Culinary Basics: Getting Started

If you’re just starting out or just now starting to hone in on your Cooking or BBQ craft, there are several Techniques you need to know to perfect your Cooking.
Here are the 6 Culinary Basics– Flavorization Methods.
Culinary Basics: Getting Started
Brine
A Brine is a common agent in food processing and cooking. Brining is used to preserve or season the food. Brining can be applied to vegetables, cheeses and fruit in a process known as pickling. Meat and fish are typically steeped in brine for shorter periods of time, as a form of marination, enhancing its tenderness and flavor, or to enhance shelf period. Most common brines include a mixture of salt to water. Apple juice, herbs or any flavored liquid you can imagine. Excluding vinegar and citrus (which can cook your protein – see marinade).
Rub
The most popular cooking method for food prepared using a spice rub is grilling. Baking and pan roasting are other dry-heat methods. Sautéing is another method, especially if the spice rub includes flour or bread crumbs.
Marinade
Marination is the process of soaking foods in a seasoned, often acidic, liquid before cooking. The origin of the word alludes to the use of brine (aqua marina) in the pickling process, which led to the technique of adding flavor by immersion in liquid. The liquid in question, the ‘marinade’, can be either acidic (made with ingredients such as vinegar, lemon juice, or wine) or enzymatic (made with ingredients such as pineapple, papaya or ginger). In addition to these ingredients, a marinade often contains oils, herbs, and spices to further flavor the food items. It is commonly used to flavor foods and to tenderize tougher cuts of meat. The process may last seconds or days. Different marinades are used in different cuisines.
Finishing Sauce
Glaze
Dipping Sauce
A dip or dipping sauce is a common condiment for many types of food. Dips are used to add flavor or texture to a food, such as pita bread, dumplings, crackers, cut-up raw vegetables, fruits, seafood, cubed pieces of meat and cheese, potato chips, tortilla chips, and falafel. Unlike other sauces, instead of applying the sauce to the food, the food is typically put, dipped, or added into the dipping sauce (hence the name). Dips are commonly used for finger foods, appetizers, and other easily held foods. Thick dips based on sour cream, crème fraîche, milk, yogurt, mayonnaise, soft cheese, or beans are a staple of American hors d’oeuvres and are thinner than spreads which can be thinned to make dips. Alton Brown suggests that a dip is defined based on its ability to “maintain contact with its transport mechanism over three feet of white carpet”. Dips in various forms are eaten all over the world and people have been using sauces for dipping for thousands of years.
So, now that you have an understanding of the basic seasoning and sauce techniques. How do you apply that to your Barbecueing? Well, start with only one or two methods. Cooking and Grilling work the same way. Think about your basic flavor, then add layers to it with various methods. Most Pitmaster Cooks start with a simple brine for one day or overnight. Then they tap their protein dry and add a rub. Once the meat is finished either they will Glaze or Offer a Dipping Sauce on the side. But hey, everyone has their own tastes and you have to start somewhere, so start testing things out until you find and develop your own tastes and recipes! But do not over do it. Remember, the Flavor you get from your Charcoal and/or Smoke and choose ingredients that will compliment it.
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