If there’s one thing we hate more then anything else when it comes to cooking, it’s dryness. We absolutely loathe things going dry as a result of the cooking process, and take great pains to avoid it at all costs. The upshot is, keeping things moist is actually quite easy, depending on how you’re cooking your food.
The central element that makes our following tips work best is the use of Steam; without getting too deep into the nitty gritty of the science behind it, Steam is the gaseous phase of water, and is created when water reaches its boiling point. It transfers through and around the items you’re cooking pretty effectively, and by nature of what it is, keeps it thoroughly moist all the way through. If you’ve been reading our articles recently, you’d know that there’s been a recent boom of steam injection ovens built on the idea of cooking food that remains moist when cooked this way.
With that preface taken care of, here are our recommendations; Frying off or griddling items on the hobtops of your oven can very easily dry things out, even when the pan or items have been quite well oiled or marinated, but the effect can be mitigated if the food is covered by a lid, allowing steam and condensation to form within the pan. No doubt many of you were already aware of this, because many griddles, woks, and some frying pans come with lids as standard. While some bowls and dish that are designed for oven use also come with lids, there are many that don’t.
Keeping Things Moist With Foil
But in this instance, keeping things moist is as simple as covering the dish with a layer of tin foil; although the method works reasonably well with items that are going in the oven “dry”, for lack of a better word, it really comes into its own when cooking items in the oven that are submerged in a broth, sauce, or marinade; without a foil layer keeping the steam and condensation close to the liquid or sauce, they tend to dry out or reduce massively with relative ease, and may even burn slightly depending on the heat. On the subject of higher temperatures, it might be wise to pierce the foil layer with a few incisions to prevent a steam buildup, and when removing the foil layer of any covered dish, be very careful to keep your hands clear of the exposed contents of the dish; it’s very possible to burn yourself with steam, and quite badly so if it is hot enough.
These are incredibly basic tips and no doubt most celebrity chefs will have imparted this knowledge on their viewers, but we feel it worth pointing out the advantage that harnessing steam can give you when it comes to cooking.