There are two ways to boil: putting the food into cold water if you want to obtain a stock, or into hot water is you want to conserve the nutritional value of the food.

The use of a pressure cooker enables cooking with very little water. This one way to preserve the properties of the food. The same is true for steaming.

Roasting is recommended for meats and oily fish, as most of the fat content is lost.

Baking conserves the principal nutrients of foods to a greater extent than other cooking methods, and even more so when a microwave oven is used, as the food is cooked in its own juices. Some foods can be wrapped and baked in paper, especially meat and fish. This method of wrapping foods (also called “en papillote”) allows foods to be cooked in their own juices. For more flavour, you can place the food on a bed of chopped vegetables, add spices, aromatic herbs, or moisten with a little stock.

Frying foods causes fat to be absorbed, increasing the number of calories, and the food takes longer to digest. To fry properly, the oil should be hot, but not smoking. In this way, foods cook more quickly, and less fat is absorbed.

The amount of oil used for frying is important, because if too little oil is used, it burns quickly and toxins harmful to the body are formed. Using spray oil and a Teflon pan makes better use of the oil, but it is especially recommended because it doesn´t add calories to the food.

Stewing and casseroling uses little fat and enables vegetables, cereals and legumes to be cooked together with meat or fish.

Some foods, onion, for example, if cooked slowly and uncovered, lose their acidity, making them more digestible.

Preparing healthier fried foods

When frying foods, it is best to choose the ingredients so as not to add more fat to the food. If, for example, you are cooking croquettes, it is preferable that they be vegetable, fish or legumes.

Deep Fat Fryer or Frying Pan

There are two ways to fry foods.

A deep fat fryer has the advantage that the temperature may be controlled, so food can be added at exactly the right moment, and permits frying without an excess of fat.

Before frying foods with a higher water content, it is better to allow them to dry a little in order to avoid the fat spitting.

When using a frying pan, once the food is removed, it is best to use a skimmer, or place the food in absorbent kitchen paper.

For healthier frying, it is best to use a lighter oil.

Remember, olive oil and soya oil tolerate higher temperatures better.

It is not advisable to mix new oil with used. Neither should seed oils be mixed with olive oil, as one burns more easily than the other, and there is also the possibility that toxic substances may be produced.

Using oil to prepare one food that has already been used to fry another should be avoided.

Oil should not be overheated or smoke. It may then be used several times, straining it each time.

It is important that oil is kept in a closed container in a cool and dark place, away from damp and heat, given that these conditions will cause it to deteriorate.

Some thought should also be given as to how to cut foods before they are fried: finely cut foods absorb more fat than more thickly cut foods.

Correct cooking of legumes

To be certain that legumes are thoroughly cooked, and that they are not indigestible, we recommend that:

Chickpeas and beans should be soaked overnight in cold water. Kidney beans should be rinsed first in fresh water and then cooked in the water used to soak the overnight. Lentils only have to be soaked for an hour before cooking.

Legumes are best cooked slowly using cold water. Beans can be cooked using a method colloquially known as “shocking” them, which requires cold water to be added half-way through the cooking time, to soften them. On the other hand, if chickpeas or lentils need more water while cooking, it is better to add boiling water, to avoid undercooking.

Salt should be added in the final five minutes to ensure that the legumes are cooked to perfection.

As a general rule, cooking times are: chickpeas and beans – more than two and a half hours in a casserole or forty minutes in a pressure cooker; lentils – half an hour in a casserole and just a few minutes in a pressure cooker.

Hygiene tips when preparing vegetables for eating raw

The following steps should be followed to ensure good hygiene in the preparation of vegetables to be eaten raw:

Remove those parts visibly dirty, beginning to decay or that are split/cracked, etc.
Rinse thoroughly in water.
Cover with water treated with culinary bleach “suitable for the disinfection of drinking water or for food use” (active chlorine concentration between 70 and 200 ppm); follow the instructions on the label.
Leave to soak for 15 minutes.
Rinse thoroughly in water.
Spin or drain.

Tips for Choosing Cooking Methods

Preparing healthier fried foods

Correct cooking of legumes

Hygiene tips when preparing vegetables for eating raw

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