Forms of Heat Transfer
Cooking can be defined in a general way as
the transformation of raw foods into
something different. Most often, we transform
foods by heating them — by transferring
energy from a heat source into the foods, so
that the food molecules move faster and
faster, collide harder and harder, and react to
form new structures and flavors. Our various
cooking methods — boiling, broiling, baking,
frying, and so on — achieve their various
effects by employing very different materials
as the medium through which the heat moves,
and by drawing on different forms of heat
transfer. There are three ways to transfer heat,
and an acquaintance with them will help us
understand how particular cooking techniques
affect foods the way they do.
Conduction: Direct Contact