— Jessica Nyquist

Certainly, uh, you know, with experience, right? You're going to figure out, um, how foods react to different, uh, cooking methods. You're gonna have your own personal preference that comes forward. Um, but generally speaking, when it comes to moist heat cooking methods, we're talking about two general categories, two subcategories. One would be steaming, and one would be the submersion methods. Okay? Then in, so in the submersion subcategory, uh, we can further divide that into, uh, brazing and stewing. And, uh, I, I would also includes simmering, uh, you know, as, um, a cooking method that we could talk about, um, as a, as a variation of the moist heat cooking category. Okay? So let's start first with steaming. Um, steaming is, uh, generally a pretty quick process. Now, we can certainly adjust the heat and therefore the intensity of the steaming process, but generally speaking, it's a relatively quick process. So it's gonna be best suited for, uh, food items that are relatively small in size, okay? Whether it's gonna be, um, smaller cuts on vegetables, or whether they are, um, um, uh, uh, bowel, you know, like, like small, uh, buns. Um, we can certainly make larger things like cakes, um, you know, as well. Um, but still cakes, um, would be a tender product, usually fairly shallow, um, that will cook relatively quickly, uh, within this bigger, bigger context of, of our discussion here. Okay? So, um, that's kind of the, the, uh, the, the filter or the bounds, um, of choosing steaming, okay? As a method. Um, now when it comes to, uh, this other category of, of submersion, uh, methods, so we've got braising, we have stewing, we've got simmering, uh, braising, we also refer to as a combination cooking process, where classically right, we're going to, uh, combine, um, some element of dry heat cooking to impart browning and therefore deeper flavor, greater, you know, flavor development, and then also the moist heat, uh, simmering process, okay? To tenderize the food and brazing. Uh, again, classically, there are certainly exceptions that, um, people have come up with these days, but, uh, classically brazing is applied to, um, larger food items. Um, stewing is the same sort of an approach. It's a, uh, it's a hybrid or combination method, um, employing both dry heat and moist heat, dry heat for browning impartation and flavor development, and then the moist heat simmering process, uh, to tenderize the relatively tough food item. Um, but stewing involves smaller cuts of, of items, okay? And then simmering is, is a, a, a, um, a process that is just singular in other, it does not employ, uh, a dry heat browning component classically, okay? Now that, uh, you know, the term simmering is also used more generally. So in other words, if we're brazing an item, you know, uh, you know, we can, in our conversation, okay, in our language of the kitchen, you know, we can say something like, let's brown the item, and then top off the pot with our cooking liquid, whether it's, um, water or a flavorful liquid like stock. Uh, and then, you know, we'll finish that process by simmering. Let's bring that to a boil. We'll reduce it to a simmer and hold it at that gentle simmer until the item is fork tender, well done, okay? Which is typically the benchmark of doneness for a a, a braised or a stewed or a sied item. Okay? Um, now how do you choose between those? So, on one hand, I, I just explained a little bit between brazing and stewing, um, larger items versus smaller items. Again, classically speaking, um, with exceptions, okay? There seem to be always, uh, exceptions in the, in the kitchen. Um, uh, if you want to impart color and, uh, strive for this extra layer of flavor development than, um, the, the combination cooking methods of abrasion or stewing are called for steaming on the, on the other hand, will not impart any browning. Uh, it, it is just a straight up cook it in a wet environment, uh, and, um, but with some control over the intensity of the steam, okay? But usually with relatively smaller or tender items, and as I use the word tender, that's where perhaps a larger item like a cake, um, can be steamed because it's tender cooks relatively quickly, okay? Um, and where we have overlap, okay? Between what steaming might do and what, um, brazing or simmering might do, it becomes your, uh, personal preference on what you choose. Okay? And so that ultimately is gonna be the beauty, um, of cooking, is that as you, uh, gain understanding of cooking methods and therefore control over recipes, uh, you get to make the choice on what is gonna be, um, convenient, what is gonna be practical for your environment, what's gonna be, uh, best for your time constraints, what is preferable for your audience, uh, for example, okay? And, uh, so have fun with that. Uh, there's, uh, uh, a lot of nuances, um, that, um, you know, you get to, to play with and, and learn about, uh, through these various processes. And, and, uh, as always, have patience. Um, cooking takes, uh, a long time, uh, to, to refine and to, and to understand a number of years even. And, uh, so, you know, have fun with the process, happy cooking.