Foodilicious

10 Must have staples..........

2012-01-11T21:34:00.000-08:00

Everyone has a pantry to keep their dry staple foods in. But is it functional? Is it full of cookies, crackers, boxed macaroni and cheese, canned vegetables, soups and processed foods? If that's what you like, I am not her to tell you your wrong. Most times when we shop, we buy the same old stuff, week in and week out and it becomes routine. Shopping can take alot of your time and most just want to get it over with. This post is not about your shopping habits, (though I will write one on "shopping for foods") it is about staple item each of you should have. I am listing my top 10 "must have" staple items and why you should have them.

1- Olive Oil- The main type of fat found in all kinds of olive oil is monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs). MUFAs are actually considered a healthy dietary fat. In those Mediterranean countries where olive oil is consumed a lot, (such as Greece, Italy, and Spain), there is a low incidence of cardiovascular disease. The mild vegetable mucilage in olive oil helps protect your body’s digestive tract.
Also, be aware that heat, light and air can affect the taste of olive oil and possibly its health-promoting nutrients. Store olive oil in a dark, room-temperature cupboard, or even in the refrigerator. The fats and healthy phytonutrients in olive oil — as well as the taste — can slowly degrade over time, so it's probably best to use it within a year or within six months once opened.

2- Garlic/Shallots - This is a no brainer. Using fresh garlic or shallots (instead of onions) will make everything you cook taste so much better, but it’s also one of the healthiest foods you can eat. I can write a whole blog just on garlic, but in a nutshell, garlic is a proven broad-spectrum antibiotic that combats bacterial, intestinal parasites, and viruses. It can lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol, discourage dangerous blood clotting, lower chances of cancers (especially stomach cancer). Garlic is a good cold medicine, acts as a decongestant, expectorant, antispasmodic, and anti-inflammatory agent.
Unbroken garlic bulbs will keep for up to 3 to 4 months. Individual cloves will keep from 5 to 10 days. Store in a cool, dark, and dry location (dampness is the enemy of garlic, so store away from stove and sink). If the cloves sprout, the garlic is still usable and the sprouts can be used for salads.
To preserve garlic cloves after they have been peeled, place them in a jar, cover with olive oil, seal jar, and store in refrigerator. They will stay fresh 3 to 4 months this way.

3- Brown Rice-
The health benefits of brown rice are legion. Brown rice is an excellent source of magnesium, iron, selenium, manganese, and the vitamins B1, B2, B3, and B6. Brown rice is a good source of dietary fiber, protein, and gamma-oryzanol. White rice is brown rice that has had essential nutrients removed when processed in order to make it easier and faster to cook, and to give it a longer shelf life. This is accomplished by removing the bran, and with it, minerals and vitamins that are necessary in our diet.
Consider soaking the rice overnight before cooking it. The soaking plumps it up, gives it a head start and it will require less time on the stove.
Six months is often used as the shelf life for brown rice, but there are manufacturers that put a “best by” date on their products with an 18-month window from date of manufacture. I recommend buying brown rice in an amount you will use within six months.
Brown rice should be kept in a cool place in a well-sealed container, away from any source of moisture.

4- Beans- Beans (Legumes) are rich in fiber. They are also packed with iron and protein. They will lower the risk of getting colon cancer and heart disease.
Beans have proven to provide many health benefits that include lowering cholesterol and preventing spikes in blood sugar. This makes beans even more appealing for diabetics, those suffering from hypoglycemia and a resistance to insulin. Furthermore, the soluble fiber in beans helps reduce your risk of coronary disease and heart attacks.
In addition to satisfying your appetite, the fiber in beans also aids in digestion, a key factor in fat burning.
Beans are cheap! In fact, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, in the grocery store that is a bigger bargain than beans, peas and lentils. Soak the beans in water with baking soda to help remove the gas. Rinse thoroughly before cooking. Store beans in a container in a dry, dark area of the pantry.

5- Canned tomatoes- SURPRISE!! You'd be hard pressed to name a cuisine that doesn't utilize tomatoes in some way. I know, in all my cooking classes, we always use fresh tomatoes, but cooked tomatoes are better for you than raw tomatoes because the heat increases the levels of antioxidants. Lycopene is the pigment that gives tomatoes their rosy hue, and is also a powerful antioxidant thought to reduce cancer risk, cardiovascular disease and macular degeneration. Studies have shown that the process of cooking makes the lycopene more readily usable by our bodies. And like raw tomatoes, canned ones are a good source of potassium and vitamin K and high in vitamins C and A.Your best bet is to keep on hand a mix of diced, crushed and whole tomatoes for a range of dishes. When buying, make sure cans are undented — dents permit the growth of botulism. Technically, canned tomatoes will stay good indefinitely (as long as the can isn't bulging, which means it's spoiled), but for best quality, use within 12 to 18 months. Once opened, never store unused tomatoes in the can. Transfer to an airtight container and keep in the fridge for five to seven days.

Next week, the next 5 must have pantry items.

Boiling as a cooking method continued.....

2011-10-13T21:58:00.000-07:00

Let's continue with the different types boiling as a cooking method.

Simmering: is a food preparation technique in which foods are cooked in hot liquids kept at or just below the boiling point of water (which is 100 °C or 212 °F at average sea level air pressure), but higher than poaching temperature. To keep a pot simmering, one brings it to a boil and then reduces the heat to a point where the formation of steam bubbles has all but ceased, typically a water temperature of about 94 °C (200 °F). Simmering ensures gentler treatment than boiling to prevent food from toughening and/or breaking up. Simmering is usually a rapid and efficient method of cooking. Food that has simmered in milk or cream instead of water is referred to as creamed. The appropriate simmering temperature is a topic of debate among chefs, with some contending that a simmer is as low as 82 °C (180 °F)^.For example, tough cuts of meat and old fowl can be made tender and tasty by long cooking at a low temperature, for this method tends to soften the fiber and to develop an excellent flavor. Tough vegetables, too, can be cooked tender by the simmering process without using so much fuel as would be used if they were boiled. Making beef or chicken stock requires a simmering method.

Stewing:
Stewing, the process of cooking by slowly simmering ingredients in a little liquid until all the ingredients are tender.

Stewing is a popular method because stews can be prepared in advance and generally left unattended till the gravy is thickened just before serving. This thickening not only creates a rich, creamy sauce that can be eaten with rice, but also gives body to the tender and easily digestable food. Another advantage that makes stews a cook's favourite is that a stewed dish can be kept for nearly a week, its flavour improving with each reheating. Besides the basic slow stewing method, there are variations of this technique. They are fast stewing, braising, spicy stewing and sauteed stewing. More on this another time.
Stewing cooks small pieces of food in ample liquid to cover. It differs from simmering as stewing requires less liquid and and the end result, the liquid,
becomes part of the dish, so in a way it is reducing as it cooks and tenderizes. Example: Beef Stew.

Steeping: Saturation in a liquid solvent to extract a soluble ingredient, where the solvent is the desired product. Tea is prepared for drinking by steeping the leaves in heated water to release the flavor and nutrients. Herbal teas may be prepared by decoction, infusion, or maceration; or Soaking to remove an ingredient; Example: salt from smoked ham or salted cod, where the solvent is not the desired product.

One example is the steeping of maize, part of the milling process. Harvested kernels of maize are cleaned and then steeped in water at a temperature of 50 °C (120 °F) for 30 to 40 hours. In the process their moisture content rises from 15% to 45% and their volume more than doubles. The gluten bonds in the maize are weakened and starch is released. The maize is then ground to break free the germ and other components, and the water used (steepwater), which has absorbed various nutrients, is recycled for use in animal feeds.

Tea is another example of stewing, you steep a tea bag in hot water until the desired flavor/color is reached.

Pressure cooking: is a method of cooking in a sealed vessel that does not permit air or liquids to escape below a preset pressure. Because the boiling point of water increases as the pressure increases, the pressure built up inside the cooker allows the liquid in the pot to rise to a higher temperature before boiling.
Pressure is created at the beginning with boiling liquid, such as water, inside the closed pressure cooker and the trapped steam increases the internal pressure and temperature, which is maintained throughout cooking time.
Pressure cookers may be referred to by several other names. An early pressure cooker, called a steam digester, was invented by Denis Papin, a French physicist, in 1679. Large pressure cookers are often called pressure canners, due to their capacity to hold jars used in canning. A version of a pressure cooker used by laboratories and hospitals to sterilize materials is known as an autoclave. In the food industry, pressure cookers are often referred to as retorts or "canning retorts".
The higher temperature causes the food to cook faster; cooking times can typically be reduced to 1/3 of the time of conventional cooking methods. Note that the actual cooking time depends on thickness, as thicker foods will take longer to cook. Meat - and some other foods like sponge puddings - are timed according to their weight. Also frozen foods need a little extra cooking time. When pressure cooking at 15 psi, cooking times are typically as follows: Shredded cabbage is cooked in one minute, fresh green beans in three minutes, potatoes cook in about 5 - 7 minutes (the actual cooking time for potatoes depends on type, initial temperature of the potatoes and thickness) and a whole chicken takes only twenty minutes. Brown rice, lentils and beans can be cooked in ten minutes, instead of 45 minutes of simmering in an ordinary saucepan.

Boiling as a cooking method......

2011-09-20T17:01:00.000-07:00

We talked about the many different cooking methods used in preparing food, like baking, frying, braising and many others. But one that is overlooked alot, but is used alot of times, is boiling. In cooking, boiling is the method of cooking food in boiling water, or other water-based liquid such as stock or milk. Simmering is gentle boiling, while in poaching the cooking liquid moves but scarcely bubbles. Lets take a look at the different types of boiling and examples of use.
Boiling is broken down into many catergories: Blanching - Braising - Coddling - Double steaming- Infusion - Poaching - Pressure cooking - Simmering - Steaming - Steeping - Stewing - Vacuum flask cooking.

Blanching is a cooking process wherein the food substance, usually a vegetable or fruit, is plunged into boiling water, removed after a brief, timed interval, and finally plunged into iced water or placed under cold running water (shocked) to halt the cooking process.

The meaning of blanching is "to whiten", but this is not always the purpose of blanching in cooking. Food is blanched to soften it, or to partly or fully cook it, or to remove a strong taste (for example of bacon, cabbage, or onions)

Braising relies on heat, time, and moisture to break down the tough connective tissue collagen in meat, making it an ideal way to cook tougher cuts. Many classic braised dishes such as coq au vin are highly evolved methods of cooking tough and otherwise unpalatable foods. Pressure cooking and slow cooking (e.g., crock pots) are forms of braising.

Most braises follow the same basic steps. The food to be braised (meat, poultry, but also vegetables or mushrooms) is first seared to brown its surface and enhance its flavor. If the food will not produce enough liquid of its own, a small amount of cooking liquid that often includes an acidic element, such as tomatoes, beer, or wine, is added to the pot, often with stock. The dish is cooked covered at a very low simmer until the meat is fork tender. Often the cooking liquid is finished to create a sauce or gravy.

Sometimes foods with high water content (particularly vegetables) can be cooked in their own juices and no extra liquid is required.

A successful braise intermingles the flavours of the foods being cooked and the cooking liquid. This cooking method dissolves collagen from the meat into gelatin, to enrich and add body to the liquid. Braising is economical, as it allows the use of tough and inexpensive cuts, and efficient, as it often employs a single pot to cook an entire meal.

Coddling: In cooking, to coddle food is to heat it in water kept just below the boiling point. The term comes from the English verb to coddle, meaning to treat gently or pamper.

In the culinary arts, the word coddling refers to a cooking technique, usually involving eggs, in which the egg is cracked into a small buttered dish or ramekin, along with seasonings, and then partially immersed in a hot water bath (or bain-marie) for several minutes.

Another technique for coddling involves immersing the whole egg, in its shell, in boiling water for a short time.

Coddled eggs are a traditional ingredient in the classic Caesar Salad recipe. Note that coddled eggs are not fully cooked and thus present a risk of Salmonella poisoning. Therefore, when preparing coddled eggs, it's a good idea to use pasteurized eggs.

Steaming: works by boiling water continuously, causing it to vaporize into steam; the steam then carries heat to the nearby food, thus cooking the food. The food is kept separate from the boiling water but has direct contact with the steam, resulting in a moist texture to the food. This differs from double boiling in which contact with steam is undesired.

Double steaming, sometimes also dubbed double boiling, is a Chinese cooking techniques to prepare delicate food such as bird nests, shark fins, etc. The food is covered with water and put in a covered ceramic jar and the jar is then steamed for several hours. This technique ensures there is no loss of liquid or moisture (its essences) from the food being cooked; hence, it is often used with expensive ingredients like Chinese herbal medicines

Double Boiling: If we try to melt chocolate in a pot over direct heat, the temperature goes up too high and burn the chocolate before melting it properly. The correct way to melt chocolate is to place the pot of chocolate bar or chips over another pot of boiling or hot water where the heat is lower. The chocolate will then melt evenly without burning.

In the same way, to double boil a soup mean to place the soup pot over another pot of boiling water and let everything cook slowly at a lower temperature.

The soup is cooked using the heat from the boiling water and not directly from the original heat source.

Infusion: An infusion is very simple chemical process used with herbs that are more volatile or dissolve readily in water, or release their active ingredients easily in oil. Boiling water (or water of the appropriate temperature) is poured over the herb and allow to steep for a time. The amount of time the herbs are left in the water depends on what purpose the liquid is being prepared for. Usually 15 to 30 minutes, or until the mix cools, will create a beverage for enjoyment. Four (4) hours is the appropriate time for full herbal potency, if health benefits are the priority. The mix is then strained, bottled, and refrigerated for future use. Quantities of the herb/water or oil mix will vary according to the herb or how strong the infusion is required to be. A common proportion used is 28 g (one ounce) of herb to 0.5 L (one pint) of liquid. Soaking tea leaves in hot water to extract the flavor of the tea is an example of Infusion.

Poaching: is the process of gently simmering food in liquid other than oil, generally milk, stock or wine.

Poaching is particularly suitable for delicate food, such as eggs, poultry, fish and fruit, which might easily fall apart or dry out. For this reason, it is important to keep the heat low and to keep the poaching time to a bare minimum, which will also preserve the flavor of the food.

Next, we will look at pressure cooking, simmering, steaming, steeping, stewing and vacuum flask cooking.

The Magical Tomato.......

2011-08-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

Tomato, fruit or vegetable? To determine the difference between fruit and vegetable (which has troubled minds since there were such terms as vegetable and fruit,) let’s examine what makes a fruit a fruit and what makes a vegetable a vegetable.

Here is the definition of fruit:
The term fruit has different meanings depending on context. In botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary—together with seeds—of a flowering plant. In many species, the fruit incorporates the ripened ovary and surrounding tissues. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants disseminate seeds. In cuisine, when discussing fruit as food, the term usually refers to just those plant fruits that are sweet and fleshy, examples of which include plum, apple and orange. However, a great many common vegetables, as well as nuts and grains, are the fruit of the plant species they come from. No one terminology really fits the enormous variety that is found among plant fruits. Botanical terminology for fruits is inexact and will remain so.

The definition of vegetable:
Vegetable is a culinary term. Its definition has no scientific value and is somewhat arbitrary and subjective. All parts of herbaceous plants eaten as food by humans, whole or in part, are generally considered vegetables. Mushrooms, though belonging to the biological kingdom, fungi, are also commonly considered vegetables…Since ‘vegetable’ is not a botanical term, there is no contradiction in referring to a plant part as a fruit while also being considered a vegetable. Given this general rule of thumb, vegetables can include leaves (lettuce), stems (asparagus), roots (carrots), flowers (broccoli), bulbs (garlic), seeds (peas and beans) and of course the botanical fruits like cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, and capsicums.

To really figure out if a tomato is a fruit or vegetable, you need to know what makes a fruit a fruit, and a vegetable a vegetable. The big question to ask is, DOES IT HAVE SEEDS?

If you are speaking in a botanical, scientific context, then pumpkin, tomato, capsicum, cucumber, tomato and squash are FRUITS because they all have seeds. If you are speaking in culinary terms, they can all be properly called VEGETABLES.

Are we clear now? Or are you just more confused? Don’t feel bad; many others are confused too.

So, the answer to the question is that a tomato is technically the fruit of the tomato plant, but it's used as a vegetable in cooking.

"Knowledge is to know that a tomato is a fruit, but wisdom is to know not to put one in a fruit salad.

Tomato are generally bright red or yellow in colour, and are eaten either cooked or raw. They are highly nutritious as they contains a multitude of vitamins and minerals that work to support health.

However, it was not until the discovery of the red pigment carotenoid, lycopene, that modern science began to truly acknowledge the healing prowess of tomato.

Lycopene is one of the major bioactive substances found in food that has health benefits. It is known to reduce the risk of heart disease, prostate and breast cancer. It also appears to have a favourable effect in treating many other cancers—lung, stomach, colorectal, oral, oesophageal, pancreatic, bladder and cervical.

Research shows that lycopene helps to lower the oxidation of LDL ["bad"] cholesterol by free radicals and reduce the incidence of heart disease, as well as lung cancer and exercise-induced asthma. There is evidence that lycopene in tomatoes may help to prevent cataracts, age-related macular degeneration, or loss of vision, and sunburn too. New research appears to show that lycopene assists the immune system and protects the body from illness.

Lycopene, the superstar

It is the whole tomato that provides superior benefits with regard to health.

The red colour found in tomatoes is due to lycopene; therefore, the redder the tomato, the higher its lycopene content. Thus, yellow and green tomatoes are relatively low in lycopene.

Lycopene is a potent anti-oxidant. It is also found in other fruits such as: watermelon, guava, grapefruit, papaya and apricots. The benefits of lycopene found in tomatoes has been studied extensively in both humans and animals. One study investigated close to 40,000 women and their dietary habits. The results revealed that consumption of 7-10 servings of lycopene-rich tomato products produced a 29 per cent lower incidence of heart disease when compared to women consuming lower amounts.

Research suggests that a part of lycopene’s benefits against heart disease may be due to its anti-oxidant effects on excess cholesterol. High levels of lycopene is also suggested to act as a natural sunscreen, offering us extra protection from UV-light.

Benefits

Along with lycopene, tomato also provides many other health-promoting nutrients. It is the synergy of the full array of compounds that makes the tomato a powerful medicinal food.

Tomatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C, a nutrient known for its anti-oxidant action. A high intake of vitamin C and beta-carotene is suggested to prevent atherosclerosis [hardening of the arteries], diabetes and asthma
Tomatoes also contain a profusion of other carotenoids, including beta-carotene. This makes them a rich source of vitamin A
Tomatoes are rich in fibre. Fibre works in concert with vitamins C and A to aid against diseases. While vitamins C and A deter free radical damage to cholesterol, the fibre in tomato lowers the amount of cholesterol in the body. It also helps the body to remove it more efficiently
Tomatoes have a rich supply of nutrients for fight against illness. Potassium, vitamin B6, folate and niacin are all present in tomato and work together to help fight cardiovascular disease
Tomatoes also contain nutrients such as vitamin K, chromium and biotin. Vitamin K helps to build bone, while the latter two nutrients aid the body’s ability to process sugar and fat, which may help control diabetes and improve nerve function
Riboflavin is another important nutrient in tomatoes that helps metabolise energy and ease migraine headaches.
Unlike isolated supplements or drugs which have one or two main actions, tomato-based food products deliver many nutrients with multiple mechanisms of action—in our fight against aging and disease.

Better when cooked

The wonderful thing about tomato is the many different culinary delights it can be used for. Tomato is widely used in salads, sauces, soups, ketch-ups. The best way to obtain the benefits of tomato is through concentrated and cooked forms. Tomato sauce may be the perfect way to obtain the beneficial lycopene and other useful compounds. Tomato sauce is said to prevent prostate affections, including hypertrophy and cancer.

Gluten intolerance (celiac disease)

2011-08-11T19:04:00.000-07:00

Gluten intolerance is also called celiac disease and is an inherited condition that causes an extreme physical reaction when they ingest gluten from grains like wheat, barley, and rye. The condition is not curable, and can become severe, damaging the small intestine and causing poor absorption of vitamins and minerals or malnutrition. Though it usually cannot be cured, gluten intolerance can be addressed by avoiding products, which contain gluten. This is becoming easier to do with many low or gluten-free foods available, which make good substitutes for foods with gluten. It is a good thing that such foods have been marketed, since about one in 100 people may suffer from gluten intolerance.

What is Gluten?

Gluten is not a protein itself but rather a protein composite, composed of the proteins glutenin and gliadin (in wheat), secalin (in rye) and hordein (in barley), which are elastic proteins in the protein family known as prolamins. Gluten is insoluble in water and comes from the endosperm within the seeds of grass-related grains.

Gluten Origin

Gluten exists in the grass-like grains wheat, barley, rye, kamut and spelt. Gluten provides an elasticity and glue-like capacity to hold its flour products together and provide them with a chewy texture. While western civilization has come to rely on gluten not only as an important nutritional protein but also as a utility for obtaining a desired texture and elasticity in foods, in recent years some substantial and controversial studies suggest our bodies may not tolerate and digest gluten as well as everyone had always assumed. It is worth noting that some people believe this applies to everyone, and not just people suffering from some degree of gluten sensitivity.

One key point to consider is that gluten is in more foods and products than you may realize. If you think removing gluten from your diet involves not eating bread and baked goods, I’m afraid you’re mistaken. Gluten is often used in sauces, flavorings, flavor enhancers and even as a binder or filler in vitamins and supplements. Adapting a gluten-free diet requires more than just removing wheat products from your lifestyle.

Experts say...

According to the Mayo Clinic, untreated gluten intolerance - an umbrella term that embraces both celiac disease and gluten sensitivity - is associated with certain cancers, osteoporosis, infertility, skin rashes, joint pain and a host of other symptoms and diseases. The Clinic says that celiac disease alone, once rare, now affects 1 in 100 people and increases the risk of death fourfold. Gluten sensitivity may affect more than 20% of the population. A new, free e-book can help individuals determine whether gluten intolerance may be causing their health problems.

The e-book was written by Dr. Vikki Petersen, co-founder of HealthNOW Medical Center, Clinical Nutritionist, author, and pioneer in the field of gluten sensitivity, and is available on her website.

According to Dr. Petersen, intolerance to gluten could be the root cause of over 300 health complaints and conditions, and current estimates of the number of people affected may be low.

"Gluten intolerance was, until recently, considered rare," said Dr. Petersen. "Today, with 1 to 4% of the population being affected by celiac disease and upwards of 10 to 20% affected by gluten sensitivity, it has become extremely common."

Watch out….

Foods that have “gluten-free’’ on their label may actually contain significant amounts of gluten - enough to cause gastrointestinal symptoms in those with celiac disease who have an intolerance to the wheat protein. That’s because the US Food and Drug Administration never established a standard for the label, leaving it up to manufacturers to define what they mean by gluten-free.

Now, though, the agency is moving forward with a new standard that manufacturers will be required to meet before they can slap on the gluten-free label. Federal officials are proposing that cookies, bread, and other wheat products making this claim can contain no more that 20 parts per million of gluten, a level below which gluten cannot be detected by standard lab tests.

Some manufacturers of gluten-free products also state on the label that the product contains no more than 20 parts per million of gluten, and that’s a good guide for consumers to use until the FDA issues its final regulations.

The FDA last week invited consumers, celiac experts, and the industry to comment on a rule that it had initially proposed in 2007. (To comment go to www.regulations.gov and enter docket number FDA-2005-N-0404.) After the comment period closes in two months, the FDA later this year will issue a final rule for the industry to follow that will probably go into effect in 2012.

“Before finalizing our gluten-free definition, we want up-to-date input from affected consumers, the food industry, and others to help assure that the label strikes the right balance,’’ Michael Taylor, FDA deputy commissioner for foods, said in a statement. “We must take into account the need to protect individuals with celiac disease … while ensuring that food manufacturers can meet the needs of consumers.’’

The FDA usually get it right, but sometimes with all the testing and red tape it needs to go through, sometimes it seems it takes forever. In the mean time, people with celiac disease, they need to be extra careful. It has started to become mainstrean and accepted, so restaurants and caterers are offering gluten free selections on their menu.

Cooking as Therapy?

2011-07-08T20:26:00.000-07:00

It can soothe jangled nerves, heal broken hearts and cure boredom, insomnia and anxiety.Cooking is therapy and, fattening or not, it's effective.
Just why cooking is so soothing may be because it encourages creativity.
Cooking is a great destresser because it serves as a creative outlet. And while stress can numb your senses, cooking activates them. It's a sensory experience with aroma, taste, touch, visual delight and even sizzling sound. Cooking makes people feel good because it's a way for them to nurture others. If you're cooking for people you care about, you get nurtured by their appreciation. Cooking offers a way to feel better about life because it offers immediate gratification. Cooking ensures such an intense involvement with an activity, that it's possible to forget, at least for a little while, about less than pleasant aspects of life.
When focused on cooking, you are in the moment. And this shifts your attention from a brain locked into worries to a recipe for living.
Individuals cook for a multitude of reasons which are influenced by individual, societal and cultural attitudes. For example, for most housewives, cooking is an integral part of their primary productivity role. However, for some individuals, cooking is done as a leisure activity, while for others, it is simply done to fulfil a biological need. In some cultures, cooking is a means of bringing people together, as it is an important part of cultural and religious celebrations.
Although there are many variations depending on the type of food prepared, common criteria for success can be determined. Cooking skills and familiarity with a particular recipe highly increases chances of a "tasty" outcome. These skills include knowledge of appropriate cooking utensils and common cooking terminology. The careful following of recipe instructions and attentiveness to items being cooked will also lead to success. Lastly, choosing recipes appropriate to skill level and possession of adequate motor and sensory abilities are required.
I cook not because it is a skill I have been practicing forever, but because I want to share my success with everyone I cook for. When I cook I get personally involved. I put everything I have into it, even if it just a simple bacon and eggs breakfast, I make sure it is the best bacon and eggs dish I can make. I am wired to serve, and serving is therapy for me. It makes me feel needed. And when need is fulfilled, I feel great and motivates me to serve again. So for me, cooking is my de-stresser. It may be different for you. Some look at cooking as a chore, or a necessity, and these people are even more stressed because now, after working 8 hours, have to come home and work more. It don't have to be that way. Think about the people you are preparing for and how much they will really appreciate the delicious meal you are about to serve them. Even if they don't say it, I can guarantee, they appreciate it greatly. Now, how does that make you feel?

What is "keen-wah"?

2011-05-28T16:10:00.000-07:00

I had the distinct pleasure of working with the Quinoa King for 2 days at the Lacey Fun Spring Fair last weekend. And his feature product? Quinoa. I knew, or thought I knew what quinoa was, but as we worked the crowds and serve his flavorful dishes, I realized how much I didn't know. He has the passion that is needed to succeed in getting the word out about this wonderful product. He knows everything there is to know about quinoa, and his menu reflex's his knowledge and passion to serve healthy dishes in a meat and potato climate. His whole family partaked in the festivities. The night before the opening of the fair, they were grinding the quinoa into flour and making and baking muffins and cookies to sell. His 240,000 BTU woks, turns out a wonderful saute of fresh vegetables, with a choice of tofu, chicken, beef or prawns, with all natural stocks, atop of freshly cook quinoa. Watching him work and talking to the guest who do not know what quinoa is, is a testiment of his passion to reach out and teach each and every one of us the qualities and understanding of what quinoa is. Quinoa (pronounced Keen-wah) is an ancient food that is not yet well known in North America. It has been cultivated in South American Andes since at least 3,000 B.C. and has been a staple food of millions of native inhabitants. The ancient Incas called quinoa the "mother grain" and revered it as sacred.Technically quinoa is not a true grain, but is the seed of the Chenopodium or Goosefoot plant. It is used as a grain and substituted for grains because of it's cooking characteristics.The seeds are similar in size to millet but are flat with a pointed oval shape and look like a cross between a sesame seed and millet. Quinoa has a delightful characteristic that is all it's own: as it cooks, the outer germ around each grain twists outward forming a little white, spiral tail, which is attached to the kernel. The grain itself is soft and delicate and the tail is crunchy which creates and interesting texture combination and pleasant "crunch" when eating the grain. Quinoa has a fluffy consistency and a mild, delicate, slightly nutty flavor that borders on bland.The quinoa seed is high in protein, calcium and iron, a relatively good source of vitamin E and several of the B vitamins. It contains an almost perfect balance of all eight essential amino acids needed for tissue development in humans. It is exceptionally high in lysine, cystine and methionine-amino acids typically low in other grains. It is a good complement for legumes, which are often low in methionine and cystine. The protein in quinoa is considered to be a complete protein due to the presence of all 8 essential amino acids. Some types of wheat come close to matching quinoa's protein content, but grains such as barley, corn, and rice generally have less than half the protein of quinoa. Quinoa is 12% to 18% protein and four ounces a day, about 1/2-cup, will provide a childs protein needs for one day. The 6-7% fat of quinoa is relatively high when compared to other grains, but it boasts a low sodium content and also provides valuable starch and fiber. Quinoa also contains albumen, a protein that is found in egg whites, blood serum, and many plant and animal tissues. The seeds are gluten-free which makes this a nutritious and flavorful alternative grain for those with gluten sensitivity.Cooked quinoa is excellent in hot casseroles and soups, stews, in stir-fries, or cold in salads. The seeds cook very quickly, in only 15 minutes. Uncooked seeds may be added to soups and stews as you would barley or rice and quinoa is often substituted for rice in rice dishes. It is cooked like rice. a 2-1 water/quinoa and slowly simmered for about 15 minutes. So next time you are looking for something a little different and healthier, give quinoa a try. I am sure you will keep some in your pantry as a staple like rice.

As simple as 1-2-3........

2011-04-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

I get asked all the time, "how do you remember all those recipies" every time I start making a dish or sauce. Well let me tell you a little secret:
If you can remember 3-2-1, or 2-1-1, you too can remember and create lots of recipies.

Let's Talk about ratios.

A culinary ratio is a fixed proportion of one ingredient or ingredients relative to another. These proportions form the backbone of the craft of cooking.

Basic baking for example, Lets look at a pie crust recipe.

A Very Good Basic Pie Crust Is:

•3 parts flour (12 ounces)
•2 Parts fat (8 ounces)
•1 part ice cold water (4 ounces)
•A pinch of salt
See what we have here? 3-2-1, so easy to remember.

All purpose flour works great here for pie crusts and good choices for fats include butter or vegetable shortening (or lard)

2 : 1 : 1 ratio of onions to carrots to celery in a mirepoix?

Oil to vinegar? 3-1

Baking powder to flour? 1tsp-1 cup

1 egg yolk to 1 cup oil for mayonaise

Simple syrup 1-1 sugar to water

Bread is 5 parts flour-3 parts water, plus yeast and salt. And as you add more liquid, it moves into pie and cookie dough and then into batters for cakes and crepes.

Rice is 1-2-3 1 part rice, 2 parts liquid = 3 cups rice

Noticed I said liquid. It can be water, stock, tomato, or any other liquid or combination of.

Cookies – 1 part sugar : 2 parts fat : 3 parts flour 1-2-3

There are a lot of them, as we go further, we will discover more and more of them, and if you take notice, it will make your cooking and creating easier.

Let's Talk Chocolate...

2011-03-26T22:38:00.000-07:00

It's one of the most popular sweets of all time. Women crave it, men hoard it, and Aztec kings were said to have been the first to eat it. But why do we love chocolate so much? Following are just a few reasons why chocolate is so popular--and why you shouldn't give it up completely, even if you're on a diet!

1-It melts in your mouth - Chocolate contains fat--that's no surprise. The cocoa butter in chocolate gives it a rich, creamy consistency that also transmits the cocoa's flavor perfectly. It also has a melting point that's just a bit lower than the average human body temperature, which gives you that melt-in-your-mouth feeling every time you pop a piece of chocolate in your mouth. Chocolate lovers often describe this melting feeling as a true moment of ecstasy.

2-Just the right chemistry - According to a study done at the University of Michigan, chocolate contains chemicals called opioids. Opioids are also found in opium, and they serve to dull pain and give a feeling of well-being to people who ingest them. According to the study, people who eat chocolate produce natural opiates in their brains that soothe their nerves and make them feel good. When the receptors that detected opioids were blocked, that chocolate craving was lessened.

Chocolate also naturally contains "uppers" like caffeine, sugars, and phenylthalymine, which will make your heart pound a little harder, your breathing come a bit more quickly, and give you a feeling of alertness. The effect is not dramatic enough to be uncomfortable in most people; it's mild enough to produce a pleasant "high," which is often equated to the feeling of being in love.

3-Chocolate equals love - Speaking of love, the association might not be completely physiological. Women crave chocolate more often than men do. Women are also habitually given chocolate as birthday and Valentine's Day presents. In our culture, chocolate is thought of as a romantic gift. It's outside the realm of mundane, day-to-day food, reserved for special occasions--and, for women especially, it's associated with love and romance. That could be another reason why women particularly love chocolate: deep down, it makes them feel loved, cared for, and pampered.

4-It really is good for you - Recent studies suggest that chocolate--especially dark chocolate--contains chemicals that lower the risk of cancer and heart disease. Flavanoids and antioxidants in dark chocolate have been shown to make a difference in cardiovascular health. Until recently, tea was considered the main source for these chemicals. Now, scientists recommend that you have a chocolate cookie or biscuit with your tea so your body gets more of those life-lengthening chemicals. Don't have milk with your dark chocolate, however--the same studies show that milk can cancel out the healthful effects of eating chocolate by preventing those helpful chemicals from being fully absorbed in the body.

Chocolate does contain fats and sugars that you shouldn't eat a great deal of--but as long as you eat it in moderation, the science suggests you can add as much as a year to your life.

5-It's great for your sex life - Ever since the time of the Aztecs, people have believed that chocolate has aphrodisiac properties. But there may be some deeper truth to those old legends. Recent studies have shown that women who eat a little bit of chocolate a day have significantly more sex than women who don't. This could be because of those brain-soothing chemicals that are found in chocolate, and that chocolate encourages the brain to release more of as it's eaten. Chocolate just makes us feel good--which is a key ingredient for a healthy sex life.

It's important to remember not to overindulge in chocolate. It does contain high amounts of saturated fats and sugars that can cause health damage and obesity if you take in too much. However, when eaten in moderate quantities, chocolate truly can be a miracle food. Even better, it tastes wonderful--it's hard to find anyone who doesn't like some kind of chocolate, whether it's white, dark, or milk, Hershey or Belgian. So the next time you have to give up something for Lent or take up a new diet, think twice before giving up chocolate. It not only tastes good--its health benefits give you a great excuse to keep on enjoying it.

Brining

2011-03-04T08:22:00.000-08:00

This maybe a bit techy, but in order to properly brine your protein you need to understand how and why it works.

Background On Brining
Historically, brining has been used as a method to preserve meat. Meat is soaked for many days in a very strong saltwater solution with the addition of sugar, spices, and other ingredients. This curing process binds the water in the meat or removes it altogether so it's not available for the growth of food-spoiling microorganisms.

With the advent of mechanical refrigeration, traditional brining became less popular for food preservation, but is still used today in the production of products like corned beef and pastrami.

Introducing Flavor Brining

In recent years, there has been a surge in popularity of "flavor brining", a term coined by Bruce Aidells and Denis Kelly in the book The Complete Meat Cookbook.

While traditional brining was meant to preserve meat, the purpose of flavor brining is to improve the flavor, texture, and moisture content of lean cuts of meat. This is achieved by soaking the meat in a moderately salty solution for a few hours to a few days. Flavor brining also provides a temperature cushion during cooking—if you happen to overcook the meat a little, it will still be moist.

At a minimum, a flavor brine consists of water and salt. Other ingredients may include sugar, brown sugar, honey, molasses, maple syrup, fruit juices, beer, liquor, bay leaves, pickling spices, cloves, garlic, onion, chilies, citrus fruits, peppercorns, and other herbs and spices. Many recipes call for bringing the ingredients to a boil to dissolve the sugars and bring out the flavor of herbs, then cooling the mixture to below 40°F before use.

Sometimes a small amount of a curing agent like sodium nitrite or Morton Tender Quick (a mixture of salt, sugar, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite and other ingredients) is added to a flavor brine. These curing agents create a color and taste reminiscent of ham and help prevent the growth of botulism. This is important when cold smoking brined meat at temperatures below 140°F or when smoking a large brined turkey that might not reach 140°F internal temperature within the first 4 hours of cooking. Sodium nitrite and Morton Tender Quick can be purchased at butcher supply stores or from suppliers like Allied Kenco. Tender Quick is also sometimes found in larger supermarkets.

It's important to point out that not everyone likes the effects of brining on meat. Some people don't like the texture that results, while others complain about the flavor, saying that it makes everything taste like ham (especially if sodium nitrite or Morton Tender Quick has been added to the solution) or that the meat tastes too salty. You'll have to judge the results for yourself.

How Brining Works
Pick up any book or visit any website that describes how brining works and you'll probably see the principles of diffusion and osmosis mentioned.

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines diffusion as "the process whereby particles of liquids, gases, or solids intermingle as the result of their spontaneous movement caused by thermal agitation and in dissolved substances move from a region of higher to one of lower concentration." Merriam-Webster defines osmosis as "movement of a solvent through a semipermeable membrane (as of a living cell) into a solution of higher solute concentration that tends to equalize the concentrations of solute on the two sides of the membrane."

There is general agreement among food scientists and writers that the processes of diffusion and osmosis are involved in achieving equilibrium between the flavor brine solution and the meat—in other words, that these processes attempt to balance the difference between the amount of water, salt, and flavorings in the flavor brine solution and the amount of water and dissolved substances inside the meat cells. However, opinions differ as to the mechanics of this balancing act.

The most commonly offered explanation is that the flavor brine solution contains a higher concentration of water and salt than the meat, so the solution passes into the meat cells through their semi-permeable membranes, adding water and flavor to the inside of the meat cells. This explanation is offered by authorities including Cook's Illustrated magazine and Robert L. Wolke, author of What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained.

Other experts state the opposite situation, but with the same end result: That meat cells contain a higher concentration of water and dissolved solids than the flavor brine solution, so the solution passes into the meat cells through their semi-permeable membranes, again adding water and flavor to the inside of the meat cells. Shirley O. Corriher, author of CookWise, provides this explanation in her book.

Yet another explanation is that the flavor brine solution does not actually penetrate the meat cells at all. Instead, it just flows into the spaces between cells, where it draws out some moisture through the semi-permeable membrane of meat cells, increasing the concentration of naturally occurring sodium inside the cells. Some of the flavor brine solution remains between meat cells where it flavors the meat. The California BBQ Association website provides this explanation in an article written by Joe O'Connell.

Regardless of the explanation, all sources seem to agree that a higher concentration of salt inside meat cells causes protein strands to denature. The tightly wound proteins unwind and get tangled together, and when heated, the proteins form a matrix that traps water molecules and holds onto them tightly during cooking. In the case of the first two explanations, the denatured proteins hold on to some of the water, salt, and flavorings that flowed into the meat cells; in the case of the third explanation, the denatured proteins are holding on to free water that was already inside the meat cells and would have been lost had the meat not been brined.

Which of these explanations is correct? I'm not sure, but in the end, it doesn't really matter. The bottom line is that flavor brining results in meat that is more moist and flavorful than unbrined meat, regardless of which explanation you choose to believe.

Meats That Benefit From Brining
Lean cuts of meat with mild flavor tend to benefit most from flavor brining. The usual suspects include:

Chicken: whole, butterflied, or pieces
Cornish Hens: whole or butterflied
Turkey: whole, butterflied, or pieces
Pork: chops, loin, tenderloin, fresh ham
Seafood: salmon, trout, shrimp
Poultry is probably the most commonly flavor brined meat because it is naturally lean and gets quite dry if overcooked. Lean cuts of pork are also good candidates for the same reasons as poultry, except that in the case of pork, much of the fat (and thus flavor) has been intentionally bred out of the animal by an industry intent on providing meat that appeals to health-conscious consumers.

Beef, lamb, duck, and other meats with high fat content and bold flavors do not benefit from brining—they're naturally moist and flavorful. They also tend to be cooked to lower internal temperatures and thus don't lose as much of their natural moisture.

Pork butt is not commonly brined because of its naturally high fat content, yet there are some recipes that do so. Brisket can be brined to become corned beef or pastrami depending on the seasonings used in the brine.

Brining Enhanced Meat
Enhanced meat is injected by the manufacturer with a solution of water, salt, and other ingredients to enhance the moisture content and flavor of the meat. Examples include Butterball self-basted turkey and Swift Premium Guaranteed Tender Pork.

Most people prefer to brine meat that's not enhanced so they have total control over the flavor being adding to the meat. If you choose to brine enhanced meat, take care not to brine it too long, or the meat may turn out too salty. Having said that, there are people who like to brine self-basted turkeys and do not report that they turn out too salty.

Which Salt To Use
Kosher salt and table salt are the most common salts used in flavor brining. I use kosher salt most of the time because it dissolves quickly and it's what most professional cooks use in their kitchens, but I also use table salt on occasion.

Sea salt can be used for flavor brining, but it tends to be quite expensive. If you have a cheap supply available, go for it; otherwise, stick to kosher salt or table salt.

Some people say that kosher salt tastes "cleaner" than table salt because it does not contain the anti-caking agents added to table salt. Some people prefer non-iodized table salt over iodized table salt, believing that potassium iodide creates an off-taste. However, these flavor differences melt away when salt is diluted in large quantities of water in a brine. Taste testers felt that "all nine salts tasted pretty much the same" when dissolved in spring water and chicken stock.

Salt Equivalent Measures
Table salt and kosher salt do not have the same saltiness in a flavor brine when measured by volume—but they do when measured by weight.

Table salt weighs about 10 ounces per cup, while kosher salt weighs 5-8 ounces per cup, depending on the brand. If using kosher salt in a brine, you must use more than a cup to achieve the same salt flavor you would get from a cup of table salt.

The chart below shows equivalent amounts of table salt and the two most popular brands of kosher salt.

Table Salt 1 cup
Morton Kosher Salt 1-1/2 cups
Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt 2 cups

Morton Kosher Salt weighs about 7.7 ounces per cup, making it three-fourths as strong as table salt. Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt weighs about 5 ounces per cup, making it half as strong as table salt.

What if you're using something other than Morton Kosher or Diamond Crystal Kosher salt? Regardless of the type of salt—sea salt, pickling salt, and any other brand of kosher salt—just measure 10 ounces of it on a kitchen scale and you will have the equivalent of 1 cup of table salt.

Low-Salt Brining Doesn't Work
Some people find that flavor brined meat is just too salty for their tastes. Will a flavor brine still work if you cut the amount of salt in half? Not according to the November/December 2002 issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine.

Cook's brined shrimp, pork chops, and whole chicken in a full-strength solution and a half-strength solution for 1 hour per pound. After cooking and tasting, they found that the meats brined at half-strength were a lot less salty than those brined at full-strength, but the improvement in moisture content was marginal, at best. In fact, for shrimp and chicken, Cook's felt that there was no point in flavor brining at half-strength at all.

The Science of Marinades and Brines

2011-02-25T21:59:00.000-08:00

This will be a 2 part series on Marinades vs Brines.

As both add flavor to protiens, they are vastly different not only in thier application, but in the science of how they work. First we will talk about marinades.

Marinades serve two different functions: as a tenderizer and flavor enhancer. You probably already know that some tough cuts of meat benefit from the tenderizing effects of marination, but how does it work? This is the science of marination.

Marinade tenderizing science
The cooking process itself turns connective tissues into gelatin to varying degrees. Depending on the cut and type of meat, it may need a little assistance to bring it to a palatable range of tenderness. Certain plant and fungi enzymes and acids can break down muscle and connective proteins in meats. As far back as pre-Columbian Mexico, cooks found that wrapping meats in papaya leaves before cooking made for more tender results. The active enzyme in the papaya leaves is papain, now refined from papayas and commercially available. Connective tissue that comes in direct contact with the protein-digesting enzymes gets broken down.

These tenderizing enzymes also reduce the capability of the meat to hold its juices, resulting in greater fluid loss and thus drier meat. Enzymes are heat activated at levels between 140 and 175 degrees F. and deactivated at the boiling point, so it really serves no purpose other than flavoring to let meat sit in a marinade at room temperature. In fact, refrigeration is recommended to avoid the growth of harmful bacteria. Let meat come to room temperature before cooking.

Marination requires contact
Direct contact is the important point, since it is necessary for the chemical reaction to occur. This means that soaking a piece of meat in a marinade will only penetrate just so far into the surface of the meat. If you marinate a large cut of meat in a tenderizing marinade, you end up with a mushy exterior and an unaffected center. Puncturing the meat for the marinade to penetrate gives an uneven result, with the further undesirable side effect of allowing the meat to lose even more juices while cooking. Thus, flat cuts of meat benefit most from tenderizing marinades. Place meat in a heavy zip-top bag with the air squeezed out and turn it often to be sure all surfaces benefit from the marinade.

The best marinades usually contain four working components: Salt, oil, flavoring, and acid, and if you remember the acronym SOFA, you can create your own easily.

SOFA

S is for Salt. Salt is important because it is a flavor enhancer and it is good at penetrating meat and pulling the other flavor components in the marinade by osmosis.

O is for Oil. Oils are used in marinades because many flavorings are not water soluble, and oils are needed to release their aromatics. Most green herbs are oil soluble. Oils on the surface of the meat aid in browning and crisping. Don't use olive oil because it solidifies at refrigerator temp. Use a corn, canola, or peanut oil. Other oils might work but give them thought because some, such as walnut, are very flavorful.

F is for Flavoring. Typical flavorings include herbs and spices such as oregano, thyme, cumin, paprika, garlic, onion powder, and even vegetables such as onion and jalapeño. It's a good idea to add some umami. That's the meaty flavor from glutamates found in meat stocks, soy sauce, and mushrooms.

A is for Acid. Acid can break down protein slightly. Typical acids are fruit juice (lemon juice, apple juice, white grape juice, pineapple juice, and orange juice work well), vinegar (cider vinegar, distilled vinegar, sherry vinegar, balsamic vinegar, raspberry vinegar, or any old vinegar), and even sugar free soft drinks.

Tips
Refrigerate. Keep marinating meats in the fridge.

No alcohol. A lot of folks like to use wine, beer, and spirits in their marinades, but this may not be a good idea. If your marinating anything with alcohol, cook the alcohol off first. Alcohol doesn't tenderize; cooking tenderizes. Alcohol in a marinade in effect cooks the exterior of the meat, preventing the meat from fully absorbing the flavors in the marinade. Raw alcohol itself doesn't do anything good to meat. So put your wine or spirit in a pan, add your aromatics, cook off the alcohol, let it cool, and then pour it over your meat. This way you have the richness of the fruit of the wine or Cognac or whatever you're using, but you don't have the chemical reaction of 'burning' the meat with alcohol or it's harsh raw flavor.

Use a nonreactive container. The acids in a marinate can react with aluminum, copper, and cast iron, and give the food an off flavor. So do your soaking in plastic, stainless steel, porcelain, or best of all, zipper bags. Pour the marinade and meat in the bag and squeeze out all the air possible and the meat will be in contact on most surfaces. Put it in the fridge and flip it over frequently.

Now here's a neat trick. Fresh pineapple has an enzyme called bromelain that tenderizes meat. The enzyme works fast. Within 30-60 minutes the meat is ready for the grill. Surprisingly, the pineapple adds little flavor to the meat in such a short time. Some people like the softer meat, others feel it is mushy. You decide. The enzyme is destroyed by the canning and bottling process, so be sure to use fresh pineapple. Likewise, papain is an enzyme in papaya and the main tenderizing ingredient in Adolph’s Meat Tenderizer. You can liquefy papaya or add smashed papaya to your marinade to tenderize.

Flavor vs Taste

2010-07-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

Flavor Profile : The flavor profile of an item (food, sauce, etc..) is the balance of flavors that go into it. The primary flavors are : Sweet, Sour, Bitter, Salty. The Japanese claim there is a fifth flavor : Savory, which they call "umammi". Umammi comes from foods which are high in glutamates (MSG is the purest form readily available). Truffles are unusually high in glutamates. These four (or five) flavors are the only ones we can taste with our mouth. All other flavors are actually scents. The balance of the four basic flavors and how they relate is the "flavor profile" of the item. One can also discuss the added other flavors (which are actually scents) and how they relate to the primary flavors as part of the flavor profile.
Taste is one of those senses that we take for granted - until we get a cold. Then, it seems that we can’t taste anything. How we perceive taste is a complicated chemical process, and, it is closely linked to the sense of smell. Further complicating the issue is the idea of flavor. Taste is the information that our taste buds can tell us about what we eat. It is only one aspect of the flavor of a food. Flavor is a composite profile of a food based on its smell, mouth feel and temperature as well as its taste.
Remember the map of the tongue that your seventh grade science teacher passed out to you in class? Remember the areas for sensing sweet, salty, sour and bitter? Well, forget that. It turns out that the entire tongue, upper palate and even the inside of the cheeks have taste buds that can determine all of these flavors. While it is true that some areas of the tongue are more sensitive to certain tastes than others, the "tongue map" falsely leads people to believe that there is a strict differentiation among the different receptors, and this just is not the case.

What Happens When We Taste?

Here is what happens when we taste. First, we must smell - whether as a conscious deep sniff before eating, or just as scents waft up our nasal passages. Smell triggers an increase in saliva production in the mouth and a low-level increase in digestive acid production in the stomach. This prepares us to taste and digest our food. To taste anything at all, foods must be dissolved. Try putting a bit of food on your dry tongue. You won’t taste a thing.
Once food enters the mouth, its chemical components find their way to the taste buds. Some taste buds react most to the presence of sodium ions, and you will taste "salt." Others react mostly to sugars, acids, alkaloids or glutamates in the food resulting in tasting "sweet," "sour," "bitter," or "umammi."
Studies show that humans are hard-wired to like certain tastes and to reject others, most likely for survival. Sour and bitter tastes can indicate food that is bad, under-ripe or even poisonous. Sweet, salty and savory tastes indicate "good" foods. A sweet taste indicates foods that can give us energy—infants crave sweet foods, and lactose in milk is sweet. A salty taste indicates foods that can help us replace electrolytes lost through sweat or urination, and savory tastes can lead us to foods containing amino acids that the body needs.
Humans only recognize five tastes, but we can recognize thousands of smells. It is the way the brain puts together the tastes with the smells, temperature and mouth feel that creates our perception of "flavor." As much as 85% of the perception of taste comes from the sense of smell. Smells travel to the brain in two ways, up through the nostrils as you bring food to your mouth, and again through the "back door" once food is in the mouth, as some smells make their way up to the scent receptors through the pharynx.
While vanilla ice cream and apple pie both register as "sweet" on the tongue, their flavors are different because their smell, mouth feel and temperature are being processed at the same time as the tastes. The end result is the flavor of ice cream versus the flavor of apple pie.
When "smell" is taken out of the equation and mouth feel and temperature are similar, it is no wonder that an apple and an onion "taste" the same.

Know your Knife

2010-06-16T20:07:00.000-07:00

Basic knife skills are an important component of any culinarian’s repertoire - whether you plan to earn a living in the kitchen, or simply please yourself, your friends, and your family. Learning to wield a knife correctly will speed up your prep time, and food products fashioned in uniform shapes and sizes will help guarantee even cooking throughout a dish. In addition, the mastery of certain classic knife cuts and methodology will vastly improve the look of your food, garnishes and plate presentations.
You've probably seen chefs on television wielding their enormous knives and chopping onions with the precision of a surgeon and the speed of a NASCAR driver. Though it's fun to watch, it's not realistic to think that a home cook could work her way up to this level, or would want to if you could. That doesn't mean, however, that you can't hone your knife skills and become truly comfortable and confident holding your chef's knife. With these tips, you can be mowing through your mirepoix in no time.

Overview of the lesson
This is a preview of the next cooking class as I will show: basic cuts, sharpening, and handling of the knife. I think it is important that everyone have a basic knowledge and understanding of the most important tool in the kitchen.

Knife Safety

The safe use of knives is imperative for obvious reasons. There are only a few rules to remember, but they are crucial:

1. A sharp knife is a safe knife. Using a dull knife is an invitation to disaster. If you try to force a dull knife through the surface of a food product, it’s more likely to slip and cause an injury. Also: if you do happen to cut yourself, a sharp knife will result in an easier wound to attend to.

2. Never, ever grab a falling knife. The best way to avoid having to think about this rule is to make sure your knife is always completely on your work surface, without the handle sticking out into traffic areas. Inevitably, however, it will happen from time to time that you or someone else will bump a knife handle, resulting in a falling knife. We all have a natural instinct to grab for anything that’s falling. You must overcome this inclination. Remember: a falling knife has no handle. Just get your hands and feet out of the way.

3. Use the right knife for the right job. Many knife injuries occur when laziness induces us to use the knife at hand rather than the correct knife for a job. Place your knife inventory where it is easily accessible so you won’t be tempted to make this mistake.

4. Always cut away from - never towards – yourself. Sometimes this is a hard rule to follow. Again, don’t be lazy! If the angle is wrong, turn the product around. Or turn your cutting board around. By the way - if your cutting board doesn’t have rubber feet, you should place it atop a damp kitchen towel to make sure it doesn’t move while you’re cutting.

5. When you have a knife in hand, keep your eyes on the blade. I was taught this rule early on in culinary school. I have to admit that every single time I have cut myself; I was looking away from what I was doing. This rule stands whether you are cutting something or carrying a knife. The simple fact is: you’re unlikely to cut yourself if you’re watching the blade, especially the tip.

6. Carry a knife properly. If you’re carrying a knife through the kitchen, especially a busy commercial kitchen, there are often people hurrying everywhere. You must get used to the idea that the only way to walk with a knife in hand is to carry it pointed straight down, with the blade turned towards your thigh. Keep your arm rigid. You don’t want some busboy or family member going to the emergency room with a puncture wound from your knife.

7. Never, ever put a knife in a sink full of water. In addition to soaking probably being bad for your knife handle, putting a knife in a sink full of (likely soapy) water is just asking for trouble. Wash your sharp knives by hand (not in a dishwasher!) and put them away immediately.

8. Always cut on a cutting board. Don’t cut on metal, glass or marble. This will ultimately damage a knife’s edge.

Buying The Right Knives
Most knife sets come with far more knives than is necessary for the home cook. You will need a few different knives depending on what you intend to be doing with them, but entire sets are oftentimes unnecessary.
The most important knife in any cook's arsenal is the chef's knife. Usually in the 10-inch range, this is the most frequently used of any knife and is the go-to whenever chopping, dicing or mincing is needed. Next on the list is a paring knife. These smaller and more precise knives are perfect for peeling many fruits, as well as performing more delicate procedures. Last is a serrated knife for cutting bread and other edibles.
If you deal with a lot of meat and fish at your house, then a boning or filet knife may be necessary, and, if you feel confident in your skills, a cleaver is great for many tasks, but a chef's knife, a paring knife and a serrated knife will work for most people.

Dull Knife Equals Shorter Fingers
The single biggest cause of kitchen accidents is dull knives. Whereas sharp blades can be controlled and actually go where they're being directed, dull blades tend to slide and land where they're not wanted, such as an unfortunately placed pinkie. This can be prevented by properly maintaining your knives. Do not store them in a cluttered drawer. Make sure they have enough room to sit without knocking up against their neighbors. Never chop on a countertop or glass cutting board. Wood and plastic are the best options. Lastly, never wash them in the dishwasher. This can cause them to rust, which makes maintaining them impossible.
Even with proper maintenance, knives will go dull. The regular application of a honing steel, that long rod you probably have in your drawer and never use, will help. Simply hold the steel in your non dominant hand and, making sure you're not too close to anybody, act as if you are cutting thin slices off of it with your knife, changing sides with each swipe. Eventually, however, it will be necessary to get them professionally sharpened. Your local knife shop will likely do this for you.

Basic Chopping Words
Now that you've chosen a knife that is right for you and is adequately sharpened, here are a few terms you are likely to come across:

Dice: This is a relatively vague term. It usually refers to cutting meat or vegetables into ⅛- to ½-inch cubes. The most important aspect of dicing is not the size of the cube, but that the size is consistent among all of the cubes.

Mince: Even smaller than a dice, mincing means cutting until the individual pieces are barely distinguishable from each other.

Chiffonade: It may sound fancy, and therefore intimidating, but this is about as basic as cuts get. It refers to a way to chop herbs or other greens so that they are shredded into ribbons. Simply pile as many leaves as you want on top of each other, and roll them up like a cigar. Cut thin, even slices across the width of the bundle.

Julienne: When you chop a vegetable into long thin sticks often referred to as "matchsticks," it is known as julienne. Though different vegetables are shaped differently, the procedure is basically the same for all. Cut the vegetable lengthwise into panels, and then stack the panels on top of each other and cut them again into sticks.

By knowing the knives you need and how to care for them, you can reduce kitchen accidents and produce meals that look as good as they taste.

A Long Time Ago

2010-02-24T17:37:00.000-08:00

Let's look at how food and cooking evolved in days gone by. Let's start it off from the roaring 20's, and see what they had, how they cooked and new products.

In the 1920's food production, storage and availability improved significantly
The introduction of refrigerators enabled healthier and longer storage of perishable foodstuffs, with consequent health benefits as well as time saved due to less frequent purchases. Refrigeration also permitted the transport of perishable foodstuffs over much longer distances by road and sea. Smaller farms were absorbed by larger farms who could afford the expensive farm machinery that lowered costs and improved profitability while increasing production.

Food was plentiful and cheap thanks to the large quantities produced by American farms. The American diet in the early part of the century consisted for a large part of meat and potatoes. A lot of time was taken up in preparing and cooking meals. Data from 1920 reveals that 44 hours were spent on preparing meals and cleaning up after them each week. As vitamins began to be discovered from 1912 on, fruit, vegetables and milk became much more important than they had in the earlier years. For the first time people could drink fresh orange juice year round due to improvements in storage and transport.

The public's eating habits changed as Americans ate fewer starches (like bread and potatoes) and increased consumption of fruit and sugar. However, the most striking development was the shift toward processed foods. Where housewives had previously prepared food from scratch at home (peeling potatoes, shelling peas, plucking chickens, or grinding coffee beans) an increasing number of Americans purchased foods that were ready-to-cook. World War I brought about new methods of food processing as manufacturers streamlined production methods of canned and frozen foods. Processed foods reduced the enormous amounts of time that had previously been taken up in peeling, grinding, and cutting.

Gas stoves, electric refrigerators, and other labor-saving kitchen devices enabled ready preparation and storage of food and beverages, making possible the introduction of greater varieties of foodstuffs into the American diet, and condiments introduced by immigrants added new flavors.
During the depression of the late 1920's and 1930's a cheap source of meat was rabbits. In Australia rabbits were called poor man's mutton and were the mainstay of many families diets. Like potatoes in Ireland, rabbits were cooked in numerous different ways to provide variety.

Manufactured foods introduced in the 1920s include - Baby Ruth Candy Bar (1920). Wonder Bread (1920). Yoo-Hoo Chocolate Drink (1923). Reese's Peanut Butter Cup (1923). Welch's Grape Jelly (1923). Popsicles (1924). Wheaties (1924). Hostess Cakes (1927). Kool-Aid (1927). Peter Pan Peanut Butter (1928). Velveeta Cheese (1928). And just like today there was debate over brown bread vs white bread.
In 1920 Charles Birdseye deep-froze food. In September 1922, he formed his own company, Birdseye Seafoods Inc. By 1930 Birdseye was selling 26 different frozen vegetables, fruits, fish and meats. In 1921 the White Castle chain of hamburger shops opened, and in 1925 the first home mechanical refrigerator, the Frigidaire, came on the market.

When Prohibition went into effect in America on January 16, 1920, it increased the production of soft drinks and spurred the growth of tea rooms and cafeterias, while alcohol production and consumption went "underground". Prohibition may also have been partly resposible for the remarkable increase in the consumption of cocoa and chocolate in this country. Although there was a marked increase in the consumption of tea and coffee during the same period, the ratio of increase fell far below that of cocoa.

Horn & Hardart were pioneers of the fast food industry. Their TV and radio advertising motto "Less work for mother," pioneered the concept of prepared foods to eat at home. The restaurants were called Automats because, besides a cafeteria line, they featured food behind small glass windows that was accessed by putting a few nickels in the slots. Automats flourished in the first half of the 20th century, but their profitability gradually declined, and the last remaining one closed in 1991.

Next: The 30's

The Secret To Great Sauté

2010-02-18T17:03:00.000-08:00

Probably the most important technique I can share with you is how to sauté properly. When you learn how to saute, you can prepare hundreds of meals with this technique.
What Is Sauté?
Sauté in French means "to jump" and can be a method of cooking or a way to describe a dish like sautéed chicken breasts. The reason the French called this technique "to jump" is because you are cooking at a very high heat and you don't want it sitting too long in the pan.
To be successful, you need to move the ingredients either with a pair of tongs or like they do on TV by tossing it in the air.
Sauté is a type of frying which is a dry heat method of cooking requiring high heat and some sort of liquid fat to cook with.
What Is the Difference Between Sautéing & Pan Frying?
Although they are both considered dry heat cooking and use a fat to transfer the heat of the pan to the food, pan frying requires more oil and you don't toss or move the food around like you do with saute. Typically a pan-fry requires enough oil to reach almost halfway up the ingredient you are cooking. A good example is when you pan-fry eggplant for eggplant parmesan.
The Advantages of Sautéing
Once learned and in your repertoire, you will be free to be creative and devise your own recipes with whatever ingredients you have around. As a novice, this technique is easy and allows you to prepare meals in a moment’s notice.
This includes sautéing chicken, fish, vegetables, or meat. That’s the beauty of learning a basic technique. Compare it to learning how to read a financial statement. Once you know how, you can effectively read any company’s report.
The Formula To A Great Sauté
Proper Sauté = Good Sauté Pan + High Heat + A Little Fat + Uniformly Cut Ingredients
The Right Pan For The Job
Some say the pan the pan should have sloped sides, others say straight. To me it doesn't matter as long as the pan has a dense, heavy bottom that spreads the heat evenly without any hot spots. It has to be big enough to cook your ingredients without crowding so buy accordingly.
Non-stick is ok if you don't plan to make pan sauce, but you need a little sticking to create the "fond" or the brown bits that stick to your pan that are responsible for those delicious sauces served in your favorite restaurants. I use a non-stick pan for my sautéed spinach and broccoli but prefer metal for everything else.
The Right Fat - Butter or Oil?
It all has to do with smoking points. Butter (350°F) will give your food the best taste and a wonderful golden crust but burns more easily. Oil (375° F - 450° F) produces a nice crust and will not burn as quickly, but also doesn’t leave as rich a flavor or color as butter alone. Most chefs will use different oils depending on what they are cooking.
If they are cooking a Mediterranean style dish, they may choose olive oil, but if they are preparing an Asian dish, sesame oil might be the better choice. You match the oil to the style of cooking but remember much of the flavor will be cooked off because of the high heat so you may just be better off using a generic oil like canola or safflower and add a little of the flavored oil at the end.
The Reluctant Gourmet uses a combination of the two. This way I get some of the flavor from the butter and a higher smoking point from the oil. What you cook and the amount you’re cooking will determine how butter and oil you use. For example, use about 1 to 1-1/2 tablespoons of each for 2 or more chicken cutlets and 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of each for 2 or more fish fillets.
How Much Fat?
Just enough to coat the bottom of the pan. You are not deep frying so just cover the bottom of the pan. When a recipe tells you to add 2 tablespoons of oil to the pan, how do they know what size pan you are using. If you add 2 tablespoons to a small pan, it may be too much. 2 tablespoons in a large pan might not be big enough. So add accordingly.
Important Tip - Preheating the Pan
The biggest mistake home cooks make when sautéing is not getting the pan hot enough. They take cold ingredients right out of the refrigerator, put them into a cold pan and stick it on the flame. Big mistake - don't do it. You'll end with bone dry meat, chicken or fish.
• If you add cold protein ingredients to a cold pan and put it on the heat, the ingredients will release some of their moisture as it heats up and you end up with dry meats and fish. It's hard to watch a home cook put that cold white piece of chicken in a sauté pan, slowly releasing its moisture, gently simmering in it's own fat, rather than searing at high heat.

• All pans have hot spots. These are places on a pan that heat up faster than the rest of the pan. If you add butter or oil to a cold pan and then heat it up, it can hit one of these hot spots and start burning. If you start with a hot pan that is uniformly heated, there is less chance for the fat to hit a hot spot and burn. When sautéing, you want the butter to foam up before you start and the oil to "almost" start smoking. If it starts smoking, you are too late and the oil will leave a bad flavor to your dish. You want the oil hot but not smoking. Now you are ready to start the sauté.
• There is an expression, "A watched pot never boils" which means if you stand there and watch a pot of water come to boil, it seems like it is taking forever. Our attention drifts and we get distracted. The same is true when heating up butter and oil in a pan. Have you ever added some cold butter to a cold pan, pushed it around a bit, became distracted and walked away only to have the butter burn? By preheating the pan you are ready to start cooking the moment you add your fat. Your attention is focused.
Why Not Just Pre-Heat The Fat With The Pan
You might think it would save time just to heat the fat in the pan at the same time but this is not a good idea. As fats heat up, they start to degrade once they reach 140° F. So rather than let the fat continuously breakdown from 140°F to your ideal temperature, it's better to add the oil to an already hot pan.
How to Pre-Heat a Sauté Pan?
I suggest you put the pan on medium high heat and when the pan is hot enough to evaporate a few drops of water, you know it has to be at least 212° F. This is a good starting point to add your fat. If you have the heat too high, you risk the chance of burning the fat. Too low and the fat won't be hot enough.
Remember though, once your pan is preheated, you are ready to cook and when you add your butter and/or oil, you may have crank up your heat a little before you start to sauté. The butter or oil will actually bring down the pan temperature.
Interesting Point About Heating A Pan
If you put it on low heat, won't the pan keep getting hotter and hotter? That's what I use to think but the answer is no. The pan will only get as hot as the amount of heat (btu's) you apply to it. If you preheated a pan on low, it would get to a maximum temperature and that's it. To get more heat you have to add more btu's or in the case of a gas stove, more flame.
Equal Sized Ingredients
Whether it is chopped up vegetables to be used as aromatics to add flavor to the dish, breasts of chicken, filets of fish or steak medallions, you want them all to be the same size so they cook evenly. You especially want the aromatics to be finely chopped or minced so they give off more flavor more quickly.
If the ingredients are all cut at different sizes, some will cook faster and overcook and some will cook slower and undercook. Culinary students learn right away how to make precision cuts by spending hours cutting up vegetables for different dishes.
Basic Technique
If you are using butter, you will know your pan is hot enough and it is time to start when the butter stops foaming and begins to turn a pale brown. If you are using just oil, you will know it is hot enough when it goes from perfectly smooth to lined or shimmering. Be careful, let it go any further and it will start to smoke and you will need to start over.
Add your ingredients but be very careful not to let it start smoking. If it does, remove the pan from the heat for a moment. You may want to turn the heat down a little but as soon as you add the ingredients, it should lower the heat in the pan. Cooking time will vary, depending on what you are cooking.
Most recipes give you times for cooking each ingredient but I suggest you use these only as estimates because there is no way they can give you an exact time without knowing size & type of pan you are using, the btu's of your stove top, the thickness of the fish, chicken or meat you are cooking or your level of cooking expertise. The times should be used as guidelines but in the end you need to depend on an internal thermometer in the beginning and experience after that.
Also, never use a fork for flipping, it pierces the meat and lets the juices escape. Depending on what you are cooking, you will want to let whatever you are cooking rest for the juices to redistribute. This give you time to make a great pan sauce.

Pan Roasting—the Chef’s Secret Cooking Technique

2010-02-13T20:53:00.000-08:00

If I could teach you just one chef’s technique that will help you save time in the kitchen and deliver a thick cut of meat to the table with a perfect sear and juicy medium-rare throughout, it would be pan roasting.

This is, hands down, one of the best and most efficient cooking methods around. Pan roasting takes advantage of conductive heat from the stove plus radiant and convective heat in the oven to cook thicker cuts perfectly and in short order.

You won't find this pan roasting technique in many cookbooks but is a technique taught in every culinary arts school and used by professional chefs every day.

Some chefs use this technique as part of their mise en place. They sear the meat during prep time, hold it in a low boy refrigerator and finish the cooking process to order in the oven. Even if the technique is used without any holding time, this cooking method saves time over straight oven roasting and is more practical than pan frying for thicker cuts of meat.

Here’s what you will need:

a heavy pan that will retain heat and is oven safe (cast iron is really ideal for this)

a lean cut of meat at cool room temperature

canola oil

salt and pepper

kitchen tongs and oven mitts.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, F.

Preheat the pan over medium-high to high heat. Make sure the pan is good and hot. The trick is to have it hold its heat as much as possible once you put the meat in. That’s why cast iron is ideal—even though it is not as conductive as some metals, once it heats up, it stays hot for a very long time.

Once the pan is very hot, add enough canola oil (or other neutral oil with a high smoke point) to coat the bottom. Wait a minute or two for the oil to get good and hot, season your meat with salt and pepper, and place it in the pan. Make sure there is a lot of pan real estate around the meat. You don’t want to crowd the meat and risk steaming rather than searing.

How you proceed from here is up to you. I’ve seen people sear one side and then finish the whole thing in the oven. I’ve also seen chefs sear all sides of the meat and then finish in the oven. I say that, since we’re looking for an amazing crust and a moist, juicy interior, go ahead and sear all sides on the stovetop.

Once you are happy with your sear, place the meat in the oven to let it finish cooking. Use an instant read thermometer to check the internal temperature of the meat and remove it from the oven about five degrees cooler than the target temperature. Cover and let the meat rest. Carryover cooking will finish the process.

Beef and Lamb

Rare
120 to 125 degrees F
center is bright red, pinkish toward the exterior portion

Medium Rare
130 to 135 degrees F
center is very pink, slightly brown toward the exterior portion

Medium
140 to 145 degrees F
center is light pink, outer portion is brown

Medium Well
150 to 155 degrees F
not pink

Well Done
160 degrees F and above
steak is uniformly brown throughout

Poultry (Chicken & Duck)

165 degrees F

cook until juices run clear

Fish (steaks, filleted or whole)
140 degrees F
flesh is opaque, flakes easily

Tuna, Swordfish, & Marlin
125 degrees F
cook until medium-rare (do not overcook or the meat will become dry and lose its flavor

From start to finish, pan roasting should take anywhere from ten to twenty minutes, depending upon the thickness of the meat you are cooking. One of the great bonuses of pan roasting is taking the few minutes that the meat is resting to make a quick pan sauce with the drippings in the pan.

De glaze with the liquid/s of your choice, reduce, check for seasonings and finish the sauce with a pat of butter or maybe a splash of cream. Elegant enough for a dinner party, but attainable on a busy weeknight.

Next: Saute

How much money can you save with this.....

2010-02-05T09:22:00.000-08:00

What Is Braising?

Braising is a cooking technique in which the main ingredient is seared, or browned in fat, and then simmered in liquid on low heat in a covered pot. The best equipment to use would be a crock pot, pressure cooker or Dutch oven. LeCrueset makes a range of enameled pots and pans that are good for either the stove or the oven. They work well too.

Whether you choose to use the oven, the top of the stove or crock pot, you will be pleased with the results. Braising is often used as a way to cook less expensive, tough cuts of meat. The end result is tender and flavorful. Other than great taste and economy, there are other reasons to cook this way.

After searing the meat, the remainder of the cooking time (until sauce/gravy preparation) does not require much attention. Once the heat is reduced, you can go about cooking other things, do some chores or take a break. This is also a plus when entertaining: you have more time for your guests.

Yet another plus of cooking with this method is that the meat tastes great and you also get delicious broth, sauce or gravy. It’s one pot cooking at it’s finest. There isn’t much to cleaning up and anything leftover can be reheated or frozen and reheated for later.

This method of cooking is great for tough cuts of meat but also works well with chicken, fish and/or vegetables. You can braise in a crock pot, pressure cooker, large saute pan or the most often used cooking vessel for braises, a Dutch oven.

Some popular dishes you may have heard of that use a braising technique are osso buco, pot roast, braised veal & lamb shanks and braised cabbage. You can braise just about any meat, fish or vegetable you want and be as creative as you like with seasoning, but there are some ingredients that are better for braising and some you want to cook using other techniques like grilling or roasting.

9 Simple Steps to Great Braised Meat

There are 9 basic steps to braising meat:

(1) Season the main ingredient with salt and pepper.

(2) Heat a few tablespoons of oil and/or butter in a heavy pan or Dutch oven.

(3) Saute meat or vegetables in the pan on medium-high heat until the meat browns.

(4) Deglace the pan by pouring broth, stock, wine or juice and scrape any pieces of meat that are stuck to the pan and stir.

(5) Add cooking liquid (water, stock, wine, juice or some combination) to the half-way point of the main ingredient.

(6) Cover and place the meat on the middle of a rack in an oven that has been pre-heated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

(7) Cook until completely tender. This can range from 1 hour to 6 hours, depending on what you are cooking.

(8) Remove the pan from the oven and strain the meat and vegetables out of the liquid.

(9) Remove the excess fat floating in the liquid, and then reduce the sauce to desired thickness by cooking it down over low heat until it thickens. Or, make gravy by adding a mix of equal parts fat and flour (a roux).

The Science of Braising?

If you’re curious about how cooking in this fashion makes tough, leathery meat tender, it’s done by cooking the meat slow, moist and covered over low heat for a lengthy time. This process breaks down the tough connective tissue in meat to collagen. Through time, the moisture and heat build and the collagen dissolves into gelatin. Heat also contracts and coils the muscle fibers.

Over time, these fibers expel moisture and the meat becomes dry. Given even more time, these fibers relax and absorb the melted fat and melted gelatin. As for the vegetables, braising breaks down the cellulose in them and stretches the starches. The long and short of this is that everything becomes very tender.

Without getting to specific, the meat that we eat is muscle and made up of muscle fibers and connective tissue. The muscle fibers are the long thin strands we can actually see and think of as meat. The connective tissue is the thin, translucent film that you sometimes ask the butcher to remove and helps hold the bundles of muscle fiber together. Connective tissue is made up of mostly collagen, a very strong protein that breaks down if enough heat is applied to it.

So braising meat is about breaking down tough connective tissue and changing it into collagen by applying moist heat for a period of time depending on what you are cooking. With more time and heat, the collagen breaks down and dissolves into gelatin. It takes a temperature of about 140 degrees F. to break down the collagen into gelatin.

What happening to the muscle fiber while this connective tissue is breaking down (collagen is melting)? The fibers start to contract, coil and expel moisture. In effect, the heat is drying out the meat like squeezing a sponge. As the process continues and the meat breaks down, you end up with very tender but very dry meat.

The good news is at some point, the muscle fibers have had enough and they begin to relax. When this happens, they begin to absorb back some of the moisture which just happens to be the melted fat and gelatin giving the meat a wonderful texture and flavor. And don't forget you have all this wonderful liquid made up of melted fat, gelatin and whatever cooking liquid you started with.

And this is why braised meat tastes so incredible when cooked properly.

What Ingredients Are Best For Braising?

Meat

When it comes to meats, you want to stick with the tougher, less tender cuts that come from an animals more exercised muscles. These cuts tend to have more connective tissue that breaks down making the meat tender and flavorful. A lean cut from the loin area is a waste to braise. The meat is already tender and has little fat or connective tissue.

Some good cuts of meat for braising include:

Top Blade Roast

Chuck Eye Roast

Seven Bone Roast

Ribs

Brisket

Shanks

Short Ribs

Chicken

The best cuts of chicken, in my opinion, are the legs and thighs although lots of people like to raise a whole chicken. You also want to be sure to use chicken on the bone with skin so you get all the fat and connective tissue. There's really no reason to braise boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You are better off sauteing or grill them.

Fish

Although you can braise just about any fish you like, I think large, firm fish are the way to go. Shark, swordfish are worthy of a braise but tender filets like tilapia or even cod will just fall apart on you. If you do braise a more tender cut like flounder, be sure to shorten the braising time.

Fruits & Vegetables

Again you want to stay with the hardier varieties. Squash, sweet potatoes, leeks, parsnips, carrots, beets, cabbage and onions are great braised alone or along with meat and chicken. In the fall and winter, I like to braise meat with firm pears and apples but in the summer, I might braise chicken with pineapple.

Braised Vegetables - the science is the same expect the moist heat breaks down the vegetable's cellulose and expands its starches. The fibers soften giving the vegetables an incredible texture and flavor depending on the cooking liquid you are using.

When braising meats with vegetables, you may want to keep in mind that the vegetables will cook much quicker than the meat. You might want to wait until the last hour or two of cooking to add them so that they aren’t over cooked.

Next: Pan Roasting.

Oven roasting, Oven Baking, I am so confused....

2010-01-29T10:37:00.000-08:00

Baking vs Roasting

Your recipe for roast loin of pork says to roast in a 350 degree F. oven. Your recipe for yellow butter cake says to bake in a 350 degree F. oven. For either recipe, you open the oven and put your food in. So, is there a difference between baking and roasting?

The short answer is “No.”

But it really isn’t as simple as all that. Baking and roasting are both dry heat cooking methods. This just means that heat is not transferred through a liquid medium during the cooking process. In modern times, we assume that baking and roasting both occur in ovens.

By Definition

Joy of Cooking defines roasting as a specialized type of baking. Roasting is almost always done in an open pan; that is, the food to be roasted is uncovered. Often, when roasting meat, you place it on a rack so it doesn’t sit in its own juices as it roasts. The rack serves as a suspension system whereby the meat is “suspended” in the oven over a pan (shades of spit roasting in days of yore).

There also seems to be a convention associated with the terms “bake” and “roast.” Although the two identify almost identical cooking techniques, in the modern kitchen anyway, “baking” is most generally associated with breads, cakes, pies and casseroles while “roasting” is what you do to meat or vegetables.

Roasting often starts at a higher temperature to create a “crust” on the outside of what is being roasted. Then, the temperature is reduced for the remainder of the cooking time. This is also the case when baking pate a choux (for cream puffs or éclairs) and some breads. In these similar cases, the identical cooking process (high temperature reducing to a lower temperature) is employed for different reasons.

In the roasting example, you’re trying to encourage exterior browning and caramelization of the target food before decreasing the heat and finishing gently. In the baking example, you need an initial burst of intense heat to encourage an expansion of air to make the pate a choux puff up or to encourage optimum oven-spring in the bread (the yeasts’ last hoorah). Then, the temperature is reduced to set and dry the structure of both the pate a choux and the bread.

What’s the Difference?

So, while roasting and baking are almost identical methods of dry heat cooking, the terms roasting and baking apply to two different kinds of foods. You generally roast food that has structure already, solid foods such as meats and vegetables. You generally bake foods that don’t have much structure until they are baked: cakes, breads, pies, casseroles, crème brulee, etc.

In other words, you bake leavened items - items that “puff up” or “rise” during the cooking process. In baking, aside from just “cooking” the food, the goal is to either create steam or expand air pockets within the target food.

Most foods that we roast contain less “empty space” than foods that we bake. These foods are, by and large, already solid. The primary goal of roasting then becomes transferring heat from the surface of the food to the interior at a regulated pace to ensure crusty goodness outside and juicy, tender doneness inside.

Next: Braising

So thats what the oven is for....

2010-01-26T11:37:00.000-08:00

It's my belief that the best way to become a good cook is to learn basic cooking techniques. This will be a series of article defining, understand and examples of the different methods used in cooking.Once you learn how to handle these fundamental techniques, you will be able to handle most recipes. Cooking is not just about recipes....it is about how to take ingredients and make them taste as good as possible.

Recipes are great road maps to show us how someone else got there, but one of the joys of cooking is to find your own paths. Knowing these techniques is like taking the car out for a spin in a new location. You're not sure where you are going to end up, but getting there will be fun. First off is 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. 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.
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.
This we will discuss next.

I have a passion.............

2009-12-01T17:41:00.000-08:00

If you were asking yourself what's it like to be a chef I will tell you, one does not become a chef, one is born a chef. And when I say chef I do not mean someone who gets the courtesy title “chef” just because he/she is in charge of a kitchen. When I say Chef I mean someone who can make a symphony out of the mess, an artist whose canvas is the plate, someone who can motivate cheer up the rest of the crew when the rush comes and is so confident that even if he puts himself on autopilot can still be the best. Every time you step into the kitchen you are being tested, your stamina is at test, your intelligence and integrity are at test and if you are afraid of failure you cannot possibly be a great chef. Those are qualities you can’t learn in college or by reading cooking books and watching Ramzi-Bamzi cooking shows or Julia Child movies. You will know you are there when you stop having dreams at night about cooking, when your heartbeat doesn’t skip a beat when the orders start slamming your kitchen printer, when you can make everything right in a heartbeat and every one of your senses is so refined that you can feel every molecule of the products reacting to the cooking. It is an art and creating art is not meant for everybody.

I frequently get the question "What is your specialty?"
I immediately know that the person in front of me wants to be impressed with a French gourmet sounding dish that he will have no clue on what it is anyway. But most times I just say, " I love cooking with seafood and pasta".

For years I have struggled with this question. Many thoughts come to mind.

Here are a few things in what I specialize in: Soups, stocks, sauces, dressings, marinades, grilling, smoking, filleting of fish, butchering, Sushi making, baking, compound salads, sanitation, cheese sculptures, chocolate art, vegetable crudites, ice carvings, pastries, food from most nations in the world, preparation of anything between alligator and ostrich.

And the other half includes but not limited to:

Menu proposals, Interviewing of new employees, Payroll, scheduling, listen to sales pitch from eager vendors, employee confrontations, purchasing, pep-talk/team building, inventory, menu design, department meeting, staff meeting, BEO meeting, F&B meeting, budget meeting, corporate meeting, preshift meeting, trainng of new employees, writing work orders, meeting with future banquet guests, tracking attendence, negotiating with conference planners, filling Purchase Orders, doing nutrition analysis, communicating via voice mail, e-mail, fax and log book, creating promotional material, comparison shopping, getting equipment bids, attempting to communicate with eastern European utillity staff, associate reviews etc. etc.
And do you know what...................?

I love this profession!
I have friends in other industries that makes two or three fold of what I take home
(in less time), but it is not ONLY about money.
Most Chefs are in it because this career fulfill their artistic needs, social needs
(interact with ALL KINDS of people), and it is never boring. There is always somthing new to learn!

But most of all, "I love putting smiles on peoples faces".

Let's talk Organic: Buy or bypass?

2009-11-13T07:16:00.000-08:00

Many factors may influence your decision to buy — or not buy — organic food. Consider these factors:

-Nutrition. No conclusive evidence shows that organic food is more nutritious than is conventionally grown food. And the USDA — even though it certifies organic food — doesn't claim that these products are safer or more nutritious.

-Quality and appearance. Organic foods meet the same quality and safety standards as conventional foods. The difference lies in how the food is produced, processed and handled. You may find that organic fruits and vegetables spoil faster because they aren't treated with waxes or preservatives. Also, expect less-than-perfect appearances in some organic produce — odd shapes, varying colors and perhaps smaller sizes. In most cases, however, organic foods look identical to their conventional counterparts.

-Pesticides. Conventional growers use pesticides to protect their crops from molds, insects and diseases. When farmers spray pesticides, this can leave residue on produce. Some people buy organic food to limit their exposure to these residues. Most experts agree, however, that the amount of pesticides found on fruits and vegetables poses a very small health risk.

-Environment. Some people buy organic food for environmental reasons. Organic farming practices are designed to benefit the environment by reducing pollution and conserving water and soil.

-Cost. Most organic food costs more than conventional food products. Higher prices are due to more expensive farming practices, tighter government regulations and lower crop yields. Because organic farmers don't use herbicides or pesticides, many management tools that control weeds and pests are labor intensive. For example, organic growers may hand weed vegetables to control weeds, and you may end up paying more for these vegetables.

-Taste. Some people say they can taste the difference between organic and nonorganic food. Others say they find no difference. Taste is a subjective and personal consideration, so decide for yourself. But whether you buy organic or not, finding the freshest foods available may have the biggest impact on taste.

Buying tips

Whether you're already a fan of organic foods or you just want to shop wisely and handle your food safely, consider these tips:

-Buy fruits and vegetables in season to ensure the highest quality. Also, try to buy your produce the day it's delivered to market to ensure that you're buying the freshest food possible. Ask your grocer what day new produce arrives.
-Read food labels carefully. Just because a product says it's organic or contains organic ingredients doesn't necessarily mean it's a healthier alternative. Some organic products may still be high in sugar, salt, fat or calories.
-Don't confuse natural foods with organic foods. Only those products with the "USDA Organic" label have met USDA standards.
-Wash all fresh fruits and vegetables thoroughly with running water to reduce the amount of dirt and bacteria. If appropriate, use a small scrub brush — for example, before eating apples, potatoes, cucumbers or other produce in which you eat the outer skin.
-If you're concerned about pesticides, peel your fruits and vegetables and trim outer leaves of leafy vegetables in addition to washing them thoroughly. Keep in mind that peeling your fruits and vegetables may also reduce the amount of nutrients and fiber. Some pesticide residue also collects in fat, so remove fat from meat and the skin from poultry and fish.

Let's talk organic.

2009-11-03T16:39:00.000-08:00

This will be a 2 part article, since there is a lot of information.

You're in a bit of a dilemma standing in front of the produce section of your local supermarket. In one hand, you're holding a conventionally grown Granny Smith apple. In your other hand, you have one that's labeled organically grown. Both apples are firm, shiny and green. Both provide vitamins and fiber, and both are free of fat, sodium and cholesterol.

The conventionally grown apple costs less and is a proven family favorite. But the organic apple has a label that says "USDA Organic." Does that mean it's better? Safer? More nutritious? Several differences between organic and nonorganic foods exist. Become a better informed consumer for your next trip to the supermarket.

Conventional vs. organic farming

The word "organic" refers to the way farmers grow and process agricultural products, such as fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy products and meat. Organic farming practices are designed to encourage soil and water conservation and reduce pollution. Farmers who grow organic produce and meat don't use conventional methods to fertilize, control weeds or prevent livestock disease. For example, rather than using chemical weedkillers, organic farmers may conduct sophisticated crop rotations and spread mulch or manure to keep weeds at bay.

Here are other differences between conventional farming and organic farming:

Conventional farmers:
1-Apply chemical fertilizers to promote plant growth.
2-Spray insecticides to reduce pests and disease.
3-Use chemical herbicides to manage weeds.
4-Give animals antibiotics, growth hormones and medications to prevent disease and spur growth.

Organic Farmers:
1-Apply natural fertilizers, such as manure or compost, to feed soil and plants.
2-Use beneficial insects and birds, mating disruption or traps to reduce pests and disease.
3-Rotate crops, till, hand weed or mulch to manage weeds.
4-Give animals organic feed and allow them access to the outdoors. Use preventive measures — such as rotational grazing, a balanced diet and clean housing — to help minimize disease.

Organic or not? Check the label

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has established an organic certification program that requires all organic foods to meet strict government standards. These standards regulate how such foods are grown, handled and processed. Any farmer or food manufacturer who labels and sells a product as organic must be USDA certified as meeting these standards. Only producers who sell less than $5,000 a year in organic foods are exempt from this certification; however, they must follow the same government standards to label their foods as organic.

If a food bears a USDA Organic label, it means it's produced and processed according to the USDA standards and that at least 95 percent of the food's ingredients are organically produced. The seal is voluntary, but many organic producers use it.

Products certified 95 percent or more organic display this USDA seal.

Products that are completely organic — such as fruits, vegetables, eggs or other single-ingredient foods — are labeled 100 percent organic and can carry a small USDA seal. Foods that have more than one ingredient, such as breakfast cereal, can use the USDA organic seal or the following wording on their package labels, depending on the number of organic ingredients:

■100 percent organic. Products that are completely organic or made of all organic ingredients.
■Organic. Products that are at least 95 percent organic.
■Made with organic ingredients. These are products that contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients. The organic seal can't be used on these packages.
Foods containing less than 70 percent organic ingredients can't use the organic seal or the word "organic" on their product label. They can include the organic items in their ingredient list, however.

You may see other terms on food labels, such as "all-natural," "free-range" or "hormone-free." These descriptions may be important to you, but don't confuse them with the term "organic." Only those foods that are grown and processed according to USDA organic standards can be labeled organic.

Next week: Should you buy Organic?

"But I Hate Brussel Sprouts"

2009-10-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

Fruits and vegetables are the nutritional powerhouses of your diet. They are brimming with vitamins, minerals, fiber and phytochemicals that may protect against cancer, heart disease, stroke and other health problems. As grocery stores and markets are flooded with the best of the fall harvest, it's important to remember, the more fruits and vegetables you eat, the more you turn on their power! But what if there are slim pickings in the produce aisle? Should you head to the freezer case to pick up bags of frozen fruits and vegetables? You betcha!

Frozen Finds
In 1998, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed that frozen fruits and vegetables provide the same essential nutrients and health benefits as fresh. It's no wonder. Frozen fruits and vegetables are nothing more than fresh fruits and vegetables that have been blanched (cooked for a short time in boiling water or steamed) and frozen within hours of being picked. Further, frozen fruits and vegetables are processed at their peak in terms of freshness and nutrition. What's not to like?

"Fruits & Veggies - More Matters"
The idea is to focus on getting MORE fruits and vegetables in your diet. Fresh, frozen, diced, sliced, steamed, raw, whatever. You just want more.

The new message replaces the old "Five a Day" campaign, which dates back to the early 1990s. Why? Because five servings of fruits and vegetables is just not enough. Adults need anywhere from seven to 13 cups of produce daily to reap all the health benefits of fruits and vegetables. So, more really does matter.

Bottom line

Any fruits and vegetables are better than no fruits and vegetables. For peak flavor and good value, fresh produce in season is always a good choice. But frozen or canned fruits and vegetables, without added salt or sugar, are just as good for you as fresh. Here some easy ways to sneak more fresh and frozen fruits and veggies into your diet.

Buy many kinds of fruits and vegetables when you shop. Buy frozen and dried, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables.

Experiment with new types of fruits and veggies.

Keep a fruit bowl, raisins or other dried fruit on the kitchen counter and in the office.

Keep a bowl of cut-up vegetables on the top shelf of the refrigerator for snacking.

Add fruit to breakfast by having fruit on cereal.

Choose fruit for dessert and use frozen fruits for smoothies.

Add fruits and vegetables to lunch by adding them in soup, salads, or cut-up raw.

Add extra varieties of frozen vegetables when you prepare soups, sauces, and casseroles.

Is the food we eat safe?

2009-10-07T22:05:00.000-07:00

This article is making its way around the food industry quickly. It is in relation to the H.R. 2749: Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 that is in the senate to be voted on. About 70% of all Food-borne illnesses are from improperly handling, storage, preparing, or cooking of the food product. Not from poorly inspected food products or processing plants. And this article did say this to support that. The point is, if you handle, store, prepare and cook the food properly, your chances of getting food-borne illness are practically zero. Watch groups like the CSPI are good and very reputable, and has a place in the food industry, but this article and study is causing undue stress and not totally acurate and a bit misleading. Our food is safer now than it has ever been.

If you want to read the actual article here is the link
http://www.cspinet.org/new/200910061.html

To read the Senate Bill:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2749&tab=summary

Think you're safe eating foods regulated by the Food and Drug Administration? Think again, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit health advocacy group.

What many consumers consider healthy foods -- including eggs and leafy greens -- are implicated in 40% of food-related outbreaks linked to FDA-regulated food, the Washington, D.C.-based CSPI says in a new study.

The watchdog group, which based its findings on outbreak data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 1990 to 2006, says the list of the 10 foods should sound an alarm to consumers and legislators because of the presence of so many healthy foods, ranging from tomatoes to sprouts.

"Many of the foods that made the list are a part of a healthy and balanced diet," said CSPI staff attorney Sarah Klein on a conference call to discuss the findings. "Leafy greens are unfortunately no stranger to food-borne illness. The most common path are Norovirus, E. coli and Salmonella."

More than 1,500 separate outbreaks were linked to the foods on the CSPI's list, which has led to almost 50,000 reported illnesses. The top 10 riskiest foods regulated by the FDA are, in order of the most outbreaks:

leafy greens
eggs
tuna
oysters
potatoes
cheese
ice cream
tomatoes
sprouts
berries

The report doesn't differentiate between organic and non-organic foods, although the CSPI believes the risks are fairly similar, said Caroline Smith DeWaal, the director of the group's food safety program, on the call. It also didn't include meat, because the FDA doesn't regulate the meat industry, she said.
(Hal's note; A bit misleading, meat is regulated by the USDA and very safe)

So what should consumers do? Proper food handling and safety measures are important in home kitchens, ranging from cooking eggs thoroughly to taking care potatoes aren't contaminated by other food. Because potatoes are always cooked, which would eliminate any pathogen, the reason why potatoes are linked to food-borne illnesses is likely from cross-contamination, DeWaal said.

And the report underscores the need for the passage of the Food Safety Enhancement Act, the CSPI said. The Senate should take the lead of the House and pass the legislation, which would give the FDA authority to require food processors to implement food safety plans and increase frequency of inspections.

Despite the call for change, food system in the U.S. remains relatively safe, said Dr. Craig Hedberg, a professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, on the call. Still, food-borne illness is "a major health concern," he added.

Where's the Marshmallows?

2009-10-02T20:57:00.000-07:00

Cooking seems like such a simple art. It seems to me that if you cook, you must need fire. Fire was discovered probably millions of years ago by our archaeological ancestors. Of course they did not cook with it, but probably worshipped it, felt it's warmth, it's pain, and gazed in wonder as it lit up the darkness of night. What an awesome discovery by the first man who probably saw a tree burning after a lightning strike. How brave he must have been to get closer and investigate this strange phenomenon. The Gods surely must have played a part in this power.

Many years of respect passed for that fire. Then one chilly night, sitting around it for warmth from the winter cold, some clumsy cave man dropped his raw piece of meat into that fire. Before he could get it out of the fire and let it cool a bit to gnaw on again it was cooked. What did that taste like? Like most foods, it could have been better tasting after falling in the fire, or his palate found the taste repulsive after being used to the taste of raw meat. If he found the taste to his liking, he probably told his friends about it, and they tried it. Being hunters and gatherers in those days and not concerned with business as today, he did not secretly hide the fact that he had discovered cooking, and then open a
business called "burnt_meat.com". Instead he shared his discovery with others by paintings of his exploits on his living room wall. His attractors saw his paintings, and over eons of time, perfected his discovery. And look how far we have come. Pass the Marshmallows.

It didn't turn out like I thought.....

2009-09-16T22:56:00.000-07:00

I define creativity as the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing. Innovation is the production or implementation of an idea. If you have ideas, but don't act on them, you are imaginative but not creative.

“Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being...creativity requires passion and commitment. Out of the creative act is born symbols and myths. It brings to our awareness what was previously hidden and points to new life. The experience is one of heightened consciousness–ecstasy.”
— Rollo May, The Courage to Create

Working with food is the same as working with wood. The cabinet maker has a vision of a table, draws it up and begins building it. A cook, has a vision of a chicken dish, makes a recipe and begins cooking it. Having a vision, drawing it up on paper and than executing it, is that creative or imaginative?

Now take it one step furthur, say the cabinet maker has his finished cabinet and he sees how he can improve it, he draws up new plans with modifications and changes, he now makes a totally new cabinet.

The cook eats his chicken dish, thinks how he can make it better, he adds a few new ingredient to the recipe, and make a different chicken dish. Creative or imaginative.

What I call "Making it your own" is taking a recipe and not being affraid to try something different. Being creative with what you make in your kitchen, will inspire new creative ideas turning your everyday meals into "WOW, Thats good" meals.

But I Love McDonalds...

2009-09-09T20:42:00.000-07:00

The best way to living a healthy lifestyle, eating healthy and forming healthy eating habits for the long run, has always come from within, within the home that is. We cannot look to others, books, magazines and publications for making us a healthy family or giving us the healthy lifestyle we would want to live. Sure these publications could give us the inspiration and motivation to take that step ourselves and to live a healthy lifestyle of choice. Everything still ends up with the home and family and we need to take that extra step in being courageous consumers when it comes to our choice of food.

One of those choices would be whether we want to continue eating obese foods, such as fast food, refined foods, processed foods or bleached foods. We need to take the responsibility and get back to what Mother Nature provided us, with food in its natural form, without any instructions to refine or process these foods. Obesity is directly linked to bad food choices in the form of highly refined carbohydrates and sugars which really is only a form of poison to our bodies. Gone are the days when considering those foods nutritious or beneficial to our families.

A solution each of us have available is to return to the bygone years of food production, or processing at home, sure it is less convenient, but the benefits are overwhelming an in a sense, you don’t have to watch what you eat really if you are consuming natural, high fibrous and unprocessed food. These foods will not only provide a healthy lifestyle, but will enable you to take care of a healthy family through healthy cooking and eating.