With over 14 years of experience in the industry, Chef Gautam Mehrishi has worked with several big names in the business. In his show ‘Kitchen Magic’, he has introduced a variety of scientific cooking methods that enhances the cooking experience in the kitchen.
Let’s take a close look at these six techniques used for cooking healthier recipes
As for pit style cooking, Chef Mehrishi suggests traditional use of sigdi or a metallic container with cast iron that can be placed over a gas in the kitchen. Add charcoal in the container; when the charcoal is half staged burnt; submerge the food wrapped in a foil or banana leaf. Chef Mehrishi has used sugarcanes to make pulao with no oil and water. This technique also helps the meat to be more digestible and tender without losing its nutrients. Any kind of meat is good for the development of the muscle. Nothing better than pit style steaming when it comes to meat.
In sous vide technique, rice steamer or open steamer or immersion heating rod are few options that can be used for cooking. The food is cooked in low temperature with water. As the water in container evaporates due to heating, it must be refilled until the food is cooked. For instance, Chef Mehrishi used sous vide technique for making yogurt. He heated up the milk up to 90 ℃ and mixed it with previous day’s cultured yogurt. The mixture was put into the basil jars. These sealed jars were dipped into the water bath for three hours up to 50 ℃. And later put in the fridge to have it next day. Yogurt has probiotic agents that help in digestion and make abs look flatter.
Vacuum boiling is quite similar to sous vide technique where the food is put into plastic bags and sealed, which can take heat to very high degree (above 100 ℃ to 120 ℃). These plastic bags must be of good quality—food graded. The technique is a fantastic option for meat eaters as it needs very less oil to cook, and the flavours remain intact. Apparently, the meat cooked in this technique has a longer shelf life. And a perfect solution for those who are regular at the gym; they need not waste time cooking meat every day.
“Delta-T cooking is a bit complicated, but it can be done easily,” according to Chef Mehrishi. To understand the technique, he shared an example of a sugar free cake—preheat the oven at 194 ℃, based on the batter’s temperature, which is 34 ℃. In other cases, 160 ℃ is a general temperature used for preheating the oven. But it is always better to measure the batter with a thermometer or laser gun or probe thermometer to add the correct temperature to the calculation of 160 ℃. Cake goes in the preheated oven at 194 ℃ for sometime till the cake batter reaches 160 ℃, that’s when the temperature of the oven has to be brought down to 160 ℃.
This technique will make sure that cake is not burnt. It will rise correctly, and not sink down or become too hard or messy. In case of meat, this technique roughly takes a day, but the outcome is excellent. It is very important to maintain the temperature between the food temperature and the temperature of the oven.
Parching grain is another great technique, which Chef Mehrishi spoke about; it is an ancient method to preserve food keeping them away from any kind of bacteria. The grains are roasted, which can be consumed directly or used in casserole or morsels of meat.
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