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Preserving Herbs Harvesting Herbs: Harvest in the morning of a hot and dry day--wait until the dew is off the plants. Snip off the top growth--about 6 inches of stem below the flower buds. Drying Herbs: If the leaves are clean, don't wash them--oils are lost in the washing process. If they are d ...Gourmet Sauces, Rubs and Marinades - Give Your BBQ a Gourmet Kick Many individuals agree that the sauce on barbecued meat is like the icing on a cake. Gourmet barbecue sauces, rubs and marinades are commonly served on (or on the side of) the finished dish. Barbecue sauces are used to add flavor and sweeten the meat for a better tasting meal. The types of barbecue sauces available throughout the world are endle ...Cooking Spices and Herbs Have you ever wondered how you can improve the taste of your recipes? Cooking with spices and herbs can really help you achieve great cooking results. The following are some tips to improve your use of herbs and spices.Webster’s defines herbs and spices as:An herb (pronounced ûrb in American English and hûrb in British English) ...How to Make a Cajun Roux The process of preparing Cajun food is in no way hurried and involves a layering of flavors which allows each ingredient to maintain its own identity.The foundation of preparing authentic Cajun dishes like gumbo, sauce piquant and etouffee is the Cajun roux (pronounced ‘rue’). Good roux is neither undercooked nor overcooked. Undercooking ...To Fry Or Not To Fry? Here's a little known factoid - did you know that KFC changed its image by retiring the slogan Kentucky FRIED Chicken. Instead, they became known as serving up Kitchen Fresh Chicken. Long are the days of Wesson Oil commercials that proudly encouraged yummy fried chicken for dinner. When was the last time you saw a splatter screen? How about a Fr ...Plastic Containers In today's fast paced world, the use of plastic containers has made an impact in terms of convenience and practicality. More and more food products and beverages are packaged in plastic containers. Plastic containers are a cost-efficient way of packaging products that now come in a variety of styles and kinds which will surely appeal to any type ...There Are No Plums in Plum Pudding It happens every year. Somewhere between roast turkey and squash pie someone will start asking about Christmas. We will sit and talk about the next feast for hours, but nothing ever gets set in stone that day. The ideas and planning will go on for weeks. It never works to tell everyone to bring something because sometimes we end up with three or ...10 Cooking Tips for Smart Cooks? Below is some guidelines for smart cooks:- Keep on hand food items you use often. Group similar items on shelves. This speeds selection and you can see at a glance when it's time to buy replacements.- Organize your refrigerator so there's a certain space for leftovers. Then you can easily see what's on hand and what needs to be use ...BBQ Myths Getting You Down? If you're cooking your food properly on your barbeque, you're getting delightful results every time. However, all too frequently, people are falling victims to very common barbeque myths. It's not because we're gullible or stupid in any way. Many barbeque myths are so well known and so wide spread that they are more frequently passed on as tr ...How to Cook Frozen Crab Legs Strictly speaking, you probably won't need to cook those frozen crab legs you purchased at the supermarket or at the discount club store--it has already been done for you. You will just need to heat them up. Make sure you do it properly, though, by following these tips.You must first thaw the crab legs. Allow them to thaw in your refri ...Cooking - Helpful Hints Here are some hints that you might find useful.* Do not discard over-ripe bananas. Slice and sprinkle it with lemon juice. Freeze it to use later for milk shakes, puddings or banana bread. It will blacken if you refrigerate it.* If you only need a few drops of lemon juice, puncture a lemon with a toothpick and squeeze out the amoun ...Bicarbonate of Soda: The Magic Ingredient? For well over a century professional cooks have known that adding bicarbonate of soda to cooking vegetables enhances their color; greens turn bright green and old carrots look like new.It’s a chef’s trick that has crept into some recipe collections and often appears in lists of cooking tips and hints. It is not a good practice.The ...Scoring and Cooling - Important Details in Baking (Part II) ScoringIn bread baking, scoring is also known as cutting, docking, or slashing. It is basically a strategic cutting of dough to: Release some of the gas, mainly carbon dioxide, trapped inside the dough. This ultimately assists in a good rise once the baking process starts.Allow the baker to control exactly whe ...8 Simple Commonsense Cooking Tips Do you get lumps in your white sauce?When making white sauce (béchamel) or any sauce that requires slow cooking to thicken try using an egg whisk instead of a spoon to stir and you can increase the temperature (not too much though) to speed the process up and you wont get any lumps in it. Turn your open barbeque into a gourmet oven. ...Disposable Chef Hats Initially, chef hats were made of stiff starched cloth that was pleated as per tradition. These tended to become limp and worn as time passes due to the frequent washes they are subjected to. Also, it was a long and tiring process to ensure that the pleats were all in place and the hat is stiff enough so as not to sag on the chef’s head. Starch ...Clarifying Butter Clarified butter is a delightfully rich concentrated butter that can be used in cooking and making mouth watering sauces. Traditional methods for making this rich butter concentrate can be a little intimidating at first, but not anymore. There is a very simple and easy 4 step method to make clarified butter. The only catch is that you need t ...Get Your Kids to Eat Healthy Without Them Knowing It Most children don't like to eat fruit and vegetables. How can parents get them to eat the food that is so good for them? Here are some ways:1. Healthy breakfastFill your kids up on their fruit for the day at breakfast. a. banana on toast, maybe with peanut butter; b. cereal with fresh or dried fruit; c. pancakes or waff ...Braising as a Way to Cook Pot Roast Pot roasts have two distinct types of muscle components long thin muscle fibers that are visible as grain and connective tissue that is the translucent film that covers the muscle fibers. Both types of muscle components must be broken down during cooking in order for a moist and tender pot roast. Braising is an excellent choice when it comes t ...Freezing Cookies One of the most frequently asked questions when baking cookies is: how do you cut down preparation time for parties or special events? The answer is simple; freeze your dough or cookies ahead of time.Most cookie dough freezes extremely well and can be kept frozen for up to 4 or 6 weeks. The most important thing to keep in mind is that th ...A Scale for Accuracy - General Kitchen Tips Scale for AccuracyA kitchen scale is an essential part of any professional cook's rig. A scale is highly accurate which provides a consistency and quality that can't be matched by just using other means of measuring. Variations in climate, storage techniques as well as particle size will make a dramatic difference in your cooking ...Is it Cilantro, Mexican Parsley, or Coriander? When thumbing through cookbooks you will often times run across recipes calling for cilantro, Mexican parsley and sometimes even coriander. Have you ever wondered what they are? Are they all the same? The answer is yes they are all the same. Cilantro is a pungent delightfully citrusy herb that resembles parsley in appearance.This brig ...Discover How To Turn Any Meal Into A Gourmet Treat Is your family tired of the same old meals? Are you looking for an easy way to turn your old favorites into something special? Lucky for you there is one secret and easy to use ingredient that can help give some class to almost anything you serve.You might think this magical secret ingredient would be hard to find or cost a lot of money, ...How to Peel Almost Anything The great English cook Prue Leith once famously remarked “life's too short to stuff a mushroom”. I feel pretty much the same way about peeling a grape.However there may come a time when you want to do such a thing and it’s handy to have a simple method standing by. Not that peeling a grape is all that difficult, just tedious. Yo ...Chef Uniforms A chef’s uniform consists of different pieces of clothing to complete the attire. Although most of the chefs do not wear all the pieces, most of the restaurants and big chain hotels insist on the chefs being properly attired in the entire uniform. A chef’s uniform generally consists of a head net or chef hat; a bandanna, chef neckerchief, scarf, ...Seasoning and Caring for Your Cast Iron Pans Some of the best chefs in the world love their cast iron pans. And this is with good reason. Cast iron cookware is an ideal heat conductor, it is inexpensive, it heats evenly and the pan will last a lifetime with proper care. Another benefit in today's healthy lifestyles is that it is a great way to cook fat free. A well seasoned cast iron p ...Create Some Pretty Pats of Butter Pretty pats of butter can add interest to your dining table or buffet. You can make them easily, in a wide variety of shapes. Here’s all you do:Soften several sticks of butter. Use a knife to spread the softened butter evenly into a candy mold (flip the mold over once you have some butter in it, to make sure the butter is filling the m ...Roasting Tips for a Moist and Tasty Turkey There are many methods used to cook a moist and tasty Roasted Turkey. Most methods rely on basting. The turkey can be basted every 30 minutes with a basting bulb, or covered with cheesecloth soaked in butter. Other methods include brining the turkey (soaking in a salt water solution for 8-10 hours), or injecting a basting solution into the meat. ...How To Choose The Best Knife Set Knives are the most important and most frequently used kitchen utensils. In choosing a new knife set, the main considerations are which knife set to purchase and which knife is used for what purpose. Buying a knife set is an important decision. The knives you choose should last a lifetime. After you purchase a good quality knife set, you should ...Flashback! There are certain things about my childhood that are less than pleasant, but worth telling about. This happens to be one of those experiences. I was always assured of getting three square meals a day and then some. They were nutritious, filling and for the most part very tasty and enjoyable. Every day breakfast was different. Pancakes one day, e ...Types of Beef Roasts There are four main categories of beef roasts with a wide selection of beef roasts in each category. It can be intimidating to shop for beef roasts when there is so much to choose from. For ease in grocery shopping when it comes to beef roasts follow this simple break down of each main category of beef roast.The break down of each of th ...
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