Dry Heat and Moist Heat Cooking : : :

Dry Heat and Moist Heat Cooking

Cooking methods in the culinary arts are divided into two categories:

1. Dry heat cooking, such as roasting, broiling or sautéing.
2. Moist heat cooking, like braising, steaming or poaching.

Because every cooking method uses either dry heat or moist heat (or sometimes both), classifying them this way ensures that every known method falls into one category or the other.

"Dry" Oil and Other Fats

It's worth noting that cooking methods involving fat, such as sautéing and deep-frying, are considered dry-heat methods. If this seems confusing, remember that oil and water don't mix, so while fat can take a liquid form, in many ways it's the opposite of water — hence "dry" heat.

Choosing the Right Cooking Technique

Using the appropriate cooking method for the type of food being prepared is a major part of the culinary arts. Tough cuts of meat like beef brisket or lamb shank need to be cooked slowly, at low heats, for a long time, and with plenty of moisture. Prepared properly, these cuts can be incredibly tender and delicious.

On the other hand, dry-heat methods typically involve very high temperatures and short cooking times. A piece of brisket cooked in this way — on a grill, let's say — would be tough, chewy and largely inedible. Interestingly enough, a beef tenderloin steak cooked using a slow, moist-heat method such as braising would also turn out tough, chewy and inedible — albeit for different reasons.

Here's an article that will tell you more about the best cooking methods for the various cuts of meat.

Dry Heat Cooking

Dry heat cooking refers to any cooking technique where the heat is transferred to the food item without using any moisture. Dry-heat cooking typically involves high heat, with temperatures of 300°F or hotter.

Baking or roasting in an oven is a dry heat method because it uses hot air to conduct the heat. Pan-searing a steak is considered dry-heat cooking because the heat transfer takes place through the hot metal of the pan. Note that the browning of food (including the process by which meat is browned, called the Maillard reaction) can only be achieved through dry-heat cooking. Examples of dry-heat methods include:

• Roasting & Baking
• Grilling & Broiling
• Sautéing & Pan-Frying
• Deep-Frying

Moist Heat Cooking

Moist heat cooking methods include any techniques that involve cooking with moisture — whether it's steam, water, stock, wine or some other liquid. Cooking temperatures are much lower, anywhere from 140°F to a maximum of 212°F, because water doesn't get any hotter than that. Examples of moist-heat cooking methods include:

• Poaching, Simmering & Boiling
• Steaming
• Braising & Stewing

http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/cookingmethods/a/dryheatmoist.htm