Cooking Nice

You hear a lot about frying these days; mainly that it is not a healthy way to cook. Actually, a lot depends on your technique. Of course, if you fry at a low temperature, your food may soak up more oil and become greasy and saturated. No one could say that results in a tasty meal. Bone up on your techniques and you can turn out healthy fried foods.

When you stir fry, you are using a mere couple of tablespoons of oil heated to a very high temperature. The food is cut into bite size pieces, so they cook quickly. Stir-fry recipes are known to be healthy. They usually contain a lot of different vegetables, a bit of meat and a tasty sauce. Stir-fries can be made with any type of meat. To get the best results, you should use an authentic steel wok that has been seasoned properly. Nonstick woks do not heat up enough and you cannot move your food up the sides to get away from the heat.

Another method of frying is sautéing. It uses very little oil; just enough to let the food slide easily around the pan. You cut up your meat or vegetables and move them around the pan with a spatula or by shaking the pan until the food is done. This keeps the food’s texture and flavor intact. You can use a special sauté pan that has a flat bottom and shallow sides.

Pan-frying is the method of choice for larger pieces of meat. Pork chops, chicken, steak, or fish fillets are often pan fried with just enough oil to keep the food from sticking. You must turn the food frequently so it cooks thoroughly on all sides. Bacon and sausage are two types of meat often cooked this way that create their own oils.

One method you could use for your favorite fried chicken recipe is shallow frying. This method uses a lot more oil. You want to fill the pan with enough oil to reach halfway up the sides of the food you are frying. It is often used to cook chicken, fish, or pork chops. The food must be turned at least once so both sides are cooked adequately.

A dish like chicken fried steak could be cooked with shallow frying or pan-frying. Since the beef is breaded before cooking, it forms a crust like fried chicken, giving it the name of chicken fried steak. It is often served with pan gravy made from the drippings.

Another technique that often replaces true frying uses your oven. This is used primarily for an oven fried chicken recipe or for fish. Since you do not use as much oil, the meat does not have the opportunity to soak up as many calories. Oven frying is often preferred for people watching their cholesterol and caloric intake.

Deep-frying has earned a tarnished reputation. While everyone loves deep fried foods, they are generally thought of as unhealthy. Often, all it takes is using the right oil at the right temperature to get food that does not soak up a lot of calories. Heat the oil up first, then cook in batches so the temperature does not drop too much.