Planning a New Year's Eve dinner? Don't worry, I have a secret for you!

This article was reviewed by Li Lin, PhD in Food Science, Professor of Zhongshan College, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and food safety expert in Zhongshan City

On New Year's Eve, the New Year's Eve dinner is the highlight of every household. The Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is a family reunion and the most important dinner of the year. No matter how far away they are or how busy they are at work, people always hope to go home and have a reunion dinner. When it comes to the New Year's Eve dinner, we have to mention a variety of cooking methods such as steaming, stir-frying, boiling, frying, and braising. The cooking process alone is enough to make the audience salivate.

However, perhaps few people realize that cooking is actually a double-edged sword. While it turns food from raw to cooked and adds to its deliciousness, it also causes certain nutrients to be destroyed under conditions such as high temperature.

So, how can we cook to prevent nutrient loss to the greatest extent and make our New Year's Eve dinner more nutritious and delicious? Let's briefly introduce several commonly used cooking methods.

One of the best cooking methods: Steaming

Friends who like Cantonese cuisine may have a special liking for steaming, a food processing method. Steaming is considered a very healthy cooking method that can maximize the retention of nutrients in food and is applicable to almost any food, including water-soluble vitamins that are sensitive to heat and water (including B vitamins and vitamin C).

Compared with boiling, the advantage of steaming is that it can better retain water-soluble vitamins. It is worth mentioning that almost all cooking methods will cause the loss of water-soluble proteins and water-soluble vitamins, but steaming has the least impact on them.

Therefore, steamed food not only has less damage to the original molecular structure, retaining the original nutrients such as protein and cellulose, but also maintains the original flavor of the dish and brings out the freshness of the food. In addition, since steaming is oil-free cooking and the temperature is stable throughout the process (maintained at 100°C), steamed dishes are easier to digest than fried dishes.

Most commonly used cooking method: frying

Frying is a common cooking method in life. Put the food in a pan, heat it with a small amount of oil, add meat, vegetables or eggs after the oil is hot, and stir-fry quickly over high heat. Because of its high temperature and short cooking time, it is very practical in the family.

Many people think that frying is an unhealthy cooking method because the oil temperature is difficult to control and high temperature will destroy Omega-3 in fish, protein and amino acids in meat, etc. At the same time, heating food at high temperature for a long time is prone to produce carcinogenic chemicals. In fact, if the heat is properly controlled, short-term heating can effectively prevent the loss of vitamins, and the oil used in cooking can also help absorb some nutrients.

Therefore, it is best to stir-fry quickly over high heat, use healthy oil, avoid overheating the oil and frying for a long time, so that most of the nutrients can be preserved. Try to add as little water as possible when cooking, and you can add some vinegar to taste it and reduce the loss of vitamin C. When cooking meat ingredients, add some starch to reduce the loss of nutrients and improve the taste.

Simple, fast and nutritious cooking methods: baking

Baking has become increasingly popular in China in recent years. It is a cooking method that heats bread, muffins and other foods in the oven for a long time at high temperature. The nutrients contained in wheat flour, a common raw material in baking, are relatively high compared to other grains. In addition, due to the action of yeast, baked foods are rich in protein and amino acids, easy to absorb, and have a good taste and color. Therefore, in Western countries, baked foods have almost become synonymous with food and grain.

Baking is a cooking method that heats food from all sides. During this process, food is evenly cooked and does not lose a lot of vitamin C. Studies have found that long-term high-temperature baking can cause a 40% loss of B vitamins, but it hardly causes other obvious nutritional losses. Therefore, baking is also considered a healthy cooking method.

Of course, we should also pay attention to controlling the temperature and time when baking to avoid harmful substances produced by over-high temperature. Baking can make the protein in meat and grains better absorbed. Therefore, we can use baking to process meat and grain foods to preserve the nutrients in the food to the greatest extent.

The most difficult cooking method: grilling

Barbecue is a dry roasting method that uses charcoal fire to heat food directly. Adding various delicious seasonings during the barbecue can make the food fresh in color, rich in flavor, tender in meat, and not greasy. It is loved by many people, and even many children love to eat barbecue and grilled fish.

However, studies have shown that although barbecue is delicious, it does not seem to be a healthy way of cooking. Because the charcoal fire directly heats the food, it is difficult to maintain a constant temperature, the food is not heated evenly, and some nutrients are lost in the process.

When grilling, the vitamins in the meat will be destroyed, the fat and protein will change, and the minerals will be lost when the nutrient-rich gravy and fat drip from the grilled meat. In addition, if the heat is not strictly controlled, chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and benzopyrene will be produced. These are carcinogens that can accumulate in the body, reduce the body's immune function, and increase the risk of cancer.

At the same time, barbecue also produces harmful gases and dust such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, which not only pollute the air but also have adverse effects on human health.

Therefore, it is not advisable to eat too much barbecued food. From the perspective of nutrition and hygiene, barbecued food should be eaten in moderation, especially for children, so as not to affect their health.

Nutrition Tips

1. Wash vegetables before cutting them, and soak them for a limited time. Cutting and then washing or soaking them for too long will often cause many vitamins to dissolve in the water, resulting in nutritional loss.

2. Cut the vegetables and stir-fry them immediately. Do not leave them for a long time after cutting. Because the oxygen content in the air is high, if vegetables are left in it for a long time, especially at high temperatures, it will cause nutritional loss.

3. Adding some vinegar when cooking vegetables can reduce the loss of vitamin C. In addition, thickening is also a good way to protect vitamin C.

4. Cooking must be done quickly. Most of the nutrients in vegetables cannot withstand high temperatures, especially leafy vegetables such as cabbage, celery, and Chinese cabbage. If you cook them for a long time, you will lose a lot of nutrients.

To sum up, cooking methods need to be used reasonably and more importantly, they need to be nutritious and healthy to ensure that the nutrients in food meet the normal needs of the human body.

No matter what cooking method is used, try to avoid nutrient loss during the cooking process. It is best to eat less midnight snacks and eat more fruits, vegetables and milk. Pay attention to using less oil and salt when cooking to make the food both delicious and nutritious, which will be of great help to our health.

Source: Chongqing Science and Technology Museum (ID:cqkjggw)

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