Tips from the Chef on meat, Poultry & sea food- V

Tips for Cooking Meat, poultry & sea food cooking

·         When you cook chicken or meat, you should first cook over high heat to seal juices and then lower the heat and cook till tender

·         If you want to store fish for more than a day, first clean it, rub it with salt, turmeric and maybe, a dash of vinegar, and then freeze. It will stay fresh.

·         Don't salt meat before you cook it. The salt forces the juices out and impedes browning. Instead, salt meat halfway through cooking, then taste when the meat is done and adjust the salt as needed.

·         Meat that is partially frozen is much easier to cut or slice.

·         Cooking of hamburgers may take hell of a long time. To cook them a little faster, you could poke a hole in the middle of the hamburger patties while shaping them. This helps them cook faster and the holes disappear once the burgers are done.

·         Allow meat to stand at room temperature 1 hour before cooking: It will cook more quickly, brown more evenly, and stick less when pan-fried.

·         To help keep meats moist during a long grill or barbecue, add a pan of water close to the fire, but away from the meat.

·         To coat chicken evenly, you can place the seasonings or crumbs in a plastic bag, and then add a few pieces at a time and shake them well.

·         For golden-brown fried chicken, roll in powdered milk instead of flour before frying.

·         To prevent bacon from curling, dip the strips in cold water before cooking.

·         Sprinkle a little amount of salt in the frying pan before adding bacon to fry. That way it will not splatter all over.

·         To ensure that sausages keep their shape, put them into cold water, bring to a boil and then drain immediately and grill or fry in a saucepan.

·         When you cook chicken or meat, you should first cook over high heat to seal juices and then lower the heat and cook till tender.

·         To avoid kebabs from becoming hard and chewy, marinate them for a longer time and avoid over cooking them.

·         To get rid of the smell of prawns, apply salt and lemon juice to the prawns before cooking. Leave for 15-20 minutes, then wash off and proceed with the recipe. This is usually done with prawns,fish & all kinds of sea food.

·         For better results, mutton should be of a younger animal. It looks pink and not red and texture should be firm. If it is red and looks 'wrinkled', it will be tough.

·         Softening chicken for salads and sandwiches chicken in salads and sandwiches is usually poached. What poaching does is surrounds the chicken with liquid, so no moisture is lost and cooks the chicken gently, as opposed to grilling or pan frying.

·         How can you tell that steaks are done? Color can be a good indicator of doneness. This is because myoglobin which gives meat its color, changes from red to pink to brown as meat cooks. A rare steak is bright red. A medium-rare steak is dark pink with some red present; a medium steak is very light pink in color and of course, well-done is brown.

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TIPS FROM CHEF on Gravies making- part-IV

Tips For Gravies

·         Always use ghee or vanaspati with or instead of oil, which gives a good flavour to the gravy. If oil alone is used, it does not get separated easily from the ground mixture, as ghee separates from it.

·         Cook the ground masala on reduced flame, so that it retains its colour and taste.

·         Little plain sugar or caramelized sugar added to the gravy makes it tasty.

·         When tomatoes are not in season, tomato ketchup or sauce can be successfully used in the gravies (Added in small quantities at a time).

·         To retain colour in the gravy always use ripe red tomatoes. Discard green portions if any.

·         Good variety chilies and chili powder also gives colour to the gravy. As far as possible try to use long red chilies. Dry it under sun for few days and powder coarsely at home.

·         Always remember a coarse powder gives good taste in gravies and pickles.

·         While using ginger and garlic paste in curries, always use garlic at 60% ratio and ginger at 40% as ginger is very strong and may make your dish sharp and pungent.

 Time saving & a minute recipe for Indian kitchens 

·         Add oil in butter in a pan or heat ghee in a pan, add a pinch of asafoetida, cumin seeds followed by chopped garlic, whole red chilli broken into pieces, turmeric powder & top any boiled lentil with the mixture made in the pan. Serve hot garnished with chopped coriander leaves.

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TIPS FROM CHEF on general cooking -III

General cooking tips

·         To make 1 cup of dal, add at least 2-3 cups of water, depending on the type of dal.

·         Soak whole pulses overnight and other dals for one hour before cooking.

·         Always add hot water to the gravy to enhance the taste.

·         Add 1 Tbsp of hot oil to the dough for making Kachories or Kulchas.

·         Always use heavy bottomed vessels to make desserts, in order to avoid burning.

·         Make desserts with full cream milk, to get thick creamy texture.

·         Whenever curd is to be added to the masala, it should be beaten well and add gradually.

·         Chop some extra vegetables, for next day stir fry.

·         Use the leftover dal water to make rasam or sambar.

·         Never discard water in which vegetables are cooked, use it in gravies, soups, rasam or kolumbu.

·         Onions and masala are fried in the cooker body itself, raw vegetables are added to that with enough salt and water. Cook under pressure according to the cooking time of the vegetable. This method helps us minimise our cooking time, use of utensils and nutrients are also preserved.

·         If poppy seeds are used in grinding, soak it in hot water for 10 to 15 minutes, if you are grinding it in a mixie.

·         While boiling milk, always add a little water at the base of the vessel to avoid the milk from sticking at the bottom.

·         Add a tsp. of hot oil to homemade pastes of garlic, ginger or green chili, along with salt to make it last longer and taste fresher.

·         Store raisins in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They will stay fresh for much longer. Pour very hot water over them if they had harden, after that drain them immediately, and spread on a paper towel to dry. You can also leave a spoon in the vessel in which the milk is being boiled at low heat so that it does not get burnt at the bottom

·         Add a few drops of lemon a tsp of oil to rice before boiling to separate each grain.

·         Never discard the water in which vegetables are cooked, use it in gravies or soups.

·         Put tomatoes in a large bowl and cover with boiling water Leave it for about 5 minutes. Take out one by one, piercing them with a sharp knife, the skin will peel off easily.

·         Immediately after boiling noodles put them in normal cold water to separate them each.

·         If you forget to soak chana/Rajma overnight. Just soak the chana/Rajma in the boiling water for an hour before cooking.

·         Curd in winter - Set in a ceramic container and place it on the voltage stabilizer of your refrigerator.

·         Potatoes soaked in salt water for 20 minutes will bake more rapidly.

·         Roasting is a dry heat method of cooking - it does not use water. The flavors roasting draws forth result from the process of browning. As the surface of the meat browns, and its juices and fats drip down and brown on the surface of the hot roasting pan, it adds to the flavour of the meat.

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TIPS FROM CHEFS-II

Tips on frying

·         Heat the oil thoroughly before adding seasonings or vegetables.

·         Fry the seasonings until they change color, to get full flavour of seasonings.

·         If masala sticks to the pan that shows quantity of fat included is not enough.

·         Add some hot oil and 1/2 tsp of baking soda in batter while making pakodas.

·         When coconut is used in grinding masala, do not fry for a longer time.

·         If you are making patties or tikkis of potatoes, always make sure that the potatoes are boiled well in advance and cooled before you use them. It would be better if they can be refrigerated for a short time. This helps the starch in the potatoes to settle down and the tikkis will not be gooey.

·         Smoke Mustard oil first before using for preparing vegetables etc.. by heating to a point till light white smoke emerges from it. This would remove the potency from the oil.

·         Poori can be rolled and place between well-rinsed wet muslin cloth at least an hour ahead and can be Fried before serving.

·         To make pooris more crispy add a little rice flour to the wheat flour while kneading.

·         Pakodas will turn out crisper if a little corn flour is added to the gram flour (besan) while preparing the batter.

·         Heat a non-stick pan and add a little more butter than usual. Now beat the egg and stir briskly (even while frying) with a fork. This way more air goes in your omelet, making it light and fluffy. Fry till done and serve hot.

·         Sprinkle a little amount of salt in the frying pan before adding bacon to fry. That way it will not splatter all over.

·         When browning meat in fat, choose a large, deep pan. This will enable you to fry quickly, without splashing the stove with fat and meat juices.

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TIPS FROM CHEF-1

Tips on Cutting & Peeling

·         Wash vegetables before peeling or cutting to preserve the water soluble vitamins.

·         Peel vegetables as thinly as possible to preserve the minerals and vitamins.

·         Soak potatoes and eggplant after cutting, to avoid discoloration.

·         If you boil vegetables in water, do not throw the water, keep it to make gravies.

·         To avoid browning of apples after cutting, apply a little lemon juice on the cut surface. The apples will stay and look fresh for a longer time.

·         Keep coriander leaves in a muslin (cheese) cloth bag in the refrigerator. They will remain fresh for a longer time.

·         Remove the stems of green chilies while storing them .This will help them to stay fresh for long.

·         After peeling onions cut in half and soak in water for about 10 minutes before cutting to avoid crying.

·         Soak almonds in a cup of boiling water for 10 minutes .The skin will peel off easily.

·         Chopping vegetables can be done in different ways using a sharp knife and a wooden chopping board. Cutting on a marble slab will blunt your knives.

·         Remove the outer leaves and husks from the corn (bhutta). Holding the corn upright with the flat end firmly in a board, take a sharp knife and run it down between the kernels and the cob to strip them away.

·         Wrap the fruits and vegetables in newspaper before refrigerating to keep them fresh for long.

·         Chopping dry fruits - Freeze them first for one hour & then dip the knife into hot water before cutting them.

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Food terminology one must be aware of

Food terminology one must be aware of

·         Food processing - Food processing is the transformation of raw ingredients, by physical or chemical means into food or of food into other forms. Food processing combines raw food ingredients to produce marketable food products that can be easily prepared and served by the consumer. Food processing typically involves activities such as mincing and macerating, liquefaction, emulsification, and cooking (such as boiling, broiling, frying, or grilling); pickling, pasteurization, and many other kinds of preservation; and canning or other packaging.

·         Food technologies - Food Technology is a branch of food science that deals with the production processes that make foods. Early scientific research into food technology concentrated on food preservation. Nicolas Appert's development in 1810 of the canning process was a decisive event.

·         Fermentation technology- Fermentation technology encompass a broad field, but within this profile we target the use of microorganisms and/or enzymes for production of compounds that find application in the energy, chemical, material, pharmaceutical and the food sector. Even though fermentation processes have been used for generations, the requirement for sustainable production of energy and materials is demanding innovation and development of novel fermentation concepts.

·         Food safety - Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards. Food safety and food security are interrelated concepts with a profound impact on quality of human life, and there are many external factors that affect both of these areas. Food safety is an umbrella term that encompasses many facets of handling, preparation and storage of food to prevent illness and injury. Included under the umbrella are chemical, microphysical and microbiological aspects of food safety.

·         Food industry -The Food Industry is a complex, global collective of diverse businesses that supply most of the food consumed by the world population. Only subsistence farmers, those who survive on what they grow, and hunter-gatherers can be considered outside of the scope of the modern food industry.

·         Food allergies - Food allergy is an immune system reaction that occurs soon after eating a certain food. Even a tiny amount of the allergy-causing food can trigger signs and symptoms such as digestive problems, hives or swollen airways. Food processing typically involves activities such as mincing and macerating, liquefaction, emulsification, and cooking (such as boiling, broiling, frying, or grilling); pickling, pasteurization, and many other kinds of preservation; and canning or other packaging.

·         Food microbiology - Food microbiology is the study of the microorganisms that inhabit, create, or contaminate food, including the study of microorganisms causing food spoilage. "Good" bacteria, however, such as probiotics, are becoming increasingly important in food science.

·         Food biotechnology - Food biotechnology is the application of technology to modify genes of animals, plants, and microorganisms to create new species which have desired production, marketing, or nutrition related properties.Modern biotechnology refers to various scientific techniques used to produce specific desired traits in plants, animals or microorganisms through the use of genetic knowledge. Since its introduction to agriculture and food production in the early-1990, biotechnology has been utilized to develop new tools for improving productivity. In 2005, twenty-one countries planted biotech crops covering a total of 222 million acres. These crops include soybeans, corn, cotton, canola, papaya, and squash that are improved versions of the traditional varieties.

·         Food addiction - A food addiction or eating addiction is a behavioral addiction that is characterized by the compulsive consumption of palatable (e.g., high fat and high sugar) foods – the types of food which markedly activate the reward system in humans and other animals – despite adverse consequences.Food addiction has behavioral and neurological qualities that resemble substance abuse and dependence. Increased craving for food or food-related substances leads to a heightened state of pleasure, energy, or excitement. Obese individuals behave differently than normal weighted individuals in relationship to food stimuli and reward. While many investigators concur that food addiction is associated with development of obesity in certain individuals, not all obese individuals gain weight because they are addicted to food.

·         Food fortification -Food fortification is the addition of key vitamin and minerals (e.g. iron, folic acid, iodine, vitamin A, and zinc) to staple foods to improve their nutritional content and address a nutritional gap in a population.Food fortification can take several forms. It is possible to fortify foods that are widely consumed by the general population (mass fortification) or ones for population subgroups (focused fortification), such as complementary foods for preschool or younger children or for displaced populations (targeted fortification). Mass fortification is generally the best option when the majority of the population has an unacceptable public health risk of being deficient in specific micronutrients.

·         Food nanotechnology -According to a definition in a recent report ("Nanotechnology in Agriculture and Food"), food is nano food when nanoparticles, nanotechnology techniques or tools are used during cultivation, production, processing, or packaging of the food.

Nanotechnology is having an impact on several aspects of food science, from how food is grown to how it is packaged. Companies are developing nano-materials that will make a difference not only in the taste of food, but also in food safety, and the health benefits that food delivers.

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Learn from CHEFS

A Chef’s perspective to the world

We work in the searing temperatures to the times that throats become parched, mind gets feverish & words turn raspy or strident evincing a vicious personality from the kitchens but again it will go with a phrase that love & hearty cooking goes hand to hand resulting into finger licking good food. Extreme conditions still a clear vision, the leadership, the control, the punctuality (in delivering food in time), the flow of techniques (to apprentices) are just a hand full of things out of a million others to be learnt from a chef.

Mise-en-place is a term used by the chefs that says “everything in place” as if chef needs a pinch of salt or a dash of tobacco to season the soup He needs not to scuttle & sprint the kitchen, So, always plan your steps before going out every day.

It seems like time passes very slowly when you are waiting for something, happens every day & every moment in the kitchens as we cannot rush for the things, we cannot force the things which are not ready. So, patience is the foremost jewel for a chef & every other successful career seeker.

Using cast iron pans & simplest available tools we can create the wonders to be presented in the restaurants. So it’s not always the cost which brings perfection, readiness & determinations are the factors which brings laurels.

Our customers are not always right and same might go with our bosses but we have to manage the gap & make the show run successfully. We do plead to the customers even when we know our dish has the right extent of perfection which is needed. So situations are always manageable, all you need is to add your wise approach to the right extent.

We work with the pals who have rarely experienced a real school in their life time & yes they have a vital role in the running of our workplaces. We do yell at them but the same we embrace & clutch them into our team member. So it’s your attitude which determines the behavior of people around you, key is to keep low & work hard.

There is always a difference between expectation & reality; things always vary from what they are supposed to be. I call it life & it happens most of the times in the kitchens when our plans go out of presumed results. But at no cost we can return even a single guest with a sour throat. Yes we do go out of the ways; we do take shortcuts, yes obviously with an impregnable path adding to the much familiar phrase as where there is a will, there is a way.

By- Chef Ashish 

KNOW YOUR TONGUE & TASTES OF THE WORLD

Know your tongue & tastes of the world

Taste is detection of non-volatile substances by using receptors present on the tongue. Tongue is not, as was previously thought as a sort of map divided into different sections where we can exclusively taste specific flavour. In fact, we can taste any flavour at any part of the tongue which means any taste can be detected anywhere on the tongue. Talking of the taste most of us are familiar with four leading tastes viz., sweet, sour, salty & bitter. However, what may seek our attention here is that there is another fifth taste named as Umami. Word umami is taken from Japanese which literally means flavour. Umami is a kind of savoury taste & was first described in 1908 when it was found that a substance GLUTAMATE provides a sensation to the tongue which cannot be described under any of the category from sweet, sour, salty & bitter. Earlier it was not being accepted as a fifth taste until the Asian cuisine has gained its popularity in the western world. As Asian cuisines witnesses the use of monosodium glutamate in a significant amount, adding an umami sensation to the taste buds.

Taste	Chemical components	Products
Sweet	Glucose, Fructose, Aspartame	Sugars, icings, fruits etc.
Sour	Lactic acid, Phosphoric acid, Acetic acid	Lemon, yoghurt, Vinegar etc.
Salty	Sodium chloride(NaCL), Ammonium Chloride(NH4Cl)	Cooking salt, preserving salt(TCM) etc.
Bitter	Quinine, caffeine & phenols	Coffee, wine, beer etc.
Umami	Monosodium Glutamate	Chinese food.

Table showing five tastes, chemicals associated with the substances detected by the receptors on the tongue.

All most all of us must have heard of the taste buds which make us to like or unlike a particular food or a drink. Actually our tongue is covered with these taste buds all over. These taste buds are found on the taste papillae. The taste papillae are in folds on our tongue same ways as piles on a carpet or a towel. The papillae are of three different types as: -

The Fungiform papillae: - The fungiform papillae are mushroom shaped, sometimes called as mushroom shaped papillae. This type is located on the front two thirds of the tongue. These are embedded with an average of three taste buds each papillae.

 Vallate papillae: - These are also called as circumvallate papillae as they lie in V-shape on the rear part of the tongue. These are dome-shaped. They are embedded with an average of 250 taste buds each papillae.

Foliate papillae: - These lie along the length of the tongue & are also called as leaf-shaped papillae. The foliate papillae are embedded with a largest count of 1300 taste buds.

How actually we get the sensation of a taste?

At one end of the taste cells there lay small tentacles called as microvilli. These microvilli are in the contact of mouth cavity which means every nonvolatile substance which enters the mouth comes in contact with these microvilli for the sensation of its taste. On the other end these microvilli are in the contact with the nerve cells called as synapses.

On the one end of microvilli in the mouth cavity various proteins are present acting as receptors to the taste. There are different types of receptor proteins for detecting each of the fives tastes differently. As a result of series of chemical reactions arising from binding of various chemical compounds(shown in the table) the electrical potential of the taste cell changes for example when glucose comes in contact with the protein receptor the change in the electrical potential will activate the taste cell & information signal will be sent to the brain.

Why there is a variation in the taste habits among individuals?

With reference to the above explanation it reflects as every living tongue with same physical morphology must have same likes for edibles which is not justified in the real life situations. Actually the minimum level of a substance which initiates the reaction & activates the taste buds varies from person to person. The term is coined as flavour threshold which implies the minimal concentration of a substance which initiates the reaction & activates a particular taste cell.

Not everyone has same threshold value for the flavorings. Elderly people have higher threshold as compared to the young people which means elderly people will require a greater concentration a substance for detection of a particular taste.

·         The reason behind the phenomenon is that the taste cells break. Most of the cells in our body can reproduce & reconstruct but taste cells fall into a category which cannot perform the phenomenon of reproduction. As number of taste buds/cells diminishes, so does their effect. 

·         Smoking is another major reason for deterioration of the taste cells hence increasing the threshold for tastes.

·         Another factor for an increase in the threshold for a flavor is how often a person comes in contact of a flavour/taste. Frequent contact with a flavour increases the threshold for the same.\The phenomenon is called as habituation.

Activity: -Exercise to check your taste buds.

With a simple test we can determine if we are a poor, good or super taster. For the experiment we will be requiring

• ·         Paper punch
• ·         Cotton bud/ cotton
• ·         Piece of white paper
• ·         Blue food dye/colour
• ·         A magnifying glass

Method: -

• ·         Punch a hole in the paper
• ·         Dip cotton bud in the dye & rub the dye on the front of your tongue.
• ·         Hold the hole in the paper in front of your blue tongue & with the help of magnifying glass count the taste papillae through the area of the hole.

• ·         Fewer than 15 papillae determines poor taster, good tasters have 15 to 30 papillae & those having more than 30 papillae through the surface of the hole are considered as super tasters.
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