COOKERY RULES
&
PRESERVATION
OF
NUTRIENTS
Benefits of cooking
•Cooking increases palatability of the food
•It makes mastication easier and renders the food
easy to digest.
• It sterilizes food by killing micro-organisms
•Adds new flavor and stimulates digestive juices
•Good cooking increases the acceptability of food
•It improves the appearance of food
•Ensures balanced diet by combining various food
groups.
COOKING METHODS
Moist heat Dry heat
Combination
COOKING METHODS
Moist heat Dry heat Combination
1. Roasting 1. Microwave
1. Boiling 2. Grilling cooking
2. Steaming 3. Toasting 2. Solar
3. Stewing 4. Backing cooking
4. Pressure 5. Frying 3. Braising
cooking 6. Sauteing
5. Poaching
6. Blanching
COOKING METHODS
COOKING METHODS
Preservation of nutrients
Food preservation is the process of treating and
handling food in such a way as to stop or greatly
slow down spoilage and prevent food-borne illness
while maintaining nutritional value, texture and
flavor.
Among the oldest methods of food preservation
are drying, refrigeration, and fermentation.
Modern methods include canning, pasteurization,
freezing, irradiation, and the addition of chemicals.
Advances in packaging materials have played an
important role in modern food preservation.
Preservation of nutrients during preparation
• Store foods properly, such as keeping cold foods cold and
sealing some foods in airtight containers.
• Keep vegetables in the crisper section of the refrigerator.
• Try washing or scrubbing vegetables rather than peeling them.
• Use the outer leaves of vegetables like cabbage or lettuce
unless they are wilted or unpalatable.
• Use waterless cooking, pressure cooking, microwave cooking,
steaming, , roasting, or grilling methods for vegetable cooking
rather than boiling them.
• If you boil your vegetables, save the nutrient-laden water for
soup stock.
• Use fresh ingredients whenever possible.
• Cook foods quickly.
Preservation of nutrients during preparation
• Always wash the vegetables first and then cut them.
• Do not chop vegetables into very small pieces to
minimize air contact. Also cook them as soon as
they are chopped.
• Avoid reheating of food as it destroys the chemical
structure of nutrients like proteins and vitamins.
Modern industrial techniques of food preservation
• Drying -Drying is one of the most ancient techniques
of food preservation which reduces water activity
enough to prevent bacterial growth.
• Salting-The salting or curing process removes moisture
from the meat through an osmosis process. Meat is
salted or cured with sugar, or a combination of the two.
Nitrates and nitrites are also widely used to treat meat,
• Crystallisation-Sugar is used to maintain fruits, either
in fruit syrup such as apples, peaches, apricots, or in a
crystallised form where the preserved material is
cooked in sugar to the point of crystallisation and the
resulting product is then stored in a dry place.
Modern industrial techniques of food preservation
• Pasteurisation: It is the process where heat is used to process the food
in order to kill pathogenic bacteria (harmful and disease-causing) to
make the food safe to eat.
• In this method, food is heated at a high temperature for a short time
duration. It is defined as heat treatment of food material at 72°C for 15
seconds, 63°C for 30 minutes, or 90°C for 0.5 seconds, followed by
quick cooling to 7°C. High-temperature-short-time (HTST) treatments
are favoured over low-temperature-long-time (LTLT) treatments
because they cause less damage to the nutrient composition and sensory
properties of meals.
• Example: Pasteurisation of milk
• Refrigeration: It is a method of preserving food where food items are
stored in cold conditions like refrigerators.
• This method works by inhibiting the growth of microorganisms like
bacteria, yeast, and moulds.
Modern industrial techniques of food preservation
• Canning: The process of storing processed food in
air-tight containers.
• Canning is a modern method of food preservation
where food items to be preserved are added to a
can along with a liquid (mostly water) and this can is
heated at a high temperature.
• This high temperature is maintained for a specific
time duration which helps to kill the
microorganisms responsible for spoiling the food.
• Examples: Jams, jellies, pickles, tomatoes, and fruits
are commonly stored via canning.
Modern industrial techniques of food preservation
• Addition of chemical preservatives: Addition of
certain chemicals to food items to increase the shelf
life of food.
• Chemical preservatives like benzoic acid and sodium
benzoate are commonly used to preserve fruits and
vegetables.
• These chemicals prevent the growth of microbes
such as harmful bacteria which are responsible for
the spoiling of fruits and vegetables.
• Pickling
• Salting
Food Handling
• Several precautions should be taken to avoid food
born illnesses.
• Choose foods processed for safety. ...
• Cook food thoroughly. ...
• Eat cooked foods immediately. ...
• Store cooked foods carefully. ...
• Reheat cooked foods thoroughly. ...
• Avoid contact between raw foods and cooked foods.
...
• Wash hands repeatedly. ...
• Keep all kitchen surfaces meticulously clean.
