World Cuisines and their techniques

World Cuisines and Their Techniques

French Cuisine

  • Sautéing: Cook quickly over high heat with small amount of fat. In French cuisine, it’s commonly used to seal in the flavours of meats and vegetables.

  • Braising: It’s a slow-cooking method where the food is partially covered with liquid and then simmered on low heat. Used for turning tougher cuts of meat into tender morsels.

  • Poaching: Gentle form of cooking used for delicate foods like eggs or fish. The food is barely submerged in a simmering liquid.

Italian Cuisine

  • Risotto Making: Involve toasting rice in butter or oil, then adding broth gradually while stirring constantly to create a creamy dish.

  • Pasta Making: A crucial technique that ranges from mixing and kneading the dough, to rolling and cutting it into various shapes and sizes.

  • Emulsification: Particularly critical in making sauces like pesto or aioli, where olive oil is mixed into vinegar or lemon juice in a way that they blend smoothly.

Chinese Cuisine

  • Stir Frying: Quick, high-heat cooking technique perfect for a variety of ingredients. The food is constantly tossed to prevent burning.

  • Steaming: A widely adopted method for cooking a wide variety of dishes from dumplings to fish, to help keep their original taste and nutrition.

  • Red-Cooking: Simmering foods in a soy sauce-based liquid with sugar and other seasonings, which gives the food a reddish-brown colour.

Indian Cuisine

  • Roasting Spices: The practice of dry-roasting spices before grinding them to release their essential oils and maximise flavour.

  • Tempering: Technique of heating spices in hot oil or ghee, which allows them to fully release their flavours. The mixture is then added to a dish.

  • Marinating: Ingredients are set in marinades, often yogurt-based, to enhance flavors and tenderize before cooking.

Mexican Cuisine

  • Enchilada Making: Involves softening corn tortillas by briefly frying them, filling them and then baking with sauce.

  • Chile Roasting and Peeling: Enables the skin to be easily removed and the roasted chiles used in a variety of dishes.

  • Stone Grinding Corn: A traditional method of grinding corn for various dishes to give a distinct texture and flavour.