Vegetables, fats and oil are widely used in west Africa and they give excellent
result. They are used for frying large quantities of food. A piece of onion or
orange peel dropped into the oil when it is being heated improves the flavor.
Lard must be hot before food is fried. The fried food will
not be greasy. This fat is not very widely used because it is expensive.
Margarine is also expensive, but less so than butter. It may
be used in the same way as butter.
Shea-butter, if some vegetable oil is added it gives good
results.
Fulla-butter, This is the fat skimmed from cow’s milk. it is
used mainly by the Fulani herdsmen, but some other people use it for cooking.
It has strong flavor if it is not properly clarified.
STEWING
Stewing is a method of coking food slowly and for a long time
in a little liquid, in a well covered pan.
Stewing is done by the following reasons:
1. To keep the
food tender; usually tough pieces of meat, dried meat or fish, old and fibrous
vegetable or hard under-ripe fruit are used.
2. By slow,
entle, moist heating, the connecting tissues of meat become gelatinized and
fall apart.
3. The protein
coagulates without over hardening.
4. The soluble
nutrients and flavor come into the liquid that is served with it.
General rules for stewing:
1. Cut food in
small pieces in order to expose as much surface as possible.
2. Use a
saucepan with a cover to prevent evaporation and loss of flavor.
3. Bring to
boiling point then reduce heat and allow to simmer: never let it boil.
4. Use just
enough liquid o last throughout the cooking.
5. Avoid
uncovering the saucepan too frequently, in order to prevent the flavor from
escaping.
6.
Advantages Of Stewing:
1. Stewing is
the most economical method of cooking because cheaper cuts of meat and tough cuts of fish, coarse vegetables, and
under ripe fruits may be used.
2. It makes
tough food tender and digestible.
3. It needs
very little attention.
4. It is a
conservative method of cooking because the juices which escape goes into the
liquid served with the food, therefore nothing is wasted.
5. Very little
fuel is required.
Disadvantages of stewing
1. It is slow
method of cooking.
2. The long
coking destroy some of the valuable nutrients in the food, e.g. vitamin C in
fruit and vegetables. Care should be taken to serve plenty of raw vegetables
and fruit with stewed meals.
BOILING
Boiling is a method of cooking food in boiling water, the
water covers the food, e.g. boiling plantain or rice .
Boiling is done:
1. To soften
food such as root vegetables, cereals and grains.
2. To extract
nutrient from foods such as bones, calf’s foot and meat etc.
3. To preserve
the nutrient in food.
When cooking food to soften it, place the food in boiling
water and continue to boil gently for a short time so that it will not break.
Hard boiling breaking up delicate food.
If
nourishment is to be preserved, place the food directly in boiling water. The
heat of the boiling water seals the surface and coagulates the outside protein
of meat and keep the nourishment and flavor in the food .
When cooking
old root vegetable and tubers, place in cool water and bring to the boil as
these take a longer time.
Advantages of boiling
1. Boiling is
a quick and easy method of cooking.
2. Boiling
makes food easy to digest.
3. It does not
need constant attention.
4. It is
cheap, as tough cuts of meat and coarse vegetables and fruits may be boiling.
Disadvantages of boiling
1. Valuable
minerals salts and flavor dissolve in the boiling water which is usually throw
away after boiling vegetables ( where possible save the stock for cooking other
foods and for making gravies etc.).
2. The flavor
of soups etc. is not developed, therefore add vegetables and herbs to improve
it.
3. Vitamins C
and B are destroyed.
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