Proper Cooking Methods
Proper Cooking Methods
Appropriate cooking enhances the color, aroma, and taste of food, increasing appetite and benefiting health. For instance, stir-frying should be done quickly over high heat, avoiding prolonged boiling. Cover the wok to prevent water-soluble vitamins from escaping with steam and to avoid accelerating oxidation of vitamin C, which is sensitive to heat and oxygen. Adding a little vinegar during stir-frying helps preserve vitamin C, as it is stable in acidic environments but easily oxidizes into diketogulonic acid in neutral or alkaline conditions. Vinegar slows this oxidation process.
Among various cooking methods, steaming causes the least nutrient loss, followed by frying, pan-frying, and stir-frying. Boiling causes the most damage to nutrients. Regardless of method, high heat and short time are ideal. In short, cooking should be done with just the right heat level.
When preparing staples like rice, congee, or beans, avoid adding alkali, as it accelerates the destruction of vitamin C and vitamin B.
TCM nutrition also emphasizes balancing yin and yang, and cold and heat, during food preparation. For the elderly, food should be warm, soft, and cooked thoroughly—avoiding sticky, hard, raw, or cold foods.
Balancing yin and yang in cooking means adding cooling, moistening ingredients like green vegetables, bamboo shoots, cabbage roots, tender reed roots, fresh fruit juices, and various juicy fruits when using yang-nourishing foods, to moderate their excessive pungency and dryness. Conversely, adding pungent, dry seasonings like Sichuan pepper, black pepper, fennel, dried ginger, and cinnamon to yin-nourishing foods helps counteract their excessive richness and stickiness.
Balancing cold and heat in cooking means using more ginger, pepper, scallions, and garlic in cooking for those with cold constitutions, while those with hot constitutions should use fewer pungent, dry seasonings and prefer light, cooling foods like vegetables, fruits, and melons.
For the elderly, whose spleen and stomach are weak, extra care is needed in cooking. The *Shou Qin Yang Lao Xin Shu* says: "Old people’s food should generally be warm, soft, and cooked thoroughly—avoiding sticky, hard, raw, or cold foods." Sticky or hard foods are difficult to digest; undercooked tough meat can easily damage the stomach. Elderly or frail individuals often fall ill due to such habits. Thus, rice, meat, fish, vegetables, and fruits should be cooked until soft and tender before eating.
Additionally, food should be kept light rather than salty—a key rule in cooking. Salt is essential in daily life, serving both as a seasoning and providing sodium and chloride necessary for normal physiological metabolism. However, excessive salt intake increases risks of hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, and even cancer. Generally, daily salt intake from food should not exceed 10 grams. However, in special cases—such as hot summer months when excessive sweating leads to salt loss—salt should be replenished promptly.