It’s a moist heat

Posted on | December 3, 2009

Well, we’ve covered the dry heat cooking methods. These methods make up the vast majority of what we do at culinary school. Still, moist heat methods do pop up (such as, oh, in one culinary school students second term exam) so they are good to know. Especially if you get a tough piece of meat and you want to turn it into something succulent.

And, even better, because moist heat is great for those super cheap cuts of meat, it’s the method of choice for the recession.

So let’s get cooking with, well, water!

Bring to the boil …
Wet heat methods are any cooking methods that use water or a similar liquid such as stock or wine. The water can be just plain old water, such as cooking pasta. Or the water can be steam, such as steaming asparagus.

There are four moist heat methods: poaching, simmering, steaming, and boiling. I can’t wait to talk about it, so today I’m going to talk about my favorite method: Poaching. Then, the next post in this series, I’ll write about the other three methods.

Poaching for dummies
Poaching is the coolest of the moist heat cooking methods. Coolest because, well, it is just a cool way to cook something. And coolest because the temperature is lowest, just below a simmer (160°F – 180°F). So if you see your water bubbling, it is too hot.

(Why, I can hear you asking, don’t you want a bubbling hot poaching liquid? Poaching is best for delicate foods, like a salmon fillet. If you subject your delicate fillet to a pounding boil, it is just going to end up all tough and stringy, which is exactly what you don’t want to do.)

Now, here’s the totally cool part about poaching to me (actually, two parts). First, I do not, in my soul, believe that a bit of warm water can cook anything. Sure, I know it can, but every time I poach something, I do it with a fair amount of trepidation. It can’t really work, can it? Can it?

Damn. It can. Magic!

Super flavor
Second, the other cool part about poaching is that you can flavor the poaching liquid. Use wine. Add some stock. Throw in some thinly sliced lemons. How about some julienned carrots? Or thyme? Add whatever you like; it all will add flavor to your food.

Oh, and here’s the bonus cool part about poaching: You can use that liquid to make a sauce. Poached a bit of fish in some nice white wine flavored with, say, shallots and a pretty bouquet garni (parsley, thyme, and bay leaf)? Once your fish is done, take it out, scoop out and discard your herbs, then reduce your wine and whisk in some butter. Taste, season, taste, and more magic! Instant sauce!

Now do you see why poaching is so amazing?

What do poaching and chameleons have in common?
And here’s a tip I learned, purely by very shrewd observation (accident) at culinary school: You can tell when your fish is done by the color change. When I poached my salmon for my second term black box test, I could see the color change from an orangey-pink to more of a cream color. Ah, a fun way to impress your (Thermometer? I don’t need no stinking thermometer!) friends and family.

Comments

Subscribe to my feed

Follow me on Twitter

Recently Written

• Thanks are due
• Should I go to culinary school from someone who has been
• Let me answer your questions
• So what happens to me now?
• And the culinary school student goes on externship
• It’s a new day!

Archives

• July 2010
• June 2010
• May 2010
• April 2010
• March 2010
• February 2010
• January 2010
• December 2009
• November 2009
• October 2009
• September 2009
• August 2009
• July 2009
• June 2009
• May 2009
• April 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009

Search

About

I'm a writer turned cooking school student. And writing about it. You follow?

Culinary Resources

Food glossary: All the terms you don't understand ... in plain language you will.

Kitchen measurements: All the measurements and conversions you will ever need.

Knife cuts: The professional knife cuts the real chefs use.