4 popular cooking methods that look similar but are completely different

You boil vegetables in water, prepare egg dishes, make noodles or pasta, but do you know that cooking these things is known by different names. Boiling, blanching, steaming and poaching are techniques that sound similar, but they have major differences. Each one of these cooking methods changes the way any food is cooked, and alters the nutrition of each dish as well. To understand this easily, take a vegetable and cook it using all these methods separately. Once cooked, put it in different plates and the difference will be visible in no time. Here is a detailed overview of each of these cooking processes to make you understand about them.
ALSO READ: Top 11 cooking techniques used in India

What is steaming?

In this process, water is simmered and then your food is cooked with steam. You must have seen this process in metal baskets and bamboo trays etc. Khandvi, Pattaur, Dumplings, Momos and even Poha are prepared using this cooking technique. In this process, all the nutrients of your food are preserved and the flavour of the food becomes delicious. That's probably why you keep eating momos one after the other.

The boiling method

Now, this is probably the easiest method and we have been seeing it all the time. In this, you put your vegetables and food items in a pot filled with water and put it on flame. You use the same process when making noodles. While preparing spinach, mustard, or other green vegetables, many people boil them and then squeeze them to prepare the recipe. Everything, from making tea to boiling eggs is called boiling.

ALSO READ: Boiling or steaming: Which method is better to cook veggies?

What is blanching?

Blanching is a technique in which you stop any boiled food item from further cooking by placing it in ice cold water. This does not spoil the colour and texture of the vegetable. This method is widely used to preserve the freshness or flavour of a vegetable. However, this technique is not tried every time. To prevent vegetables from being overcooked, people wash them once or twice in cold water and keep them aside to cool. Blanching is done to preserve the delicate flavour or to remove the skins of almonds, peaches, or tomatoes.

ALSO READ: How to steam vegetables without a steamer

What is poaching?

Poaching is a cooking method intermediate between simmering and boiling food. In this, food is cooked by immersing it in water. This is a gentle cooking process. However, it is important to keep in mind that this is a slower process. You can use water, white vinegar, red and white wine, milk, lemon juice and broth etc. for poaching. Poaching involves cooking food at a very low temperature, so it is important to keep the heat low and the poaching time short. This keeps the taste and texture of the food intact.

(Images courtesy: Canva)