Culinary Arts

CULINARY ARTS (from Latin culina - kitchen), the art of preparing food from products of animal, vegetable (and mineral) origin in the form of various dishes. Culinary arts were known even in prehistoric times before the appearance of earthenware (e.g., roasting meat and fish on a spit). Diverse methods of preparing dishes, especially with the addition of spices, were cultivated by Eastern peoples, were transferred to Greece, and later to Rome. Entire chapters are devoted to the description of dishes in Homer, Herodotus, Plato, as well as in Virgil, Horace, and others. Culinary arts were cultivated mainly in France. Until recently, the so-called restaurant culinary arts prevailed in all countries, striving to satisfy the most diverse tastes, to give dishes a beautiful and original appearance, being interested not so much in improving the quality and digestibility of food, as in satisfying a capricious, sometimes perverted taste. The question of rational food preparation in the sense of satisfying the needs of the organism and economic considerations receded into the background, and sometimes restaurant culinary arts even sought to mask the poor quality of products through special processing and the addition of various kinds of spices and flavoring substances. Only with the development of the doctrine of rational (dietetic) and therapeutic nutrition (see Dietetic canteens, Dietotherapy) did modern rational and therapeutic culinary arts begin to be developed, based on the laws of physics and chemistry, data from the physiology of nutrition, and clinical indications. In the USSR, with the colossal development of public catering (public catering canteens, factory-kitchens), rational culinary arts acquire special significance and enormous socio-political meaning. Rational food preparation, having as its main goal the satisfaction of the needs of the organism while saving products, puts forward the following basic requirements: 1) high quality of products, 2) stimulation of a normal appetite by the appearance of the food, 3) an expedient method of preparation with the most complete utilization of all constituent parts of the products, and 4) correct menu planning. 1. The high quality of products, besides taste advantages, guarantees the organism against harm often brought by bacteria and toxins of spoiled products. The prevailing opinion about the destruction of bacteria and toxins in spoiled products by the action of high temperature is not always correct: some bacteria, for example, Bac. paratyphi, are quite resistant to high temperatures, and their toxins, which accumulate in the product, are especially resistant. 2. The stimulation of a normal appetite is best guaranteed by the natural aroma of fresh products themselves, which is why rational culinary arts allow only an insignificant amount of spices. The latter are physiological stimulants of appetite, and according to Carnot, catalysts. 3. The full use of all constituent parts of food products and their economy are placed at the forefront when preparing food; therefore, rational culinary arts forbid a) immersing products in water before the start of preparation (extraction of nutrients); b) pouring out the water in which any products were boiled (vegetables, greens, macaroni, dumplings, cottage cheese pancakes, etc.); this also includes pouring out boiling water after scalding greens and vegetables (so-called blanching). Such decoctions (containing proteins, mineral salts, starch, etc.) must be utilized (for soups, sauces, porridges, etc.); c) subjecting products to excessively prolonged action of high temperature (denaturation of salts, reduction of vitamin activity). Rational culinary arts require (for the sake of economy) a) the use of all residues from meat processing (membranes, connective tissue - for broths and soups, and in crushed form - for macaroni and potato casseroles, etc.), the use of all residues from fish processing (skin, bones, heads, tails, fins - for fish rassolnik, fish soup, and fish jelly); b) triple boiling of chopped and crushed bones - for custard soups, jelly, etc. (boiled bones can be used in factories for the manufacture of glue); c) wide use of vegetable peelings instead of soup roots. The outer parts of the potato also contain valuable nutrients. Potato parts: Peel (proteins 0.25, fats 0.24, carbohydrates 0.18, mineral salts 0.8 percent), Fibrillar-vascular layer, Pulp (carbohydrates 14.6 percent).

1.8 0.1 0.1 13.3 16.0 1.1 0.8 Therefore, it is rational to consume as much potato with the skin as possible (baked "jacket potatoes," boiled potatoes with the skin on - for vinaigrette, etc.) and to peel it not by hand (during which the most valuable layer is usually cut off), but mechanically. This also includes the use of fruit peelings (peels and seed pods of apples, pits from apricots, greengages, etc.); the use of green leaves of cauliflower, white cabbage, young radish, grape, beet, and other leaves as they contain a large amount of iron salts, calcium, and vitamins (for soups, cabbage soup, vinaigrettes, and many other dishes). For the sake of economy, besides the rational use of all food components and their waste, rational culinary arts also require saving fuel in the kitchen and saving time for preparing dishes; this is achieved by boiling in vessels with a closed lid, in low, wide vessels, using only a small flame to maintain boiling, etc., by using cooking methods that require the least amount of time, by eliminating excessive decoration of dishes, etc. 4. When compiling a menu, rational culinary arts keep in mind economy and the rational combination of products and dishes: the choice of cheaper products, seasonal products, the inclusion of vegetables, fruits, and greens in the daily menu, the inclusion of raw products, the exclusion from the menu of heavy combinations of dishes (goose with stewed cabbage, suckling pig with porridge, etc.). Therapeutic culinary arts are based primarily on the principles of rational culinary arts. These requirements acquire special significance in therapeutic culinary arts: a weakened organism is highly sensitive to the quality of products, the gastrointestinal tract of a patient copes poorly with poisons and microbes entering with stale food; an excessive supply of spices, extractive and piquant substances for the purpose of stimulating the appetite can cause great harm to the patient. Finally, economy acquires special significance in the nutrition of a patient, who already requires excessive material expenses for their regimen. Therapeutic culinary arts are by no means reduced to mere mechanical processing of products (chopping, pureeing) and to a special form of dishes, as was previously assumed, when for any illness it was considered necessary to introduce food necessarily in a chopped and pureed form; in some gastrointestinal diseases, this is not only unnecessary but sometimes directly harmful; for example, in some diseases of the intestinal tract, it is necessary to introduce coarse food rich in vegetable fiber. Taking into account diseases of individual organs, individual systems, and the general state of the organism, guided by the requirements of special therapeutic nutrition regimens, therapeutic culinary arts are reduced to special combinations of products and to various methods of their preparation, which aim to influence the chemical composition of individual products and individual dishes: for example, boiling products to reduce their content of proteins, extractive substances, and salts, soaking products to reduce the content of mineral salts, sugar, and starch, etc. Various therapeutic nutrition regimens usually impose on culinary arts the requirements of an increased or decreased supply of one or another component: water, salts, fat, carbohydrates, proteins, and vitamins. 1. When it is necessary to increase or decrease the supply of liquid, the different water content in various types of products is taken into account first of all. In addition to considering the water content in food products, a greater or lesser amount of water can be used in the very method of preparing it. In regimens of limited fluid intake into the body, it is proposed to exclude flavoring substances that increase thirst, to limit the intake of salt, strong meat broths, gravies, as well as piquant and extractive substances. 2. With the aim of an increased supply to the organism of one or another salt, therapeutic culinary arts can (instead of medications) increase them by means of special processing of products (calcium from bones or eggshells) or by including in the menu products rich in one or another salt (spinach, cheese, cocoa, wild strawberries - rich in calcium salts; lettuce, egg yolks, blood sausage - rich in iron, etc.). According to the studies of Osborne and Mendel, such salts are more useful to the organism than salts obtained chemically (synthetically). When it is necessary to reduce the amount of salts in the food ration, products rich in one or another salt are excluded from the latter. For the purpose of reducing calcium oxalate salts, dishes that include beet tops, sorrel, spinach, and tomatoes are excluded; for a reduced supply of calcium salts, therapeutic culinary arts exclude milk, leafy greens, many berries, fruits, etc. In an achloride regimen, therapeutic culinary arts apply processing of products with the aim of depriving them of NaCl (soaking meat, vegetables, and greens, boiling products in several waters), bakes special bread without salt, and excludes products containing a large amount of NaCl: smoked meat, smoked and sea fish, meat and fish canned goods, white and black bread of ordinary baking, meat broth, lentils, tomatoes, beet tops, spinach, etc. To improve the taste, therapeutic culinary arts use the following substances instead of salt: soda (especially for eggs and fresh cucumbers), grape vinegar, sodium formate, lemon juice, caraway, as well as onions, dried horseradish, parsley. 3. In accordance with the prescription to increase or decrease the supply of fat, the method of preparation is chosen; in the first case, forms of dishes that easily combine with a large amount of butter and cream (porridges, purees, soufflés), as well as fatty sauces (provencal, hollandaise, etc.), are introduced into the menu; in the second, dishes are prepared without butter, cream, and sour cream; the latter are replaced by milk, clabber (strained through a sieve to deprive it of whey) and, if permitted, sour milk; sauces are prepared without butter. Besides the methods of preparation, the choice of products, taking into account the percentage of fat content in different varieties, also has great significance. 4. When it is necessary to increase the supply of carbohydrates (intensive nutrition regimens), therapeutic culinary arts make wide use of sugary substances that burn in the organism without residue - sugar, honey, and products containing a large amount of sugar (dates, prunes, sweet raisins); flour dishes are also widely introduced into the menu. In the case of sharp restriction of carbohydrates in the food regimen (which happens more often in diabetes), the carbohydrate content in raw products is taken into account (many vegetables contain a significant amount of carbohydrates). Special processing of products is performed with the aim of depriving them of carbohydrates (soaking, boiling); vegetables and fruits, cut into pieces, are immersed in cold water for 12-24 hours, boiled in fresh water; the latter is changed during boiling 2-3 times (sometimes up to 6 times). Bran (in a muslin bag) is washed in running water for two hours, then boiled, squeezed, and dried (the carbohydrate content in such bran is equal to zero). Various carbohydrates are replaced by surrogates containing very little or no carbohydrates at all: sugar - with saccharin or crystallose, ordinary bread - with bread made from pure bran (processed by the above-mentioned method) or almond bread (containing about 7% carbohydrates); flatbreads, small pies, and vatrushki are baked, where flour is replaced by cottage cheese with almonds. 5. In regimens with an increased or decreased supply of protein, therapeutic culinary arts first of all take into account the percentage content of proteins in products (see Dietotherapy). In some cases, therapeutic culinary arts apply boiling meat in water, accompanied by a loss of 22% of protein; in other cases, methods of preparing dishes with the least loss of protein (ordinary frying, frying with flour dusting), as well as special methods of preparation for better utilization of protein by the organism (raw scraped meat, legumes in the form of puree, etc.). In some cases, for an increased supply of proteins (e.g., for convalescents), therapeutic culinary arts combine products with a high protein content, e.g., a mixture of legume puree with cottage cheese, from which puddings, cutlets, etc., are prepared. Therapeutic culinary arts, while preparing food according to the requirements of various therapeutic nutrition regimens, have one more very important task, insufficiently fulfilled at present, but having a future: this is the combination and special processing of products with the aim of supplying the organism with those organic and inorganic substances which until recently were usually used in the form of medications. The kitchen in these cases is a "kitchen-pharmacy" (Pevzner). A whole range of food products contains organic and inorganic compounds (calcium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, vitamins, hormones, etc.), which the kitchen-pharmacy, with skillful processing and combination, can supply to the organism in a more concentrated form or in a natural state. Therapeutic

Culinary arts introduces into the menu and into individual dishes certain products, extracts, juices, etc., which have a dietetic influence on the function of one organ or another. 1) As a laxative, the following are introduced into the menu (in natural form or as ingredients): honey, milk sugar, sweet water with lemon, sauerkraut juice, berry juice, etc. 2) As a cholagogue: Provençal oil, provencal sauce (made from Provençal oil with sour cream without egg yolks). 3) As potent stimulants of gastric secretion: spinach powder, cabbage juice, beef tea, beef tea with spinach juice, strong broth, strong fish soup, aspic from strong broth, etc. 4) As substances stimulating cardiac activity: various dishes with strong coffee and strong tea (sauces, jellies, creams, ice cream), bottled broth, dishes made from milk with cognac (cream, zabaglione, etc.), etc. 5) As substances replacing phosphorus preparations: dishes made from egg yolks alone or with a large quantity of them, dishes made from brains, spinach powder, grated cheese, etc. 6) Instead of iron preparations: various dishes made from raw leafy greens, from raw scraped meat, as well as spinach powder, meat juice, meat powder, bull's blood, etc., added to various dishes. 7) Instead of calcium preparations: eggshell powder (the shell is thoroughly washed with salt water, dried in an oven, pounded, and sifted through the finest sieve), spinach powder, bone ash powder, grated cheese, etc. 8) For the supply of potassium salts: dishes made from potatoes, acorn coffee, Hercules (oatmeal), etc. 9) For the supply of vitamins, in addition to special dishes made from raw vegetables, raw greens, raw fruits, berries, and nuts, the kitchen-pharmacy adds to various kinds of dishes juices and extracts from raw products (juice of raw potatoes, raw beets, turnips, radishes, cabbage cores, garlic, carrots, berries, fruits, etc.), and also sometimes processes products with the aim of obtaining vitamins (e.g., the use of fresh sprouts of germinated peas. - L. Pevzner). 10) Instead of organotherapeutic preparations: in raw form, liver, brains, heart, pancreas, sweetbreads (thymus). In these cases, the kitchen-pharmacy takes care that dishes made from these raw products do not cause disgust and are pleasant to the taste, and that these products are supplied in a disguised form. For this purpose, raw products are mixed with other, pleasant-tasting ones, with the latter being added in such a concentrated form that they mask the taste of the raw product; for example, raw liver is mixed with strong chocolate, with strong cranberry or orange juice, etc.; raw horse meat is mixed with raspberry syrup or chocolate and roasted almonds or cranberry extract; the dishes themselves have such an appearance that it is impossible to assume the presence of a raw product (jelly from broth, chocolate cream, cranberry jelly, pastry, chocolate truffles - recipes by L. Pevzner). In this, one can see a complete analogy between the kitchen-pharmacy and a pharmacy, where often unpalatable medicines are mixed with various substances (corrigentia) to make it possible to take the medicine without disgust.