What is cooking? The art of making food..? But how is it classically defined? Here's a definition quoted by Śabdakalpadrumaḥ - स्थालीमार्ज्जनाद्योदनपरीक्षान्तो व्यापारनिचयः पाकः। (Sthālīmārjjanādyodanaparīkṣānto vyāpāranicayaḥ pākaḥ)
All that we do from cleaning the vessels required till examining the cooked food (to check if it is ready) is called cooking. So for all the lazy bums out there, you can't say you've "cooked" until you have done all of those! Just frying something on the pan wouldn't make you a cook. 😉
What are the types of cooking? Boiling, frying, baking... you may begin to list. But for every science, there's a history. And thankfully, we have a few manuscripts of the science of cooking from the glorious past of Bharat. Here are the 7 ancient types of cooking, defined by Pākarājeśvaraḥ.
Let's decipher this verse to discover the 7 types of cooking with the definitions of Pākarājeśvaraḥ.
1. भर्जनम् - Bharjjanaṃ
भर्ज्जनं केवलपात्रे । Bharjjanaṃ kevalapātre
Cooking food in a plain vessel is called Bharjanam. This could mean merely "cooking". Something like - making a roti.
2. तलनम् - Talanaṃ
तलनं स्नेहद्रव्ये । Talanaṃ snehadravye
Talanam refers to cooking with a snehadravya - i.e., with ghee, oil, or technically even milk. There are other substances that are called "snehas" in Ayurveda, but I'm listing just these here as they're found to be quite apt in the context of daily cooking.
3. स्वेदः - Svedaḥ
स्वेदनम् अग्न्युत्तापे ।
Svedanaṃ agnyuttāpe
In cooking, svedanam refers to placing the food item directly over fire - something like a Phulka. It could even include methods such as grilling or barbecuing as they too are done with direct contact with heat (without the medium of a vessel).
(Who else loves the corn cooked over fire sold in beaches with a dash of chilli powder and lemon juice?? 😋)
4. पचनम् - Pacanaṃ
पचनं जले। Pacanaṃ jale
Cooking with water as a medium is referred to as Pacanam. The most typical example would be rice.
5. क्वथनम् - Kvathanaṃ
क्वथनं सिद्धद्रव्यरसग्रहणे ।
Kvathanaṃ siddhadravyarasagrahaṇe
Siddhadravya refers to ingredients that are being processed or cooked. Their "rasa", i.e., "essence" is being extracted (grahanam) by this method. This is possible by boiling. A typical example would be Sambar, a delicious traditional Indian liquid dish used as a side dish or part of a main course along with rice.
6. तान्दूरम् - Tāndūraṃ
तान्दूरं द्वारबद्धतप्तयन्त्रे ।
Tāndūraṃ dvārabaddhataptayantre
This definition has a really interesting process described in a single word.
dvāra - door or opening
baddha - closed
tapta - heated
yantra - device
Cooking in a device (or a vessel) which is heated and whose mouth is closed is called Tāndūraṃ.
After a little homework of seeing youtube videos for tanuduri roti. But I couldn't find a preparation with a vessel whose mouth is closed. The definition given here rather sounds like a microwave or baking oven to me!! If anyone has a clear idea of what this points to, please share it in the comments section below!
7. पुटपाकः - puṭapākah
पुटपाकः अधोर्द्ध्वाग्नितापे ज्ञेयः ।
Puṭapākaḥ adhorddhvāgnitāpe jñeyaḥ .
Puṭapākaḥ is a traditional method of processing mentioned in Ayurveda, widely used in making certain types of medicines. The definition here says -
adhah = below
urdhwa = above
agni = fire
tāpa = heat
Heat is applied from both above and below the ingredients. Again, I do not know of a traditional cooking process in terms of food that uses this method. Your ideas are required. :-)
So, how many of these have you tried?
For the basic cook - it's probably just 1, 4 and 5
At the next level of enthusiasm, I would add 2, 3 and perhaps even 6
And if you have tried your hands on all the 7, you're probably a superchef!
Let me know in the comments below! :-)
Happy eating :-)
(Picture source: https://www.shiveshskitchen.com/2013/05/different-methods-of-cooking.html௰
All that we do from cleaning the vessels required till examining the cooked food (to check if it is ready) is called cooking. So for all the lazy bums out there, you can't say you've "cooked" until you have done all of those! Just frying something on the pan wouldn't make you a cook. 😉
What are the types of cooking? Boiling, frying, baking... you may begin to list. But for every science, there's a history. And thankfully, we have a few manuscripts of the science of cooking from the glorious past of Bharat. Here are the 7 ancient types of cooking, defined by Pākarājeśvaraḥ.
भर्ज्जनं तलनं स्वेदः पचनं क्वथनं तथा।
तान्दूरं पुटपाकश्च पाकः सप्तविधो मतः॥
(पाकराजेश्वरः)
Bharjjanaṃ talanaṃ svedaḥ pacanaṃ kvathanaṃ tathā.
Tāndūraṃ puṭapākaśca pākaḥ saptavidho mataḥ..
(Pākarājeśvaraḥ)
1. भर्जनम् - Bharjjanaṃ
भर्ज्जनं केवलपात्रे । Bharjjanaṃ kevalapātre
Cooking food in a plain vessel is called Bharjanam. This could mean merely "cooking". Something like - making a roti.
2. तलनम् - Talanaṃ
तलनं स्नेहद्रव्ये । Talanaṃ snehadravye
Talanam refers to cooking with a snehadravya - i.e., with ghee, oil, or technically even milk. There are other substances that are called "snehas" in Ayurveda, but I'm listing just these here as they're found to be quite apt in the context of daily cooking.
3. स्वेदः - Svedaḥ
स्वेदनम् अग्न्युत्तापे ।
Svedanaṃ agnyuttāpe
In cooking, svedanam refers to placing the food item directly over fire - something like a Phulka. It could even include methods such as grilling or barbecuing as they too are done with direct contact with heat (without the medium of a vessel).
(Who else loves the corn cooked over fire sold in beaches with a dash of chilli powder and lemon juice?? 😋)
4. पचनम् - Pacanaṃ
पचनं जले। Pacanaṃ jale
Cooking with water as a medium is referred to as Pacanam. The most typical example would be rice.
5. क्वथनम् - Kvathanaṃ
क्वथनं सिद्धद्रव्यरसग्रहणे ।
Kvathanaṃ siddhadravyarasagrahaṇe
Siddhadravya refers to ingredients that are being processed or cooked. Their "rasa", i.e., "essence" is being extracted (grahanam) by this method. This is possible by boiling. A typical example would be Sambar, a delicious traditional Indian liquid dish used as a side dish or part of a main course along with rice.
6. तान्दूरम् - Tāndūraṃ
तान्दूरं द्वारबद्धतप्तयन्त्रे ।
Tāndūraṃ dvārabaddhataptayantre
This definition has a really interesting process described in a single word.
dvāra - door or opening
baddha - closed
tapta - heated
yantra - device
Cooking in a device (or a vessel) which is heated and whose mouth is closed is called Tāndūraṃ.
After a little homework of seeing youtube videos for tanuduri roti. But I couldn't find a preparation with a vessel whose mouth is closed. The definition given here rather sounds like a microwave or baking oven to me!! If anyone has a clear idea of what this points to, please share it in the comments section below!
7. पुटपाकः - puṭapākah
पुटपाकः अधोर्द्ध्वाग्नितापे ज्ञेयः ।
Puṭapākaḥ adhorddhvāgnitāpe jñeyaḥ .
Puṭapākaḥ is a traditional method of processing mentioned in Ayurveda, widely used in making certain types of medicines. The definition here says -
adhah = below
urdhwa = above
agni = fire
tāpa = heat
Heat is applied from both above and below the ingredients. Again, I do not know of a traditional cooking process in terms of food that uses this method. Your ideas are required. :-)
So, how many of these have you tried?
For the basic cook - it's probably just 1, 4 and 5
At the next level of enthusiasm, I would add 2, 3 and perhaps even 6
And if you have tried your hands on all the 7, you're probably a superchef!
Let me know in the comments below! :-)
Happy eating :-)
(Picture source: https://www.shiveshskitchen.com/2013/05/different-methods-of-cooking.html௰
I think this can be considered as putapaka... 👇https://youtu.be/DtJtPv7i3EU
ReplyDelete