Become a Game Changer in Your Kitchen!

Deniz Orhun
2 days ago
4 min read

Published: American TurkNetwork Magazine, Washington DC, January 2025 , "CULINARY CHRONICLES"

I want to start with something funny:

There is a little girl. She asked her mother how the human race began.

She explained how God created Adam and Eve, they had children, and so on and on, and here we are today.

A few weeks later, she asked her father the same question. He explained, "Many, many years ago, there were monkeys; little by little, they became more like people, and here we are.

She is confused; she turns back to her mother. Mum, you said that God created people. Dad said we came from monkeys. How can that be?

The mother said. Oh! Honey, it is easy. I told you about my side of the family. Dad told about his.

The bottom line is that diversity is essential, even for a family and even more for your plate.

How do you balance the plates in your ideal kitchen?

You can change the proportions with your doctor and dietitian if you have a disease.

How important are storage, cooking technique, and flavor combinations?

Understanding the role of storage, cooking techniques, and flavor combinations is crucial for maintaining the quality of our meals. Lipids are basically fats and oils, They are important for giving us energy and helping build our cells. In cooking, they affect things like flavor and texture, so knowing about them can help us make healthier meals. However, lipid oxidation, where fats and oils in food break down, can cause unpleasant tastes and nutrient loss. This happens when food is exposed to air, light, or heat for too long. This is why it’s important to store food properly and use fresh ingredients. "Lipid oxidation" in foods is not new information, but we do not pay attention to it. One study at Food Chem Toxicol doi: 10.1016/0278-6915(86)90282-8 mentions lipid oxidation and its relation to health. The study says that "lipid oxidation is a common issue in foods, affecting their quality and shelf-life by causing flavor loss, off-flavors, color changes, and reduced nutritional value. Foods high in lipids, such as dehydrated eggs, cheese, meat, and foods cooked in oil, are especially vulnerable. Lipid oxidation can produce harmful compounds such as free radicals, cholesterol oxidation products, and lipid peroxides, which may contribute to health issues like coronary artery disease".

We need to pay attention to today's ingredient combinations and cooking methods. Foods undergo various physical and chemical changes during cooking with traditional techniques, like boiling and frying, and new technologies, such as air frying and microwave heating, are used. Lipid oxidation during cooking changes lipid quality, affecting flavor, digestibility, and safety. New information about ingredients can help reduce lipid nutrition loss and enhance flavor compared to traditional methods. Lipid oxidation in cooking might decrease digestibility and elevate health risks. Combining different cooking techniques could be an effective strategy for preparing healthier food in your kitchen.

Here is another study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, doi: 10.1021/jf500739n regarding how different ways of preparing shallots can change what's inside them. It was found that when you dry shallots using the freeze-drying method, the shallots retain most of their health benefits and antioxidants. But when you boil or use high heat on whole shallots, almost all the good stuff in the shallot is lost. If you crush and then boil them, you still lose a lot, but less. Also, the way you prepare them can change depending on how acidic or basic the environment is. Freeze-drying shallots preserves their health benefits better than boiling. This knowledge helps determine the best way to keep shallots beneficial for health. The thermal sensitivity of organic polysulfides, a potential dietary source, in shallot is affected by cooking and storage methods.

We didn't know that when we grated onions or garlic into meatballs and froze them to save time as our mothers did, we weren't taking advantage of their antioxidants with this storage method. This study may or may not apply to all onion and garlic varieties. But if you use grated shallot while making meatballs or preparing other food, then consider the information next time.

All of this information is valuable. We need to explore and apply our own kitchen traditions to ensure the sustainability of food and our health. Chefs in the industry care about sustainable gastronomy. Michelin's sustainability award, the Michelin Green Star, was awarded to "One White Street Austin Johnson-NY, Oyster Oyster Rob Rubba-Washington DC, Daisies-Chicago, The Inn At Little Washington, Family Meal at Blue Hill-NY, Dirt Candy-NY. You can be your own kitchen’s Michelin Green Star Chef if you pay attention to their criteria.

Essential critical criteria cover the following, over numerous Michelin Guide inspectors’ visits 1) Ingredient quality; 2)The harmony of flavors, 3) The mastery of cooking techniques; 4) The service reflects the chef 5) Seasonal produce, 6) Sustainable kitchen practices, 7) Restaurant's environmental footprint, 8) Food waste system, 9) General waste disposal and recycling, 10)Resource management.

As you prepare your meal, first decide what method you will use, such as steaming, grilling, boiling, or roasting. Determine the type of cookware you will use. Choose your spices and cooking technique, considering the season and your main vegetable. Check the nutritional value and see if it needs a side dish. When serving, the color, the plate's shape, the dish's structure, the temperature, the coldness, and the amount of food should be in harmony.

Tips and tricks:

Roasting: It creates caramelization, and that increases the perception of sweet

Grilling: Influences the moisture in the product and enhances flavor-dense

Marinating: Acts on Glycemic Index, affects digestion

Frying: Increases bitterness

Eating is the most important life activity for our health. We still need more research and information. Traditional cooking is excellent, but ingredients change, we change, and we may need to change how we cook for our health. As dear Ina Garten said in her interview with journalist and author Dacey Orr Sivewright, "Cooking is like driving a car; you have to adjust the wheel," she is so right, and I would like to add that ingredients, and our bodies are changing. It is important to adjust the wheel on the road of life and learn new roads to drive.