Just as some skills require training and experience, cooking is never a simple task. There is a great difference between simply cooking a meal to satisfy hunger and cooking a healthy one.
Tips for the Healthiest Cooking
Below are 5 tips to help you prepare the healthiest meals using your ceramic cookware:
1. Steaming
This is one of the healthiest ways of preparing a meal. It involves cooking food within an enclosed environment that is steam-filled. Steaming cooks food and seals in the flavor. It also eliminates the need for added fats during meal preparation. There are various ways in which steaming can be done; use of convenient electric steamers, using a foil or parchment wrapper, use of perforated basket on top of boiling water, and use of Chinese bamboo steamers. Some of the foods that can be prepared under steam include shellfish, vegetables, chicken breast, and pears.
2. Stir-Frying
Stir-frying simple means cooking food at extreme heat within a short time, and since the food is prepared so fast it is good to cut food items to small and uniform pieces. This cooking technique requires full attention since it involves continued stirring and at times some tossing so that the ingredients do not get stuck to the pan. Some of the meals to prepare using this technique include scallops, broccoli, mushrooms, cabbage, pork, eggplant, tofu, and bell peppers.
3. Broiling
This cooking technique is one of the simplest and it involves cooking through exposing food to direct heat in a gas stove or electric cooker. It is usually undertaken in the bottom drawer of the oven. Broiling gives similar results as grilling but their only difference lies on how the heat comes. For grilling the heat is rendered from below but for broiling it comes from above. With this type of cooking, the heat is constant and therefore all that one has to do is either move the food closer or farther from the heat. This will hugely depend on how you want the food to be cooked. Some of the foods and ingredients that can be prepared through broiling include salmon, zucchini, chicken, bell pepper, onion, and summer squash.
4. Pressure Cooking
This cooking technique involves the use of a pressure cooker and requires some little water and time to accomplish. It is a cooking technique that ensures all minerals and vitamins remain intact. It also intensifies the food flavor since the cooker seals in the steam that is generated by the boiling liquid. With this type of cooking you do not need to add richness, oil or fat. There is also no need for seasoning. You can prepare soups, stews, and chicken using this method within 15 minutes instead of taking the long hours you are accustomed to when you use other cooking methods. Some foods such as rice can take 5 minutes and vegetables take about 3 minutes to cook when you use pressure cooking. The best foods to cook using this cooking method include potatoes, risotto, artichokes, stews, beans, lamb, soups, chicken, and beef.
5. Microwaving
Microwaving is another healthy way of preparing food. It basically cooks food in a similar manner as steaming. It is ideally all about cooking low-fat or no-fat foods. It is a cooking technique that retains the food’s nutrients as well as the color. Some food items such as vegetables retain their nutrients and color when microwaved. Others such as fish and chicken tend to plump up unlike pork and beef. According to experts, the power of a microwave will vary with respect to the wattage per square foot of the oven’s internal space. An oven that is smaller and has a higher wattage is more powerful. Some of the foods that cook well under this process include beef, carrots, fish, apples, broccoli, cauliflowers, fish, spinach, and chicken.
Try out these 5 tips for preparing the healthiest meals and you will never go wrong with cooking healthy meals. Start off with a few of them and practice until you perfect each cooking method.
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