Cooking techniques

This weeks cooking techniques are blanching, braising, marinating, sautéing, and stir frying. Each technique can be used in many different recipes, and this weeks recipe will be using the stir fry and marinate techniques. Below you will find each term, its definition, and a YouTube clip on how to perform the technique.

Blanching

When a recipe calls for blanching thats means it wants you to place the food item in boiling water for the time needed and then remove from the water and quickly cool. Quickly cool usually means placing in a bowl of ice water. Blanching is most often used in preserving foods, but can also be great for pre-cook foods that you plan on using later. 

Braising

Braising is a cooking technique that browns mean in fat, another technique called seared. Then the browned meat is simmered in a liquid until it is cooked. Braising is a great way to use less expensive tender cuts of meat.

Marinating

Marinating is a process of soaking a food in a seasoned liquid before you cook it. Typically this technique is used for meats. Foods can be marinated anywhere from a few minutes up to a day or longer. If you are marinating a food for longer than a few minutes you should place the food in the marinate into the refrigerator to minimize bacteria growth. Below is a video for how to make a simple chicken marinade and then shows you that you simply let the chicken soak in the mixture until ready to use. 

Sautéing

Sautéing uses a small amount of oil or fat in a shallow pan to cook food all while being over relatively high heat. Ingredients are typically cut into small pieces or thin slices to help them cook faster.

Stir Fry

Stir fry is a Chinese cooking technique where you prepare food in a wok. Stir frying is very similar to Sautéing. If you don't have a wok you can use a large sauce pan.

Hopefully you'll find a time to try each of these cooking techniques on your own. 

As always feel free to comment and ask questions!