H - Heat

The history of heat goes way back to the beginning of time. All how-we-got-here debates aside, the sun has been a huge source of heat ever since I can remember. But how did humans first create heat or fire? If I recall correctly, man started rubbing two sticks together, producing friction which causes heat and eventually fire. Then a woman told the man to get inside and use the new stove they bought at Christmas.

Once man figured out he could produce fire, he started getting creative with his cooking. He'd cook meat over charcoal. He'd cook on his carburator. He would even burn ants with a magnifying glass. All valid ways of cooking mind you.

Then man invented the microwave and T.V. dinners. This began a dark ugly era of cooking. Man found he could cook food faster and dryer. Leftover pizza was given a new life. Suddenly, everything that could fit in a microwave was cooked in a microwave.

We are now in a time where all methods of cooking - even solar cooking, are available. So what's the best type of cooking? That depends on the food, the need, and the speed. First, we have to look at the types of heat. All heat is not the same.

There are three main types of heat sources; radiation, conduction, and convection. Radiation is energy that travels in waves. Ovens, flames, microwaves, heck even lightbulbs produce heat via radiation. Conduction is when heat moves from something that is hot to something that is cold. Slap a raw egg on a skillet - you get conduction. Convection is heat through friction. Friction from moving air or boiling water are both examples of convection.

Broiling and grilling have already been covered in this blog and they are both perfect examples of cooking with radiation. So is using a microwave but I'd rather not encourage the use of the magic box.

Most other types of cooking combine convection and conduction. For the most part, conduction heats the cooking medium like water or oil, and convection is the heated medium acting upon the food. There's submersion cooking with water or oil that's common in boiling, frying, simmering, poaching, and stewing. Then contact cooking like searing, sauteing, and pan-frying where oil is commonly used to increase the surface area between the pan and the food.

If you haven't noticed, there are a lot of styles of cooking. 101 ways to skin a cat and just as many to cook an egg.

We're not finished. I can sear a piece of fish for three minutes with my oven on a heat setting of eight. What if you've got a gas stove and I've got electric? Don't forget that not all pans are make of the same material and therefore distribute heat differently. Therefore, I give you this important tip - if you follow a recipe and it fails, don't be surprised. Take notes so the next time you try that recipe, you'll know to raise or lower a cooking time or increase a heat setting.

Thinking back on all my years of bad cooking, I realize that I didn't know how to apply the right type of heat to the right type of food. My recommendation, and what I'm trying myself, is concentrating on one style of cooking for a while until it's not a scary subject anymore. I'm not ready for blanching but I've got a good handle on broiling and grilling.

Iron Chefs can create masterpieces from secret ingredients because they know two key pieces of information. They know how to cook using any style of cooking and they know when to use those styles. There might be other styles of cooking, but these are foundational. I figure if you can blanch vegetables, you can do anything.