Many innovations in the food industry in recent years attempt to increase the speed and efficiency of longer cooking processes. This includes marinating, braising, baking and slow-cooking.

Many of these processes take hours and maybe even days, and for a working family or a chef with limited time, these techniques can save a great deal of time. These include vacuum packing, immersion circulating, convection baking and pressure cooking.

Vacuum packing is a technique that has been used by manufacturing companies for a long time. However, this technology was recently modified for use with food. The process is quite simple. First, usually, a protein is placed in the vacuum bag with aromatic herbs or a marinade and sealed in the vacuum bag. The vacuum packing machine removes all the air from the bag, which speeds up the marinating process and adds more flavor to the protein.

Immersion circulating is somewhat related to vacuum packing. An immersion circulator has the ability to regulate the temperature of a container of water. To put it plainly, the water is circulated through the machine and the water is evenly heated. This can be used to cook foods in a sealed vacuum bag or sous vide certain proteins to ensure a perfectly cooked duck breast or filet. The machine has now gone portable and is now available to anyone that wants to elevate their cooking.

A convection oven is a type of oven that circulates the air in the oven so that the heat will be evenly distributed in around the food that is being baked. A traditional oven usually heats from the bottom, which can lead to uneven cooking or even burning. Convection heating is generally faster and will produce a more evenly cooked product.

Pressure cooking has been around in the culinary industry for quite a while, however, many home cooks do not know how to use it or where to purchase a pressure cooker. To provide some background to better understand how the pressure works, we need to discuss some chemical processes. Catabolic reactions happen at a higher heat and pressure, the same way liquids and solids change to gases at higher temperatures and pressures. The pressure cooker uses this principle to increase the speed of many slow-cooking processes. Pot roast can be completed in forty-five minutes in a pressure cooker whereas in a normal slow-cooker it may take up to five hours.

All of these technologies are just a few examples of the innovation of appliances in the culinary industry, all of which make more complicated cooking processes much easier and faster.