Pre-treatments are cooking methods that precede a First-Stage Cooking Method. They help create texture and sometimes flavor. They are optional in grain dishes not always optional in bean or tofu/tempeh dishes, and rare in vegetable cookery. One might label any cooking method a pretreatment, but by definition, here, it is before the food is edible. The Pretreatments are: soak, dry roast, saute, and smoke.