Cooking
Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire, to using electric stoves, to baking in various types of ovens, reflecting local conditions.
[1][2] The expansion of agriculture, commerce, trade, and transportation between civilizations in different regions offered cooks many new ingredients.
Some modern cooks apply advanced scientific techniques to food preparation to further enhance the flavor of the dish served.
[4] Re-analysis of burnt bone fragments and plant ashes from the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa has provided evidence supporting control of fire by early humans 1 million years ago.
[6][7] However, unequivocal evidence in the archaeological record for the controlled use of fire begins at 400,000 BCE, long after Homo erectus.
[8][9][clarification needed] Archaeological evidence from 300,000 years ago,[10] in the form of ancient hearths, earth ovens, burnt animal bones, and flint, are found across Europe and the Middle East.
The oldest evidence (via heated fish teeth from a deep cave) of controlled use of fire to cook food by archaic humans was dated to ~780,000 years ago.
The movement of foods across the Atlantic from the New World, such as potatoes, tomatoes, maize, beans, bell pepper, chili pepper, vanilla, pumpkin, cassava, avocado, peanut, pecan, cashew, pineapple, blueberry, sunflower, chocolate, gourds, green beans, and squash, had a profound effect on Old World cooking.
Vegetables, fruits, grains and nuts as well as herbs and spices come from plants, while meat, eggs, and dairy products come from animals.
An emulsion of starch with fat or water can, when gently heated, provide thickening to the dish being cooked.
In European cooking, a mixture of butter and flour called a roux is used to thicken liquids to make stews or sauces.
These techniques rely on the properties of starches to create simpler mucilaginous saccharides during cooking, which causes the familiar thickening of sauces.
To prepare stir fries, grilled cheese or pancakes, the pan or griddle is often coated with fat or oil.
[22] The human body can produce the fat it requires from other food ingredients, except for a few essential fatty acids that must be included in the diet.
The formation of a relatively rigid but flexible matrix from egg white provides an important component in baking cakes, and also underpins many desserts based on meringue.
Heating liquid in an open container results in rapidly increased evaporation, which concentrates the remaining flavor and ingredients; this is a critical component of both stewing and sauce making.
[35][36] These cooking practices use fuels and technologies that produce high levels of household air pollution, causing 3.8 million premature deaths annually.
When heat is used in the preparation of food, it can kill or inactivate harmful organisms, such as bacteria and viruses, as well as various parasites such as tapeworms and Toxoplasma gondii.
Bacteria, viruses and parasites may be introduced through salad, meat that is uncooked or done rare, and unboiled water.
[44][45] Washing and disinfecting cutting boards, especially after use with raw meat, poultry, or seafood, reduces the risk of contamination.
[47][48] Although there has been some basic research on how sulforaphane might exert beneficial effects in vivo, there is no high-quality evidence for its efficacy against human diseases.
The United States Department of Agriculture has studied retention data for 16 vitamins, 8 minerals, and alcohol for approximately 290 foods across various cooking methods.
[52] Several studies published since 1990 indicate that cooking meat at high temperature creates heterocyclic amines (HCA's), which are thought to increase cancer risk in humans.
[56] Dry heat (e.g. in roasting or grilling) can significantly increase the production of AGEs, as well as food rich in animal protein and fats.
It is different for the application of scientific knowledge to cooking, that is "molecular cooking" (for the technique) or "molecular cuisine" (for a culinary style), for which chefs such as Raymond Blanc, Philippe and Christian Conticini, Ferran Adria, Heston Blumenthal, Pierre Gagnaire (chef).
Thermal diffusivity is the combination of specific heat, conductivity and density that determines how long it will take for the food to reach a certain temperature.
[66] Cohort studies following the elderly over 10 years show that adults who cook their own meals have significantly lower mortality, even when controlling for confounding variables.
This trend began in the 1920s and is attributed to people in urban areas of the U.S. wanting homestyle food even though their schedules and smaller kitchens made cooking harder.
