
Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science, and craft of using
heat
In thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, Work (thermodynamics), work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these ...

to
prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open
fire
BBQ.
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products.
Fire is hot because the conversion of the weak double bond in molecula ...

to using
electric stove
An electric stove or electric range is a stove
200px, 18th-century Neoclassical cocklestove in the Palais Rohan ( Strasbourg, France)
A stove is a device that burns fuel or uses electricity to generate heat inside or on top of the apparatu ...

s, to
baking
Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot stones. The most common baked item is bread but many other types of foods are baked. Heat is gradually transferred "fro ...

in various types of
oven
upA double oven
A ceramic oven
An oven is a tool
A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone ...

s, reflecting local conditions.
Types of cooking also depend on the skill levels and training of the
cooks. Cooking is done both by people in their own dwellings and by professional cooks and
chef
A chef is a trained professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef ...

s in
restaurant
A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants vary g ...

s and other food establishments.
Preparing food with heat or fire is an activity unique to
human
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species
In biology
Biology is the natural science that studies life and living organisms, including their anatomy, physical structure, Biochemistry, chemical processes ...

s. It may have started around 2 million years ago, though archaeological evidence for the same does not predate more than 1 million years.
The expansion of
agriculture
Agriculture is the science, art and practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary
Image:Family watching television 1958.jpg, Exercise trends, Increases in sedentary behaviors su ...

,
commerce
Commerce is the exchange of goods and services
Goods are items that are usually (but not always) tangible, such as pens, salt, apples, and hats. Services are activities provided by other people, who include doctors, lawn care workers, denti ...

,
trade
Trade involves the transfer of goods from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system
A system is a group of Interaction, interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of r ...

, and
transport
Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. In other words, the action of transport is defined as a particular movement of ...

ation between
civilization
A civilization (or civilisation) is a complex society
A complex society is a concept that is shared by a range of disciplines including anthropology, archaeology, history and sociology to describe a stage of social formation. The concep ...

s in different regions offered cooks many new ingredients. New inventions and technologies, such as the invention of
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with and other materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard, durable form. Major types include , and . The place where such wares are mad ...

for holding and
boiling
Boiling is the rapid vaporization of a liquid, which occurs when a liquid is heated to its boiling point, the temperature at which the vapour pressure of the liquid is equal to the pressure exerted on the liquid by the surrounding atmosphere. Ther ...
of
water
Water (chemical formula H2O) is an , transparent, tasteless, odorless, and , which is the main constituent of 's and the s of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ). It is vital for all known forms of , even though it provide ...

, expanded cooking techniques. Some modern cooks apply advanced scientific techniques to food preparation to further enhance the
flavor
Flavor, or flavour, is the perceptual
Perception (from the Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken in the area arou ...

of the dish served.
History
Phylogenetic analysis
In biology
Biology is the natural science that studies life and living organisms, including their anatomy, physical structure, Biochemistry, chemical processes, Molecular biology, molecular interactions, Physiology, physiological mechanisms, ...

suggests that
human ancestors
Human evolution is the evolutionary process that led to the emergence of anatomically modern humans, beginning with the Primate evolution, evolutionary history of primates—in particular genus ''Homo''—and leading to the emergence of ''Homo sap ...
may have invented cooking as far back as 1.8 million to 2.3 million years ago.
Re-analysis of burnt bone fragments and plant ashes from the
Wonderwerk Cave
Wonderwerk Cave is an archaeological site, formed originally as an ancient solution cavity in dolomiteDolomite may refer to:
*Dolomite (mineral)
Dolomite () is an anhydrous
A substance is anhydrous if it contains no water. Many processes in ...
in South Africa has provided evidence supporting
control of fire by early humans
The control of fire by early humans was a turning point in the technological
Technology ("science of craft", from Ancient Greek, Greek , ''techne'', "art, skill, cunning of hand"; and , ''wikt:-logia, -logia'') is the sum of Art techniques ...
by 1 million years ago.
There is evidence that ''
Homo erectus
''Homo erectus'' (meaning "upright
Body relative directions (also known as egocentric coordinates) are geometrical orientations relative to a body such as a human
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread s ...

'' were cooking their food as early as 500,000 years ago.
Evidence for the controlled use of fire by ''Homo erectus'' beginning some 400,000 years ago has wide scholarly support.
Archaeological evidence from 300,000 years ago, in the form of ancient hearths,
earth oven
An earth oven, ground oven or cooking pit is one of the simplest and most ancient cooking
Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science, and craft of using heat
In thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is a branch of physics th ...
s, burnt animal bones, and
flint
Flint is a sedimentary
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic matter, organic particles at Earth#Surface, Earth's surface, followed by cementation (geology ...

, are found across Europe and the Middle East.
AnthropologistAn anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present Society, societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norm ...

s think that widespread cooking fires began about 250,000 years ago when
hearth
A hearth is the place in a where a is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for , usually constituted by at least a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of , , , smoke hood, or . Hearths a ...

s first appeared.
Recently, the earliest hearths have been reported to be at least 790,000 years old.

Communication between the
Old World
The Old World consists of Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous , after in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of 's total su ...
and the
New World
The "New World" is a term for the majority of Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbour and support life. 29.2% of Earth's surface is land consisting of continents and islands. The re ...
in the
Columbian Exchange#REDIRECT Columbian exchange
native plants. Clockwise, from top left: 1. Citrus (Rutaceae); 2. Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwid ...
influenced the history of cooking. The movement of foods across the Atlantic from the New World, such as
potato
The potato is a starch#Food, starchy tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial plant, perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found thro ...

es,
tomato
The tomato is the edible berry
A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are ...

es,
maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be ...

,
bean
A bean is the seed of one of several of the , which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes throughout th ...

s,
bell pepper
The bell pepper (also known as sweet pepper, pepper, or capsicum ) is the fruit of plants in the Grossum cultivar group of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in different colors, including red, yellow, orange, ...

,
chili pepper
The chili pepper (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl
Nahuatl (; ),The Classical Nahuatl word (noun stem ''nāhua'', + absolutive ''-tl'' ) is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has se ...

,
vanilla
Vanilla is a spice
A spice is a seed
A seed is an embryonic
''Embryonic'' is the twelfth studio album by experimental rock band the Flaming Lips released on October 13, 2009, on Warner Bros. Records, Warner Bros. The band's first d ...

,
pumpkin
A pumpkin is a cultivar
A cultivar is a type of plant that people have bred for desired traits, which are reproduced in each new generation by a method such as grafting, tissue culture or carefully controlled seed production. Most culti ...

,
cassava
''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names) is a woody shrub
A shrub (or bush, but this is more of a gardening term) is a small- to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herb ...

,
avocado
The avocado (''Persea americana''), a likely originating from southcentral , is as a member of the family . The fruit of the plant, also called an avocado (or avocado pear or alligator pear), is a large containing a single large seed. Avo ...

,
peanut
The peanut, also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), and taxonomically classified as ''Arachis hypogaea'', is a legume
A legume () is a plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic
Photosynth ...

,
pecan
The pecan (''Carya illinoinensis'') is a species of hickory native to the southern United States and northern Mexico in the region of the Mississippi River. The tree is cultivated for its seed in the southern United States, primarily in Georgia ...

,
cashew
The cashew tree (''Anacardium occidentale'') is a tropical evergreen tree that produces the cashew seed and the cashew apple pseudofruit. The tree can grow as high as , but the dwarf cultivars, growing up to , prove more profitable, with earlier ...

,
pineapple
The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit and is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centurie ...

,
blueberry
Blueberries are perennial
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things ...

,
sunflower
''Helianthus'' () is a genus
Genus /ˈdʒiː.nəs/ (plural genera /ˈdʒen.ər.ə/) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, vi ...

,
chocolate
Chocolate is a food product made from roasted and ground Theobroma cacao, cacao pods, that is available as a liquid, solid or paste, on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Ol ...

,
gourd
Gourds include the fruits of some flowering plant
Flowering plants include multiple members of the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek#REDIRECT Greek
Greek may refer to:
Gre ...

s, and
squash
Squash may refer to:
Sports
* Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets
* Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling
* Squash tennis, a game similar to squash racquets ...

, had a profound effect on Old World cooking. The movement of foods across the Atlantic from the Old World, such as
cattle
Cattle, taurine cattle, Eurasian cattle, or European cattle (''Bos taurus'' or ''Bos primigenius taurus'') are large domestication, domesticated Cloven hoof, cloven-hooved herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae ...

,
sheep
Sheep (''Ovis aries'') are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order (biology), order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name ''sheep'' applies to many species ...

,
pig
The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous
An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and ani ...

s,
wheat
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain which is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum''; the most widely grown is common wheat
Common wheat (''Triticum aestivum'' ...

,
oat
The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a of grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural, unlike other cereals and ). While oats are suitable for human consumption as and , one of the m ...
s,
barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family
In human society, family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recogn ...

,
rice
Rice is the seed
A seed is an embryonic
''Embryonic'' is the twelfth studio album by experimental rock band the Flaming Lips released on October 13, 2009, on Warner Bros. Records, Warner Bros. The band's first double album, it was relea ...

,
apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wher ...

s,
pear
Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of biological ...

s,
pea
The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering. The formation of the seed is part of the process of reproduction
Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is ...

s,
chickpea
The chickpea or chick pea (''Cicer arietinum'') is an annual
Annual may refer to:
*Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year
**Yearbook
**Literary annual
*Annual plant
*Annual report
*Annual giving
*Annual, Mo ...

s,
green bean
Green beans are the unripe, young fruit of various cultivar
'' 'Pink Whirls' A cultivar selected for its intriguing and colourful flowers
A cultivar is a type of plant that people have bred for desired traits, which are reproduced in each new ...
s,
mustard
Mustard may refer to:
Food and plants
* Mustard (condiment)
Mustard is a condiment made from the seeds
A seed is an Plant embryogenesis, embryonic plant enclosed in a testa (botany), protective outer covering. The formation of the seed is ...

, and
carrot
The carrot (''Daucus carota
''Daucus carota'', whose common names include wild carrot, bird's nest, bishop's lace, and Queen Anne's lace (North America), is a white, flowering plant
The flowering plants, also known as Angiospermae ( ...

s, similarly changed New World cooking.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, food was a classic marker of identity in Europe. In the nineteenth-century "Age of
Nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation
A nation is a community
A community is a social unitThe term "level of analysis" is used in the social sciences to point to the location, size, or scale of a research target ...
" cuisine became a defining symbol of national identity.
The
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe
Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent
A continent is any of several large landmasse ...
brought mass-production, mass-marketing, and standardization of food. Factories processed, preserved, canned, and packaged a wide variety of foods, and processed cereals quickly became a defining feature of the American breakfast. In the 1920s,
freezing methods,
cafeteria
A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the U.S.
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US), or America, is a country primarily located in North America
North America is a c ...

s, and
fast food restaurant
A fast food restaurant, also known as a quick service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast food cuisine and has minimal Foodservice#Table service, table service. The food served in fast fo ...
s emerged.
Ingredients
Most ingredients in cooking are derived from
living organisms
In biology
Biology is the natural science that studies life and living organisms, including their anatomy, physical structure, Biochemistry, chemical processes, Molecular biology, molecular interactions, Physiology, physiological mecha ...

. Vegetables, fruits, grains and nuts as well as herbs and spices come from plants, while meat, eggs, and dairy products come from animals. Mushrooms and the yeast used in baking are kinds of
fungi
A fungus (plural
The plural (sometimes abbreviated
An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters, or words taken from the full ...

. Cooks also use
water
Water (chemical formula H2O) is an , transparent, tasteless, odorless, and , which is the main constituent of 's and the s of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ). It is vital for all known forms of , even though it provide ...

and
mineral
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...

s such as
salt
Salt is a mineral
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure fo ...

. Cooks can also use
wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink
An alcoholic drink is a drink
A drink (or beverage) is a liquid
A liquid is a nearly incompressible fluid
In physics, a fluid is a substance that continually Deformation (mechanics), deforms (flow ...

or
spirits
Spirit may refer to:
*Spirit (animating force)
In folk belief, spirit is the vitalism , vital principle or animating force within all life , living things. As recently as 1628 and 1633 respectively, both William Harvey and René Descartes st ...
.
Naturally occurring ingredients contain various amounts of molecules called ''
proteins
Proteins are large biomolecule
, showing alpha helices, represented by ribbons. This poten was the first to have its suckture solved by X-ray crystallography by Max Perutz and Sir John Cowdery Kendrew in 1958, for which they received a No ...
'', ''
carbohydrate
A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule
, showing alpha helices, represented by ribbons. This poten was the first to have its suckture solved by X-ray crystallography by Max Perutz and Sir John Cowdery Kendrew in 1958, for which they received a ...
s'' and ''
fat
In nutrition
Nutrition is the biochemical
Biochemistry or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided ...

s''. They also contain water and minerals. Cooking involves a manipulation of the chemical properties of these molecules.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates include the common sugar,
sucrose
Sucrose is a type of sugar
Sugar is the generic name for , soluble s, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called s, include , , and . Compound sugars, also called s or double sugars, are molecules made of two monosacchari ...

(table sugar), a
disaccharide
A disaccharide (also called a double sugar or ''biose'') is the sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrate
is a disaccharide found in animal milk. It consists of a molecule of D-galactose and a molecule of ...
, and such simple sugars as
glucose
Glucose is a simple with the . Glucose is the most abundant , a subcategory of s. Glucose is mainly made by and most during from water and carbon dioxide, using energy from sunlight, where it is used to make in s, the most abundant carbohydr ...

(made by enzymatic splitting of sucrose) and
fructose
Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a ketonic simple sugar
Monosaccharides (from Greek language, Greek ''wikt:μόνος, monos'': single, ''sacchar'': sugar), also called simple sugars, are the simplest form of sugar and the most basic units (monomers ...

(from fruit), and
starch
Starch or amylum is a polymeric
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + '' -mer'', "part")
is a substance
Substance may refer to:
* Substance (Jainism), a term in Jain ontology to denote the base or owner of attributes
* Chemical substance ...
es from sources such as cereal flour, rice,
arrowroot
Arrowroot is a starch
Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose
Glucose is a simple sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula . Glucose is the most abundant monosaccharide, a subc ...
and potato.
The interaction of heat and carbohydrate is complex.
Long-chain sugars such as
starch
Starch or amylum is a polymeric
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + '' -mer'', "part")
is a substance
Substance may refer to:
* Substance (Jainism), a term in Jain ontology to denote the base or owner of attributes
* Chemical substance ...
tend to break down into more digestible
simpler sugars. If the sugars are heated so that all water of
crystallisation
Crystallization or crystallisation is the process by which a solid forms, where the Atom, atoms or molecules are highly organized into a Crystal structure, structure known as a crystal. Some of the ways by which crystals form are Precipitation ( ...
is driven off,
caramelization
Caramelization is the browning of sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrate
is a disaccharide found in animal milk. It consists of a molecule of D-galactose and a molecule of D-glucose bonded by beta-1-4 ...
starts, with the sugar undergoing thermal decomposition with the formation of
carbon
Carbon (from la, carbo "coal") is a with the C and 6. It is lic and —making four s available to form s. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon makes up only about 0.025 percent of Earth's crust. Three occur naturally, ...

, and other breakdown products producing
caramel
Caramel ( or ) is a medium to dark-orange confectionery
Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, though, confectionery is ...
. Similarly, the heating of sugars and proteins causes the
Maillard reaction
The Maillard reaction ( ; ) is a chemical reaction between Amino acid, amino acids and Reducing sugar, reducing sugars that gives browned food its distinctive flavor. Searing, Seared steaks, fried dumplings, cookies and other kinds of biscuits, b ...
, a basic flavor-enhancing technique.
An
emulsion
An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally Miscibility, immiscible (unmixable or unblendable) owing to liquid-liquid phase separation. Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloid ...

of starch with fat or water can, when gently heated, provide thickening to the dish being cooked. In
European
European, or Europeans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other Western ...
cooking, a mixture of butter and flour called a
roux
Roux () is flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces. Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight. The flour is added to the melted fat or Cooking oil, oil on the stove top, blended until smooth, and cooked ...

is used to thicken liquids to make stews or sauces. In Asian cooking, a similar effect is obtained from a mixture of rice or
corn starch
Corn starch, maize starch, or cornflour (British English
British English (BrE) is the standard dialect
A standard language (also standard variety, standard dialect, and standard) is a language variety that has undergone substantial ...
and water. These techniques rely on the properties of starches to create simpler mucilaginous
saccharide
is a disaccharide
A disaccharide (also called a double sugar or ''biose'') is the sugar formed when two monosaccharides are joined by glycosidic linkage. Like monosaccharides, disaccharides are simple sugars soluble in water. Three common ex ...
s during cooking, which causes the familiar thickening of
sauce
In , a sauce is a , , or semi- food, served on or used in preparing other s. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a word taken from the ''salsa'', meaning ' ...

s. This thickening will break down, however, under additional heat.
Fats

Types of fat include
vegetable oil
Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance
A chemical substance is a form of matter
In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by ...
s, animal products such as butter and
lard
Lard is a semi-solid white fat
In nutrition
Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism
In biology, an organism (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ὀργανισμός, ''organismos'') is any indivi ...
, as well as fats from grains, including
maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be ...

and
flax
Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in Wes ...

oils. Fats are used in a number of ways in cooking and baking. To prepare
,
or
pancake
A pancake (or hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack) is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a starch-based batter
Batter or batters may refer to:
* Batter (cooking), thin dough that can be easily poured into a pan
* Batter (baseb ...

s, the pan or griddle is often coated with fat or oil. Fats are also used as an ingredient in baked goods such as cookies, cakes and pies. Fats can reach temperatures higher than the boiling point of water, and are often used to conduct high heat to other ingredients, such as in frying, deep frying or sautéing. Fats are used to add flavor to food (e.g., butter or bacon fat), prevent food from sticking to pans and create a desirable texture.
Proteins
Edible animal material, including
muscle
Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs
An organ is a group of tissues with similar functions. Plant life and animal life rely on many organs that co-exist in organ systems.
A given organ's tissues can be broadly cat ...

,
offal
Offal (), also called variety meats, pluck or organ meats, is the Organ (anatomy), organs of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, which varies by culture and region, but usually excludes muscle. Offal ...

, milk,
eggs
Egg
An egg is the organic vessel containing the in which an develops until it can survive on its own, at which point the animal hatches. An egg results from of an . Most s, (excluding s), and lay eggs, although some, such as s, do ...
and
egg white
Egg white is the clear liquid (also called the albumen or the glair/glaire) contained within an egg
An egg is the organic vessel containing the in which an develops until it can survive on its own, at which point the animal hatches. An ...
s, contains substantial amounts of protein. Almost all vegetable matter (in particular
legume
A legume () is a plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic
Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to Energy transformation, convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can ...

s and
seed
A seed is an embryonic
''Embryonic'' is the twelfth studio album by experimental rock band the Flaming Lips released on October 13, 2009, on Warner Bros. Records, Warner Bros. The band's first double album, it was released to generally positi ...

s) also includes proteins, although generally in smaller amounts. Mushrooms have high protein content. Any of these may be sources of
essential amino acid
An essential amino acid, or indispensable amino acid, is an amino acid that cannot be synthesized from scratch by the organism fast enough to supply its demand, and must therefore come from the diet. Of the 21 amino acids common to all life forms ...
s. When
protein
Proteins are large biomolecule
, showing alpha helices, represented by ribbons. This poten was the first to have its suckture solved by X-ray crystallography by Max Perutz and Sir John Cowdery Kendrew in 1958, for which they received a No ...

s are heated they become
denatured (unfolded) and change texture. In many cases, this causes the structure of the material to become softer or more
friable
Friability ( ), the condition of being friable, describes the tendency of a solid
Solid is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being liquid, gas and plasma). The molecules in a solid are closely packed together and c ...
– meat becomes ''cooked'' and is more friable and less flexible. In some cases, proteins can form more rigid structures, such as the coagulation of
albumen
Egg white is the clear liquid (also called the albumen or the glair/glaire) contained within an egg
Diagram of a chicken egg in its 9th day. Membranes: allantois, chorion, amnion, and vitellus/ yolk.
An egg is the organic vessel containing ...
in egg whites. The formation of a relatively rigid but flexible matrix from egg white provides an important component in baking cakes, and also underpins many desserts based on
meringue
Meringue (, ; ) is a type of dessert
Dessert () is a course
Course may refer to:
Directions or navigation
* Course (navigation), the path of travel
* Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a compe ...
.
Water
Cooking often involves water and water-based liquids. These can be added in order to immerse the substances being cooked (this is typically done with water,
stock
In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all of the shares
In financial markets
A financial market is a market in which people trade financial securities and derivatives at low transaction costs. Some of the securities i ...
or wine). Alternatively, the foods themselves can release water. A favorite method of adding flavor to dishes is to save the liquid for use in other recipes. Liquids are so important to cooking that the name of the cooking method used is often based on how the liquid is combined with the food, as in
steaming
Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. This is often done with a food steamer, a kitchen appliance made specifically to cook food with steam, but food can also be steamed in a wok. In the American southwest, steam pits used for cooking have ...

,
simmering
Simmering is a food preparation
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional
Nutrition is the biochemical
Biochemistry or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organism
...

,
boiling
Boiling is the rapid vaporization of a liquid, which occurs when a liquid is heated to its boiling point, the temperature at which the vapour pressure of the liquid is equal to the pressure exerted on the liquid by the surrounding atmosphere. Ther ...
,
braising
Image:Braised_Ox_Cheek_in_Star_Anise_and_Soy_Sauce.jpg#file, 250px, Braised ox cheek in star anise and soy sauce
Braising (from the French language, French word ''braiser'') is a combination-cooking method that uses both wet and dry heats: typica ...
and
blanching
Blanch or blanching may refer to:
*Blanch (medical), a temporary whitening of the skin due to transient ischemia
*Blanching (cooking), cooking briefly in boiling water
*Blanching (coinage), a method used to whiten metal
*Blanching (horticulture), g ...
. Heating liquid in an open container results in rapidly increased
evaporation
Evaporation is a type of that occurs on the of a as it changes into the gas phase. The surrounding gas must not be saturated with the evaporating substance. When the molecules of the liquid collide, they transfer energy to each other bas ...

, which
concentrate
A concentrate is a form of substance
Substance may refer to:
* Substance (Jainism), a term in Jain ontology to denote the base or owner of attributes
* Chemical substance, a material with a definite chemical composition
* Matter, anything that has ...

s the remaining
flavor
Flavor, or flavour, is the perceptual
Perception (from the Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken in the area arou ...

and ingredients – this is a critical component of both
stewing
A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables and may include meat
Meat is animal flesh that is ea ...
and sauce making.
Vitamins and minerals

Vitamins and minerals are required for normal
metabolism
Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life
Life is a characteristic that distinguishes physical entities
A bubble of exhaled gas in water
In common usage and classical mechanics, a phys ...

but which the body cannot manufacture itself and which must therefore come from external sources. Vitamins come from several sources including fresh fruit and vegetables (
Vitamin C
Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a vitamin found in various foods and sold as a dietary supplement. It is used to prevent and treat scurvy. Vitamin C is an Nutrient#Essential nutrients, essential nutrient involved in t ...

), carrots,
liver
The liver is an organ
Organ may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (anatomy)
An organ is a group of Tissue (biology), tissues with similar functions. Plant life and animal life rely on many organs that co-exist in organ systems.
A given organ's t ...
(
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is a group of unsaturated nutritional organic compounds that includes retinol, retinal, (also known as retinaldehyde), retinoic acid and several provitamin A carotenoids (most notably Beta-Carotene, beta-carotene). Vitamin A has mul ...

), cereal bran, bread, liver (B vitamins), fish liver oil (
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble secosteroid
250px, The parent steroid skeleton. The B-ring of the parent steroid is broken between C9 and C10 to yield D vitamins.
A secosteroid () is a type of steroid
, hypothetical a steroid with ...
) and fresh green vegetables (
Vitamin K
Vitamin K refers to structurally similar, fat-soluble vitamers found in foods and marketed as dietary supplements. The human body requires vitamin K for post-translational modification, post-synthesis modification of certain proteins that are r ...
). Many minerals are also essential in small quantities including iron,
calcium
Calcium is a chemical element
In chemistry, an element is a pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numbers of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elem ...

,
magnesium
Magnesium is a chemical element
upright=1.0, 500px, The chemical elements ordered by link=Periodic table
In chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science ...

,
sodium chloride
Sodium chloride , commonly known as salt (although sea salt also contains other chemical salt (chemistry), salts), is an ionic compound with the chemical formula NaCl, representing a 1:1 ratio of sodium and chloride ions. With Molar mass, molar ...
and
sulfur
Sulfur (in nontechnical British English: sulphur) is a chemical element
In chemistry
Chemistry is the study of the properties and behavior of . It is a that covers the that make up matter to the composed of s, s and s: th ...

; and in very small quantities copper,
zinc
Zinc is a chemical element
In chemistry, an element is a pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numbers of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical element ...

and
selenium
Selenium is a chemical element
upright=1.0, 500px, The chemical elements ordered by link=Periodic table
In chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that ...

. The micronutrients, minerals, and vitamins in fruit and vegetables may be destroyed or eluted by cooking. Vitamin C is especially prone to oxidation during cooking and may be completely destroyed by protracted cooking.
The bioavailability of some vitamins such as
thiamin
Thiamine, also known as thiamin or vitamin B1, is a vitamin
A vitamin is an organic molecule
, CH4; is among the simplest organic compounds.
In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydroge ...

,
vitamin B6
Vitamin B6 is one of the , and thus an . The term refers to a group of six chemically similar compounds, i.e., "s", which can be interconverted in biological systems. Its active form, , serves as a in more than 140 reactions in , , and meta ...
,
niacin
Niacin, also known as nicotinic acid, is an organic compound and a form of vitamin B3, vitamin B3, an essential nutrient, essential human nutrient. It can be manufactured by plants and animals from the amino acid tryptophan. Niacin is obtaine ...

,
folate
Folate, also known as vitamin B9 and folacin, is one of the B vitamins. Manufactured folic acid, which is converted into folate by the body, is used as a dietary supplement and in food fortification as it is more stable during processing and ...
, and
carotenoid
Carotenoids (), also called tetraterpenoids, are yellow, orange, and red organic
Organic may refer to:
* Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity
* Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ (anatomy), organ
Chemistry
* Organ ...
s are increased with cooking by being freed from the food microstructure. Blanching or steaming vegetables is a way of minimizing vitamin and mineral loss in cooking.
Methods
There are very many methods of cooking, most of which have been known since antiquity. These include baking, roasting, frying, grilling, barbecuing, smoking, boiling, steaming and braising. A more recent innovation is microwaving. Various methods use differing levels of heat and moisture and vary in cooking time. The method chosen greatly affects the end result because some foods are more appropriate to some methods than others. Some major hot cooking techniques include:

;Roasting
:
Roasting
Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelizatio ...
–
Barbecuing
Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK; Barbie in Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent ...
–
Grilling
Grilling is a form of cooking that involves dry heat applied to the surface of food, commonly from above, below or from the side. Grilling usually involves a significant amount of direct, radiant heat, and tends to be used for cooking meat a ...

/
Broiling –
Rotisserie
Rotisserie, also known as spit-roasting, is a style of roasting
Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other ...
–
Searing
Searing (or pan searing) is a technique used in grilling
Grilling is a form of cooking that involves dry heat applied to the surface of food, commonly from above, below or from the side. Grilling usually involves a significant amount of ...
;Baking
:Baking – Blind Baking, Baking Blind – Flashbaking
;Boiling
:Boiling in cooking, Boiling – Blanching (cooking), Blanching – Braising – Coddling – Double steaming – Infusion – Poaching (cooking), Poaching – Pressure cooking – Simmering – Smothering (food), Smothering – Steaming – Steeping – Stewing – Stone boiling – Vacuum flask cooking
;Frying
:Frying, Fry – Air fryer, Air frying — Deep frying – Gentle frying - Hot salt frying – Hot sand frying – Pan frying – Pressure frying – Sautéing – Shallow frying – Stir frying — Vacuum fryer, Vacuum frying
;Steaming
:Steaming works by boiling water continuously, causing it to vaporise into steam; the steam then carries heat to the nearby food, thus cooking the food. By many it is considered a healthy form of cooking, holding nutrients within the vegetable or meat being cooked.
: En papillote – The food is put into a pouch and then baked, allowing its own moisture to steam the food.
;Smoking
:Smoking (cooking), Smoking is the process of flavoring, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood.
Health and safety
Security while cooking
A lot of hazards may happen while cooking such as
* Unseen slippery surfaces (such as from oil stains or water droplets)
* Cuts (1 percent of injuries in United States related to knives, ended in hospital admissions. In overall 400 000 injuries from knives are recorded in the US
* Burns
To prevent those injuries there are protections such as cooking clothing, anti-slip shoes and more.
Food safety
Cooking can prevent many foodborne illnesses that would otherwise occur if the food is eaten raw. When heat is used in the preparation of food, it can kill or inactivate harmful organisms, such as bacteria and viruses, as well as various parasites such as tapeworms and ''Toxoplasma gondii''. Food poisoning and other illness from uncooked or poorly prepared food may be caused by bacteria such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, pathogenic strains of ''Escherichia coli'', ''Salmonella typhimurium'' and ''Campylobacter'', viruses such as noroviruses, and protozoa such as ''Entamoeba histolytica''. Bacteria, viruses and parasites may be introduced through salad, meat that is uncooked or done Doneness, rare, and unboiled water.
The Sterilization (microbiology), sterilizing effect of cooking depends on temperature, cooking time, and technique used. Some food spoilage bacteria such as ''Clostridium botulinum'' or ''Bacillus cereus'' can form spores that survive boiling, which then germinate and regrow after the food has cooled. This makes it unsafe to reheat cooked food more than once.
Cooking increases the digestibility of many foods which are inedible or poisonous when raw. For example, raw cereal grains are hard to digest, while kidney beans are toxic when raw or improperly cooked due to the presence of phytohaemagglutinin, which is inactivated by cooking for at least ten minutes at .
Food safety depends on the safe preparation, handling, and storage of food. Food spoilage bacteria proliferate in the "Danger zone (food safety), Danger zone" temperature range from , food therefore should not be stored in this temperature range. Hand washing, Washing of hands and surfaces, especially when handling different meats, and keeping raw food separate from cooked food to avoid cross-contamination, are good practices in food preparation. Foods prepared on plastic cutting boards may be less likely to harbor bacteria than wooden ones.
Washing and Disinfection, disinfecting cutting boards, especially after use with raw meat, poultry, or seafood, reduces the risk of contamination.
Effects on nutritional content of food

Proponents of raw foodism argue that cooking food increases the risk of some of the detrimental effects on food or health. They point out that during cooking of vegetables and fruit containing vitamin C, the vitamin elutes into the cooking water and becomes degraded through oxidation. Peeling vegetables can also substantially reduce the vitamin C content, especially in the case of potatoes where most vitamin C is in the skin. However, research has shown that in the specific case of
carotenoid
Carotenoids (), also called tetraterpenoids, are yellow, orange, and red organic
Organic may refer to:
* Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity
* Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ (anatomy), organ
Chemistry
* Organ ...
s a greater proportion is absorbed from cooked vegetables than from raw vegetables.
German research in 2003 showed significant benefits in reducing breast cancer risk when large amounts of raw vegetable matter are included in the diet. The authors attribute some of this effect to heat-labile phytonutrients. Sulforaphane, a glucosinolate breakdown product, which may be found in vegetables such as broccoli, has been shown to be protective against prostate cancer, however, much of it is destroyed when the vegetable is boiled.
The USDA has studied retention data for 16 vitamins, 8 minerals, and alcohol for approximately 290 foods for various cooking methods.
Carcinogens

In a human epidemiological analysis by Richard Doll and Richard Peto in 1981, diet was estimated to cause a large percentage of cancers. Studies suggest that around 32% of cancer deaths may be avoidable by changes to the diet. Some of these cancers may be caused by carcinogens in food generated during the cooking process, although it is often difficult to identify the specific components in diet that serve to increase cancer risk. Many foods, such as beefsteak and broccoli, contain low concentrations of both carcinogens and anticarcinogens.
Several studies published since 1990 indicate that cooking meat at high temperature creates heterocyclic amines (HCAs), which are thought to increase cancer risk in humans. Researchers at the National Cancer Institute found that human subjects who ate beef rare or medium-rare had less than one third the risk of stomach cancer than those who ate beef medium-well or well-done.
While avoiding meat or eating meat raw may be the only ways to avoid HCAs in meat fully, the National Cancer Institute states that cooking meat below creates "negligible amounts" of HCAs. Also, microwaving meat before cooking may reduce HCAs by 90% by reducing the time needed for the meat to be cooked at high heat.
[ Nitrosamines are found in some food, and may be produced by some cooking processes from proteins or from nitrites used as food preservatives; cured meat such as bacon has been found to be carcinogenic, with links to colon cancer. Vitamin C, Ascorbate, which is added to cured meat, however, reduces nitrosamine formation.]
Research has shown that grilling, barbecuing and smoking meat and fish increases levels of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). In Europe, grilled meat and smoked fish generally only contribute a small proportion of dietary PAH intake since they are a minor component of diet – most intake comes from cereals, oils and fats. However, in the US, grilled/barbecued meat is the second highest contributor of the mean daily intake of a known PAH carcinogen benzo(a)pyrene, benzo[a]pyrene at 21% after 'bread, cereal and grain' at 29%.
Baking, grilling or broiling food, especially starchy foods, until a toasted crust is formed generates significant concentrations of acrylamide, a known carcinogen from animal studies; its potential to cause cancer in humans at normal exposures is uncertain. Public health authorities recommend reducing the risk by avoiding overly browning starchy foods or meats when frying, baking, toasting or roasting them.[
]
Other health issues
Cooking dairy products may reduce a protective effect against colon cancer. Researchers at the University of Toronto suggest that ingesting uncooked or unpasteurized dairy products (see also Raw milk) may reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. Mice and rats fed uncooked sucrose, casein, and beef tallow had one-third to one-fifth the incidence of adenoma, microadenomas as the mice and rats fed the same ingredients cooked. This claim, however, is contentious. According to the Food and Drug Administration (United States), Food and Drug Administration of the United States, health benefits claimed by raw milk advocates do not exist. "The small quantities of antibodies in milk are not absorbed in the human intestinal tract," says Barbara Ingham, PhD, associate professor and extension food scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "There is no scientific evidence that raw milk contains an anti-arthritis factor or that it enhances resistance to other diseases."
Heating sugars with proteins or fats can produce advanced glycation end products ("glycotoxins").
Deep fried food in restaurants may contain high level of trans fat, which is known to increase levels of low-density lipoprotein that in turn may increase risk of Coronary disease, heart diseases and other conditions. However, many fast food chains have now switched to trans-fat-free alternatives for deep-frying.
Scientific aspects
The scientific study of cooking has become known as molecular gastronomy. This is a subdiscipline of food science concerning the physical and chemical transformations that occur during cooking.
Important contributions have been made by scientists, chefs and authors such as Hervé This (chemist), Nicholas Kurti (physicist), Peter Barham (physicist), Harold McGee (author), Shirley Corriher (biochemist, author), Robert Wolke (chemist, author. It is different for the application of scientific knowledge to cooking, that is "molecular cooking"( (for the technique) or "molecular cuisine" (for a culinary style), for which chefs such as Raymond Blanc, Philippe and Christian Conticini, Ferran Adria, Heston Blumenthal, Pierre Gagnaire (chef).
Chemical processes central to cooking include hydrolysis (in particular beta elimination of pectins, during the thermal treatment of plant tissues), pyrolysis, glycation reactions wrongly named Maillard reactions .
Cooking foods with heat depends on many factors — the specific heat of an object, thermal conductivity, and perhaps most significantly the difference in temperature between the two objects. Thermal diffusivity is the combination of specific heat, conductivity and density that determines how long it will take for the food to reach a certain temperature.
Home-cooking and commercial cooking
Home cooking has traditionally been a process carried out informally in a home or around a Communal oven, communal fire, and can be enjoyed by all members of the family, although in many cultures women bear primary responsibility. Cooking is also often carried out outside of personal quarters, for example at restaurants, or schools. Bakery, Bakeries were one of the earliest forms of cooking outside the home, and bakeries in the past often offered the cooking of pots of food provided by their customers as an additional service. In the present day, factory food preparation has become common, with many "ready-to-eat" foods being prepared and cooked in factories and home cooks using a mixture of wikt:from scratch, scratch made, and factory made foods together to make a meal. The nutritional value of including more commercially prepared foods has been found to be inferior to home-made foods. Home-cooked meals tend to be healthier with fewer calories, and less saturated fat, Cholesterol embolism, cholesterol and sodium on a per calorie basis while providing more Dietary fiber, fiber, calcium
Calcium is a chemical element
In chemistry, an element is a pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numbers of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elem ...

, and iron. The ingredients are also directly sourced, so there is control over authenticity, taste, and nutritional value. The superior nutritional quality of home-cooking could therefore play a role in preventing Chronic condition, chronic disease. Cohort studies following the elderly over 10 years show that adults who cook their own meals have significantly lower mortality, even when controlling for confounding variables.
"Home-cooking" may be associated with comfort food, and some commercially produced foods and restaurant meals are presented through advertising or packaging as having been "home-cooked", regardless of their actual origin. This trend began in the 1920s and is attributed to people in urban areas of the U.S. wanting homestyle food even though their schedules and smaller kitchens made cooking harder.
See also
* Carryover cooking
* Control of fire by early humans
* Cookbook
* Cooker
* Cooking weights and measures
* Cuisine
* Culinary arts
* Culinary profession
* Cooking school
* Dishwashing
* Food and cooking hygiene
* Food industry
* Food preservation
* Food writing
* Foodpairing
* Gourmet Museum and Library
* High altitude cooking
* International food terms
* List of cooking appliances
* List of cooking techniques
* List of cuisines
* List of films about cooking
* List of food preparation utensils
* List of ovens
* List of stoves
* Nutrition
* Recipe
* Scented water
* Spices
* Staple (cooking)
References
External links
*wikiHow:Cook, How to Cook (wikihow)
Open Cookbook (wikicook)
Human Timeline (Interactive)
– Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History (August 2016).
*
justcooking
{{Authority control
Cooking,
Articles containing video clips
Home economics
Survival skills