Oils And Different Methods Of Cooking

Cooking is an art and it is because everyday, new techniques come up for making the same dish differently in a separate style. Sometimes, the methods of cooking changes or a new ingredient is added and the dish that is being prepared. But, there is one item that never goes out of use, which is oil. This one Ingredient that never goes out of use and is always full of new styles.

From crude to refining to cold-pressed, oils have always evolved to surprise its users. Different types of oil for cooking leaves you spoilt for choices. However, cold-pressed oils seem to be fast replacing the refined oils. 

Types of cooking oil and Applications:

To master your cooking art, it is essential to understand the different types of cooking oil and uses.

Cold-pressed oils

Cold-pressed oils are made by extracting oil from oilseeds, fruits, nuts, or vegetables without using extreme heat. This method preserves the oil’s nutritional value and its original flavor, thus improving the overall flavor of the final food item. They are unrefined oils filled with essential nutrients like vitamin E and natural antioxidants. They are cholesterol-free, devoid of artificial fillers and are known to boost immunity.

Few Cold-pressed oils should be carefully used for deep frying or sautéing since they have a lot of unsaturated fat which may tend to degrade when heated. The best range of cold-pressed oils are likely to be sesame, peanut or olive oil etc. They enhance the flavors of cooked food. 

Refined oils

Refined oil is extracted from crude oil like oilseeds, nuts, fruits, or animal tissues are subjected to extreme temperature along with adding chemicals and acid. Chemicals and acids are used to remove impurities and smells. They then become suitable for cooking and edible for consumption. Refined oils are free from saturated fats but they lose a major chunk of their nutrients in this crude refining process. These chemicals used do more harm to the body than good as it builds up toxins, increases the risk of cardiac arrest.

Always be mindful of what you eat. Find out what happens in a food processing industry before investing your money in buying products that are damaging your health.

Smart Methods Of Cooking For Good Health

Indian tradition has used traditional methods of cooking where oil was reused, reheated and thus caused a large number of death due to heart attack.  Deep frying, a traditional technique, where the food is cooked by submerging it completely in  a pout full of hot oil. Since oil has a high heat conduction rate, the food is cooked evenly on all sides quickly. This increases the intake of oil and thus leading to heart problems. However, Indians have started to overcome their deep frying craving and are focused on better health, optimum functionality of heart. Today, people build smart habits and are choosy when it comes to the cooking techniques. The on-going trend of oil suggests the following methods: 

1.     Gentle frying: This method is used when the ingredient used is fragile or starchy. For example eggs, some types of delicate fish, and tender meat cuts. In starchy foods the gentle frying gives the dish a sweet taste due to caramelizing of the starch. While frying foods like eggs prevents their falling apart. It impart taste and also brings all the essential fatty acids to the human body when oil such as soybean and peanut is used. 
2.      Airbrushing: In this method, only certain portions of the food are brushed with oil and then baked in an oven or fried in a pan. This makes the food healthier since only a minimum amount of oil is used. The foodstuff is brushed with a single oil layer for the air fryer. Which then gives taste equivalent to deep fried foods but in a much healthier way.
3.        Sautéing: Sautéing is a method used to quickly brown ingredients by using small amounts of oil. It is mostly employed in dishes, which requires the addition of onions, garlic, or chilies to enhance the flavor. For evening snacks, sautéed products are the best choice!
4.       Braising: Similar to sautéing, it also involves frying the main ingredients in oil until they are browned. Then water or stock is added, and the ingredients are cooked till soft, in a stovetop or pre-heated oven. 
5.       Pan-frying: This is also a similar method to sautéing. The only difference is that more oil is used and the fried ingredients are removed from the pan. The remaining oil does not become a part of the dish being prepared. Pan fry broccoli, green leafy veggies for your weight loss regime       
6.       Stir-frying: This is a technique prevalent in Asian countries. It involves using small amounts of oil to cook ingredients fast while retaining their flavor and texture. In this case, the oil used mostly becomes a part of the final dish.

Be smart to use different methods of cooking and frying techniques instead of the old, boring deep frying which is only adding 9Kcal/gram of oil.