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Healthy Cooking Techniques Guide

Foods cooked en papillote are encased in parchment paper and baked. The foods are cooked by trapped steam.

Moist-Heat Techniques

Moist-heat cooking methods include steaming, shallow poaching, deep poaching, simmering, boiling, stewing, and braising. Foods are cooked in or over liquid. Because water evaporates at temperatures over 212°F/100°C, moist-heat cooking methods keep foods from reaching the temperatures necessary for browning. Foods cooked by these methods retain their natural flavors and often their colors as well.

When foods are put into cold water and then set over heat, their flavors and water-soluble nutrients will leach into the cooking liquid. Foods added to boiling water, though, develop a seal when they come into contact with the hot liquid and retain most of their flavor and nutrients.

There are several different Moist-Heat Techniques

1. Steaming
2. En Papillote
3. Shallow Poaching
4. Stewing and Braising

Next Page: Steaming>>

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