--- title: Cooking Techniques description: This topic covers fundamental culinary methods, including dry-heat, moist-heat, and combination cooking. You will understand how to sauté, braise, roast, and poach various ingredients to control texture, develop deep flavors, and improve kitchen efficiency. category: trades-crafts subcategory: cooking-and-culinary difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/cooking-techniques --- # Cooking Techniques This topic covers fundamental culinary methods, including dry-heat, moist-heat, and combination cooking. You will understand how to sauté, braise, roast, and poach various ingredients to control texture, develop deep flavors, and improve kitchen efficiency. ## Available Resources 3 Books • 3 Courses • 4 Websites ## Courses ### 1. Thomas Keller Teaches Cooking Techniques II: Meats, Stocks, and Sauces **Author:** Thomas Keller Paid video class in which the French Laundry chef demonstrates meat cuts and grading, sautéing, frying, pan roasting, braising, and stocks and sauces. Viewers learn to execute classic meat preparations and build sauces from scratch. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.masterclass.com/classes/thomas-keller-teaches-cooking-techniques-meats-stocks-and-sauces **Tags:** cooking techniques, meat cookery, stocks, sauces ### 2. Introduction to Culinary Skills Master essential cooking techniques with Rouxbe's Introduction to Culinary Skills course. Build a strong foundation for confident cooking! **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://rouxbe.com/courses/introduction-to-culinary-skills **Tags:** knife-skills, culinary-fundamentals, cooking-methods, seasoning, plating ### 3. The Science of Gastronomy This course introduces several basic scientific principles underpinning the methodology of cooking, food preparation, and the enjoyment of food. All topics covered have a strong basis in biology, chemistry, and physics application. Among others, they include the consumption of cooked food, the physiological and evolutionary implications of the senses, geographic and cultural influences on food, and the rationale behind food preparation. We will also discuss issues such as coupling of senses to improve sense stimulation; altering flavor by chemical means, and modification of the coloration to improve the appearance of dishes. Following the video demonstrations of the scientific principles of cooking, you will learn to recognize the key ingredients and their combinations for preparing good healthy food. You will also be asked to try out and practice specific cooking principles through the weekly assignments; analyze your data and make comparisons of your experiences with others. At the end of this course, you will be able to: - appreciate the scientific basis of various recipes. - develop your own recipes by integrating some of the scientific principles into new dishes. - recognize the influence of the material world on human perception from the different senses. - appreciate the art of integrating science into cooking and dining. Important Note: This course is not designed for people with special dietary needs such as vegetarian, diabetic, and gluten-free diets. If you feel uncomfortable with any part of the assignments or activities of this course, you can substitute some of the ingredients or ask friends and family members to help with the tasting of your assignments. Alternatively, you may skip that specific assignment if you have fulfilled all other qualifying requirements to pass the course. Course Overview video: https://www.coursera.org/lecture/gastronomy/course-overview-43gyz **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/gastronomy **Tags:** food-science, gastronomy, sensory-perception, food-chemistry, flavor ## Websites ### 1. ChefSteps Recipe and technique platform built by a team of professional chefs, strongest on sous vide, baking, and barbecue, with step-by-step videos explaining why each method works so cooks can control temperature and texture deliberately. Some content is free; the full library requires a subscription. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.chefsteps.com/ **Tags:** sous-vide, precision-cooking, cooking-science, baking, barbecue ### 2. serious-eats.com Serious Eats is a food site featuring chef-tested recipes, cooking techniques, and culinary science explainers. For knife skills, it offers step-by-step tutorials on grip and handling, basic cuts (dice, julienne, brunoise), safety tips, and sharpening guidance, often with photos and videos. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://serious-eats.com **Tags:** websites, hospitality-tourism, cooking-culinary ### 3. rouxbe.com Rouxbe is an online culinary school that delivers professional-grade cooking training through step-by-step video lessons and guided practice. It features a comprehensive knife skills course along with other foundational techniques and certification options. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://rouxbe.com **Tags:** websites, hospitality-tourism, cooking-culinary ### 4. The Kitchn Home-cooking site from Apartment Therapy Media with step-by-step technique guides, recipes, ingredient explainers, kitchen tips and equipment advice, written by a staff of home cooks to help beginners prepare everyday meals and build confidence with basic kitchen methods. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://thekitchn.com **Tags:** home-cooking, cooking-techniques, recipes, kitchen-basics ## Books ### 1. The Art of Fermentation **Author:** Sandor Ellix Katz Sandor Katz's comprehensive survey of fermentation, covering vegetables, sourdough, dairy, beans, meats, vinegar, kombucha and country wines, along with the underlying microbiology and common failure modes. Its process-first approach teaches techniques that transfer across foods rather than single recipes. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/160358286X?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** fermentation-microbiology, lacto-fermented-vegetables, sourdough, kombucha, cultured-dairy, vinegar-making ### 2. The Food Lab **Author:** J. Kenji López-Alt Home-cooking reference that tests classic American dishes through controlled kitchen experiments, from steak and eggs to pasta and vegetables. Readers learn the science behind searing, braising, and emulsifying, and how to adapt recipes from that understanding rather than following them by rote. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393081087?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, hospitality-tourism, cooking-culinary ### 3. On Food and Cooking **Author:** Harold McGee Encyclopedic reference on the chemistry and biology of ingredients, from milk, eggs, and meat to grains, vegetables, sauces, and sugars, alongside the history of how each has been cooked. Readers understand what physically happens in the pan and why cooking methods succeed or fail. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0684843285?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, hospitality-tourism, cooking-culinary --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. 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