Cooking For Little Ones

Cooking for toddlers and growing children presents some unique challenges along the way. While you want to provide them with those ever so important nutrients, it is often difficult to get them to eat those foods that are best for their growing bodies. We are all probably well aware of the food pyramid and the number of servings our children need of healthy grains, proteins, fruits, vegetables, and calcium products. Getting them to eat these nourishing products is another matter all together unfortunately.

The good news when cooking for children is that you do not necessarily need to incorporate all the important nutrients into dinner food. The truth of the matter is that raw cucumbers, which are thinly sliced and sprinkled with salt make a much healthier snack than potato chips and many little ones love this for a snack. You get a vegetable in their system and they are getting a treat at snack time. The same holds true for melon and cantaloupes. These make excellent snacks and are a much-needed fruit in these important diets for little ones.

When it comes to cooking for little ones, however man, woman, and child cannot live on macaroni and cheese alone. It's been tried and tested and failed miserably. Try mixing things up whenever you can while keeping meals kid friendly. It is important that you try to introduce whole grains, proteins, and vegetables whenever possible at meal times around your home. The good news is that there are many prepackaged convenience foods that are introducing whole grains like never before in order to meet the growing demand of consumers for healthier meals that can be prepared with little fan fare or fuss.

Cooking healthier meals for kids is now easier than ever before. Fresh fruits and vegetables are best whenever possible. However, if you cannot manage fresh, you should avoid canned (fruits especially as they are often swimming in sugary sweetness) whenever possible. Frozen is far preferable to canned when it comes to both fruit and vegetables, as there are often fewer additives.

If you need some great meal ideas that are kid friendly and easy on the budget, you can often find recipes readily available online. You can meet your child's calcium and dairy product needs by adding milk as the drink of choice for meals or a slice of cheese melted over their favorite vegetable. Ice cream, yogurt, and pudding also make excellent calcium rich treats, in moderation of course.

Encourage your children to try new things rather than cooking the same few meals over and over again that you know they are likely to eat. This prevents two things from happening. First of all, it helps you not to get bored when cooking for your children. Second, it allows your children to try new flavors and textures and form opinions about them. By trying new things they will learn not only about the things they dislike but also the foods they really enjoy.

You should also keep in mind that your children are people too when cooking for them. Just as you have foods you like and dislike they also will develop tastes over time. Those tastes may also change in time as well. It's frustrating, I know, to spend time and money preparing a meal only to have your child push the plate away and refuse to even try the meal. For this, I recommend enlisting their help in the kitchen. Children are much more likely to eat the things they had a hand in preparing as a matter of accomplishment and pride. It's psychological warfare I know but all is fair in war and dinnertime.

Perhaps the greatest gift you can give yourself (much greater than the help in the kitchen) by 'forcing' your little ones to help prepare dinner is that they will learn to better appreciate your culinary efforts and eat peacefully rather than sullenly. This tactic has met with great success in my household when cooking for little ones. I hope you will enjoy the same degree of success as well.





--------------------
If you're going to cook for kids make sure that it looks really appetizing and colorful because kids are are likely to eat more when the food looks really good and nice.
Source

Cooking For One

It is often frustrating to attempt to plan meals that are designed for one. Despite this fact, we are seeing more and more recipe books and Internet websites that are dedicated to the act of cooking for one. Divorce and the death of spouses or grown children leaving for college are all reasons that someone accustomed to cooking for more than one would suddenly need to learn how to adjust all the cooking practices utilized before into a streamlined plan of cooking that is more efficient for one person creating less waste.

The mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make cooking for one a challenge rather than a trial. Use this opportunity to try new and exciting cuisines. Perhaps one of the greatest things about cooking for one is the fact that it isn't quite as expensive as cooking for two. This means that you have a little more money in the grocery budget with which to plan and prepare your meals.

One thing you may want to keep in mind however is that when cooking for one, if you prepare foods that are freezable. It may save more time (and in the end money) if you cook the full 2-4 servings that most recipes call for and freeze the leftovers in single serving portions for a later point in time. This leaves you with a freezer full of foods for those nights when the thought of cooking just seems beyond your capabilities. This also leaves you with doing the work once and enjoying the fruits of your efforts many times over. This is a great position to be in if you ask me.

We are finding more and more recipes and cookbooks that are designed around the concept of cooking for one. No matter what situation placed you in the position of cooking for one, there is no reason that you shouldn't enjoy great food that is exciting and pleasant simply because you are dining alone. There is no harm in enjoying a fabulous meal with a glass of wine and great music whether you are cooking for one or one hundred.

Remember you are what you eat and if you relegate yourself to boring meals that lack excitement and spice that is what you will become. However if you decide to reach out and try new and exciting dishes with every meal you prepare when cooking for one, it will show in the way you embrace life in other areas as well. While we should not live to eat, we should also not limit ourselves to eating to live. Enjoy the foods you prepare whether the portions are large or small in size.

If you do not want to invest heavily in cookbooks that relate to cooking for one, it is quite possible that your local public library will have a few from which you can find some excellent recipes tips and resources. While you are there be sure to check out their selection of exotic food cookbooks in order to spice things up a bit. You never know what treasures you may discover on the shelves or your local library. You may even find local resources on classes that center on the idea of cooking for one. If the library proves to be a bust as far as resources go, the Internet is full of recipes, tips, and hints for those who are cooking for one.





---------------------
Cookbooks are very helpful and nowadays we have the help of the internet where you can find easy and delicious dishes you can try at home.

Source

Cooking Terms and Techniques for Absolute Beginners

Simmer: Simmering means that you are heating a lqiuid to a temperature that is close to a boil, but not hot enough to create bubbles. I simmer food on a 3 or 4 temperature setting on an electric stove. You still need to stir occassionally on simmer; food may still stick to the bottom.

Saute: To saute is to cook in oil over heat. An example of sauteing would be to saute an onion in olive oil.

Marinate: Marinating is taking food and soaking it in a mixture of spices, oil, and possible vinegar to make it more tender and flavorful. You can generally marinate food for a half hour to days depending on the dish.

Mince: You may hear the word mince a lot with garlic. Mincing is chopping something into very tiny pieces. Think onions on McDonals's hamburgers.

Julienne: Julienne is such a fancy word for a simple cut. Julienne means to cut something into long strips. This can be done with many vegetables like carrots. Make it easy on yourself and buy a julienne peeler, a little gadget that makes perfect julienne strips.

Chop: This is a very basic cooking technique. To chop is to cut into small pieces. The don't have to be uniform or exactly the same.

Dice: Dice is like chopping, but the pieces are smaller.

Slice: Slicing is when you cut completely through an object. Think of slicing cheese, or bread. Same principle goes for veggies, meat and fruit.

Brown: To brown a meat means to cooking until brown. You may brown the sides of a roast on the stovetop before cooking in a crockpot or oven.

So, you have learned how to boil water and make rice...:

These very basic cooking terms will take you to the next level of cooking. Knowing the basics can really make a difference in your kitchen creations.




----------------
These terms are widely used in the kitchen or when you watch cooking show. Now, you already have the ideas when you heard these terms.

Source

Quick and Easy Pasta Toss Recipe

A quick, easy, inexpensive, and satisfying Italian meal

Looking for a quick and easy Italian meal? Learn how to make a simple pasta toss. Here's a recipe to get you started.

Quick and easy Italian recipes are an easy option for college students, newlyweds, or anyone moving into their first apartment or in need of easy cooking tips and kitchen basics. Stock up on convenience foods such as dried pasta, canned tomato sauce, store bought pesto, shredded mozzarella cheese, refrigerated pizza crust, and dried oregano and basil. (And see my grocery list suggestions for basic frozen food, pantry food, refrigerated food, and spices and condiments).

A pasta toss is easy to learn how to make, and you can experiment with the ingredients all you like. First, prepare your favorite dried pasta according to package directions, and drain. In a skillet, cook together the ingredients you want to add to the pasta. Then add the pasta and toss together with a wooden spoon, spatula, or tongs. Here's a quick and easy pasta toss recipe to get you started (and check out these other quick and easy recipes as well).

QUICK AND EASY PASTA TOSS RECIPE

* 2 cups dried penne pasta (or similar pasta)
* 1 can (14.4 ounces) chopped tomatoes, not drained
* 1/2 cup prepared pesto sauce
* 2 Tablespoons olive oil
* 1 onion, chopped (or 1 cup frozen chopped onions)
* 1 small container mushrooms, sliced
* 2 cloves garlic, chopped
* 1 cup Gorgonzola cheese crumbles
* Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top

Prepare pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside. Heat oil in medium hot skillet. Add onions. Cook for about 5-8 minutes, turning frequently with a metal or plastic spatula, until onions are soft. Add garlic and cook for just a minute. Add mushrooms and toss mixture with spatula until mushrooms cook down. (They may get watery; keep tossing and turn up the heat a little, and the water will evaporate.) Add can tomatoes (with liquid) and pesto, and stir to combine with vegetables. Bring mixture to a low boil and cook on medium heat until the sauce thickens, for about 10 minutes. Add drained pasta and toss gently to combine it with the sauce. Add Gorgonzola cheese and toss throughout. Serve with sprinkled Parmesan cheese. Serves 4-6.



--------------
I really love pasta aside from it's very delicious it's also easy too cook.

Source

The Art of Baking - a dry heat method of cooking

Definition of Baking

Baking is defined as cooking food in an oven using dry heat. That’s all well and good, but since baking is one of the primary ways in which we cook food, let’s take a minute to look at baking, in depth. When we think of the term “baking” we are generally talking about cakes, breads, and pastries. We will discuss oven roasting of meat and vegetables in the Roasting section.
History of Baking

Baking was originally accomplished in the coals of a fire, or on a hearth. The Italian peasant bread, focaccia, comes from the Italian word for hearth. Notice that it is the same root as the word “focus.” The hearth was, literally and figuratively, the center, or focus, of the home.

From the earliest, unleavened breads from the Middle East and the Americas to risen breads to elaborate cakes and pastries, history leaves us record of baking in many ancient civilizations, including Babylon, Egypt, Rome and Greece.

Types of Ovens

Several free-standing brick ovens have been uncovered in the ruins of Pompeii. Other ovens of the ancient world include clay and even mud ovens, and later, in the 1600’s, cast metal ovens, such as the Dutch oven. Although brick and clay ovens are still in wide use all over the world as well as in America, most home bakers will have access to a conventional oven, a convection oven and/or a microwave oven.

Conventional ovens consist of a metal box with several racks and upper and lower thermostatically controlled heating elements of some sort (gas or electric). Preheating a conventional oven first heats the air in the oven and then the metal box itself.

Cooking is primarily done through means of radiant heat. Heat is transferred from the walls of the oven to the food through the air in the oven. Some conduction occurs, as well. Conduction is the transfer of heat through direct contact.

For example, cakes are baked with radiant heat from the oven itself, and heat is also conducted from the cake pan (which of course has heated up) directly to the batter. This is why baked goods are generally darker at the edges where they meet the pan: the food is being cooked through two heat transfer processes at once.
Convection ovens are similar to conventional ovens, but they also have a fan inside that creates an air current inside the oven. Regular convection ovens have a fan that blows air, but true convection ovens also have a third heating element, located right behind the fan, so the fan blows heated air.

In general, convection ovens speed the cooking process, harnessing radiant heat energy, conductive heat energy as well as convective heat energy. If you have a convection oven, your baking times will be shorter, and you will most likely have to set the thermostat anywhere from 25 to 50 degrees lower than your recipes call for, unless they were developed using a convection oven.

Microwave ovens send energy into food in the form of waves that excite “lopsided” molecules, namely: water. Microwave ovens can heat quickly, but since water boils at 212 degrees, food will never get hot enough to brown. For that reason, most home cooks eschew the microwave for cooking, but they are very useful and efficient when it comes to reheating foods.

Baking V. Roasting

The age old question of which came first, baking or roasting. No I have that confused with something else. Seriously, I get asked what's the difference between baking and roasting all the time. People want to know why we bake bread but roast chicken since they are both essentially the same dry heat cooking method. You have baked clams but roasted bruschetta. To make matters even more confusing, there are baked potatoes and oven roasted potatoes.

To help clear this up, I wrote a blog called Baked or Roasted - You Decide that might help or may even confuse you more.

Mixing Methods:

Since we have pretty well established that baking starts with dough or a batter, let us take a moment to examine the different methods we have for making a batter or dough. We’ll discuss methods for making bread dough elsewhere. Many of these methods outline the manner in which fats are incorporated into the batter or dough.

Creaming

In the creaming method, fats are mixed with sugar to form a mixture that is either smooth and creamy (cookie dough) or light and fluffy (cakes). Then, eggs are added one at a time, followed by adding dry ingredients (flours + salt + spices + chemical leaveners) alternately with wet ingredients (milk/water + liquid flavorings). The resultant batter can be very thick, as in cookie dough, or “spoonable,” like cake batter. Rarely does the creaming method produce a batter that is truly pourable.

So why combine ingredients this way? The initial creaming of the fat with the sugar creates lots of little air bubbles (fewer for cookies, many more for cakes). The sharp edges of the sugar actually cut into the butter and create a bunch of little air pockets. Upon heating, the air in the pockets expands, helping the dough/batter to rise.

Beating the eggs in early allows even more air to be whipped in (think of meringue) in the initial mixing stages. In the creaming method, it is very important that you do not skimp on the creaming of the fats/sugar/eggs. The more air pockets you have to begin with, the more rise you will get, regardless of how much baking powder or baking soda you add to the batter.

When adding the flour and liquid, it is important to mix as little as possible while still getting the ingredients well combined. The less you mix, the less gluten is developed, resulting in a more tender final product. Adding flour before adding the liquid helps to coat the flour with fat, further inhibiting gluten production. If you add liquid first, and then add flour, you will end up with a chewier final product since more gluten will be activated.

Muffin

The muffin method is the method by which we make muffins, scones, pancake and waffle batter and other quick breads. It’s a pretty easy method, but like many easy things, it must be done correctly to be successful. In the muffin method, all dry ingredients are combined (flour + salt + sugar + chemical leaveners + spices).

All wet ingredients are combined (milk/water + liquid fats + eggs + liquid flavorings).

Then, the wet ingredients are poured onto the dry ingredients and gently mixed. Lumps are okay in this method—they will settle out on their own. Since you’re not taking the extra step of coating the flour with fat, it is extra important that you mix gently so you don’t activate the gluten.

When incorporating the wet with the dry, don’t think “mix,” think “fold.” You want to gently fold the ingredients together to make a batter. This folding shouldn’t take any longer than about ten to fifteen seconds. Then, even if it’s lumpy, as Alton Brown says, “Just walk away.”

In reality, you want to get your batter into tins and into the oven (or on the griddle) relatively quickly so the chemical leavening can do its job.

Biscuit

The biscuit method is the method used to make biscuits, scones and many pie doughs. In the mixing method, dry ingredients are combined (flour + sugar + salt + chemical leaveners + dry flavorings).

Then, chunks of cold, solid fat (butter, lard, shortening or a mixture) is cut into the dry ingredients) with either forks or another mechanical helper or by hand), until the fat is about the size of peas. This method allows some of the flour to be coated with fat, adding to tenderness while leaving enough fat in large pieces to melt during the baking process and create steam. This adds texture and leavening to the final product.

Once the cold fat is cut in, cold liquids are added (ice water/milk/buttermilk/cream). It is important to keep the fats very cold in this method. If the fats begin to soften before you are finished, put your bowl in the freezer for a few minutes so they firm up. Once the liquid is incorporated, mix minimally, shape and bake.

Two-Stage

The two stage mixing method was originally applied to high ratio cakes. The term high ratio refers to a high ratio of water to flour held together by the emulsifiers in the “new fangled” solid shortenings. Since the emulsifiers could hold more water, the batter could also hold more sugar, since sugar dissolves in water. This helped to increase shelf life and moistness in cakes.

Since we have become more health conscious about the effect of trans fats, solid shortenings have fallen out of favor somewhat. The two-stage mixing method, however, is an effective method for creating a meltingly tender, fine crumbed cake.

In the two-stage method, you mix all dry ingredients in the mixing bowl (flour + sugar + salt + chemical leaveners + dry spices). Then, mix the eggs with about ¼ of the liquid ingredients (milk/water + wet flavorings).

Make sure that all dry ingredients are well mixed in the bowl, and then add butter at cool room temperature plus the egg mixture. Mix on low to moisten all the ingredients, and then beat on medium for a couple of minutes to develop the structure of the batter. The batter will get light and fluffy.

Next, add the rest of the milk in three additions, scraping the bowl and mixing for a few seconds between additions. Batter made using this method is generally a bit thinner that batter made with the creaming method. Since dry + wet + eggs are mixed in at the same time, you will not get the same amount of air bubbles that you will with the creaming method. Your final product will have a tighter, more velvety crumb and have a very melting mouth feel.

Egg Foam

The egg foam method is the method we use for making genoise, angel food cake, and meringue-type cookies. In this mixing method, most (if not all) of the leavening comes from an extended beating of either egg whites or whole eggs with sugar. Then, the dry ingredients are gently folded in.

Batter made with the egg foam method of mixing are generally very thick and light. It is best to bake them immediately and let them cool in the pan upside down, as the structure of these cakes is very delicate until cool.

There are also some “hybrid” mixing methods where eggs are separated, the yolks are added according to the creaming method or the muffin method, then the whites are beaten to medium peaks and folded in before baking. This creates a batter with extra lift—from chemical leaveners, air bubbles created during creaming and air bubbles in the egg foam—and a drier end product.

Now that you know the major mixing methods, the world is your oyster. You can take almost any cake recipe that calls for the creaming method and apply the two-stage method. Note the results, and then use the method that you like best.

Read a recipe, name the general mixing method, based on the instructions, and then adapt it how you see fit. Not all mixing methods are interchangeable, but you can usually use choose between creaming or two-stage, creaming or muffin or even adapting a recipe with whole eggs to the hybrid method described above. It all depends on the final texture you seek: tender, chewy, light and dry or moist and velvety.



------------
I really love baking, it makes our life more easier in the sense that when we are baking our dishes or cakes we can do other things at the same time.

Source

Cooking Tips for beginners

Pressure cooking is quite a daily routine in everyday life.

Unlike a normal cooking vessel, it is in a pressure cooker that food cooks beyond the boiling point of water that is around 1250 Celsius. Hence food cooked here is even more hygienic as more germs are killed as against the boiling point of water at 1000 Celsius.

Pressure cookers are known in different names in different industries. The first pressure cooker when invented in 1679 by Dennis Papin was known as the steam digester. Larger volumes of pressure cookers are known as canners. In hospitals to sterilize material a pressure cooker known as an autoclave is used.

Where food is concerned pressure cookers can be used only for food that has water as a part of the ingredients or a good amount of steam will be produced. For instance frying chips or for deep-frying dishes the cooker cannot be used.

The dish to prepare has to emit some amount of steam. Also as steam is locked inside the cooker the dish is cooked faster. Shredded cabbage takes only one minute, fresh beans takes around 5 minutes, rice takes 5 minutes and a whole dish of vegetable curry takes only 20 minutes as against the 1 hour it would take on normal gas. Pressure cooker saves a lots of time, nearly 60 to 70 per cent.

Cooking Tips

# When you soak rice and urad dal for idlis and dosas, wash everything thoroughly before soaking. Later use the soaked water while grinding. If you wash rice and dal after soaking you will lose most of the vitamins.

# Excess salt in any dish can be brought down by adding diced potatoes, tomatoes or a teaspoon of sugar.

# When you are making vadas, if the batter is watery - you will have the problem of oil splattering when you fry it. Add a tablespoon of ghee to the batter and your problem will be solved.



----------------
I love using pressure cooker on my beef because it makes the meat really tender and you wont wait long hours. It saves a lot of your time and gas in your stove.

Source

Apple Pecan Bread

DESCRIPTION: A sweet dessert cake

* 1/2 cup butter or margarine
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 eggs
* 2 Tbs. milk
* 1 tsp. vanilla extract
* 2 cups flour
* 1 tsp. double-acting baking powder
* 1 tsp. baking soda
* 1 cup chopped apples
* 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan; set aside. In a large mixing bowl cream butter or margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, milk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and stir just until well blended. Fold in apples and nuts. Pour into pan. Bake for 1 hour. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack. Once cool, wrap and let stand overnight before slicing.

Yield: 1 loaf.



-------------
I tried baking when I was 13 years old, it was a pineapple upside down and it tastes really good. I haven't tried baking Apple pecan bread and I/m so excited to try it in my kitchen.

Source

10 Tips for Learning to Cook from Scratch

Two years ago I could go for days without setting foot in my kitchen. Work had taken over my life, and I didn’t even make coffee for myself. I had lots of nice things—four sizes of pots, skillets, a stock pot, a wok, baking sheets, pie plates, a slow cooker, a rice cooker, a bread maker, a KitchenAid mixer—but they were just crowding my kitchen.

While fantasizing about a balanced life, I read the book Apartment Therapy by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan. To get the most out of your living space, it advises cooking at least one meal a week at home. So one evening I invited a friend over for dinner, thinking: How hard can it be to make pork chops? My friend, who was raised in Italy and can make gnocchi from scratch, said the pork chop was fine even though it tasted like shoe leather. I was mortified and vowed to change.

So I was lucky—when it became necessary to cut back on my expenses, I was already cooking a few basic dinners a week. Now I take lunch to work, do takeout even less and watch my ingredient costs. Right now a lot of people are considering cooking to save money, and I’m pretty sure many are in the same boat as I was: starting from scratch skills-wise and cursed with a rarefied palate from so much eating out. Here are ten tips I learned along the way:

1. Cooking is not necessarily time consuming. Lots of things, from quesadillas to pork chops, can be made in takeout time. I am always on the lookout for quick, easy meals. Mark Bittman, who writes a regular column for The New York Times, is one of my heroes. Gourmet magazine’s archive of fast recipes can be found on Epicurious.com under Quick & Easy Recipes. Or try my quick quesadilla: grate Monterey Jack cheese onto a flour tortilla, fold the tortilla in half and fry it in oil for two minutes on each side, then serve topped with mashed avocado.

2. It’s good to know what’s in the food you eat. A happy side effect of cooking is that you know exactly what’s in your meals because you put it there. Over the winter I was craving chocolate and sweets, but there was no room in my budget for store-bought pastries. So I began making my own cakes and cookies, and was surprised at how few ingredients are needed: flour, sugar, eggs, milk, baking powder and spices. No preservatives, no trans fats. For the summer I’ve been making a chocolate granita with just cocoa, sugar and water.

3. You don’t need fancy gear. Cooking is easier if you have the right tools, but almost everything I’ve done uses a pot or a frying pan, a good knife and a spoon. If you don’t have a mixer, you can still mix by hand; it just takes longer and burns a few more calories.

4. Music helps. When I got into cooking, I hated being in my kitchen—it was lonely and boring. So I bought an under-the-counter clock radio/DVD player and everything changed. I’ve read about people having a glass of wine or beer while they cook, but that will just make me clumsy. Figure out something that will let you enjoy waiting for the water to boil.

If you have three out of five of the listed spices, try the dish anyway. If you don’t have nuts, go ahead and make the brownies.

5. But you need to be tuned in. A big problem I’ve always had while cooking, especially the third or fourth time I make a dish, is not focusing properly. I might misremember the amount of a key ingredient, or accidentally dump half a jar of cayenne into the beans because I thought there was a second lid with holes under the cap. More than once I have forgotten that I had something on the stove until I smelled it burning (now I set a timer in case I move on to something else). Focus is good for you, like meditating.

6. You don’t need every ingredient. If you have three out of five of the listed spices, try the dish anyway. If you don’t have nuts, go ahead and make the brownies. In fact, my mother always left out the nuts when she baked because she thought they were too expensive. I recently made chili that called for a lot of vegetables that I didn’t have, and I just added in what I did have. This works best with dishes like casseroles or soup; don’t try baking a cake without eggs.

7. You can double a recipe or cut it in half. A corollary to No. 6. I was craving Welsh Rabbit one day, but the recipe I found made eight servings, and the thought of leftover Welsh Rabbit was not appetizing. So, I cut the ingredients to two servings. You do have to pay extra special attention if you do this, since some ingredients, like eggs, can’t be halved. Most measuring spoon sets don’t have ½ tablespoon, but ½ tablespoon is 1 ½ teaspoons. There are lots of measurement converters on the web; I use Infoplease Cooking Measurement Equivalents. I advise writing out the new list of ingredients and measures so you don’t get mixed up.

8. Most dishes start with onions and garlic sautéed in oil. Get used to it. Set the gas or electric burner on medium-low and watch while the onions change color from white to translucent to golden to brown. Stir every now and then so they don’t stick to the pan. If you’re trying to make up something on the spot, this is a great foundation—it works with anything from making scrambled eggs to heating up canned beans to sautéing chicken breasts.

9. Things cook faster in tiny pieces. I love mashed potatoes, and I noticed they cook faster when diced. But if you’re not mashing, be aware that a friend recently told me potatoes get more watery that way.

10. Making soup is easy. Simmer vegetables in chicken broth until they are soft and then blending it all. I was making a lot of soup from recipes last winter when I realized that most of them involved this method. When the next cold snap comes, I’m winging it.





--------------
I love eating so learned how to cook food. At first, it was frustrating because the dish I cooked taste not so good but I guess it's not that bad. That had been my inspiration in learning some cooking tips that I could use in my kitchen.

Source

Healthy Cooking For Beginners - 4 Easy Tips You Can Start Using Today

Healthy cooking for beginners starts with this basic fact: you do not have to sacrifice taste or flavor in order to eat healthily!! Small changes to recipes can make a big difference to your overall nutrition. One of the easiest things you can do to improve your lifestyle is to swap out unhealthy ingredients for more wholesome ones. If you need help with cooking healthy food, you are at the right place. You may find that there is very little difference in taste if you make careful choices, but overall, the dish will be much better for you.

Tip #1: Use Less Fat or Grease

Quite often a recipe will call for butter or oil - perhaps to bind ingredients together, or to help with the cooking process. Avoid lard, and butter, and substitute for vegetable or sunflower oil, and low fat spreads where possible. If you cannot substitute for whatever reason, try using less of the oil or fat, or substitute with something like apple sauce. Also, try using a non stick cooking spray instead of oil if you are only using the oil to lubricate a pan.

Tip #2: Substitute Eggs For Something Better

Eggs are very nutritious. You would say they are interesting little packages of nutrition, with plenty of good things inside them. They are beneficial for keeping you healthy and for binding foods and creating emulsions. But eggs do have a downside. Egg yolks contain a lot of cholesterol, which many people try to avoid for health reasons. For healthy recipes that call for eggs, substitute two egg whites for one full egg, and you should be good to go.

Tip #3: Use Yogurt Instead of Mayonnaise

Yogurt is very versatile, healthy, and often relatively low in fat. If you need to make a recipe more creamy, or cool down something over-spiced, try using yogurt. For recipes that require mayonnaise or cream, try using yogurt instead - replacing a certain amount of mayonnaise with an equal amount of yogurt should work well. The only caveat is that while cream can simmer quite well, yogurt starts to curdle if it is over-heated, so watch the cooking time carefully if you are making a sauce with yogurt.

Tip #4: Reduce Your Salt Intake

It can be hard to get used to using less salt - after all, it has quite a strong taste and you really notice when it isn't there, but instead of covering everything in salt, why not try some other seasonings - garlic, herb mixtures, mustard, onions and celery can all be used as seasonings, and after a while you will enjoy mixing flavours and experiencing new tastes instead of using salt for everything. You don't have to totally eliminate salt, but reducing your intake will be a big step towards a healthy lifestyle.




-----------------
Cooking is easy as long as you are eager to learn and continue reading recipes and tips. Try also to discover new tastes then try it at home.

Source

Tips on Cooking Eggs

If things don’t quite go according to plan when you are cooking eggs, hopefully these 10 tips will help.

I just have a few tips for you when cooking eggs, I hope they are useful.

Hard or Soft Boiled Eggs

When boiling an egg, first put it into cold water, then raise the temperature of the water
to boiling. If you put the egg straight into boiling water, the shell may well crack.

Secondly, as an additional safeguard against cracking, stick a pin in the round end.
This lets the air out instead of bursting the shell.

Once cooked, a hard boiled egg should be put under cold running water straight away.
It will stop the yolk going gray.

Additionally, running the egg under cold water allows you to shell it while it is still hot.
The cold water stops the hot shell burning your fingers.

If you are chopping the hard boiled egg into bits, it is easier to cut it without dragging
if you wet your knife first.

Poached Eggs

When poaching eggs, if you put ½ a teaspoon of vinegar in the hot water, it helps the
egg to go solid a bit more quickly than without.

If you don’t have a proper poaching pan, you can use a normal saucepan. After putting
the vinegar in the boiling water, stir the water around and around in a circle. While it is still
swirling, gently place the egg in the middle of the pan using a ladle or large spoon. In a few
seconds it has solidified enough to remove the spoon. This takes a little practice but it is
very satisfying when it works.

Fried Eggs

When frying eggs, to give them a regular shape and to keep them apart from each other,
put pastry or biscuit cutters into the frying pan and put an egg in each one. Remember to
use metal ones not plastic! This is also nice for making unusual shapes but it can be
difficult to extract the egg from some shapes so be careful.

Other Things

To separate yolks from the whites, either use your hand by passing the yolk from hand
to hand while letting the egg white drip through your fingers into a container or by cracking
the egg into a bowl or onto a plate and covering up the yolk with an egg cup. You can then
tip the egg white into your waiting container.

Finally, at Easter time, if you want to decorate some eggs for the children, hard boil
some eggs with different things in the water to color them. For example onion skins will
turn the eggs an orange color, beetroot will turn them a reddish color and of course food
coloring will also do the same job. The whiter the egg shell, the better the color will be.

With any of the above cooking suggestions, please be careful with the boiling water and/or
hot fat so as not to burn yourself and please enjoy your eggs.



-----------
Most of us cooking egg is the first thing we learned to prepare. There are variety of style in preparing it, you can have it fried, hard boiled, sunny side-up and others.

Source

How to fillet a salmon

Here's How To Filet Salmon:

# Lay fish flat on a large cutting board
# Use sharp filet knife
# Slice down the belly of the fish and clean out innards. Ricnse with cold water.
# Cut tail, fins and head behind the gills. Some people like to use shears for cutting off the gills.
# Turn knife and cut down backbone.
# Flip filet over, skin side down
# Cut between meat and skin
# Turn fish over, repeat process on other side of fish
# Lay filet flat, cut rib cage away from rest of filet
# Rinse filets with cold water and you are done!



----------
I think the secret to fillet is having a sharp and very nice knife.

Source

Homemade Mayonnaise Recipe

Homemade Mayo is easy to make and tastes so much better than store bought.

We all have our favorite brand of Mayonnaise. All you have to do is look at some of the comments on my blog post - What Mayonnaise Tastes Best to see how people react when it comes to this staple. And please go over and leave your comments.

Whether it's Hellman's, Kraft's Real Mayonnaise or one of the many other commercial brands available, there is no comparison when it comes to homemade. The color is a pale yellow compared to commercial white and the flavor is richer, deeper and just better than any commercial brand.

Now I will give you a basic recipe for mayonnaise but I would rather you play around with the ingredients until you get your mayo to taste the way you like it and the consistency you prefer. All you need to make mayonnaise is egg yolk and oil, but most people add at least vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper for additional flavor.

Think of mayonnaise as a neutral spread to which you can add almost any sort of flavoring, depending on what you’re serving it with. You might leave it plain for a chicken salad sandwich spread, or maybe you’ll stir in some minced chipotles in adobo for a Mexican kick. How about garlic or maybe lemon zest and dill to go with salmon? The possibilities are really only limited by your creativity and palate.

Basic Mayonnaise -To scale this recipe up or down, the ratio is one yolk per cup of oil

Ingredients

1 egg yolk
a heavy pinch of salt
a pinch of sugar
a few grinds of black pepper (use white if you don’t want black specks in your mayonnaise)
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
About 1 cup neutral oil

How to Make Homemade Mayonnaise

Mix yolk, salt, sugar and pepper together until well blended and yolk lightens in color.

Mix in the vinegar.

While whisking constantly, drizzle in the oil very slowly. Begin with just a drop or two at a time. Once you have added about half the oil, you can add it in a very thin stream. Keep whisking the entire time you are adding the oil.

When finished, the mayonnaise will not be as thick as store bought mayonnaise. Let it sit, refrigerated, for at least half an hour. Stir, and taste for seasoning. If necessary, whisk in a pinch more salt, sugar or another teaspoon or so of vinegar. Wait before tasting because it takes awhile for the salt to dissolve into all of the oil.

Note that raw egg yolk is used as the emulsifier. As with all raw eggs, there is some risk of salmonella contamination. The USDA advises that the elderly, very young and those with compromised immune systems should avoid raw eggs. Use the freshest eggs possible or substitute pasteurized eggs.

If you own a food processor, I have a great video by Chef Todd Mohr on my Caesar Salad Recipe web page. The video is at the end of the post. Besides showing you how to make a great Caesar Salad, Chef Todd shows you how to make a basic mayonnaise using a food processor. His video describes how to make mayonnaise without a recipe and I highly recommend you check it out.

You can also make mayonnaise in a blender, immersion blender, stand mixer, or by hand using a balloon whisk. The procedure is the same:

Blender Mayo - If you do not own a food processor, using a blender is the next best way to make a cup or so of mayonnaise.

Put egg yolk, salt, sugar, pepper and vinegar in the blender container. Put on the lid, taking out the plastic plug in the center. Turn the blender on medium speed. Once the egg yolk is light in color, begin adding the oil, a couple of drops at a time. Once half the oil is incorporated, add it in a thin stream. You might need to scrape the blender container one or two times with a rubber spatula to make sure that all the ingredients are emulsified.

Immersion Blender Mayo - A good method to make mayonnaise very quickly since the powerful blades of an immersion blender emulsify the oil and vinegar almost instantly.

Put all the mayonnaise ingredients In a tall, narrow container, such as a straight-sided beaker. Insert the immersion blender right down to the bottom of the beaker. Turn it on high, and very slowly raise it to the top of the beaker. Instant mayonnaise.

Stand Mixer Mayo - Use this method to make large quantities of mayonnaise. You will probably need at least four yolks since stand mixers are designed so that the attachments don’t touch the bottom or sides of the bowl.

Put egg yolk, salt, sugar, pepper and vinegar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Using the whip attachment, whip egg yolk mixture on medium-high speed until light in color. Add the oil, a drop at a time, until you have incorporated half. Then, add the rest of the oil in a thin stream.

Balloon Whisk Mayo - Since you control the whisk, this is a good method to use if you just want a small amount of mayonnaise. You can whisk in all directions, making sure that even ¼ cup worth of mayonnaise is nicely emulsified. Do use handmade mayonnaise right after making, since the emulsion is not quite as stable. There is no way for a human arm to break the fat into droplets as small as a mechanical device can (unless you have a bionic arm).

Put egg yolk, salt, sugar, pepper and vinegar in a large metal or glass bowl. Use a bowl that is much bigger than you think you will need to give you plenty of room to whisk. Whisk yolk mixture until light in color. Add the oil, a drop or two at a time. Whisk each addition of oil until it is emulsified before adding more.

Plain Mayonnaise? Not Very Exciting…

As I mentioned earlier, you can make endless mayonnaise variations by either adding in ingredients during the initial blending or by stirring in ingredients after the fact. In general, stir in ingredients with texture—capers, fresh herbs, chopped pickle or onion, etc—after you make the base mayonnaise. There are two reasons for this: a) you want these ingredients to stay “chunky,” and they certainly won’t if you use a food processor, blender or immersion blender to make your mayonnaise. b) you don’t want any “chunky” ingredients to interfere with your emulsion.

Here are some ideas for mayonnaise additions. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Consider it a jumping off point for your own ideas.

Ingredients to add with the yolks

Ground spices:

• Curry powder
• Cayenne pepper
• Old Bay or Crab Boil
• Chili powder
• etc

Any flavor of mustard that you like

Your favorite hot sauce
Soy sauce
Reconstituted wasabi powder
Lemon juice (substitute for vinegar)
Flavored salts, such as smoked salt or truffle salt
Garlic paste
Finely minced (or Microplaned) lemon zest

Ingredients to Mix Into Finished Mayonnaise

Relish or finely chopped pickles
Fresh or dried herbs:

• dill
• cilantro
• basil
• fennel fronds
• sage
• oregano
• thyme
• etc
Minced onion
Minced roasted garlic
Capers
Green peppercorns
Chopped peppers or chilies
Prepared horseradish

Do I Have to Use Plain Oil? Boring!

You can use any type of oil that you’d like. Using a neutral vegetable oil will allow any other ingredients to shine as it takes a background position, but feel free to experiment with using a peppery extra virgin olive oil or even one of the flavored oils that are available now, such as lemon or hot pepper.

You do not only have to use one type of oil, either. Experiment with using different proportions of neutral oil to flavored oil. Use oils with a very assertive flavor, such as toasted sesame oil, as an accent only.

What About Aioli? Isn’t That Just Like Mayonnaise?

Traditionally, aioli is made with minced garlic and extra virgin olive oil. Many chefs in restaurants serve “garlic aioli” as a dipping sauce, but if they only stirred some minced garlic into some mayonnaise, it’s just a flavored mayo. Aioli sounds more “classy” than mayonnaise, so many chefs use the term on their menus, even if they aren’t making it with pricey extra virgin olive oil.

To make a classic aioli, use 1 egg yolk and 1 teaspoon of minced fresh garlic to one cup of extra virgin olive oil. You can season it with a bit of lemon juice, salt and pepper.




------------
Ingredients in mayonnaise are readily available in our kitchen and very easy to make. I can't believe that we can make our homemade mayonnaise.

Source

How to Make Clarified Butter and Ghee

What is Clarified Butter?

Clarified ButterClarified butter is another one of the many culinary terms that can be intimidating for home cooks to tackle. Let’s take a step back, though, and find out what clarified butter is and how to make it.

Most people think of butter as a solid fat. It certainly looks solid enough. However, if we look closer, we find that butter is actually an emulsion. An emulsion is a forced mixture of two dissimilar substances that don’t normally like to mix. Think oil and water.

In the case of butter, the two dissimilar substances are butterfat (roughly 80%) and water (roughly 17%) along with about 3% milk solids. The emulsion breaks, and the components separate, when heated. Clarified butter is nothing more than pure butterfat. Not so intimidating now, huh?

How to Make Clarified Butter

It is very easy to make clarified butter. Just slowly melt unsalted butter in a pan over medium-low heat. As the butter melts, some of the water will evaporate, and, since water is heavier than butterfat, some will sink. Likewise, some of the milk solids will sink to the bottom and some will rise to the surface as foam.

Let the butter sit for a minute or two for all the layers to separate. Then, skim off the foam and spoon or carefully pour the butterfat into a separate container, making sure to leave the water and milk solids behind.

Advantages of Clarified Butter

Many chefs consider clarified butter to be superior to whole butter for sautéing. This is because the milk solids present in whole butter brown and then burn well before the butterfat has reached its smoke point. As a result, whole butter is not recommended for high heat cooking. If you still want the taste of butter without worrying about burning milk solids, clarified butter certainly fits that bill.

Does it make sense to make clarified butter at home? That depends on the cook. If the cook is a fan of high heat cooking (sautéing or frying) and prefers the flavor of butter as opposed to a more neutral oil, clarified butter might be the way to go.

Clarified butter is certainly easy to make. It also keeps very well. Refrigerated, clarified butter will stay fresh for several months. Frozen, it will keep for much longer. Another plus to cooking with clarified butter is that, since the milk solids are eliminated, it is suitable for people who are lactose tolerant.

If the cook is more concerned with lower-calorie foods, they might choose to cook with an oil that contains more mono- and polyunsaturated fats than butter, which contains almost all saturated fat.

Ghee

Another form of clarified butter is the Indian ghee or French beurre noisette (browned butter). Browned butter is made in a similar manner to clarified butter, but the milk solids that sink to the bottom of the pan are allowed to brown before pouring off the fat.

The Maillard reactions that result in browning also impart a wonderful, deep nutty flavor to ghee or browned butter. Browned butter is very rich and flavorful and can be used for sautéing, but it also adds a rich, nutty flavor to classic French financiers and genoise.




-----------
Butter makes our dishes more flavorful. It's up to you if you want to use clarified butter or the whole butter.

Source

Making Stocks

Soup stocks are a great thing to always have on hand. They can perk up even the dullest of recipes. Even when my freezer is bare, you will always find either containers of stock or bags of ingredients waiting to be turned into stock within its depths.

Stock making is not difficult and since it makes use of scraps and leftovers that might otherwise be thrown out, it is very frugal. Keep small containers of stock in your freezer, so that it's ready at a moment's notice. Another handy tip is to freeze stock in ice cube trays, then transfer the cubes to a plastic freezer bag. That way you have perfectly measured, small amounts of stock for cooking.

You can save a lot of fat and calories by using stock for saut?eing instead of oils or fat. You can also add lots of flavor to everydays foods (such as rice) by substituting stock for water in cooking.

The four main types of stocks are vegetable, chicken, meat and fish. You can often substitute one for another in many (but not all) recipes, with little to no ill affect to the overall recipe. Since stocks can make use of leftovers or items that might otherwise be thrown away, I find it handy to keep bags in the freezer for collecting ingredients such as vegetable scraps and meat bones. When I've gathered enough ingredients, I throw on a pot of stock.

You can make any of the following stocks more intense in flavors by simply simmering them for an extended period of time until their liquid volume is reduced.

Of course, you can always buy canned stock. I predict, however, if you try making your own, you'll never go back. It's so simple and inexpensive, there's really no reason not to.

Vegetable Stock

With the exception of cabbages (which include broccoli and cauliflower), which can overpower the flavor of vegetable stock, you can use all kinds of vegetables for this stock. The flavor will vary slightly, depending on the mix you use. Tomatoes can also overwhelm stock flavor, so while I do use them, I keep the amount small (unless of course, you want a strong tomato flavor). Some people feel that asparagus also overwhelms the stock. I personally don't agree, and find that asparagus adds a depth and richness to vegetable stock.

Making vegetable stock is a great way to clean out the refrigerator of food that is less than fresh, don't limit your stock making ingredients to whole vegetables. Start saving peels (well washed, of course) and trimmings while you cook. Your stock will be strained before being used, and all those unattractive peels will be gone, but they will have imparted a lovely flavor to your stock. Some excellent vegetables (and vegetable scraps) to use are: onions, garlic, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, celery, mushrooms, peas, corn (empty corn cobs can also add lots of flavor to veg. stock), parsley, green beans, beets, bell peppers, scallions, green onions, shallots, fresh basil or other herbs, etc., etc.

You can also add some fruit or fruit scraps to your vegetable stock ingredient mix. Apples, pears and even pineapple works well.

A good rule of thumb is to have about half solid ingredients to half water. It's a good idea to throw in a tablespoon or so of whole black peppercorns and a bay leaf or two for added flavor. Cover your ingredients with the water, bring to a boil and let simmer for about an hour. Cool and strain to remove any pieces of vegetables, fruit or scraps. That's all there is to it. You've just made vegetable stock.

You should Never add: Some things will simply ruin what could have been a great stock. The foremost of these is anything from the cabbage family. Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts, Broccoflower, Boc choy. These become bitter and pungent the more they are cooked. They will ruin your stock.

Poultry Stock

You can buy chicken or turkey parts to make stock (buy inexpensive parts, such as backs and necks). Poultry stock is also a great way to use the bones that are leftover when you de-bone chicken breasts. You can also use a leftover cooked chicken or turkey carcass (my what a lovely visual) instead of fresh raw meat to make stock (in other words, don't throw out the Thanksgiving turkey's bones, put them to use).

As for the vegetables that go into poultry stock, you can use whole fresh ones, or save leftover scraps just like we did for vegetable stock. If you want a darker, richer stock, roast your poultry, poultry bones and vegetables in a 450? oven for about forty minutes, before adding them to your stock pot.

So, here's the basic poultry stock recipe (you can use an approximate amount of scraps instead of the whole vegetables listed):

    * 4 or 5 pounds of chicken or turkey parts or meaty bones
    * 1 large chopped onion
    * 2 or 3 large chopped carrots
    * 3 or 4 stalks celery (the leafy top parts are great for stock as well)
    * 6 to 8 chopped garlic cloves
    * 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns

Put all your ingredients into a pot and simmer for about two hours. Periodically skim off the foam as it rises to the top of your pot. When finished cooking, strain the broth and refrigerate for a few hours. Any fat in the broth will congeal at the top and can be easily strained off. Your stock is now ready for use or for the freezer.

Meat Stock

Since you will want most meat stocks to be dark and rich, I recommend roasting your meat, bones and vegetables for about 45 minutes in a 450? oven, before adding them to your stock pot and adding water. You can make meat stock without this step, however, it will simply have a lighter color and not as rich a flavor.

As with all the stocks here, you can use either whole vegetables, or scraps, as we did when making vegetable stock. Just use an approximate equivalent amount of scraps instead of the whole vegtables.

So, here is a basic recpe for meat stock.

    * 5 to 7 pounds of lean meat and bones (if your pile is more meat than bones, use 5 pounds, if more bones than meat, increase the amount) - this can include beef, veal, lamb, pork, ham (will have a distinct smoky flavor), or venison
    * 2 large chopped onions
    * 4 large chopped carrots
    * 4 stalks celery
    * 1 head of garlic, peeled and chopped
    * 2 large chopped tomatoes
    * 4 bay leaves
    * 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
    * 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
    * seasonings (about a tablespoon of each that you desire: oregano, basil, thyme) water to cover (about a gallon and a half)

Add your ingredients to your stock pot and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 4 hours. Add more water if necessary to keep the ingredients covered. Strain out the solid ingredients and refrigerate stock for a few hours. The fat layer can easily be skimmed off the chilled stock, making it ready for use or the freezer.

Seafood Stock

Seafood stock comes in handy for many recipes. You can use any inexpensive white fish scraps, bones and trimmings (your seafood market or grocery store probably sells fish packaged for just this purpose). You can also use crab, shrimp and lobster shells for adding flavor to seafood stocks.

    * 4 to 5 pounds mild white fish (such as cod or halibut) bones and trimmings, and/or shellfish shells
    * 2 tablespoons butter
    * 2 large onions chopped
    * 4 or 5 chopped garlic cloves
    * 1 stalk celery
    * a tablespoon lemon juice
    * 1/2 cup chopped parsley
    * 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
    * 1 cup dry white wine (optional)
    * approximately 1 gallon of water

Melt butter in bottom of stock pot and saut? onion, garlic and celery for about 5 minutes or until soft. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for about an hour. Periodically skim off foam that will appear at the top of pot. Cool and strain out solid ingredients. Your stock is now ready for use or for the freezer.



-----------
Stocks makes a difference in cooking because it's more flavorful and tasty especially in your soups. It's easy making stocks that you can use in your dishes.

Source

Chicken Adobo

This Philippine chicken dish great for entertaining because you can poach the chicken the day before, skim the fat from the sauce, then reduce the sauce while grilling the chicken to finish it. This goes great with plain white rice and a salad or grilled vegetables.

* 1 cup soy sauce
* 1/2 cup white or rice vinegar
* 1 cup water
* 1 Tbs chopped garlic
* 2 bay leaves
* black pepper to taste
* 3-4 pounds of bone-in chicken pieces (1 cut up chicken or your favorite parts)

Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, water, garlic, bay leaves and pepper in a pot large enough to hold the chicken pieces in one layer. Bring the liquid to a boil then add the chicken. Cover and reduce the heat to a slow simmer and cook until done (about 30 minutes), turning the chicken partway through cooking.

If you're doing this in advance, refrigerate the chicken in the sauce. About 45 minutes to an hour before you want to eat, pull the chicken from the frig and skim the fat, then let the chicken come to room temperature.

Remove the bay leaves from the sauce and put the liquid in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let it reduce to about 1 cup. This will take a while.

Start your grill and grill the chicken 5-10 minutes per side over a medium hot grill.




----------
I really love chicken adobo, if you haven't try it you should start cooking this dish now. You'll definitely like it. The ingredients are readily available in your kitchen and it's easy to cook.

Source

Cooking Tips & Tricks 1

Herbs, Pasta, Pies, Soups and Vegetables!

Herbs

* Ground herbs keep best in containers that shield them from light.
* For more flavor, crush dried herbs between your fingers before adding them to a dish.
* Place herbs in a small bowl and snip them with scissors until minced.

Pasta:

* If you accidentally oversalt sauces, add a small amount of vinegar and let cook for 5 minutes. If it's still too salty try adding a little more vinegar. As an alternative try adding a teaspoon of sugar or a cut up potato.
* Use an egg slicer to slice mushrooms. To make peeling tomatoes a snap, dip them in boiling water for 30 seconds then plunge them in cold water. The skin should peel right off.
* Cook pasta in lots of water to avoid having it come out sticky.
* Don't put salt in the water until it comes to a boil. Salted water has a higher boiling point, so it'll take longer to boil.

Pies:

* To avoid soggy pie crusts, brush crust with egg white or sprinkle with bread crumbs, and prick all over with a fork.
* If juice from fruit pies overflows while baking, sprinkle salt into it. The juice will then burn to a crisp, rendering it easily removable.

Soups:

* To absorb soup fat, place a piece of tissue paper or lettuce on the surface of soup, then remove and discard it.
* Use a hand blender to puree soup
* To make corn stock cut kernels from the cob, scraping them to get the corn milk. Put cleaned cobs in 1-1/2 quarts of water and let simmer for 1 hour.
* Try using a hand blender to puree the soup....it's easier than transferring to food processor.

Vegetables:

* Peel tomatoes by placing them in boiling water for a minute or so and then plunging them into cold water. The skin will peel right off.
* A damp paper towel rubbed on corn helps remove cornsilk from the corn.
* Use an egg slicer to cut fresh mushrooms.
* Leeks are full of hard to get at sand and dirt, chop them first, then give them a bath in cold water and drain in a colander.
* Try using carrots instead of sugar to sweeten your sauces.



----------
That's very helpful in cooking. You can use these tips in your own kitchen.

Source

Tips & Techniques in the kitchen for food . . . and other useful tricks

Dealing with the garlic press

Everyone knows that cleaning a garlic press can be tiresome and most chefs won't even use one because of this fact. Try pressing the cloves through your garlic press unpeeled. You will get a finer profile, but just reach in and pull out the husk and see if that doesn't change your mind about the garlic press.
(I do this all of the time - it works well).

The fastest way to bake a Potato!

Wash the potato, coat it with butter. Stick a nail into the center and bake on a sheet pan so that the potatoes do not touch each other. This should reduce cooking time by at least 20 minutes. The butter will keep the skins from cracking and add flavor.

Cooking Spaghetti Squash in the microwave

Pierce the squash with a big kitchen fork or a skewer in many places. Put the
squash on a plate and "nuke" it until it gets soft to the touch. Let rest for
10 minutes before slicing in half. Remove center and scrape out the spaghetti
from the sides of the squash.

Cleaning - Wooden cutting board

Most health inspectors will not allow wooden cutting boards in commercial
kitchens any more, but if you have one in your home and it gets mold and / or
mildew on it . . . scrub it with salt and lemon juice.

Getting Egg off of your silverware and plates

Wash them with cold water first.

Cleaning - getting the cheese off the Grater

To get the residual cheese film off of your grater, just scrape a raw potato
and a little raw onion over the soiled surface before it goes into the
dishwasher. Add a little egg to the grated potato and onion and have a potato
pancake for lunch.

Miscellaneous tips:

Pull to keep celery crisp, stand it up in a pitcher of cold, salted water. Then refrigerate.

Lettuce and celery will keep longer if stored in brown paper bags instead of cellophane.

Chop garlic in a small amount of salt to prevent pieces from sticking to the knife and chopping board. Then pulverize pieces with the tip of the knife.

Exposure to direct sunlight softens tomatoes instead of ripening them. Leave tomatoes stem side up in any spot out of direct sunlight to ripen.

To remove corn silk from corn on the cob, dampen a paper towel or terry cloth and brush downward on the cob. Every bit of corn silk should come off.

Adding a little lemon juice to beets before cooking will allow them to maintain their color.

To absorb excess oil from gravies, soups or other dishes, drop a few lettuce leaves in the pot. Watch the oil cling.

To absorb excess salt from gravies, soups or other dishes, drop a few chunks of raw potato in the pot and remove before serving.

To better slice hot bread, place a knife in boiling water for about 10 seconds before slicing.

Bread stores best in a cool, dry place. It may be kept in the refrigerator but will get stale more quickly. It will keep in the freezer for as long as three months if tightly wrapped. Press out as much air as possible.

To prevent cut potatoes from turning brown, place in a bowl of cool water until ready to cook.

A few drops of lemon juice in the water will whiten boiling potatoes.

Always remove the tops of carrots before storing. Tops drain the carrots' moisture, making them dry and limp.

Once an onion has been cut in half, rub the leftover side with butter and it will stay fresh longer.

Thaw frozen seafood in the refrigerator or under cold running water, not at room temperature. Marinate seafood in the refrigerator.

Whole fresh fish should have bright clear and shiny eyes. Scales should be shiny and cling to skin. There should be a slight, sea breeze odor, not a strong, fishy odor



---------
These tips will help beginners to have more knowledge in their kitchen. It's easy to cook when you know some techniques and tricks.

Source

Cooking Gadgets + Kitchen Tricks

No More Uni-taskers

Common refrain of Good Eats host Alton Brown (that's him in the kelp forest at the Monterey Bay Aquarium below). Rather than one perfect tool for each single job, challenge yourself to simplify. Three good knives. A cherry pitter for cherries and olives. These are just two examples. Here are more tools with more than one use.

* Use a cherry pitter for olives and cherries.
* A melon baller helps remove olives or capers from brine. Makes coring an apple a snap, too.
* Use V-shaped roasting rack, inverted, to store pot lids conveniently.
* Ball up heavy duty or regular foil to scrub a grill or cast iron pan.
* Dental floss works well to cut cakes without tearing them. (No flavored floss, please!)
* A tea-ball can be used to sprinkle powdered sugar or cocoa over desserts.
* Squeeze bottles and speed pour tips (like bartenders use) make cooking a breeze. Keep cooking oil in bottles with speed pours and you can easily drizzle a healthful small amount into a hot pan. Another use is simple syrups for iced teas. Try a lavender or mint simple syrup for iced tea. Basil, lime simple syrup for gimlets.
* Use your coffee grinder to grind spices. One piece of soft bread buzzed in between should eliminate cross-contamination of flavors.

Techniques - New ways to do everyday things.

Asparagus - Plentiful in spring. Fresh asparagus should not have odor of ammonia. Bright and crisp appearance is best. To prepare, bend till woody end snaps off. No need to guess. (Save ends for broth.) Steam lightly, shock in cold water and freeze, while the supply is plentiful and seasonally fresh. Berries can also be frozen easily by separating washed berries on a half sheet pan. Then, store in zip bag or container.

Parmigiano-Reggiano - Best bought in a wedge. Grate as you go, and save rinds in freezer to add to soups, sauces calling for that flavor. Packed with umami, this will enhance the sauce or soup. If the sauce or soup is long cooked, it may disintegrate into the dish completely, or simply remove the undissolved portion when you choose. Watch salt.

Slicing or dicing - To slice a round object (such as an apple or onion) first take off a small piece to create a flat edge. Turn on its side on that edge and you have a non-rolling thing to slice safely. Half an onion can be cut into dice quickly by keeping your knive parallel to the cutting board, onion on flat cut side. Run knife through end to end stopping just before slicing all the way through. Then slice through with knife perpendicular to board. Finally, cut across the slices you've just made and your onion with fall away in perfect dice.

De-Boning - Regular tweezers or needle-nose pliers (clean ones only!) can be used to remove pin bones from fish. To make them easy to find, invert a mixing bowl and lay fish on top.

Ice cubes - freeze ice tea or lemon juice or other fruit juices in ice cube trays. Rather than diluting your next iced tea, your flavored ice will enhance it. Mini ice cube trays can be used to freeze pomegranate seeds for beautiful and delicious cocktails.

Pomegranate - this delicious healthy fruit can be a little daunting for someone unfamiliar with how to peel it. The juice also stains anything it contacts pretty quickly. To open it safely and enjoy the seeds and juice:

1. Score the pomegranate on the blossom or calyx end.
2. Hold under a bowl of water.
3. Break apart into quarters.
4. Gently push off seeds from membrane.
5. The seeds will fall to the bottom. Drain the water and enjoy.
Don't Waste That! How to get the most out of everday foods

Show respect for your food, your planet, and your budget by using every little bit of whatever you've brought home. It's part of the philosophy behind Nose-to-Tail Eating and it's a familiar value to anyone who is budget-conscious.

* Save shrimp shells for making stock. Many recipes will call for bottled clam juice - don't believe them! Boil shrimp shells with some white peppercorns (or black), a bay leaf, and freeze for use later. A bit of kombu will add umami and minerals to your healthy homemade stock.
* Onion peels, parsley stems, mushroom stems. All can be frozen for making vegetable stock. Keep a bag in the freezer until you have enough to make a vegetable stock and freeze in cubes.
* If your organic eggs come in those plastic cartons, use these to freeze extra stock. This saves your ice cube trays and gives you a smaller portion of stock to use at any time.
* Freeze bananas whole. The skins will brown but the banana will be perfect for smoothies adding nutrition and heft to a shake or smoothie requiring less yogurt or ice cream.



---------
That's very useful in any kitchen and beginners. Enjoy cooking and you'll definitely serve and make a very delicious dishes.

Source

Cooking Pork Chops

Cooking pork chops can be exciting for pork lovers! With such a variety in cuts of meat available at the grocery store, you can create pork chops that exceed the taste expectations of every guest!

The first step in cooking pork chops is not the cooking itself; it’s actually going to the market to select what you want. The butcher in the meat department can make a special cut for you to meet your specifications. If you want thick, large pork chops or ones slightly thicker than usual, just ask for them.

One way to consider when cooking pork chops is stuffing them! It takes only a few minutes to cut them in the center and insert the stuffing and then you’re off to create a culinary delight.
Stuffed Baked Boneless Rib Chops

Six 8-ounce boneless cut pork chops

Make two or three slits into the center of the pork chop. Don’t make one slice on one side and the other on the other side; instead make both on one side of the chop. If you’ve never done this yourself, you can ask the butcher at your meat department to do this for you.

The stuffing:
2 cups seasoned cornbread crumbs
1 can chicken broth
1 stalk finely chopped celery
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon finely chopped green bell pepper
1 tablespoon finely chopped walnuts
1/2 stick butter
2 dashes salt
1 dash pepper

Place pre-seasoned breadcrumbs in large mixing bowl. Add the walnuts, salt and pepper and toss thoroughly and set aside.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Place pork chops on a rack in an oblong baking dish at least 2 inches deep and set aside.

Place the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat, adding the onion, celery and green bell pepper. Clarified butter is always best for sautéing. Stir constantly for about five minutes. Add to mixture in bowl and mix well.

Add half the chicken broth and mix well. Continue to add the remaining broth, a little at a time, until just moist enough to fit onto a spoon as you stuff the slits of each pork chop.

Put three to four tablespoons of stuffing into each chop and use wooden toothpicks to secure the open ends while cooking.

Bake 1 hour or more until fork tender.

Arrange pork chops on a warm platter, keeping warm. Spoon apricot fruit jelly or whole berry cranberry sauce over the top of each pork chop

Skim fat from drippings and pour remaining warm liquid over pork chops right before serving. Dig in!

And now for recipes that add a fruity taste to the pork chops:

Skillet-Braised Pork Chops with Apple Glaze

4 to 6 pork chops, about 1 inch thick
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 pat butter

Place a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Rub the butter over bottom of skillet and add pork chops. Cook until browned on both sides. Add 1/2 cup apple juice. Turn the heat setting to low, cover and simmer until tender (about 40 minutes). Skim any fat from drippings in the pan and pour remaining liquid over chops. Serve immediately.

When cooking pork chops, remember that pork is very versatile. Just by changing the juice to a pineapple, orange, apricot, tomato, peach, or even cranberry sauce, you have brand new flavors and additional great dinners. Just substitute the new juice for the apple juice. Whatever your selection, cooking pork chops using the braised method is sure to be one of your best meals yet!



--------
Pork chops is one of my favorite dish. I tried Skillet-Braised Pork Chops with Apple Glaze and it's very delicious. You should try it.

Source

Cooking tips for fish and other seafoods - FAQs on cooking fish and shellfish

Should fish be fully cooked?

* Never overcook fish!
* You should remove it from the oven pan etc when it is just under cooked done and still opaque in the middle; the internal heat, the heat from the plate and any sauce will finish off the cooking by the time it gets to the table. In this way you will never serve dried up fish again, it will always be moist and succulent
* Tuna and salmon are best served while still rare in the centre.
* In fact fresh tuna is even better when it is just seared on the outside and eaten like a very rare steak!
* Try crushing cashew nuts and pressing the tuna steaks into it to cover the tuna all over and then pan fry it, or replace the crushed cashews with cracked peppercorns. Cut each steak into 1cm thick slices and arrange, slightly fanned on the plate

Does the same apply to shellfish?

* Most definitely!

But what about food poisoning?

* If the fish / shellfish is cooked as above, it will be thoroughly cooked by the time it is served to your guests, family or friends. It will also have reached the temperature required to kill most bacteria (65°C).
* As for the tuna . . . have you ever eaten raw oysters, sashimi or sushi?
* However, the less cooked you intend to serve your fish or shellfish, the fresher the product should be and the more careful you should be about personal and kitchen hygiene

Are different types of fish suited to particular methods of cookery?

The answer is yes, however you can cook most fish most ways. But the oilier fish with stronger flavours lend themselves better to grilling or barbecuing, while those with a medium flavour are more suited to pan-frying, while the delicate flavoured ones are best poached or steamed. Here are suggestions some of the more available species:

Baking

Bream, snapper, rainbow trout, ocean trout, sea bass, flounder, trevally, leatherjacket.

Grilling and barbecuing

* Swordfish, tuna, blue-eye cod, trout, salmon, mackerel, blue warehou, kingfish, kahawai, flathead, mullet, herring, sardines or any firm-fleshed fish.
* Crayfish, lobster, prawns and mussels
* Marinate or baste lean fish to prevent it drying out during cooking

Stewing and casseroling

* Trevally, kingfish, herring, mackerel, coley, whiting, red mullet, firm-fleshed bream and sea bass
* Crayfish, lobster, prawns, mussels, squid
* Avoid combining any strongly flavoured, oily fish in one dish

Deep-frying

* Whitebait, cod, groper, lemon-fish, sardines, orange roughy, any of the dory family and any flat fish fillets
* Prawns, mussels, squid, scallops
* Thicker, larger fish and fillets tend to dry out and overcook on the outside before cooking through.

Pan-frying

Most fish can be pan-fried

Most shellfish can be pan-fried

Stir-frying

* Any firm-fleshed fish such as tuna and mullet
* Prawns, squid, cuttlefish, mussels, scallops

Steaming or poaching

* Bream, snapper, blue-eye, flathead, blue warehou, trout, sea bass, salmon, kingfish
* Crayfish, lobster, prawns, mussels, squid, scallops
* Always poach in either a seasoned court bouillon, fish stock or wine; this will either increase flavour and/or prevent any flavour loss form the fish/shellfish



---------
Fish should not be overcooked because it becomes flaky and it's more delicious if still moist.

Source