When you’re cooking in the kitchen, how do you generally approach the meal in question? If you are like most people, you will probably normally follow a recipe – whether a new one or one that you have been carrying around in your head for a long time. But by understanding some of the essentials of cooking, you can create better meals whether you are using a recipe or not. Let’s look at some of the basic cooking science facts you should know, so you can cook with more knowledge and understanding.
Heat Control
One of the most important cooking elements you need to get really good at is heat control. The better you can control the heat of anything you might be cooking, the more likely it is that you can actually cook it as it needs to be cooked. Something to remember here is that high heat is to be used for developing flavours, but gentle heat is important for avoiding overcooking.
For each ingredient you cook with, you need to understand which is the better option – and sometimes, it’s more of a combination between the two. Good heat control ensures your food is cooked so much better.
Balancing Primary Tastes
What’s a primary taste, you might be asking? It’s simply a taste that can’t be created by combining other primary tastes – in the same way that a color is one that can’t be created from another color. It’s good to have an overall sense of the different primary tastes, as this will help you to create amazing dishes. Essentially, good cooking is all about balancing these primary tastes as well as you can – combining your salt, sweet and umami foods just right will create the kind of flavor bomb that you might be aiming for.
Resting Meat
Whenever you cook with meat, one of the best things you can do at the end of the cooking process is to rest it. A lot of people do this without really knowing what it does, but having an understanding of what’s actually taking place can help you to appreciate the process a lot better. So why should you rest meat?
Essentially, when you rest meat, the fibers have time to form together more and more firmly. The more they do this, the more concentrated the flavour is in each bite of the meat. At the same time, good resting allows the meat to hold in its juices, rather than letting them out all over the plate – and losing taste in the process. If you have ever seen a steak look its juices after cooking, you will know that it leads to a tasteless piece of meat.
Seasoning Tips
Finally, a word on seasoning. It is always essential to use salt in savory dishes, but bear in mind that you do develop a tolerance for the taste. If you are not careful, you could end up needing more and more as time goes on. Consider this when cooking for other people.
