CHARACTERISTICS OF RAW MATERIALS

For the preparation of good, tasty, colorful dishes, it is essential to have a basic knowledge of the raw materials, their characteristics and the special part they play. This knowledge helps to substitute’s materials when necessary, or rectify the texture and taste if something goes wrong. Also it helps to improve the quality and get the standard end product.

The raw materials are thus classified according to the part they play in making up a dish:

1. Salt

2. Liquids

3. Sweetening

4. Fats & Oils

5. Raising agent

6. Thickenings

7. Flavoring and Seasonings 

8. Eggs

SALT

It brings out the flavour of other ingredients. The other name for salt is sodium chloride; it is readily available in a solid (rock salt) or in a solution form (sea salt). Salt, having a distinctive taste, transforms an insipid dish to a wonderful dish. It should be used skillfully, or too much of it could spoil the dish.
Salt is available in 3 forms:
1. Table salt containing phosphate
2. Coarse or Freezing salt for culinary purpose.
3. Celery salt it is a blend of celery root and ordinary salt and is purchased ready prepared. It is used for flavoring certain dishes as an alternative to fresh celery or celery seed.

USES OF SALT

1. Use of the correct amount of salt improves the flavour of the savory dishes and when a little is added to the sweet dishes, it enhances the flavour.
2. It has a physical effect on the gluten of flour and strengthens gluten and increases its resistance to the softening effect of fermentation.
3. Cauliflower, when put in salted water, makes the insects come out.
4. It has a controlling effect on the activity of yeast in bakery products. It controls fermentation and hence it has marked effect on crumb, crust and colour of baked products.
5. Salt added to water, for cooking green vegetables, helps in colour retention and enhances the taste.
6. Salting is one of the oldest popular methods of preserving ham, bacon, fish etc.
7. Salt is essential for good health.

LIQUIDS

Liquids are important as they are used for the purpose of cooking, binding and coating etc. Milk, water, stock and fruit juices are the most commonly used liquids. They prevent food from burning, bind dry ingredients and help in maintaining the right consistency. Water and milk are used for preparing poaching liquor (court bouillon) soups, sauces, gravies, cakes and pastry mixtures and pastry mixtures and kneading of dough, etc. Buttermilk is used for curries. kadi, etc. Stock is a liquid containing soluble nutrients and flavors, which are extracted by prolonged and gentle simmering (except fish stock20 mins.). They are used as the foundation of soups, sauces, gravies, curries, poaching liquors and many important kitchen preparations. It is important that the correct amount of liquid should be used, or too much would make the food stodgy, soggy or watery.

SWEETENING

When sweetening is used with other foods it enhances the combined sensations of odour and flavour of the dish produced. It also adds its own sweetness, and is a versatile food product. Its uses in the kitchen are varied, Substitution of one sugar (castor, icing) for another in a baking formula, gives allowance for the difference in the sweetening effect. Sweetening is available in various forms-granulated, fine-grained, and powdered and in a solution form. Sugars vary in their sweetening quality and are available in the following forms:

 Granulated sugar
 Castor sugar
 Icing sugar
 Lactose (milk sugar)
 Cane syrup
 Maple syrup
 Treacle
 Honey
 Golden syrup.

FUNCTIONS

1. Low concentration of sugar speeds the effectiveness of baker's yeast by providing an immediate, fast cooking course of nourishment for its growth-thus hastening the leavening process.
2. The ability of sugar to crystallize, gives a delightful variety in cookery.
3. Sugar gives puddings, breads, buns and bread rolls a good flavour (caramel), the characteristic golden brown colour, and a tender and even texture.
4. Fermentation is aided by sugar in brewing, wine-making and in the distillation of spirits.
5. Sugar has long been used as a preservative. it is an effective preservative and can dissolve in water at very high concentration.
6. It is an energy food and can be stored for a long time without getting spoilt.

SUGAR USED IN BAKERY

Stock Sugar Syrup
500 gm Cube sugar 120 gm Glucose
1 litre Water
Boil all the ingredients together in a clean Sugar boiler. Strain through a cloth into a basin and keep covered.

METHOD AND TEMPERATURES OF COOKING

Take the required amount from the Stock Sugar and boil to the correct temperature between 116° and 160°F. Keep the side of the pot clean during the boiling, by washing the sides frequently with water. DO NOT STIR Add a few drops of lemon juice and shake well.

PULLED SUGAR

Pour on to a slightly oiled marble slab, allow to cool slightly, with a knife turn the sugar over folding, together, work the sugar with the hand to a pliable consistency. Aniline powder is best for this type of work, being very strong in colour and easily dissolved in warm water. The colour is added to the cooked sugar when poured onto the marble slab and before working with hands.

DEGREES AND STAGES OF COOKING THE SUGAR

116°C Soft Ball Suitable for Marzipan
119°C Ball Suitable for Fondant
121°C Hard Ball Suitable for Nougat
140°C Small crake Suitable for Italian Meringue
153°C Crack Suitable for Dipping Fruit
160°C Hard crack Suitable for Pulled Sugar

FATS AND OILS

Fats and oils are nutritionally useful and in some form, economical sources of energy and give a satiety value to the dish. They also contribute characteristic palatability, qualities of flavour and texture. They are popularly used as the medium of cooking. Fats are solid at ordinary temperature and melt when heated. Oils are liquids at ordinary temperature. Only coconut oil solidifies at low temperature. Various fats used in cooking are -lard (pig's fat), suet (fat around kidneys), dripping (Tallow Beef fat), butter, margarine, ghee, hydrogenated fat, cocoa butter (for confectionery).Oils are extracted from coconut, palm, sesame, cotton seed, olive, peanut, mustard, corn and sunflower. Salad oil is a deodorized vegetable oil and is used for salad dressings, etc. as olive oil-the best for the purpose - is very expensive and scarce. Fats and oils are used for various purposes, the major culinary part played by them are as:

SPREADS
Butter and margarines are used for spreads, and their function is to add to the flavour, nutritional value and satiety value of breads.

SHORTENING
These are fats which shorten the gluten strands, surround them and make them more easily broken (short). When added to bread, it gives a bit of tenderness, richness and sheen to the crumb.

TEMPERING
Dals, curries, rice dishes, etc. are tempered. The fat or oil is heated to which cumin seeds or mustard, or fenugreek seeds, etc. is added and poured over the daIs.

SALAD DRESSINGS
Fat is used for the various salad dressings-Hot animal fat dressings, which consist of bacon fat, vinegar and seasonings, served hot, are used on green hot salads. Cooked dressing is a cooked mixture of egg, vinegar, fat, starch and seasonings. French dressings are emulsions of oil, vinegar or lemon juice and seasoning. Mayonnaise is an emulsion of oil, acid, egg yolk and seasoning.

FRYING MEDIUM

Fats and oils are used as a medium of cooking, i.e. pan roasting, frying, and sautéing. When fats or oils are heated, a temperature is reached at which visible fumes appear which is defined as smoke point. Fats with high smoke point are suitable for frying. Different fats do not have the same smoke point. The highest frying needed for any food is about 199°C (390°C). Hydrogenated fats have a high smoke point and are good as a frying medium compared to other fats. For the selection of a good fat, the following points should be remembered. A frying fat should have a high smoke point, low congealing point, high stability, low moisture content, and should have an acceptable flavour. Fats and oils have a high percentage of unsaturated fats and have more shortening power, than saturated fats. Animals’ fats such as butter, lard and suet make the food short, i.e. break off (short) and readily melt in the mouth. For the selection of shortening, the following factors should be observed:
1. Shortening should cream well or it will affect the cake volume.
2. It should have no moisture; then it will be short. Shortness is correlated to baking biscuits, cookies, pastries, wafers, mathies, nankhatais, nimkies etc.
3. The shortening should be stable and should not get rancid so that the cooked product has a good keeping quality.
4. The right consistency of fat, i.e. solidified for puff and flaky pastry, soft for cakes and biscuits help to get a good texture. To acquire good results in baking, because of fats and other ingredients, certain rules should be followed- "The richer the pastry, the hotter the oven, and the richer the cake, the cooler the oven."

RENDERING OF FAT
Animal fat is heated and melted and this renders fat from fatty tissues. Tallow, suet and lard are, usually rendered and used for cooking. The fat is cut into small pieces and placed in a pan and put in the oven or on slow fire, until the fat melts, and there are crisp brown pieces of tissues left. This should be strained through a fine cloth into a clean bowl.

CLARIFICATION OF FAT
Used fat should be clarified and then used for better results in cooking. Strain the used fat and then mix double the quantity of water in a pan and bring it to the boil. Strain again, cool and place it in a refrigerator. The fat will solidify and float on top. Lift the cake of fat, turn it upside down and scrape off the foreign particles that have collected. Heat the fat on slow fire,till the water evaporates and then strain and store it in a cool place.

RAISING OF LEAVENING AGENTS

Leavening is increasing the surface area of a dough or batter by creating within myriads of gas bubbles puffing up, thus increasing the volume and making it light.
The expansion of these gases during baking increases the volume of the product and gives a desirable porous structure. The aeration of flour products is affected by the following:
1. Biological (yeast)
2. Chemical (baking powder)
3. Mechanical (whisking. beating)
4. Lamination (folding. rolling)
5. Combination of the above.

YEAST

It is a living micro-organism and is a form of plant life. It requires food, moisture, warmth and air for its growth. The primary function of yeast is to change sugar into carbon dioxide gas, so that the dough, in which it is generated, is aerated. It also assists in mellowing and ripening the gluten of the dough, and it contains vitamin B complex. When yeast is dispersed in water at a suitable temperature and mixed to a smooth paste with flour and all the food necessary for fermentation are present, E.g. sugar, skimmed milk, the sugar acts as food and soluble proteins to form the structure and building material of the new cells. Activity starts within the yeast cell, yeast exudes a substance known as an enzyme which changes a solution of sugar (sucrose) and water into a simple sugar (dextrose) thus absorbed within the yeast cell and changed to carbon dioxide and alcohol, together with other by-products. Other enzymes in flour and yeast change some of the soluble starch to sugar, which in turn is assimilated by the yeast arid changed, so that aeration goes on from this continued production of gas.

When using yeast, these points should be remembered:
1. It remains dormant in cold.
2. It rises in warmth.
3. It is killed by heat (if temperature is over 1270 F).
4. It is fed by sugar, and in the dough it caramelizes on the outside, forming a brown crust.
5. It is fed by flour; the starch gelatinizes with the moisture inside the dough and cooks into a light spongy mixture which is digestible.
6. Strong or hard flour is the best to use in bread making.
7. If salt is added in the correct proportions, it gives a good flavour, controls fermentation and improves the colour of the finished goods.

Commercial yeast is of two main types compressed in cake form (also in a liquid form) and dry yeast in granular form. Compressed yeast is a moist mixture of yeast plants and starch. The yeast remains active and multiplies rapidly if added to the dough. It should be kept in the deep freezer, because it retains its activity for several weeks, or even months. Liquid yeasts and starters are sometimes used in household bread-making. They are mixtures of active yeasts from compressed form with yeast food, such as sugar and potato flour or dough. They have a short storage life.

DRY YEAST

It is a mixture of yeast with corn meal or starch pressed into cakes and dried. Such yeasts continue to live, but are in an inactive state. When furnished with food and moisture they begin to develop and multiply, but do so slowly. They can be stored for a long time and are inexpensive.

ACTIVATED DRY YEAST

It develops faster than dry yeast and is less perishable than compressed yeast. It is used in straight dough mixing. It should be stored at refrigerator temperature for a longer life.

CHEMICALS

Chemical aeration is brought about by the production of carbon dioxide from the action, in solution, of an alkali and an acid in the presence of heat. The acid and alkali in correct proportions (which is harmless to human digestion) is baking powder. With this method of aeration, the greater amount of gas should be generated after heat has been applied, i.e. when the goods are in the oven.

The carbon dioxide which is generated passes into the air cells already created and is held by the network of gluten in the dough. This generation of gas and the consequent expansion causes an increase in the volume, which is held by the coagulation of the gluten and other proteins that are present. The dough cooked becomes light and digestible. Baking powder consists of two parts acid and one part alkali. This can be bought readymade or it can be made as per the following recipes:
Recipe I: Cream of tartar 60 Gms
Bicarbonate of soda 32 Gms
Corn flour (optional. increases the stability of the mixture.)

METHOD
Sieve together several times. It has to be kept in an airtight tin. The addition of one part rice flour or corn flour will help to keep dry.
Recipe II: Tartaric acid 30 Gms
Bicarbonate 30 Gms
Method: - Same as above.

The latter recipe is suitable, but once moistened it reacts rapidly, so that much of the gas is lost, if delayed in reaching the oven. Other acids which may be used, when combined with bicarbonate of soda will produce carbon dioxide such as vinegar and sour milk. When sodium bicarbonate is heated, it gives off part of its carbon dioxide, but leaves sodium carbonate as a residue. This compound is unpalatable and hence should always be neutralized with an acid which leaves a relatively tasteless and harmless salt. If no sodium bicarbonate is added, the cookies are pale in colour; when it is added, the intensity of colour increases with the quantity of soda. Cream of tartar used in angel cakes increases their activity and tends to make them white and fine grained.

MECHANICAL AERATION

It is incorporating air by whisking, beating and sieving. When sugar and eggs, fat and sugar, fat and flour or any combination of these are beaten or whisked together, or flour is sieved, it works as aeration. Whichever way the air is introduced into the mixing, be it by hand, whisk, spatula or by machine, it is still termed mechanical aeration. Air is incorporated into the mixing by one of the above means and is held there by the fat, eggs, or both; aeration is brought about by the expansion of the air in the hot oven, together with the water vapor pressure within the air bubbles. One of the best examples of mechanical aeration is the sponge cake, where a foam is produced from the eggs and sugar, the flour is then folded in the sponge and baked. The egg and flour proteins coagulate and the starch cooks thereby making the sponge set.

WATER VAPOUR

Lamination acts as a raising agent. In pastries- folding and rolling helps to give the lift. In Idlis, khaman, dhoklas, etc. steam formed by the heat, helps to puff up, as liquid and flour are present in equal quantities. As the popcorns have moisture inside the grains, when heated, they expand in volume. The fundamental objective when making puff pastry is to build up a structure of fat and dough consisting of many layers so that when subjected to heat in an oven, it will expand and lift evenly, to produce goods with short eating properties. In the oven, the pastry, which consists of thin layers of dough separated by films of fat, comes under the influence of heat, and the gluten in the dough layers is caused to expand and blister. The fat melts and the dough layers are insulated and the fat takes on a higher temperature, dough layers are cooked, the gluten coagulates and becomes almost rigid and the pastry does not collapse. It is the expansion and blistering of the gluten in the dough layers as a result of steam pressure from the water in the dough that is responsible for the lift.

COMBINATIONS

Danish pastries are a combination of aeration by yeast and by lamination. For this, rich yeast dough is made and butter is incorporated as for puff pastry. In this, the pastry expands in volume, because of the process of aeration, by lamination, and at the same time is aerated by the action of yeast.

THICKENING AND BINDING AGENTS

Thickening agents give body, consistency, and palatability, when used. They improve the nutritive value. Flavored liquids are thickened and converted into soups, sauces, gravies, curries, bavarois, mousses, puddings, etc.

Binding agents are used to form a mixture of ingredients into a cohesive mass.
The thickening agents are starch, agar, eggs, gelatin, coconut, tamarind, curd, poppy seeds, onion paste, coriander power, etc. Starch is the reserve carbohydrate of plants and is abundant in common foods: corn, rice, wheat, potatoes, arrowroot, and tapioca; rice has about 80% starch, wheat 70% potatoes about 19% starch,

Starch is classified into
 Cereal
 Starches,
 Root starches
 Instant starches.

Cereal starch is found in: Rice, wheat and maize. When cooked, corn, wheat, or rice, begins to gelatinize at about 71° (l600F) but requires about 85-96°C (l85-205°F) for maximum thickening. Cereal starches when cooked and cooled tend to gel, while most root starches do not, as they have more thickening power than root starches. Root starches are tapioca, potato and arrowroot which thicken at a lower temperature of 65-71°C (150160OF) than cereal starches. They thicken completely below boiling point. Instant starches are pre-cooked starches, also known as pre-gelatinized starches. Instant puddings, etc. in the market contain instant starches. Agar is a rigid transparent gel, and is used for salads, sweet dishes. It is seaweed, widely found in China. Eggs give a firm gel when baked, and thicken, but are soft when stirred. Gelatin (unflavored) is used for salads, cold sweets, cold soups. When set, it is transparent, firm and quivery. Coconut is used for curries, and gives the gravy a whitish colour, thickens and enhances the taste. Tamarind is used in a pulpy form and it gives a thickening to the consistency of the gravy and gives a brownish appearance and an acidic taste. Curd is used for thickening curries and it gives a whitish appearance, and a good flavour. Poppy seeds, onion paste, coriander powder give body to the curries, and slightly thicken the gravy and blend with the flavour of the curry.

Flavouring and Seasoning Continued...