Heat and Food

To cook food means to heat it in order to make certain changes in it. Skillful cooks know exactly what changes they want to make and what they have to do to get them right. To learn these cooking skills, it is important for you to know why foods behave as they do when heated. For this, you have to study the theory.

Perhaps not all of this section will make sense to you at first. But the ideas should become clearer to you after you think about them in relation to specific techniques, as demonstrated by your instructor. Later in your studies, when you are learning about cooking meats, fish, and vegetables, making sauces, and creating salad dressings, review this section from time to time. Not only will you understand it better but also it should help you make more sense of the procedures you are learning and practicing.