Cooking comes down to three basic methods: dry heat, moist heat and combination cooking. Here’s a look at some popular ways to cook a meal.

Broiling: Broiling involves cooking food directly below dry heat. It produces a crispy, crunchy outer layer on the food.

Roasting: Another dry heat cooking method, roasting involves cooking food in an oven at high temperatures. Roasting is best for large cuts of meat or poultry that are tender and have internal or surface fats to keep them moist.

Grilling: Dry heat comes from the bottom when grilling over an open flame. Foods are cooked quickly while grilling.

Searing: During searing, one browns food, usually meat, on all sides using high heat to give the meat color and flavor. Then the meat is finished utilizing another technique, typically roasting.

Baking: Baking utilizes indirect heat to surround foods and cook from all sides. It is similar to roasting, but the temperature tends to be lower than with roasting.

Sautéing: When you sauté, foods are cooked quickly over a burner in a shallow pan, using a small amount of fat to coat food for even browning. Sauté is a French term for “jump.” Since food cooks quickly, they must be tossed and stirred frequently to prevent burning.

Poaching: This is a gentle method of cooking in which foods are submerged in liquids in a certain temperature range.

Stewing: Stewing is ideal for cooks who want to create very tender meats and vegetables. During stewing, food is cooked slowly in liquid over low heat. This helps to tenderize tough cuts of meat.

Pan-frying: Similar to sautéing, pan-frying involves cooking food that may have coating or breading in a small amount of hot oil.

Deep-frying: Deep-frying submerges foods in very hot oil to cook it quickly and crisp it up.

Practicing various cooking methods can help amateur chefs expand their culinary skill sets.