Baking is one of the oldest cooking methods. Previously, hot coals, tandoors, hearths, ovens were used for baking.
Today, ovens are most often used for this purpose, sometimes miraculous stoves, aerogrills, and on hikes and just coals from a hot fire.
Baking is the preparation of food in a variety of ovens and braziers. At the same time, an appetizing, golden crust usually appears on the products.
You can bake almost any food. For example, fish, meat, vegetables, fruits. They do not bake in ovens, except for cereals. In general, the art of baking is a whole science. Here it is necessary to take into account the temperature required for a particular product for full cooking, the baking method that makes the product as juicy and tasty as possible.
So, for example, experts recommend not to peel or gut the fish before baking. It is believed that in this case the fish dish will be especially juicy and tasty, otherwise, when the juice runs out, you can simply throw it away.
Nature itself provides complete sealing of fish. But what if you need to bake meat, pieces of fish or vegetables? After all, meat, for example, in most cases is baked in separate pieces, and not whole! In this case, a simple modern invention comes to the rescue – culinary foil, which preserves the juiciness of the products baked in it, as well as, which is very important, their natural taste and aroma.
Aluminum foil can be found easily at many hardware stores. It is sold in rolls. Meat, vegetables, poultry and fish are baked in foil. The only exceptions are fruits and cereals. The most popular and delicious dishes cooked in foil are potatoes with bacon and cheese, beef with mushrooms, chicken with carrots and many others. Individual products are also popular, for example, fish with spices, baked poultry, potatoes, which taste like those baked in a fire.
For cooking in foil, it is necessary to ensure that the products are completely sealed, which is obtained if properly wrapped. To do this, put a piece of packaging foil on the table, spreading the product on one half of it, while covering it with the other half. The free edges are folded several times, each time ironing the seam. The foil is then squeezed to the shape of the product and the bag is placed in the oven.
If everything is done correctly, then the dish will turn out to be juicy and aromatic after cooking! The readiness of the product is determined by charring the edges of the foil. Some experts allow piercing of the foil at the very end, to accurately determine the degree of doneness.
Most often, vegetables in foil are ready after 10 – 15 minutes of baking, fish in foil is baked in 25 minutes, chicken is usually ready to eat in 40 minutes, and beef (1 kg) is cooked for about an hour. Dishes in foil are baked on a baking sheet, wire rack, or covered in a skillet, depending on the recipe.
Each type of food has its own specific baking rules. So, for example, the fish in this case is gutted, cleaned of scales, washed. After drying, cut into pieces, salted abundantly, breaded in flour with spices and wrapped in foil.
The gutted chicken carcass is washed and dried, sprinkled with spices and tied with a thread (so that the foil does not break). Then they act according to the template.
Vegetables are cleaned, washed, dried, and cut into pieces if necessary. Lightly salted, wrapped in foil and placed in the oven.
In this case, it is worth being guided by the rule: the higher, the hotter. Therefore, the most delicate vegetables (not root vegetables), for example, cauliflower, are placed at the bottom, meat products can be placed on top or in the middle position.
Benefits of baked food
Roasting in foil helps to preserve the natural taste and aroma of the dish to the maximum. The products are juicier with minimal loss of nutrients.
Baked foods cooked without oil are very beneficial for people looking to lose weight. The same method is adopted by people who prefer to lead a healthy and active lifestyle.
And the crust formed during baking is very similar to fried, with the only difference that it does not contain harmful fats and is useful for almost everyone.
Dangerous properties of baked food
In the case of using higher baking temperatures, the natural fats contained in the food begin to burn, forming carcinogens from the overheated fats.
Roasting promotes the loss of the complex of vitamins of group B by products. Their content in the finished dish is reduced by 25%. Vitamin C is partially lost under the influence of temperature.
Baked foods, especially those that are improperly cooked, can irritate the gastrointestinal tract, which is why it is not recommended to eat such foods for some diseases of the digestive system.