Answer:
I would say the most fundamental principal of cooking is understanding the relationship between time and temperature. We cook food for three reasons. 1) to make it more palatable or digestible. 2) to improve texture and colour. 3) to kill off any harmful bacteria.
For example, we know that a piece of meat generally has to be cooked to a safe internal temperature of 62C/144F. We can do this in a number of ways. We could cook it at a high temperature for a relatively short period of time, or we could cook it at a low temperature for a long period of time. However, the results will be different. High temperature cooking can cause the outside of the meat to be overcooked, leaving the inside less well cooked. If left for too long, the meat will start to shrink as water within the meat will turn to steam and evaporate. Low temperature cooking does the opposite. It reduces evaporation and ensures a more evenly cooked piece of meat that retains its juiciness. However, the trade off is time. In high temperature cooking, the meat may cook in less than an hour, whereas in low temperature cooking, it could take several hours. The choice of method will depend on the result you want. If you need food quickly and don’t mind variations in degree of doneness and a degree of shrinkage, then higher temperature cooking will work well. But if yield and retention of juiciness is more important, use lower temperatures.
With things such as vegetables, the relationship is less important because almost all vegetables will be cooked in liquid at high temperature (above boiling point). However, time becomes the more important factor, particularly with green vegetables. Cook for too long, and the food will loose its colour and the flavour will change. Cook for too short a time, and the texture may not be quite as nice.
By understanding the time/temperature ratio, you will be able to cook almost anything to perfection. The choice of utensils, ingredients or cooking method, although important, is very much a personal preference.
