Basic Cooking Methods: From Boiling to Roasting, Which One When?

Recipes change, methods do not. Once you understand how a dish is cooked, you stop memorising recipes and start understanding them, and soon you are improvising with whatever is in the fridge. We can split cooking methods into two families: moist heat (water, steam, liquid) and dry heat (oil, hot air, direct flame). Moist heat softens; dry heat adds colour and flavour.

Boiling and simmering

Cooking food in boiling or gently bubbling water. Used for pasta, eggs, potatoes, chickpeas and dried pulses.

• Cook pasta in plenty of well-salted water at a rolling boil.
• Put root vegetables like potatoes into cold water and bring them up together so the inside cooks before the outside falls apart.
• When boiling meat, keep the water at a gentle simmer and skim off the foam. A hard boil toughens meat and clouds the broth.

Steaming

Placing food above the water, in the steam, rather than in it. Ideal for delicate foods such as broccoli, courgettes, fish and dumplings; colour and texture are preserved. Put a few centimetres of water in a pot, set a colander or steamer basket on top and cover. In Turkish cooking, "buğulama" also describes fish or chicken cooked gently under a lid in its own juices with a little liquid.

Sautéing

From the French for "to jump". Small pieces of food are cooked quickly in a little fat over high heat, stirred or tossed often. Sautéed mushrooms, chicken and vegetables are all made this way.

• Heat the pan well first, then add the oil.
• Do not overcrowd the pan. If pieces pile up they steam in their own juices instead of browning. Cook in two batches if needed.

Kavurma (browning and reducing)

A cornerstone of Turkish cooking. Food is turned in fat, sometimes its own, for a longer time until its moisture evaporates and its colour deepens. Browning minced meat, onions and tomato paste all use this method.

• After adding minced meat to the pan, leave it for a minute or two so the base takes colour, then break it up.
• Cooking tomato paste in oil for a minute or two removes its raw taste and adds depth. It is ready when it darkens and smells sweeter; do not let it burn.

Frying

There are two kinds. In shallow frying you use about a finger's depth of oil and turn the food once the first side is done (meatballs, schnitzel, courgette fritters). In deep frying the food is fully submerged (chips, stuffed bulgur balls, lokma).

• The oil should be about 170-180 °C. Without a thermometer, drop in a cube of bread; if it sizzles and rises within a few seconds, the oil is ready.
• Food added to cold oil soaks it up; oil that is too hot burns the outside while the inside stays raw.
• Never fill the pot more than halfway with oil, and never leave it unattended.

Roasting and baking

Cooking in an enclosed space with hot air. With cakes and pastries we call it baking; with meat and vegetables, roasting.

• Always preheat the oven.
• Spread vegetables in a single layer; crowded vegetables steam instead of browning. 200-220 °C is ideal for crisp edges.
• Rest chicken and large cuts of meat for 10 minutes after they come out of the oven so the juices stay inside.

Grilling

Cooking with direct, intense heat: a charcoal grill, a griddle pan or your oven's grill element. Wonderful for köfte, lamb chops, chicken skewers, peppers and aubergines.

• Heat and clean the grill thoroughly to prevent sticking.
• Do not keep flipping the meat. When it releases easily from the grill, it is ready to turn.
• Oil the vegetables, not the grill.

Braising

First brown the food, then cook it slowly with a little liquid, covered, over low heat or in a low oven. Tough cuts rich in connective tissue, such as shanks, lamb neck and beef chuck, become meltingly tender this way. Many Turkish pot and güveç (clay pot) dishes follow the same logic.

• Sear the meat over high heat until every side is browned.
• The liquid should not cover the meat; about halfway up is enough.
• Keep the bubbling very gentle. Patience is the main ingredient here.

Which method should you choose?

• Delicate, quick-cooking foods (fish, green vegetables, eggs): steaming, boiling, a quick sauté.
• Tender cuts of meat (fillet, chicken breast, köfte): grilling, sautéing, pan-frying.
• Tough, sinewy cuts (shank, neck, brisket): braising, long simmering.
• Root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, celeriac): roasting, boiling.
• Building a flavour base (onions, tomato paste, mince): kavurma.

Learn one method well and you have learned dozens of recipes at once. Try a different method every day this week.