If one happens to be keen about something,whatever the 'something may be' , what goes on in it makes sense to the person.
I love cars. What's strange is that I understood the working of a car in a dream.Please do realize that I am not lying. And yes,basically what I am tying to say is that something,that an engineer takes about a chapter to understand in a usual college,when uninterested of course, I understood the same thing while sleeping. Great! Isn't it?? So let's get cracking!! Only thing is that this article isn't about understanding the working of a car. I was just showing off.
This one is about stuff people don't ask questions about. As a matter of fact,this is about things people don't(usually) think about.
It's about why we add certain things in our food,and why we may not. It may be boring,but if you have read so far,and you clicked the link to this page(I frankly don't see why you would do it,but thanks by the way),I feel you'll sail through.
Have you wondered why you add ..... to your food??
.....#1-Flour/Atta/Maida(Maida is refined flour)- Flour or any of the mentioned ingredient is basically a derivative of grains like wheat,rice,chick peas,legumes and all dry forms of cereals or pulses,mostly cereals.
Why so? Most cereals/pulses contain carbohydrates as a very big majority of their composition. What carbohydrates do,in presence of moisture(Water,oil,any liquid) is that they stick together.So you have this doughy sort of consistency in some cases. What this sort of consistency does i provides body to what ever you are cooking. Look at a cake. A very big portion is all carbohydrates(up to 75%). Look at breads.Even rotis' that we have around..
Conclusion: Flour,when in doughy consistency is basically a filler in the food/dish.
An analogy to this in the mechanical engineering department is working of fiberglass. The resin and the hardener,a mixture of it makes the fiberglass rigid. Here,the resin is a filler,basically increasing the volume of the mixture to be applied on the fiberglass.
The same flour,when used in a highly runny consistency,example being cornstarch used in soups(I hate it though). It thickens up the soup,again,giving the soup it's body.
....#2 Oil/fat(of mostly any kind)-We all know that oil is a good conductor of heat,basically it carries heat very well. Use of oil in food has a very basic concept involved. To heat the food faster. You say why not yous steam? Ever wondered how much time it takes to steam stuff? And as it is,in the current life and times of quick-to-do-xyz,who's going to wait that long? No wait,all haste-big waist...annnd What a waste!!
So we add oil to make the cooking process faster. Deep fried,shallow fried what's and not's...
If you add oil into anything for any other reason,there can be only 2 more reasons,bu the way
1-To make things go runny(Don't ask why you can't add water..please!)
2-To give a glaze to things..Yeah,that's what the people do to make things more appealing on the rack dude/lady!
....#3 Eggs-Now,until you are a health freak,the reason you add eggs to any thing mostly,is to set things up. It's not what it sounds like..you ain't no secret agent being set up/framed or something,it's just the food...relax.
Seriously now. Have you ever boiled an egg?? It is one of the most mindless thing to do. And it does not qualify to be called cooking!!!
Yeah so what happens?You crack it open...and all the contents come running out all over your hand?? Yes?? What did you do?? Forgot to turn on the gas??
So,you(this time,start the gas,after keeping the egg in mostly boiling water,remove it and..) crack it open.Hopefully no gaffles this time,you get this beautiful pure white coagulated mass of protein with another firm ball of fat and vitamins. Basically the thing holds up it's shape,bozo!!
So,heat coagulates the whole eggy stuff,where ever it is in combination with mostly anything(except water ofcourse,until you plan to poach the egg...)
The yolks may be used to add richness(basically make you fat.....Mind you,egg yolks are good in moderation).
....#4 Vegetables,Meat,fruits- They are the main part of the big picture,being the DISH of course.
Yogurt/curd/cream-These things are added to increase volume,richness and sometimes to reduce sharpness in taste.
....#5 Spices-Do I need to explain this one? I haven't run into a more self explanatory word(apart from the word 'run').
....#6-Water-Volume,and to mix things up a little.
....#7-Pureed vegetables,fruits-volume,taste...
Mmmm what else am I missing? You know what? You think of other ingredients.It's quite logical you Let me know too,of what you think their uses are.
I love cars. What's strange is that I understood the working of a car in a dream.Please do realize that I am not lying. And yes,basically what I am tying to say is that something,that an engineer takes about a chapter to understand in a usual college,when uninterested of course, I understood the same thing while sleeping. Great! Isn't it?? So let's get cracking!! Only thing is that this article isn't about understanding the working of a car. I was just showing off.
This one is about stuff people don't ask questions about. As a matter of fact,this is about things people don't(usually) think about.
It's about why we add certain things in our food,and why we may not. It may be boring,but if you have read so far,and you clicked the link to this page(I frankly don't see why you would do it,but thanks by the way),I feel you'll sail through.
Have you wondered why you add ..... to your food??
.....#1-Flour/Atta/Maida(Maida is refined flour)- Flour or any of the mentioned ingredient is basically a derivative of grains like wheat,rice,chick peas,legumes and all dry forms of cereals or pulses,mostly cereals.
Why so? Most cereals/pulses contain carbohydrates as a very big majority of their composition. What carbohydrates do,in presence of moisture(Water,oil,any liquid) is that they stick together.So you have this doughy sort of consistency in some cases. What this sort of consistency does i provides body to what ever you are cooking. Look at a cake. A very big portion is all carbohydrates(up to 75%). Look at breads.Even rotis' that we have around..
Conclusion: Flour,when in doughy consistency is basically a filler in the food/dish.
An analogy to this in the mechanical engineering department is working of fiberglass. The resin and the hardener,a mixture of it makes the fiberglass rigid. Here,the resin is a filler,basically increasing the volume of the mixture to be applied on the fiberglass.
The same flour,when used in a highly runny consistency,example being cornstarch used in soups(I hate it though). It thickens up the soup,again,giving the soup it's body.
....#2 Oil/fat(of mostly any kind)-We all know that oil is a good conductor of heat,basically it carries heat very well. Use of oil in food has a very basic concept involved. To heat the food faster. You say why not yous steam? Ever wondered how much time it takes to steam stuff? And as it is,in the current life and times of quick-to-do-xyz,who's going to wait that long? No wait,all haste-big waist...annnd What a waste!!
So we add oil to make the cooking process faster. Deep fried,shallow fried what's and not's...
If you add oil into anything for any other reason,there can be only 2 more reasons,bu the way
1-To make things go runny(Don't ask why you can't add water..please!)
2-To give a glaze to things..Yeah,that's what the people do to make things more appealing on the rack dude/lady!
....#3 Eggs-Now,until you are a health freak,the reason you add eggs to any thing mostly,is to set things up. It's not what it sounds like..you ain't no secret agent being set up/framed or something,it's just the food...relax.
Seriously now. Have you ever boiled an egg?? It is one of the most mindless thing to do. And it does not qualify to be called cooking!!!
Yeah so what happens?You crack it open...and all the contents come running out all over your hand?? Yes?? What did you do?? Forgot to turn on the gas??
So,you(this time,start the gas,after keeping the egg in mostly boiling water,remove it and..) crack it open.Hopefully no gaffles this time,you get this beautiful pure white coagulated mass of protein with another firm ball of fat and vitamins. Basically the thing holds up it's shape,bozo!!
So,heat coagulates the whole eggy stuff,where ever it is in combination with mostly anything(except water ofcourse,until you plan to poach the egg...)
The yolks may be used to add richness(basically make you fat.....Mind you,egg yolks are good in moderation).
....#4 Vegetables,Meat,fruits- They are the main part of the big picture,being the DISH of course.
Yogurt/curd/cream-These things are added to increase volume,richness and sometimes to reduce sharpness in taste.
....#5 Spices-Do I need to explain this one? I haven't run into a more self explanatory word(apart from the word 'run').
....#6-Water-Volume,and to mix things up a little.
....#7-Pureed vegetables,fruits-volume,taste...
Mmmm what else am I missing? You know what? You think of other ingredients.It's quite logical you Let me know too,of what you think their uses are.
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