plancha

How to use a professional Simogas plancha

Cooking a la plancha

With the trend of eating well, which has exploded in recent years, it is difficult to overlook this new way of cooking, the “plancha cooking”. The healthy and tasty plancha cuisine par excellence offers you a new way to prepare varied and balanced dishes, easily. Ideal if you take care of your line or your health!

Easy to use

Unlike the grill, turning on the plancha is very fast thanks to the electronic piezzo ignition.

After that, just drizzle a thin layer of oil with a spray and wait for the plancha to preheat for a few minutes.

The rise in temperature is very fast. There’s no need to turn on your plancha too far in advance if you’re not ready to serve the table.

Therefore, you no longer have to wait for hours in front of a barbecue and wait for the charcoal to turn into embers. Now you can enjoy your guests and your night in peace and quiet.

A wide food range

One of the main advantages of the plancha, whether gas plancha or electric plancha, is that it allows you to prepare all kinds of food. Meat, fish, vegetables or fruit. Plancha-cooking is no exception and allows you to prepare a complete meal from appetizer to dessert.

Unlike grilling, small foods also have their place on the plancha plate. Very useful if you want to accompany your meat with a vegetable julienne or prepare tapas with anchovies.

Unlike enamelled cast iron planchas, carbon rolled planchas, ground steel planchas, or hard chrome planchas are resistant to thermal shocks. Nothing prevents you from deglazing some white wine dishes, such as seafood, to give them more energy and flavor.

On the plancha cooking with marinades and preparating sauces, such as mussels or pasta dishes, goes very well.

Perfect cooking

For a successful kitchen, it is necessary to know these few tips to become a real plancha professional:

When the previously greased plate is hot, place your food on the plancha. Wait a few minutes before flipping so it doesn’t stick.

Once the food is browned on both sides, the thermostat must be lowered or the food must be moved to a less heated plancha plate area to finish cooking if necessary. This way, you get caramelized food on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

If you want to cook with different food, don’t worry. All you have to do is deglaze the plate with cold water or ice cubes and use a spatula to push the food debris to the grease container. Then grease the plate again and repeat the process to infinity!

Proven flavors and nutritional benefits

Whether you take care of your health, your weight, or you are a foodie, plancha cooking allows you to quickly take advantage with low fat content so that they retain all their juices and flavors, but also their nutritional benefits (vitamins, fiber, trace elements …).

In addition, food don´t come into contact with burnt fat and flames, as with barbecues, there is no carcinogenic health hazard.

Temperatures and cooking tips

Beginner or expert in cooking, you probably already know: the cooking temperatures are not the same if you want to cook a meat or fish steak. This principle also applies to plancha cooking. Therefore, the planchas are equipped with thermostat buttons that allow you to effectively control the cooking temperatures.

As a general rule, the temperature should not be higher than 270 °. Food is first sealed at high temperatures and, if necessary, you can extend the cooking at a lower temperature so that food retains its softness.

Below are the recommended cooking temperatures for each type of product:

  • Fruits: 180° for fruit
  • Vegetables: 220° for vegetables
  • White Meat: 240° at the beginning of cooking and then 100° when the meat is sealed
  • Red meat: 250° at the beginning of cooking and 220° when the meat is sealed
  • Whole fish: 260° at the beginning of cooking and then 220° when the fish is sealed
  • Fish fillets: 220°

Tricks for cooking meat

When you cook meat even on a pan or on the plancha plate, the cooking process contracts the meat and concentrates the juices in the meat. To make the meat more tender and tasty, it is recommended to let it rest for a few minutes at the end of cooking. In practice, it is enough to slightly heat a serving plate in the oven and, after cooking, place the meat on it, wrapping it tightly in aluminum foil. For an individual format, 2/3 minutes is enough, for a larger piece of meat about ten minutes.

Tricks for cooking fish

Some food, such as fish fillets, are more delicate to cook due to their fine and fragile meat. To cope with the case that your fish crumbles on the plate, you can use baking paper by placing it between the plate and the fish. Again, you need to lightly grease the plate, as well as the baking paper on which you will place the fish. However, be careful not to use baking paper on a too hot plancha plate, as the paper can burn at over 240°.

Tricks for cooking vegetables

For vegetables that need to be cooked longer than traditional vegetables, you have two options:

  • You can blanch the chopped vegetables in boiling water for a few minutes. Then drain it before placing it on the hot and previously greased plancha plate. Do not forget to turn down the thermostat when vegetables are cooked, otherwise there is a risk of charred vegetables.

  • If the vegetables are finely chopped and you do not want to go through two levels of doneness, it is quite possible that they will be quickly sealed on the plancha plate over high heat. Then lower the thermostat, extinguish with a splash of water and cover everything with a cooking bell. As a result of stewing, you get melted vegetables.

Now that you have all the keys in your hand to try out all your plancha recipes, let your imagination run wild and be creative. You will surely be surprised at how many recipes can be prepared on the plancha, and all this in the blink of an eye.