Convenience foods: What are they and how to use them?
Semi-finished food products are products made from various products prepared for culinary heat treatment. They are widely used in catering establishments, and are also sold in specialized Culinary stores and regular grocery stores.
The use of semi-finished products greatly facilitates the work of the housewife, freeing her from the labor-intensive work of primary processing of raw products, such as cleaning, removing inedible parts, preparing minced meat, dough, etc. The range of semi-finished products produced by food industry and catering enterprises according to appropriate recipes is diverse and includes meat, fish, cottage cheese, vegetables, cereals and other types of semi-finished products.
Semi-finished meat products can be large-piece meat products (weighing 125 g), such as entrecotes, splints, steaks, cutlets from beef, pork, lamb, as well as breaded large-piece semi-finished meat products, such as rump steaks or cutlets made from pork and lamb. Small-piece semi-finished meat products are intended for preparing dishes such as azu, beef stroganoff, goulash, shish kebab, etc. Chopped semi-finished meat products are sold in the form of raw minced meat or cutlets of various types, chopped beefsteak and schnitzel, lula kebab, and meatballs. You can also buy semi-finished products from offal in packaged and weighed form. Semi-finished products include dumplings and meatballs produced in meat processing plants, as well as some types of canned food, such as fried meat, stewed meat and goulash.
Semi-finished fish products include fish fillets, frozen fish from various types of fish. A variety of frozen fillet dishes should be prepared without prior thawing, because... in this case, part of the juice is lost, which reduces the taste and nutritional quality of the dishes. Frozen fish dumplings are also on sale. Natural canned fish can be used as semi-finished products for preparing first and second courses, salads and snacks.
Semi-finished vegetable products are produced fresh (carrot, cabbage, beet cutlets), frozen (potato wedges, frozen vegetable mixtures) and canned (canned mushrooms, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.). They can be used to prepare various dishes such as vegetable stews, pies, casseroles, salads, etc.
Semi-finished cottage cheese products are used to prepare cheesecakes, casseroles, cottage cheese muffins and other desserts. Semi-finished cereal products, such as semolina porridge, buckwheat porridge, rice and millet, can be used to prepare various dishes such as casseroles, casserole, porridge, etc.
When using processed foods, be aware that they often contain preservatives, dyes and other additives that can negatively affect health if consumed in large quantities. Therefore, you should adhere to the recommended dosages, and also choose semi-finished products from reliable manufacturers. Cooking from semi-finished products does not replace full-fledged cooking from fresh ingredients, but can be a good alternative if you lack time or the opportunity to prepare a dish from scratch.