Everyone would want to eat nutritious and delicious food every day. But you need to know that certain cooking methods can preserve or actually eliminate the nutrients contained in food.
Processing food ingredients can be done by various methods or techniques, ranging from frying to steaming. Unfortunately, some cooking techniques turn out to make a lot of nutrients in certain types of food disappear.
Get to know the various cooking methods
You must have often cooked in various ways below. Now, let's, find out the advantages and disadvantages of each.
1. Sauteing
Generally this technique is relatively healthy because of the time needed for short cooking. Sauteing can make the antioxidants in vegetables stay awake and beta-carotene more easily absorbed.
However, there are studies that find that the content of vitamin C in red cabbage and broccoli will be reduced if sauteed. To work around this, add water or low salt broth to help maintain food quality, both in terms of taste and vitamin content.
2. Fry
This method is most often used for cooking because it makes food crisp, fully cooked, and tastes good. Although fried, the content of vitamins C and B in food is usually maintained.
However, this technique has many shortcomings, such as:
- If heated to too high a temperature, oil for frying can contain aldehyde toxins which increase the risk of cancer and disease. Especially if the oil is used repeatedly.
- Causes loss of nutrients from some types of food, such as omega-3 content in tuna.
- Processed foods contain a lot of trans fat and calories, which risk to endanger health.
- To be healthier, you can choose olive oil or coconut oil for frying.
3. Steaming
Steaming is one of the best ways to cook because it keeps the vitamin content in the food awake. A study found that the content of vitamin C in steamed cabbage, spinach and broccoli only lost by 9-15%.
The drawback, steaming makes the food taste more bland. However, you can work around this by adding various spices and sauces.
4. Boil
Too long boiling vegetables tends to make the nutrients disappear, you know. Vitamin C in vegetables, such as spinach, broccoli, and lettuce can disappear by as much as 50% when boiled. But boiling fish will actually retain omega-3 fatty acids contained in it.
5. Burn or bake with direct fire
Besides making about 40% of the B vitamins and minerals lost in meat, this technique also risks causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Substances derived from fat droplets of meat that fall to the surface of this heat can potentially cause cancer.
Even so, burning food can actually reduce cholesterol levels in meat.
6. Grilling in the oven
This technique is commonly used to cook meat, bread and cakes. This cooking method is proven to be able to maintain the mineral content and various vitamins in food. Unfortunately, the B vitamin content in meat can be lost by around 40% due to prolonged exposure to heat.
7. Using a microwave
Although microwaves are generally used to warm food, actually microwaves can also be used to cook several types of food. Microwave cooking is considered the most appropriate and easiest way to maintain nutrients in food.
With a microwave, the time needed to process food tends to be short. Food is not directly exposed to heat. Compared to other methods, vitamin C in microwavable vegetables is only lost by 20-30%.
In essence, there is no one right and most healthy way to cook to process all types of food. After reading the advantages and disadvantages of various cooking methods above, hopefully you already have an idea to cook certain types of food healthier. Good luck!
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