3 Culinary Skills

S. Uma Mageshwari

Culinary means “related to cooking”. Culinary Arts is the art of preparing and cooking foods. Culinary means relating to a kitchen or to a cookery and art is described as human effort to imitate, alter or supplement the work of nature. So combining these two terms we know that culinary art involves creating something unique and beautiful which is completely edible.

By definition a culinary art is defined as the art and science of preparation, cooking and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. Culinary skill is the skill an individual has for cooking and culinary artists are responsible for skillfully preparing meals that are as pleasing to the palate as to the eye .

The history of culinary arts is stated to be very old starting from 1553 to 1610 when Henry IV ruled during which time guilds were responsible for preparing foods. A guild is an association of artisans or merchants who control the practice of a craft in a particular town and such artisans were involved in cooking. The dramatic growth of culinary arts was seen during the industrial revolution i.e from 1760 to 1840 when food service institutions grew to great heights based on the social and economic changes. Antonin Careme was a chef who specialized in grand cuisine .This was an elaborate style of cooking that focused on making food look and taste incredible.

From then on culinary arts have grown globally in a tremendous way.

Food needs to be cooked most of the time and even if it is eaten raw as in the case of fruits and certain vegetables it needs to be presented in an appealing way and hence culinary skills are needed. Culinary skills

i. Improve the Taste and Food Quality: Cooking improves natural flavour and texture of food. For e.g. roasting of groundnuts or coffee beans, frying onions and papads, improves the flavour of food. Secondly it aids in

ii.Destruction of Micro-organisms: Harmful micro-organisms in food are destroyed at a certain temperature for a certain length of time. for e.g. boiling milk or steaming rice or vegetables. Cooking

iii. Improves Digestibility: for eg cooking softens the connective tissues of meat and coarse fibres of cereals, pulses and vegetables so that the digestive period is shortened and gastrointestinal tract is less subjected to irritation. Cooking also

iv. Increases Variety: By cooking, the same food can be made into different dishes for e.g. rice can be cooked plain or ground for making a batter or powdered so that a different dish may be created. Next cooking

v. Increases consumption of food: Improvement in texture and flavour of food by cooking helps in increasing the consumption of food which meets the nutritional requirement of an individual. Cooking

vi. Increases availability of nutrients: for e.g. trypsin inhibitors present in soyabean gets denatured during cooking and hence increases the quality of protein and finally cooking

vii. helps in creating food that is nutritionally sound, attractive, valuable and appetizing. Now that you have known the importance of culinary let us move on to learn the type of culinary skills. Culinary skills can be broadly divided into 1.the skills needed for pre-preparation i.e. getting the ingredients and food ready for production and the second one as the skills needed for the actual process of cooking or the production part.

The pre-preparation skills involves a number of techniques like cleaning peeling and so on. Let us learn them one by one. The first is

Cleaning: The term cleaning is applicable to vegetables, fruits and many food products i.e some portions of food has to be discarded for e.g. withered or discoloured leaves in green leafy vegetables, washing of food helps in removing dirt or other unwanted matter. Washing with 2 per cent salt water removes most of the contact pesticide residues that normally appear on the surface of fruits and vegetables. Next is Peeling and Stringing: Both these methods involve the removal of non-edible or fibrous portion of fruits or vegetables for e.g. peeling of garlic and orange, stringing of beans. Let us see how to peel a garlic

As you watch in this video it is very easy to peel a garlic pod without getting the garlic smell on to your fingers. Smack the garlic pod with the palm of your hand applying a little pressure so that the individual pods separate out. Put them in a bowl closed tightly with another and shake them well so that the peels come off. This technique is alright when one or two garlic pods are used but for quantity production the following technique can be followed

Smash apart the garlic i.e by placing the head of garlic on the counter top and smash rapidly downward with the heel of your hand. This will separate the head into individual cloves. Place the flat of a wide knife blade over a single clove. Smack the knife blade firmly with the heel of your hand and the clove will be slightly smashed and easily separated from its skin.

How to peel an orange?

Insert the pointed tip of the knife into the skin at the top of the orange. Make a slice across the top of the orange to get started, then continue by rotating the orange in your hand while you use the knife to cut off the peel in one continuous motion. Continue peeling the orange in a circular motion. The knife should be facing towards you while you peel in a steady controlled manner, with a slight sawing motion. Oranges can be peeled and still retain the natural look as you see here. Use a sharp knife to cut the skin into two halve sand use the stem of a spoon to cut through it. Remove the inner skin using a knife .

Pre- preparation of food involves a lot of cutting skills. Food may be cut for dividing the food into smaller pieces, thus helping in easy cooking. The various cutting techniques are:

Slicing
Shredding ,
Julienne
Mincing
Grating and ,
Dicing,
Slicing

What is slicing?

Slicing is the cutting of food into thin, relatively broad slices. In fact it really is the first cutting technique that we all learn when we first use a knife. Sliced meats, vegetables and fruits are used in many dishes. Slicing may be used to further process to produce other cuts. Slicing is simple and easy and is can be done by

Holding the food and the chef knife firmly and Cut straight down, using the knuckles of your free hand as a guide. LET US SEE

How to slice and chop onions?

1. To slice onions, cut off the root end, then peel away the skin. Slice in whole round slices and separate into rings, or else cut the onion into half first and then slice into half-moon shapes.

2.To chop small (without processor), leave the root intact, then peel away the skin from the top end. Now cut the onion in half and place each half on flat surface, round side up. Next, make cuts vertically from the root end but leaving the root intact to hold it together.

3. Then make horizontal cuts across the vertical cuts whilst you hold on to the roots end firmly. The last cut will be the little root bit and this can be discarded.

4.Rough chopping is as above. Making about three cuts vertically across each onion and then three horizontally.

Shredding:

What is shredding?

Shredding means cutting food into thin slices or pieces using a sharp knife or food processor or grater. Cabbage can be shredded. As you see in this video

Use the slicing technique to stack a few slices cutting straight down through the stack to create sticks.
For matchstick julienne, start with 1/8-inch slices, and cut them into 1/8-inch sticks.
To shred food into fine slivers, begin by cutting thin slices, then cut across them in the same way to create thin strip.

Julienne or Allumette What is julienne?

It is a culinary knife cut in which the food items are cut into long thin strips that are similar to matchsticks. The common items to be julienned are carrots, celery or potatoes for French fries. The julienne cuts measures approximately 3/3mm * 3-5cm.

Dicing:

What is dicing?

Dicing is a culinary knife cut in which the foods are cut into small blocks or dice. This is done for aesthetic reasons or to create uniformly sliced pieces. Dicing is usually applied to vegetables prepared, but it can also apply to the preparation of meat or fish and fruit.

Line sticks up perpendicular to the blade, and slice straight down across them, creating cubes.

Mincing:

What is mincing?

Mincing is a preparation technique in which food ingredients are finely divided into uniformed pieces. Minced food are in smaller pieces than diced or chopped foods and is often prepared with the chef’s knife or in a food processor or in the case of meat by a specialized meat grinder.

Start by cutting the ingredient into thin strips, then dice the strips.
Hold the knife handle in one hand and with the other, hold down the tip of the blunt edge of the blade.
Using the tip as a pivot, raise and lower the blade in a chopping motion, moving it from side to side to mince everything evenly.
Scoop up minced ingredients occasionally, flip them over, and keep chopping to ensure mincing.

Roll-cutting technique is used for long vegetables like carrots or zucchini. It makes attractive chunks and exposes more of the surface area of the vegetable.

Hold the blade perpendicular to the board and cut straight down on the diagonal.
Then roll the vegetable a quarter-turn, and cut straight down again at the same diagonal angle.
Continue rolling and cutting alternately in this way all along the length of the vegetable.

Parallel Cutting:

What is parallel-cutting?

This technique is used to cut broad thin slices of meat or vegetables. As you see in this video · Use the chopping board and make thin slices of meat or vegetables.

Lay the food closed to the edge of the board with the fingers of your free hand flat on top of it.
Angle the chef’s knife so that its almost parallel to the board, slanting slightly downward.
Move it slowly and carefully back and forth to slice the food, paying close attention to avoid cutting your fingers.
To crush ginger or garlic, place it near the edge of the cutting board.
Lay the knife blade flat over it with the blade facing away from you.
And with the heel of your free hand, give the side of the blade a good whack being careful to avoid the edge of the blade.

It is a technique for breaking down collagens in meat to make it more palatable and tender. There are number of ways to tenderize meat namely mechanical tenderization such as pounding, or piercing. The tenderization that occurs through cooking is as in braising.

Use the blunt edge of the chef’s knife to tenderize meat by pounding it in crisscross pattern.
Or by turning the blade on its side and slapping the surface of the meat.

Clean your cutting board and knife.
Peel the skin of the vegetable if necessary and discard it.
For round vegetables like carrots and potatoes, cut in half length wise and lay cut-side down on the cutting board. This will keep the vegetable from rolling.
Cut the vegetable length wise into even slices, the stack the slices and cut them into long sticks (long vegetables like celery and leeks need only be sliced into sticks).
Gather the sticks and cut them crosswise into cubes. Make sure to get the cubes as even as you can.
To dice a tomato, cut it in quarters vertically, through the stem. It is not necessary to cut the stem out just yet.
Cut away the inner pulpy part of each tomato quarter, cutting away the stem with it. Discard it or save for another use.
Slice the remaining outer flesh into thin strips, then cut the strips crosswise into dice.

Tips for dicing:

1. The dicing technique will vary for specific vegetables.

2. You must always be aiming to get the vegetables,

which you can easily cut, into cubes. Vegetables made of flower like broccoli and cauliflower are not typically dice, but broken into “flowerets”, The best, clearest dice is made with a sharp knife. The sharper the better Fruits are mainly eaten raw. And hence skills to make them edible is a must.

How to core an apple?

1. Set the apple on the cutting board. The stem should be facing up.

2.Insert a short, thin bladed knife directly into the top of the apple. Push the blade all the way through the apple. Make sure that the knife pokes through the bottom of the apple, so you can see the blade.

3.Pull out the knife. Repeat this process three more times around the center of the apple and make four incisions to create a square around the center of the apple.

4.Insert the knife back into one of the incisions. Drag it from the first incision to the second, and all the way through the other two incisions, until you have completely cut around the apple’s core.

5. Remove the knife and push out the core with your thumbs. Push it down through the apple until it pops out.

How to score pomegranate?

1. Roll the fruit first to loosen the seeds.

2. Score around the middle and tear it open into halves.

3. Hold each half over a bowl, seeds facing down and tap the skin with a wooden spoon, squeezing a little to release the seeds.

so far you have seen the skills needed for cutting fruits and vegetables now we shall see some skills needed for baking. In baking sieving the flour is an important step and you can see here how to sieve flour

Sieving: Sieving is done to remove coarse fibres and insects. It is also done in preparing cakes for blending of flour with baking powder.

How to sift flours?

1. Take the strainer and pour the flour into the strainer. Make sure to position the strainer just over the bowl you’re using to collect the flour. Tap the side of the strainer until all the flour falls into the bowl.

2.Sifting can also be done using fork or wire whisk. Stir the flour in circular motions using a fork or wire whisk. Place the correct amount of flour in a bowl. Take a wire whisk or fork and place it in the flour. Swirl the whisk or fork in quick, circular motions. In baking egg is an important ingredient and either the whole egg or egg white or egg yolk may be used frequently. To separate egg yolk from egg white needs skill and as you see in this video it can be done very easily

Coating: Coating refers to covering a food with a layer of crumbs, flour or other substances before cooking it. There are different ways of coating a food:
Breading: The food product is first dredged with flour and then dipped in egg mixture liquids then in crumbs.
Battering: Dipping the food product in the batter.
Dredging: Passing a food through a fine dry or powdery substance such as bread crumbs, powdered almonds etc. in order to coat it. For the preparation of flesh foods like meat, chicken and fish marinating is practiced.
Marinating: Marinating is soaking a food in a marinade to add favour or to tenderize it or both.

A marinade is any liquid made up for the purpose of marinating.

How to marinate meat?

Select a cut of meat.
Cut nicks into the steak that penetrates about halfway through the thickness of the meat so the marinade can permeate more quickly. Mix your marinade.
Place the meat into a container and add a marinade.
Refrigerate the meat and marinade. Put the sealed container in the fridge for 2 to 24 hours, depending on the strength of the marinade.

you can view video on Culinary Skills

Bibliography:

Linda Blocker and Julia Hill, Culinary Math, 4th edition Wiley Publications (2011).
The culinary institute of America, Introduction to culinary arts, (2007)
McGraw- Hill, Culinary Essentials, Student Edition, 2nd Edition, Johnson and Wales University (2006)

Web links