Posts filed under 'Tips.Techniques and Ideas'
Pot and Pan 101
It is a rainy, chilly day here today, the perfect day to do a little TLC for my pots and pans. Did you ever watch one of those restaurant expose’ shows? Take a good look at the pots and pans they use. Chances are you don’t see shiny, new, diamond-coated cooking surfaces with bottoms that look like they have never seen a flame. No, the restaurant pots and pans are well used, dinged up and discolored, but they turn out food that anyone would be happy with.
One of my pet peeves, and regulars here know I have a few, is that people feel the need to have the latest and greatest pots and pans, with “magic” surfaces, no stick, no burn, heck they practically cook the meal for you. Like knives, a good cook has pots and pans that have been around a while, favorites that are old friends in the kitchen and are reminiscent of good meals gone by. Proper care of your pots and pans will ensure long life and many great meals.
Non-stick surfaces require occasional attention. When food that normally slides right out of these pans starts to stick it is time to “season” them. This simply involves taking a paper towel with vegetable oil or olive oil and rubbing it into the cooking surface. If the outside of the pan is looking a little dry, rub the oil onto that as well. I am talking a very thin amount here, just enough to return the shine to the surface. Now put the pots into a 200 degree oven for a couple of hours, this will re- seal the surface and bring the pan back to its fully functional self. Wipe any excess oil off with a dry paper towel, they should look shiny but not slippery. You should do this every 3 months or so, depending on how much you use the pan.
I have many “special” pots and pans for special uses. Many of these are in new condition as I found using my normal, day-to-day pots and pans work just as well. Here is a picture of one of my favorite pots, it’s a $20 wok I bought maybe 15 years ago. It heats quickly, has high sides to prevent spills and is non-stick, I couldn’t ask more of it. I don’t get many complaints about the food around here, maybe it is because I am cooking it and not the pan.
Add comment March 26, 2009
Using emeals and your local grocery sale fliers to effectively save $$$ (re-issued)
To create the effective cost-saving of using emealsforyou.com with your weekly grocery sales fliers follow these easy steps:
Get the sale fliers from the groceries in your area. Go through them and see what food appeals to you. Log on to www.emealsforyou.com and go to Recipe Finder. Choose those foods that appealed to you and see the recipes associated with them. Choose those recipes, send them to your Favorites Box, scale them, and using our easy shopping list function, print the list. This allows much more freedom of choice; why limit yourself to only one grocery store. Our members report shopping with a list will save you 10-20% on your grocery bill; easing your mind and saving you money.
Add comment March 12, 2009
Tips, Techniques and Ideas – Common Sense Thoughts from our Website
Kitchen Notes
Ever wonder what a roux is? How about, “How many tablespoons in a cup”? What about which tools we rely on in our test kitchen?
We’ve revealed some secrets from our kitchen!
If you are asking it probably someone else has, too. To help you out, we have compiled our own Kitchen Notes tailored just for our members.
Plan Your Meal Cooking
Plan your meal cooking the way you plan your “soccer mom” driving. Assign a time to prep and cook each component of the meal. Start with the longest prep/cooking item, begin that and stage each of the other components according to cooking time to have everything finish at the same time. This is the hardest task to learn but once you master this you will find your cooking will become immensely easier.
1 comment November 1, 2008
Tips, Techniques and Ideas – Common Sense Thoughts from our Website
Kitchen Notes
Ever wonder what a roux is? How about, “How many tablespoons in a cup”? What about which tools we rely on in our test kitchen?
We’ve revealed some secrets from our kitchen!
If you are asking it probably someone else has, too. To help you out, we have compiled our own Kitchen Notes tailored just for our members.
Cracking an Egg
Cracking an egg against the lip of a bowl or pot can drive bits of the shell into the egg’s interior. The better way to crack an egg is to give it a firm knock against a flat surface. Then pull the egg apart. The shell should separate nicely as the egg drops out.
From Kitchen Notes at emealsforyou.com)
Add comment October 3, 2008
Staying on the Cutting Edge – Chosing the Right Knives
We need to talk. Many of you have one knife you use for everything, you know who you are. There is absolutely nothing wrong with playing favorites with your knives but you should have a few that you can use for different purposes. I am not advocating that you go out and spend hundreds of dollars on a knife set at your local cooking shop; only that you get a good chef’s knife for slicing meat, a serrated one for bread and then a small one for cutting veggies . You can pick these up at a TJMax, or discount store for a few dollars each. The main difference between really good knives and less expensive knives is the quality of the blade. This translates into how long the blade will hold its edge. Keep your knife sharp at all times and you probably won’t know that you paid $8 for it. Even the best knives need to be sharpened on a regular basis. So pick up some sort of knife sharpener while you are at it.
A sharp knife should glide through whatever you are cutting. If you are having to increase the pressure you are putting on the knife it probably is time to sharpen it. You don’t have to go crazy buying the top of the line sharpener either. Sharpening a knife is simply the process of dragging the blade at a small angle across an abrasive surface; about 17 degrees. You can buy sharpeners that help you hold the knife at the proper angle or you can do this simply by paying attention to what you are doing. Three to five times on each side of the knife is enough to get a good edge on the blade. Okay, what about that long, round thing you see the chefs use? This is a steel and it is used on a regular, daily, basis to re-align the edge of the blade,; you can buy one of these but you will find that you probably will go right to the knife sharpener and the steel will sit in the drawer.
Did you know that how tender a piece of meat is depends on how it is cut? First of all the butcher cuts the meat so that it will be as tender a possible, witness the new cuts that are appearing on the market: skirt steaks and flatiron steaks. By cutting these in a particular way the butcher adds to the value of the meat by making it more tender. When you slice meat always cut cross-grain; this means when you look at the meat you will see lines going in one direction. You want to cut across these lines to keep the meat tender. Cutting in the same direction as the grain will result in stringy, tough meat.
So, if you are still using a steak knife for all your cutting needs you probably should go out and spring for a few other knives. You will be amazed at how easy it will be to cut things and wonder why it took you so long to realize this.
Add comment July 31, 2008
Finding Your Cooking Comfort Zone (CCZ)
Grilled Cheese
Pavlova with Berries
Whether you are a basic beginner cook making a grilled cheese sandwich for your kids or an established chef preparing the pavlova on the bottom for a dinner party; it’s important to develop your Cooking Comfort Zone. (CCZ) This is the mental place you go to when preparing food. Some of us enjoy cooking so we look forward to getting into our kitchens and making that special meal whether for family and friends, or just for ourselves. The others, and I think this is the majority, dread the ORDEAL of having to get the meal on the table.
Establishing your CCZ doesn’t mean you must all of a sudden jump for joy at the thought of putting your apron on. What you need to do is create a mental neutral mindset where you will be open to at least attempting to make a good meal. Even money says that when you are in the waiting room of the doctor’s office or the chair at your hair salon, you are thumbing through a magazine and looking at the food pictures. You may be saying, ” that looks good but probably too hard to make” but at least you are looking. So now take that fleeting moment when you thought positively about that food photo and carry it over to your kitchen. You may be surprised at just how good it comes out.
I write my posts and the recipes on emealsforyou.com hoping to make them useful to all levels of CCZ. We keep the ingredients to those you probably have in your kitchen and are comfortable using. The instructions are easy to follow and the end result is a recipe or meal you can take pride in. Recently I had a question from one of my readers who asked, “my husband can’t eat onions; what do I do if the recipe calls for onions?” Well the best answer is don’t put the onions in the dish. You see, recipes are just guidelines…most can be changed without destroying the dish. If you don’t like something in a recipe; try putting something else in or just eliminate it entirely. Many spices are like this; use the ones you like and don’t use the ones you don’t like. Baking recipes are the exception to this; these are really formulas and adding or omitting ingredients can cause some problems.
A quick note for those of you who are good cooks; as the purpose of my blog and website is to get families to the table enjoying meals together, sometimes I don’t put the “extras” into the recipes. You know the ones where you say, “why didn’t he put fresh ginger into that?” I encourage you to make my recipes your recipes, add, subtract, alter any way you like. For those of you who are just starting out on your quest to become a good cook; try things, have some fun. The main thing is to try and then watch your CCZ begin to expand.
1 comment July 23, 2008
Random Cooking Tips from the Trash Can of My Mind
I’ve decided to post some cooking tips to help you save time and sanity. I prefer if my readers would send in specific questions; just send a comment below or email me with your questions. If it is your wish that I not publish your comment but still want the answer simply type the word “Private” in the first line of the comment.
Here we go:
Putting 1 Tb of white vinegar into your rice while it is cooking will make it fluffier.
Always have meat and fish at room temperature prior to cooking so that it will cook evenly.
No matter how hard you try; the area around the bone on chicken legs and thighs remains pink. Try heating it in the microwave for 1 minutes just before serving it.
To get better browning when sautéing put a teaspoon of butter into the pan along with your oil.
The oil in a pan is ready for cooking when it appears to shimmer and slightly smoke.
Leave meats and fish in the pan, don’t keep flipping them as you want them to develop “caramelization”… the browning that gives added flavor.
Start pan-roasted meals on the stove top to develop the flavor then finish them in a 325 degree oven, to ensure even cooking.
Be careful when adding salt and pepper to a sauce before you are done reducing it… reducing will maximize the flavors and you should adjust the final salt and pepper just prior to serving.
And my personal favorite: Always peel your asparagus!
BTW – I still have a few asparagus peelers to give away. (see promo)
Products I like: SACO cultured Buttermilk Blend – in the baking aisle of your grocery, powdered buttermilk that keeps forever in the frig and you just make as much or little as you need.
Next time: Finding your Cooking Comfort Zone!
Add comment July 10, 2008
Quick Tip – Getting Your Questions Answered
Many of you who have cooking questions are using the search function of this blog. If your question happens to hit on a word that is included in one of the post then you will see it. However, if you have a specific question please either email me (at the right top of blog) or post a comment to a specific post and I will get the answer to you. If you would like me to respond to you directly; email me with your question and I will respond via email with your answer.
For the person who wanted to know how many 35 -40 count shrimp are in 5 oz you are looking at between 11 and 13 shrimp… hope this helps.
Add comment July 6, 2008
Beyond Meal Planning – Organizing Your Cooking
Okay, so now you’ve planned your meals, shopped for the ingredients and now you are ready to prepare these meals for your family. This is where it can get a little crazy if you don’t take that planning just a little further. No problem if you act simply and logically….many of us have the simply down pat it is the logically we need some help with.
Let’ s dive in… one of the secrets to actually enjoying meal preparation is to, wait for it, organize your cooking methods. Many are now saying, I just don’t have the energy to put forward the effort needed to do anything but throw the stuff into a pan, turn on the stove and dump the “finished” product onto a plate. WRONG! Look, you don’t put your pants on first and then your underwear, so why are you cooking as if being unorganized qualifies you for a merit badge. I recently made fun of Rachael Ray’s ability to carrying all her ingredients to the cooking area in one trip (see What Do We Get Out of Those TV Cooking Shows – A Rant) but it is that kind of organization that will help you get used to being a better cook and enjoying it more.
You have to learn to make the most of your time. Decide what you need for the meal at hand, pots, pans, ingredients, serving plates all of it. So if you were making a pasta dish; start the water on the stove before you do anything else. If you are going to need the oven, turn it on, pre-heat it to save time later. Set out all the ingredients you will need. Every wonder why recipes list the ingredients in the order they are put into the meal? This is so you will have them out and ready when the recipe calls for them. Set the table while the meal is cooking, please, at a point that doesn’t require you to stir or add something. Even better, get the kids or your significant other to set the table for you. Unless you have a pedometer on and are trying to improve your health by walking;stop all the trips, short as they may be, to the pantry, closet, frig, table wherever, put that energy into the meal.
By simply organizing your meal preparation you will be amazed at the time you save… more importantly you may even enjoy the meal more…just a little!
1 comment July 3, 2008
Grocery Shopping – Inattention Can Cost You Big
By now hopefully you have read all about Meal Planning in the Tips, Techniques and Ideas category and are ready to attack the grocery store with your shopping list. CAUTION!!! inattention here can cost you big. Here is the headline from an article written in 1993 and still as pertinent in today’s grocery stores:
This is the label that sits on the front of the shelf either over or under the product. The first thing you want to look at is to make sure the product and the tag are describing the same product. Look for the product name and make sure it is the same size as the box or can you are placing in your cart. Grocery stores “bait and switch” here, substituting larger, more costly sizes, their own brand or even the more expensive national brand for their less expensive product. This is called creating a false front, see they even have a name for it. My store habitually puts 36-40 count shrimp on sale then fills the case with larger 20-26 count shrimp, an up-charge of $3 per pound. In order to compare whether a larger size of a product is less expensive look for the PPU (price per unit). This is on the tag and will tell you the cost of each ounce or unit; compare this price with the one on the smaller box to see which in fact is cheaper. It may be the smaller box is less expensive per ounce or unit. The next thing you want to check is the price. If they have a bigger, brighter tag (called a shelf talker) hanging from the same area of the product shelf and the price is less expensive then the shelf tag, remember the shelf talker price. Many are not entered into the computer system of the store and will charge you the more expensive price instead of the sale price. Lastly, watch the two-fers, buy one get one free items. Make sure you are not charged for both. Remember, you can buy just one and be charged only half… especially if you only need one.
4 comments June 4, 2008
