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Introduction
COPPER HAS an extremely high and uniform heat transmission index, thus allowing the best way to cook food. It's homogeneous heat distribution results in non-aggressive cooking, which preserve food nutritional values and organoleptic characteristics. Obviously, to get the best results, it is not enough to have just a simple copper pot. It must have an adequate thickness. Cooking quality highly depends on the "thermic margin" resulting from the foil thickness.
Many of the copper pots currently marketed are very light, and will never give the results ensured by our pots. Another very important element is pot shape. Italy is celebrated worldwide for its many regionally ethnic cuisines. And even the shapes of traditional pots are "regionally ethnic." Pots are different from region to region, to fit with different ethnic food.
In the early 20th century, the lighter, cheaper, and more "modern" aluminium replaced copper pots in many families. Stainless steel pots were born 30 to 40 years ago, followed more recently by alloy pots.
These "modernization" efforts, desperately aimed at reaching the best dietetic results, have ended in the opposite direction, with the "aggressive" cooking obtained with these materials. Stainless steel, for example, has a low heat transmission index.
This means that the food in contact with the pot bottom is exposed to a much higher heat than the rest of the food. Where the flame laps the pot, it creates hot spots where the food sticks and burns. By stirring you can cook the whole, but cooking will never be uniform, because the continuous temperature variations negatively affect the final result.
To be continued
Are you stuck with sticky bhindi? Or want to bake cakes but do not know what is the right temperature? Perhaps, you want to try out that exotic dish you had recently but are clueless about the recipe. Do not worry. Write to Metroplus Foodline column to clarify your doubts.
The queries can be mailed to hydphoto@thehindu.co.in
Or snail mail to
Foodline, Metroplus desk, THE HINDU, Begumpet Road, Hyderabad - 500 016 Or call between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. on 23403902
PRADEEP KHOSLA
Executive Chef, Taj Krishna
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