Category Archives: cooking basics
Great Sauces Always Start With Roux
Great sauces can save a badly cooked piece of chicken. However, a bad sauce will ruin the best cooked meal. Being able to consistently create flavorful and smooth sauces is one of the best skills to have in the home kitchen. When you can make a variety of sauces, you multiply the number of meals
Food TV Won’t Teach You To Cook
Watching Food TV won’t teach you to cook. Perhaps you shouldn’t believe or attempt everything on your flat screen that’s designed for entertainment value, not educational value. Neither will you learn to cook from a cookbook. Written recipes won’t teach you to cook any more than sheet music teaches you how to play piano. However,
Learn How to Saute For Countless Quick Dinners
When you know how to sauté, then you have power over your food choices. It’s quick, easy, and you can sauté almost anything! Most cookbooks concentrate on the list of ingredients and forget to tell you HOW to cook. When you can repeat one cooking method, then the ingredients don’t matter. Certainly there are other
How to Make Sauces Quickly
Knowing how to make sauces is a necessary kitchen skill. The best sauce can make up for a dry piece of chicken, but the worst sauce will certainly ruin any dish. There are three basic ways to thicken liquids, but they all have to do with gelatinization of starches, the point at which starch molecules
Cutting Vegetables Blindfolded is Still Easier
Cutting vegetables is so much easier when you don’t have to take out your chopper/dicer device. You might think that the electric gadget is quicker and easier than your standard chef’s knife, but you’d be wrong. Let’s have a race. Ready, go! Get your chopper appliance down from the cabinet. Plug it in to the
Boil Corn On The Cob and You Lose
Boil corn on the cob and you’ll notice the corn tastes like water and the water like corn. If you think about it, you can make a flavorful vegetable broth by simmering onions, carrots, and celery in water. So, are you trying to cook your corn or make corn broth? Boiling is a moist conductive
Grilling How To: New Ideas From Cleaning Your Grill to Non-Stick Fish
I’m inspired to create this “Grilling How To” because outdoor cooking season is now upon us! It’s my favorite cooking time of the year, but before I actually get grilling, I’ll have to inspect my barbeque and decide whether it will survive another summer. My poor, poor barbeque grill, it took some abuse this winter.
Why Grass Fed Beef Makes the Best Steaks for Grilling
The best steaks for grilling are the ones that will return the best flavor and nutrition while retaining moisture and tenderness. To accomplish the best results, I always start with the best ingredients I can find. Because grilling is direct, conductive, intense heat, it will never tenderize a steak during cooking. For the best beef
3 No Recipe Uses For The Season’s Best Strawberries
No recipe will tell me what to do when it’s strawberry season. It’s one of the great seasonal joys in fresh food, and I take full advantage of the short time. The best strawberries come from your local farm, local farmer, local rain and soil. I celebrate the beginning of strawberry season with a visit
