The Fairmont San Francisco Hotel has compiled what it calls the ultimate cooking techniques infographic. We’re not sure if it was intended to educate diners about its menu item descriptions or to clarify things for its kitchen staff. But it’s a huge chart and it’s actually quite interesting…
Your ultimate guide to cooking techniques, courtesy of Fairmont Hotels…
You can the full-sized chart at this web page. The table above is just one of several that not only pair up foods and techniques but explain how each technique is performed.
The main chart crosses 18 cooking techniques with 16 popular foods and tells you how the food turns out – crispy, crunchy, tender, juicy, or flavourful.
But the voids in the chart are as instructive as the crosses that bear flavour and texture references. Poach Poultry but not Lamb or Beef. Use only Poultry, Pork certain vegetables in a Confit. Deep Fry just about anything except tough cuts of Meat. Dehydrate only Beef – unless you like those precious, avant garde Turkey Jerkys and their ilk.
Aside from the admittedly tongue-in-cheek purposes posited at the top of this post, the charts are a really good reference for the cook who wants to try something new and expand his or her horizons. Bookmark the Fairmont page. Or, better yet, print it out!
~ Maggie J.