The first thing I tell everyone is season. Season light and season often. OK, on to cooking.
There are two basics types of cooking methods. Low heat and high heat. Add to these two methods, wet heat and dry heat. So far we have Low heat wet, High heat wet, Low heat dry, High heat dry.
Examples of low heat wet:
Braising: Brown the meat and then cook in added liquid. Suitable for sinewy cuts of meat such as veal shank and oxtail. (actually this is a hybrid high/low heat method. High heat to brown the meat, low heat to finish cooking)
Poaching: Adding the meat to liquid slightly below boiling. Not recommended for red meat, suitable for poultry and fish.
steaming: Using vapor as the heat source for cooking. Suitable for poultry and fish, again not suitable for red meat.
Examples of low heat dry:
Slow roasting: Temperature below 300 degrees F. Suitable for mid to large cuts of meat such as Pork butt and Beef sirloin.
Examples of high heat dry:
Saute: The most versatile method. Suitable for single serving cuts as chicken breast and salmon filet. Suitable for most cuts of red meat as well which aren't sinewy.
Roast: High heat oven cooking. Suitable for medium cuts intended for more than one person such as whole birds.
Broil: Cooking over open flame. Very versatile. Once again, suitable for single serving cuts such as Ribeye and Filet Mignon.
Fry: Immersion in hot oil between 325 and 375 degrees F. Suitable for small cuts such as chicken wings and small fish such as smelt.
Examples of high heat wet:
None.
An understanding of these methods can help you make a quick and easy decision. For example, if you have two salmon filets you find yourself with a few choices. You can saute, broil, poach, or steam. Just pick the one which fits your mood.
If you find yourself with, say, lamb shanks. They're sinewy, hence they need a long cooking time in order to become tender. You can't use high heat because the lamb will dry out or burn before it's tender. So you immediatel go to low heat. The options are poach, braise, or steam. Poaching sounds good, but it's not recommended for red meat due to lack of browning. The same goes for steaming. The only remaining option is braising, which works very well actually.
So there, that's a short rundown on the axiomatic method of cooking. OK, maybe the axioms aren't as concise Euclid's. Count this as a prologemena to cooking the axiomatic way by chef Kuan
