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Heat-activated cooking methods take five basic forms. Food may be immersed in liquids such as water, stock, or wine (boiling, poaching, stewing); immersed in fat or oil (frying); exposed to vapor (steaming and, to some extent, braising); exposed to dry heat (roasting, baking, broiling); and subjected to contact with hot fats (sautéing). With minor modifications, all five methods are applicable to any type of food not eaten raw, but certain treatments traditionally are rarely used to prepare particular foods. Deep-fat frying, for example, is not generally thought the ideal method for preparing steaks or chops.
Boiled foods usually are immersed in flavored or unflavored liquids for longer periods of time than poached foods, and the cooking liquid usually takes the form of a thickened sauce when foods are stewed. The chief difference between frying and sautéing (Chinese wok cookery is an example of the latter) is that frying produces a crisp surface, sealing natural moisture inside the food, whereas in the sauté process, natural juices usually mingle with the pan fat, coating the food with a light sauce. As opposed to steaming, which does not place foods in direct contact with liquids, braising is accomplished by first browning food in fat and then placing it in direct contact with a small amount of liquid within an airtight pan. Originally, roasted foods were exposed to the action of open fires or live coals, but in contemporary cookery roasting is synonymous with baking—that is, cooking by dry heat in a closed oven. Broiling, whether in an oven or over an open fire or coals, exposes meats to the direct action of more intense heat, which sears their surfaces quickly to seal in their juices
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