Catering is an extremely important sector in a country like Italy that has made good food and its diet a bit of a flag. Many Italian businesses that are part of this sector have been able to distinguish themselves in the world and Italian cuisine is without a doubt one of the most appreciated in many countries. The traditional roots of our cuisine are undoubtedly the reason for this success on a global level; every day, in fact, chefs, cooks and even simple common people, who have re-proposed and reworked the recipes they had learned during childhood and adolescence, have contributed to forming, shaping and even revolutionizing the Italian culinary world.
Italian cuisine has been, and continues to be, the perfect combination of tradition and innovation: many of the dishes that we are used to considering as Italian, in fact, actually come from the traditions of other peoples. Recipes that came from cultural exchanges and external influences were innovated and revolutionized to better adapt both to the taste of the population and to the availability of ingredients. This process led to the birth of many dishes which still survive today and which still undergo, in many cases, daily processes of transformation and adaptation.
Nowadays, many people are wary and indignant when they see recipes from their childhood or those they are very fond of for some reason distorted and re-adapted, especially on social media; but this process is not at all dissimilar from what we all do daily in our kitchens: dishes like carbonara with cream are proof that cooking and recipes are not immutable over time or written in stone, but that they constantly evolve, enriching themselves thanks to the diversity of tastes and ingredients.
An important contribution this diversity is today given by the technology : technical and scientific advances and discoveries have allowed cooking to undergo several transformations, allowing chefs to create dishes that would once have been considered impossible. Among the most important factors of these latest transformations are certainly the innovative cooking methods , which have changed not only cooking in the strict sense, but which have also given rise to several changes in the world of commercial catering.
But what are the innovative cooking methods that have changed or are still changing the face of modern cuisine? Which of the new methods of cooking food can be considered most interesting for entrepreneurs in the restaurant sector? And which, instead, can be convenient for those who love to experiment in the kitchen in private?
1. Microwave cooking
The microwave oven is so widespread and famous that it is almost taken for granted in a kitchen, yet it is a decidedly innovative and recent cooking method, especially when compared to more traditional ones, so much so that, in some cases, it is still approached with suspicion. Certainly, everyone has used the microwave as a convenient device to heat food quickly or to defrost a dish quickly; but the microwave oven can be used for much more.
Born in the late 1950s, the microwave oven has long been viewed with fear and concern: some suspected that this appliance could be harmful to health. Today these rumors have been completely denied and, with a few small precautions, the microwave can be used to prepare healthy and tasty dishes in much shorter times than traditional cooking methods. The main advantage of this innovative cooking method, in fact, is the possibility of significantly shortening the preparation times of dishes . This feature is extremely useful both at home and in the commercial catering sector.
The disadvantage of microwave cooking is that you have to adapt the recipe to this cooking method: you have to choose, measure and arrange the ingredients carefully and adjust the oven power appropriately; furthermore, for some dishes, you will need to add water so that the prepared dish is not too dry.
2. Low-density cooking
Low-density cooking is an innovative method of cooking food that is based on the use of a special oven, called, precisely, a low-heat density oven. The peculiarity of this special type of oven is that it has a cooking chamber that maintains a stable and uniform temperature between 120 and 125 degrees centigrade and that does not require any air exchange (unlike the fan ovens that are often found in kitchens). Thanks to these characteristics, the humidity resulting from cooking the food remains inside the oven and, once cooking is finished, it is possible to keep the ready-made food for 24 hours at a temperature of about 60 degrees without it becoming dry or losing its taste and nutritional properties.
The advantage of this type of cooking is precisely that of maintain and preserve all the properties of the ingredients , without losing flavor or nutrients due to cooking. Furthermore, this new cooking method allows you to prepare soft and tasty roast meat even with non-precious cuts and have them ready to be served even for long periods of time.
The main disadvantages of low-heat cooking are two: the long times that this innovative cooking method requires and the fact that it requires specific equipment. Low-heat cooking requires a long period of time that sometimes also involves the night hours: it is therefore rare to be able to rely on this cooking method for everyday cooking. Furthermore, the low-heat oven is an expensive and bulky tool that is used only for this type of cooking and cannot be exploited in any other way: therefore it is quite rare to find even in the kitchens of many restaurants.
3. Low temperature cooking
Among the innovative cooking methods, low temperature cooking, or CBT, is the one we chose for the creation of our Pick Pock. Low temperature cooking, also called sous vide cooking, is a technique that allows you to prepare foods by cooking them in special vacuum bags and exposing them to a constant temperature that is usually around 50 or 60 degrees. Low temperature cooking is a process that allows the ingredients to keep their flavor and nutrients intact: since the food is sealed in a vacuum bag, in fact, there is no dispersion of juices and humors that usually evaporate with traditional cooking techniques.
Low temperature cooking has several advantages benefits : can be made at home even in the absence of specific tools (although having them will make the process easier and improve the results), it allows you to cook food evenly and prevents the loss of nutrients during cooking.
Among the disadvantages of CBT, the main one is certainly the long cooking times, which can vary depending on the nature of the ingredients that make up the dish and also on their size and how they have been cut.
