables and fish. So, that has to be done via a different method of cooking and not pressure cooking. So, as I said
10:06 with the any method of cooking, there is a disadvantage and advantage. Even combination method of cooking has its own merits and demerits. So, having understood about the different method of cooking, you will know how to preserve the particular nutrient and efficiently make the food healthier and tastier. Curry preparation. So, here I'm giving an example of a curry preparation here. Food ingredients are first sauteed. Sauteing is a dry heat method of cooking or it can be fried in oil. Again, that is also a dry heat method of cooking with the spices
10:53 to develop the flavor. Liquids such as water, stock, coconut milk or gravy base is added to it and then food is cooked slowly until the ingredients become tender and flavors are well blended. Spices are released through frying, which is nothing but tempering. We call it as seasoning, tempering and all, which enhances the aroma and taste. So, if you see, there are different methods of cooking that is going into this curry preparation process. The consistency may be thick or semi-liquid depending on the recipe. So, if somebody wants a thick gravy, then the consistency becomes thick. And when somebody is not really happy about the gravy part, so it goes
11:38 as a dry gravy. So the liquid will be sucked out of it. So it can examples would be chicken curry, vegetable curry, a fish curry, and a sambar. Sambar is one of the major dal preparation that is prepared out of this particular method. Coming to the merits, there could be a rich flavor because we use a lot of spices into it. And the spices and other ingredients blends properly, so and that gives you a rich flavor. It is highly versatile and suitable for many foods as it goes with many food items. It improves the palatability and digestibility as well. So that is the
12:25 reason we use a combination method of cooking because the food gets more palatable and digestibility score is improved. Coming to the demerits, since it is involving both the method of cooking, the time is really consuming. And it can be high in fat because there is a lot of oil being used based on the recipe and not every recipe is involved in oil and oil usage. There may be some items where we use a lot of oil or fat into it. That may be a disadvantage to the healthier aspect of cooking. Nutrient loss may occur due to prolonged cooking. So if you continuously process it with different methods of cooking, there may be nutrient loss also.
13:12 If it's pressure cooked and then heated or tempered, that cooking loss can be prevented in a little better way. So coming to the modern methods of cooking, so there are different equipments that are available with regard to the modern methods of cooking. So, if you see there there are good amount of technology that that are being used in these kind of cooking equipments. They are advanced cooking equipment for precision, nutrient preservation is a major concern. So, these modern cooking techniques are being used to retain the nutrient and food quality. Efficiency of the particular
14:00 method is more and it saves time, energy, and ensures hygiene and safety, also. So, if you see the modern methods of cooking has got a really good amount of advanced cooking equipment and it retains the nutrient and food quality. It saves time, energy, and it ensures hygiene. So, we are going to the next part of the session, which is nothing but modern method of cooking. So far we have been dealing with the combination methods of cooking like braising, stewing, pressure cooking, and all that. Now, we are moving moving on to the modern method of cooking, which includes solar cooking. And nowadays people have started using
14:47 solar panels to preserve electricity. This is one particular boon. That way you can see solar cooking way back in century back also people start were using solar cooking as a major purpose of cooking. And this has come back again to our day also, where we can see outdoor cooking method using energy from the sun. In a country like India where we get a lot of sun sunshine, this particular method of cooking attracts the people and this is one of the modern method of cooking that I would say is gaining more attention now. Because it conserves fuel and reduce environmental impact.
15:34 It uses specialized specially designed solar cookers to trap the heat and concentration of sunlight using mirrors and reflectors will be present in the equipment. And this particular process of conversion of the light into the heat will be done using the black surfaces because they absorb the heat and that gets converted as so that the trapping of the heat happens inside which brings about a greenhouse effect. That is a major process that happens in the solar cooking process. So outdoor cooking method using energy from the sun is gaining a lot of importance and it preserves the fuel and reduces environmental impact. So it can
16:20 be considered as a best eco-friendly method of cooking also. Coming to the merits, it is really low cost compared to the firewood or the cooking oil and there is greater safety that poses very low risk when compared to a fire stove which is used for cooking. And there is a lower likelihood of starting a fire that could be dangerous. Very less time spent cooking compared to uh cooking in a fire stove. There are a lot of merits and very few demerits when it comes to solar cooking. So demerits include uh it takes a longer time to cook food compared to fire stove. Food preparations have to be
17:07 started uh several uh hours before the meal is prepared. So main disadvantage is it can take a longer time because the sun rays and the amount of radiation that is coming out of the sun may vary from time to time. So, based on that, our cooking process may go a little longer. That's the only disadvantage that I would say. So, solar cooker is a special equipment needed for cooking the food. That is also one of the demerit. Next, we move on to microwave cooking. Most of the food gets cooked using electromagnet waves to
17:52 heat the food. And this particular microwave cooking is being used by most of the household now to reheat the food, to use different varieties of food. This particular microwave uses electromagnet waves to heat the food. Heat is generated inside the food by absorption of microwaves. And food gets cooked quickly and evenly. It does not require any medium for heat transfer. That's the best part that I would say when it comes to microwave cooking. We have listed about convection, convection, radiation and all that, but here in microwave, it uses only the electromagnet waves to heat the
18:38 food. It is suitable for reheating and quick cooking. So, most of the time, it is being used for reheating process. Again, food when it is reheated for many times and eaten, it's not really healthy, but we have to consider the fact that it is very good for cooking the food at one time. And reheating have to be considered in moderation only. Coming to the merits and demerits, I would say it's a very fast method of cooking. It saves time in reheating the frozen or the refrigerated food that becomes really uh faster when it comes to microwave cooking. You can set a temperature and time and see to that it uh does not require much attention.
19:25 Less energy consumption compared to conventional method of cooking. So, we can preserve the energy from that and with very little time that is required when it goes to microwave cooking. And uh the disadvantages are also available. There is no browning of the food surface. It is not suitable for frying or slow cooking method. So, for anybody who wants to consume a fried food, microwave may not be a bet bet best option. Less flavor development due to short cooking time. So, the flavor is not really good when it compared to the other methods of cooking. So, microwave cooking is yet another modern method of cooking for you. And next we move on to air frying or air fryer, which is commonly used nowadays.
20:13 Air frying technology uses uh rapid circulation of hot air to cook food. So, it uses only the hot air to cook the food. It requires very little or no oil compared to deep frying. So, the food gets cooked with hot air only. The method of hot air cooking is nothing but convection uh method. So, convection uh is a heat transfer inside a closed chamber. It produces crispy texture similar to the fried items. It is suitable for snacks, meat, and bakery items. Again, the examples would be french fries. If you feel your french fries can be cooked with hot air without
21:00 oil, this would be a better option. Nuggets, samosas can also be fried using a hair dryer. So, this is also gaining importance nowadays. Again, everything has its own advantage, right? And disadvantage. Since it uses very less oil, it would be a healthier option for people who want to lose weight or who wants to reduce the fat content in their body can prefer this air fryers. And it's a very faster method of cooking compared to conventional oven. It produces really crispy and evenly cooked food. The demerits include a limited cooking capacity. It may not achieve exact deep fried taste.
21:46 But you can because deep fried has its own disadvantage because they use oil. So, it gives you the taste and palatability. But since in air fryer, we don't use that much oil, only hot air is being circulated. We may not achieve that exact deep fried taste that can be obtained from the normal deep frying procedure. So, there may be a very limited taste alteration that you can observe here. And it requires electricity for operation. And then so, the electric current has to be used for this particular method of cooking. And there is limited cooking capacity with regard
22:33 to air fryers. So, we have discussed about air fryers, solar cookers, microwave cookers, microwave ovens as a major method of cooking which comes under modern method of cooking. Therefore, I would like to conclude with this particular session is modern and combination methods of cooking would definitely improve the efficiency, flavor, and nutrient retention. Each method, such as braising, stewing, pressure cooking, microwave cooking, solar cooking, and air frying has its own advantages and limitations.
23:19 Selection of appropriate method of cooking will always depend on the type of food, time available, and desired quality. Overall, I would like to conclude that modern techniques of cooking will promote healthier, safer, and more convenient cooking practices. Again, you have to understand that each and every technique has its own advantages and limitations. Please look into that and have a healthier and safer environment of eating so that you have a better health and understanding. Always remember, anything in moderation with good amount of physical activity will help you in gaining your
24:05 healthier atmosphere. Always remember, prevention is always better than cure. So, try to have any food item in moderation and again look into the different types of cooking method rather than going for fried or any sort of unhealthy practices alone. So, have a combination and see to that your health is in your hands by cooking at home and preferring outside foods or convenience food in a lesser quantity, you would definitely go on with a healthier lifestyle and healthier food practices.
25:23 >> [music] [music]
29:43 >> Thank you. Happy learning.
