Moist vs dry heat, or cooking techniques LONG (was Re: [Sca-cooks] One for the pros)

[Nicolas Steenhout]

Ok, I'm going to put on my cooking instructor's hat here.  To think I
actually did that for a couple years, teaching professional
cooking...  Ohhh but the memories :-)

At 01:15 AM 11/27/2001 -0600, you wrote:
>Olwen said:
> > The cut is a good or "prime" grade and can either be cooked dry or in a
> > moist heat.  Personally I use a moist heat by setting a pan of water in the
> > oven with it (usually under it).
>
>What does cooking it in a moist heat do that cooking it in a dry
>heat doesn't? Or vice-versa? Why would you use one instead of the other?

Well Stefan, as I've been pointing out to Our Esteemed Pearlness is that
what she describes doesn't constitute *moist* heat...  Adding a pan of
water in your oven will NOT raise the amount of humidity necessary to
create a moist cooking environment.

In Classical French cooking, there are 8 cooking techniques, to which were
"recently" added a couple.  Actually, these 10 cooking techniques are also
found in all cooking around the world.  These are separated in three
categories.  Cooking by concentration, cooking by expansion, and mixt.

The principle of cooking by concentration is that you concentrate the
juices and flavours inside the meat.  In cooking by expansion, you let the
juices out and usualy they mix with a sauce or other.  Mixt is quite
obviously a mixture of both preceding ones.

Under Concentration, you have:
Roasting (Rotir)
Pan Frying (Saute simple)
Deep Frying (Frire)
Grill (Griller)
         Two items that have recently been added are:  Steam (A la vapeur)
and Immersion in boiling liquid

Under Expansion you have:
Poach (pocher)

Under mixt you have:
Braised (Braiser)
Pot roast (Poeler)  [I use pot roast for lack of a better term]
Mixt "Saute" (Saute mixte) [here too, I lack for the English term, though
"stews" is one type of saute mixte, anyone can help?]

You select the type of cooking based on the type and cut of meat you
have.  Different methods will yield different results.  Usualy, you use
concentration methods on cuts of prime tenderness.  Concentration
techniques won't provide a chance to the meat to become more tender,
whereas Expansion or Mixt will do.  You can use any cut for the later two.

In other words, don't use cuts that aren't tender to start with in
Expansion methods, and if you use tender cuts in concentration and mixt,
you are likely wasting money as a "cheaper" cut would do as well if not better.

So, for a bit better explanation of each technique:
**Rotir:  In an oven, no lid, no liquids.

**Griller:  On a grill (not a griddle or flat top)

**Saute simple:  Fried with a little fat matter in an open container,
usualy a pan.  The "stir fry" is a form of saute simple.

**Frire:  Cook in vast amounts of very hot fat matter.

**A la vapeur:  To steam.  This is considered concentration cooking because
the heat of the steam pushes the meat juices INWARD.

**Immersion in a boiling liquid:  Just what it says, cook in a boiling
liqiud.  Usualy, not for any length of time.  this one is different than
poaching, which would be started in a cold liquid.

**Pocher:  Cooked in liquid, started from a cold liquid.

**Braiser:  Usually used for bigger pieces of meat, fish and some
vegetables.  Two types, "A blanc" or "A brun" (coloured or not)...  "A
brun" would call for browning the meat before you do the braiser.  Put in a
large container, add aromatic elements (carrots, celeri, onions, bouquet
garni, whatever). put a liquid, such as stock, wine or mixture
thereof.  Bring to a boil, cover hermetically and put in oven till
cooked.  When the meat is ready, finish the sauce with the cooking liquid.

**Poeler:  medium pieces of meat.  Put in a pot with aromatic
elements.  Cover, throw in oven.  The meat will "emit" steam and juices
that will remain trapped within.  Probably reduce as it goes on the
pot.  When the meat is done, use the pot to build your sauce by deglazing
etc...  This is what many people call a "pot roast".

Saute mixte:  Used for small pieces of meat.  Thoroughly colour the meat in
a pot.  often add a bit of a "tying agent", something that will thicken the
sauce.  Add a liquid, bring to a boil, let simmer.  This is the "stew", of
which there are oh so many variations.

>Were meats ever done this way in the Middle Ages? Or does cooking
>with a spit over an open fire give you something else?

This is where I lack in actual knowledge, though I suspect that many of
these were used from the dawn of time, depending on where you are.  I'd
assume that deep frying came later, but well within our time frame.

Cooking on a spit on an open fire is a form of "rotir".  It is cooking by
concentration.

I suspect y'all will have comments and questions about this, feel free :-)


Muiredach mac Loloig
Rokkehealden Shire
aka
Nicolas Steenhout
"You must deal with me as I think of myself" J. Hockenberry