Poaching (cooking)

Poaching is a type of moist-heat cooking technique that involves cooking by submerging foodstuff in a liquid, such as water, milk, stock or wine. Poaching is differentiated from the other "moist heat" cooking methods, such as simmering and boiling, in that it uses a relatively low temperature (about 160–180 °F (71–82 °C)). This temperature range makes it particularly suitable for delicate food, such as eggs, poultry, fish and fruit, which might easily fall apart or dry out using other cooking methods.

It is often considered as a healthy method of cooking because it does not use fat to cook or flavor the food. However, poaching can lead to the trivial production of mutagenic agents, the effects of which are not fully understood.

One of the most well-known dishes made with the use of poaching is eggs Benedict.

Variations

Shallow poaching

This moist-heat cooking method uses a sautoir or other shallow cooking vessel, heat is transferred by conduction from the pan, to the liquid, to the food. Shallow Poaching is best suited for boneless, naturally tender, single serving size, sliced or diced pieces of meat, poultry or fish.

Poached egg

A poached egg is an egg that has been cooked by poaching, that is, in simmering liquid. This method of preparation is favored because a very consistent and predictable result can be obtained with precise timing, as the boiling point of water removes the temperature variability from the cooking process.

Preparation

The egg is cracked into a cup or bowl of any size, and then gently slid into a pan of simmering water and cooked until the egg white has mostly solidified, but the yolk remains soft. The 'perfect' poached egg has a runny yolk, with a hardening crust and no raw white remaining.

Eggs for poaching should be fresh, although newly laid eggs need to be at least 24 hours old; otherwise the white will separate from the yolk. Broken into simmering water, the white will cling to the yolk, resulting in cooked egg white and runny yolk.

To prevent dispersion of the white of the egg, it can be strained before-hand, removing the parts of the white that are likely to disperse and creating a perfect, compact poached egg every time, with very little effort and without resorting to other risky methods such as vinegar.

Food Network

Food Network (legally known as Television Food Network) is an American basic cable and satellite television channel that is owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture between Scripps Networks Interactive (which owns 70% of the network) and the Tribune (FN) Cable Ventures Inc. (which owns the remaining 30%). Despite this ownership structure, the channel is managed as a division of Scripps Networks Interactive. The channel airs both specials and regular episodic programs about food and cooking.

In addition to its headquarters in New York City, Food Network has offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Jersey City, Cincinnati, and Knoxville, Tennessee.

As of February 2015, Food Network is available to approximately 96,931,000 pay television households (83.3% of households with television) in the United States.

History

Food Network was founded on April 19, 1993 as TV Food Network and was launched on November 23 of that year; its legal name remains Television Food Network, G.P. Within a few years, the network had shortened its on-air brand name, removing the "TV" from its name. It was developed by Reese Schonfeld (one of the founders of CNN), under the direction of Providence Journal president Trygve Myrhen. Its original partners included the Journal itself, Adelphia, Scripps-Howard, Continental Cablevision, Cablevision, and most importantly, the Tribune Company, which provided the network's technical output. The network was initially launched as a preview in September 1993 with two initial shows featuring David Rosengarten, Donna Hanover, and Robin Leach.

Alton Brown

Alton Crawford Brown (born July 30, 1962) is an American television personality, food show presenter, author, actor, and cinematographer. He is the creator and host of the Food Network television show Good Eats (14 seasons), host of the mini-series Feasting on Asphalt and Feasting on Waves, and host and main commentator on Iron Chef America, Cutthroat Kitchen and Camp Cutthroat. Brown is also the author of several books on food and cooking.

Early life

Brown was born July 30, 1962 in Los Angeles, California and spent his youth in Georgia. Brown's father, Alton Brown, Sr., was a media executive in Cleveland, Georgia, owner of radio station WRWH and publisher of the newspaper White County News.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Brown was the cinematographer for several music videos, including "The One I Love" by R.E.M..

Career

Brown notes that he was dissatisfied with the quality of cooking shows airing on American television, so he set out to produce his own show. In preparation, he enrolled in the New England Culinary Institute, graduating in 1997. Brown says that he was a poor science student in high school and college, but he focused on the subject to understand the underlying processes of cooking. He is outspoken in his shows about his dislike of single-purpose kitchen utensils and equipment ("unitaskers"), such as garlic presses and margarita machines, although he adapts a few traditionally single-purpose devices, such as rice cookers and melon ballers, into multi-purpose tools.

Food

Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ingested by an organism and assimilated by the organism's cells to provide energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth.

Historically, people secured food through two methods: hunting and gathering and agriculture. Today, the majority of the food energy required by the ever increasing population of the world is supplied by the food industry.

Food safety and food security are monitored by agencies like the International Association for Food Protection, World Resources Institute, World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization, and International Food Information Council. They address issues such as sustainability, biological diversity, climate change, nutritional economics, population growth, water supply, and access to food.

The right to food is a human right derived from the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), recognizing the "right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food," as well as the "fundamental right to be free from hunger."