Thursday, July 14, 2011

Better Taste for Barbeque Tips

We all know that for some reason, many people to take responsibility for the barbecue grill, and each time this option, and often on the grill a variety of reasons, the volunteers have already been destroyed, the wind too much fire pushed the fire, meat is not good, etc.

For more information on how to succeed no grill, grill the meat, and experts in all types of building a fire, light a few simple rules about how to use the grill and some advice about fire. He wants to control the basic rules of fire will be more likely to eat when you have a nice grilled meat, and if the law is more difficult to maintain, then slowly and conscientiously, what you do.

Most people think that grilling is much more than they thought would be a lot of problems to the table grill, the head of the network people are hungry, to visit them on the grill and a host of tips and tricks, and some people go, how it works, because they are too hungry to start. The best thing is knowing that the plan is determined by the time the meat should be ready and light the fire 20 minutes before, when the growth of the fire is not a problem, but down, it can be a very big problem.

There is a little "something to eat before you start, or in the kitchen stay focused on quality and do not take the time to cook the meat to prevent that nothing good about 30 minutes before loading on the grill, it helps the meat is cooked perfection.
In most cases you want the grid is not flames, but the heat will have to decide that he needs enough heat, or heat. The heat of the fire, or just something you wave that increases when the fire, a little water to kill some more "hot spots and reduce heat to reduce the time, you can not use large quantities of water, because if provides a good opportunity to kill the fire to run to the end. If you are not sure about the heat, you can expect, rather than a piece of meat and 10 minutes to see the effect.

Remove fat from meat before cooking, the fat will increase the heat when the network begins to flow, and in some cases, if the fire is too strong and really get the meat in an oven to note that c 'is a disaster for people to eat the meat. Anyway, if you cook a type of meat you've never cooked before, you can always check the heat before the meat on the grill was the beginning of the grid ahead of time, and to test the meat for 15 minutes and see if this is the right thing for him.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Wine Bottling and Syphoning

by: James Wilson

The ideal utensils to use for wine making and boiling ingredients & juices are those of good quality enamel. Those sold under a brand name are most reliable. The utensils must not be chipped.

It is almost impossible to pour clear wine from one bottle to another without stirring up the lees. Because of this, it is a good plan, to siphon off the clear wine when rebottling it.

Using about a yard and a half of surgical rubber tubing or plastic tubing, siphoning is a very simple operation. First, put the bottles or jars of wine on a table and the empty bottles on a stool or box on the floor. Next, put one end of the tubing in the first bottle of wine and suck the other end of the tube until the wine comes; pinch the tube at your lips and - holding on tight - put this end in the empty bottle and then let the wine flow. As the level of the wine falls, lower the tube into it, being careful not to let it touch the lees. When nearly all of the wine has been transferred, pinch the tube at the neck of both bottles, put one end into the next bottle and allow the wine to flow again.

In this way a constant flow is maintained and you have bottles of crystal-clear wine. The sediment from each bottle may be put together; this will clear in time to leave a little more wine.

Most of you will already have heard of one or other home-made wine and will have decided which to make. For those who have not yet decided, preference for a 'port* or 'whisky' may be the deciding factor and this must rest with yourselves.

I would advise you only in this: make, say, a gallon or a half-gallon of a variety of wines and then decide which you prefer over a period of time. I have whittled my own preference down to nine different wines which I brew regularly according to season, leaving the dried fruit for the time when fresh fruit is not available and when roots - potatoes, etc. - are too fresh for wine-making purposes.

NOTE:

Different recipes will call for slightly different approaches, but it must be remembered that whatever else has to be done, the brew must be kept in a warm place throughout the fermentation period, and that the process after fourteen days* fermentation in the tub is the same with all recipes.

Now select your recipe and go ahead with your wine-making, bearing in mind all that I have warned you about.

About The Author

James Wilson owns & operates www.e-homewinemaking.com, a site providing wine-making tips, tricks and techniques. If you're interested in making your own wine, visit www.e-homewinemaking.com today and sign up for the FREE wine-making mini-course!



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Monday, August 10, 2009

Some Stuff About Cheese

by: Jerry Powell

Setting out to find a new cheese to add to your life is a great way to spend a weekend afternoon. There are some great spots in just about every city to explore new tastes. Once you find your new cheese, having it loose its flavor or dry out before you can share it with others is a sad moment. So let's talk about caring for the cheese.

As a rule, you shouldn't slice up your hunk of cheese before you are ready to use it. Unpasteurized cheese will begin to loose subtlety and aroma once it is sliced and more area is exposed to the oxygen in the air. So keep them in hunks as long as you can.

Find out from your cheese vendor, or from searching the Internet, what conditions were used to mature your new found cheese. Storing your cheese in the same conditions is often the best way to keep it flavorful. For hard, semi-hard and semi-soft cheeses the normal storing temperature is about 8-13 C (about 46 degrees Fahrenheit) for example. Cheese stored in the refrigerator should be removed about an hour and a half before serving, letting the cheese warm up allows the flavor and aroma to develop.

Keeping your cheese wrapped in waxed paper is much better than a plastic wrap or plastic container. Waxed paper, inside a loose-fitting storing bag will not lose humidity and will maintain air circulation. Plastic will often condense air and trap moisture. One exception to this would be blue cheese. Mould spores from blue cheese spread quickly and easily. If they stayed on the cheese that would be fine, but they don't, and quickly spread to anything close to them. Cheeses contain living organisms that must not be cut off from air, yet it is important not to let a cheese dry out.

Most cheese are like sponges for other strong smelling odors, so you don't want to store cheese next to the garlic dip, or anything that might damage the cheese's flavors.

So what cheese should we be looking for? Really it depends a great deal on what we might be serving with the cheese. If wine is on the list, then that may make it a bit easier to narrow down a good new cheese to bring home.

The rule of thumb for finding cheese to serve with wine is: the whiter and fresher the cheese the crisper and fruitier the wine. White wines normally go better with more cheeses than reds wines do, but a dry fresh red wine goes very well with soft cheeses, especially goat milk types. Light fruity red wines are often the best matches for other cheeses, but the heavier reds are a hard match with cheese. Sweet wines a great with the cheeses that have a high acidity, the contrast in tastes is often very enjoyable. Dry champagnes a great choice with bloomy white rinds.

The matching of cheese and wine is such an old culinary tradition that when you are first starting out on the matching exploration of these two, try combinations which include cheese and wine from the same geographical regions. There are probably good reasons they make the cheese and wine they do.

Personal enjoyment is the last and final line of judgment. So enjoy yourself and have a great time exploring new tastes.

About The Author

Jerry Powell is the owner of a popular site known as Gourmet911.com. As you can see from our name, we are here to help you learn more about different kinds of Gourmet food and Wines, Coffees from all around the world.

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The Greatness Of Gumbo

by: Kirsten Hawkins

Perhaps nothing is better known as a staple of Cajun cuisine than gumbo, a spicy, hearty stew or soup whose name literally means “okra”. Called one of the greatest contributions of Louisiana Cajun kitchens to American cuisine, it came to that state with the first French settlers, who loved bouillabaisse, a highly seasoned French stew. Unable to find their usual ingredients to make bouillabaisse, they substituted local ingredients such as shrimp, fish, and okra. After a century mixing with Spanish, African, and native cuisine in the region, the step was no longer recognizable as its French precursor and was instead something completely new – gumbo.

Still extremely common in Louisiana, gumbo is also found all along the Gulf of Mexico, and is often eaten in the cooler months, when the extended cooking required to make the usually large batches of the dish will not heat up the room to uncomfortable levels.

Gumbo consists of two main components – rice and broth. The two are mixed together only for serving, and while new rice must be prepared daily, broth can be frozen and saved for future consumption.

Rice for gumbo is usually white or parboiled rice steamed or boiled with salt or a touch of white vinegar for flavor. There is some dispute over the proper ratio of rice to gumbo – “damp rice,” for those who like a lot of rice with their broth, and, on the opposite extreme, only a modicum of rice. In some areas, it is also common to add potato salad to the gumbo, either with or without rice.

The broth comes in several varieties. One of the most common is seafood, containing crab, oysters and/or shrimp. Equally common is chicken gumbo with the Cajun sausage called audouille. There is also duck and oyster gumbo, as well as a variety of gumbos made with other fowl, such as quail or turkey. Rabbit can be used for gumbo, as can the Cajun smoked pork known as tasso. Gumbo z’herbes (from the French gumbo aux herbes), gumbo of smothered greens thickened with roux, also exists, and was commonly eaten during Lent, when meat was traditionally forbidden by the Church.

Gumbo was originally made with okra, and some, especially in Southeast Louisiana would argue that anything made without okra can not rightly be called gumbo. Okra gumbos usually feature lighter meats, such as chicken or shrimp, and the okra is cut into pieces and simmered in the pot along with the meat and the three spices that form the so-called “Holy Trinity” of Cajun cooking – onion, celery, and bell pepper. Other spices, and rarely processed meats such as sausage, are then added to the mix. Contrary to popular belief, it is frowned upon for a chef to make Cajun cooking overly hot or peppery – these are left to the diners themselves if they wish to add more spices later.

Gumbo can also be made with a roux base, which has a much stronger taste and takes any sort of meat. Roux by itself is often very dark, though it can be combined with okra to make a lighter stock. Filé, a powder made of dried and ground sassafras, can also be used as a base for gumbo, though it is never, under any circumstances, combined with okra. Originally, it was used as a substitute when okra was not in season. In modern times, it is commonly added as a powder to a roux based gumbo.

Regardless of its base and history, gumbo remains a tasty staple of Cajun cooking.

About The Author

Kirsten Hawkins is a food and nutrition expert specializing the Mexican, Chinese, and Italian food. Visit http://www.food-and-nutrition.com/ for more information on cooking delicious and healthy meals.


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Sunday, March 30, 2008

Soul Food

by: Troy Pentico

The history of American soul food can be traced all the way back to the days of slavery. More often times than not, the slaves were given the most undesirable part of the meal, the leftovers from the house. Pairing this with their own home-grown vegetables, the first soul food dishes were invented. After the slaves were freed, most of them were so poor that they could only afford the most undesirable, inexpensive cuts of meat available to them. (The leftover, unwanted parts of a pig such as tripe, tongue, ears, and knuckles). As in the days of slavery, African-Americans used their own home-grown vegetables and things they could catch or kill to complete their meals.

In the modern United States, soul food has truly evolved. It has become part of the African-American culture, bringing family members together on all occasions from birthdays to funerals, to spend time together preparing meals. The history of soul food is mainly an oral one; recipes were never really written down so while two families may be preparing identical meals, chances are that they don't taste very much alike. Different ingredients, cooking methods, and techniques go into preparing soul food meals, causing the end results to come out differently.

One of the most obvious and widely-recognized characteristics of African-American soul food is the fact that hot sauce and more intense spices are incorporated into meals as often as possible. For this reason, soul food is not for those who can't take the heat or are prone to heart burn!

Another characteristic of true African-American soul food is that nothing is ever wasted. Having originated from the leftovers of just about anything. Stale bread was quickly converted into stuffing or a bread pudding. Over ripe bananas were whipped up into banana puddings, and other ripe fruits were put into cakes and pies, and leftover fish parts were made into croquets or hush puppies.

Sunday dinners are definitely the times when soul food is most commonly seen on tables. Sunday dinners are a time for African-American families to get together to prepare and partake in a large meal. Sunday dinners normally take up the entire day (normally following a church ceremony), and family members come from far and wide to partake in this meal together. Sunday dinners took place in the form of potlucks, also, where various family members contribute a dish or two and form a big, fine meal. Collard and mustard greens, kale, ribs, corn bread, fried chicken, chitlins, okra, and yams are all excellent examples of African-American soul food that might be found at a Sunday meal.

Soul food is not generally a healthy option for a person that must monitor their diet. Fried foods are generally prepared with hydrogenated oil or lard, and they usually tend to be flavored and seasoned with pork products. Since this may be what contributes to such a high percentage of African-Americans that are significantly overweight, soul food preparation methods are now slowly starting to be refined, bringing a lot more healthy options to the table. Rather than the increasingly unhealthy pork products, use of turkey-based products is becoming more and more popular as time passes. The fried foods that are so beloved of the culture can now be prepared using a lower fat canola or vegetable oil.

About The Author

Troy Pentico

Visit The Tasty Chef for more great tips, techniques, and insights pertaining to cooking and recipes. http://www.tastychef.net




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Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Save Money The Crock Pot Way

by: Lisa Paterson

Saving money – is something we would all like to do. Whether you are struggling to manage day to day or earning a six figure salary, saving is something we all think about.

There is one thing we can all save on. The one thing we all do, every day, several times a day.

We all … Eat.

And food these days can be so expensive. It is quite easy to go to the grocers and spend your entire weeks pay just on food. Meat especially can put a hole in anyone’s budget.

After a long day at work, the last thing you want is to spend the rest of the day in the kitchen preparing dinner. So the quick option is often just to fry or grill up some steak. But this is expensive. And frying those cheaper cuts of meat – ugh!

You have heard the old saying ‘tough as old boots’.

They end up so tough, that even if you do manage to eat them; you will be lucky not to chip a tooth or dislocate a jaw; both of which cost even more.

How about if you could save money on your food bill and save hours in the kitchen at the same time?

Well the solution for you is . . . the Crock Pot.

It allows you to turn those cheap meat cuts into not only edible, but absolutely delicious meals. And, does it all, while you are at work.

This is not some new gimmicky thing you see in info-commercials on late night television. This is a real kitchen appliance that has been around since the early 1970’s.

It uses low heat and a slow cooking method which tenderizes the meat.

Just put the vegetables and meat in the pot in the morning on the way to work and come home to the delightful aroma of dinner ready in the evening.

Save money - the cheapest meat cuts are the best ones to use, they are full of flavor and appreciate the long cooking time.

Happy Crock Cooking

Lisa – “The Crock Cook”

About The Author

Lisa Paterson is the author of http://www.a-crock-cook.com, a unique site dedicated to Crock Pot Cooking. Her and her husband Neil, share their own family Crock Pot Recipes with you. Each and every recipe has been cooked by themselves, so you know each recipe will work.

**Webmasters Please Note - If you wish to use this article then the above static link to http://www.a-crock-cook.com must be included.**




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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

White Bread

by: David McCarthy

White bread is a subject that is constantly being raised in recent times when such things as intestinal and bowel problems arise. The common belief is that it acts like a glue once inside the intestines and prevents waste taking its normal course. Depending upon whom you listen to it is a cause of digestive disorders, weight gain or even bowel cancer. I am yet to see conclusive evidence but there is a mass of circumstantial evidence to back each prediction.

White bread is by far the most popular because it is mass-produced, specifically for supermarkets, and is usually sold at lower cost than better quality breads. Children love it because it doesn’t require so much chewing and can be swallowed en masse. Parents seem to like it because the children complain less about it than they do whole grain breads. However, we live, we are told, in an enlightened age and are becoming more aware of the importance of what we eat today to our future health and well-being; after decades of attempting to shorten our lives through inappropriate diet.

The fact of the matter is that our digestive system does require roughage to function properly. This is even more necessary today because so many people lead inactive lives. Where our grandparents used to toil physically to burn up calories and keep their bodies functioning we, of this generation, do not lead such an active lifestyle therefore we need to rely upon diet to maintain body fitness.

It is necessary to find roughage at every opportunity. This can be achieved by following the advice of the food pyramid and that indicates using whole grain breads rather than white. It also means that we should be increasingly aware of claims that certain white breads are high in fiber; according to USDA we should be eating whole grains in the perfect diet.

Together with your whole grain bread you should include foods from each of the five food groups each day. The groups are:

1. Fruits.


2. Vegetables.


3. Calcium foods.


4. Grains.


5. Proteins.

Detailed information of these food groups can be found in a previous article at:

http://www.recipesmania.com/article-food-pyramid-1.html

Please remember that life is meant to be fun and it cannot be fun if you are unfit or unwell. A healthy diet today means more fun years tomorrow. Only you can make the decision and you should make it today and get started immediately. This is the only life you have it isn’t a dress rehearsal.

This article is copyright © David McCarthy 2006 and may be reproduced in its entirety with no additions providing a link back to http://www.recipesmania.com is included.

About The Author

David McCarthy is webmaster at http://www.recipesmania.com a website dedicated to freely sharing knowledge about food, diet, recipes for all occasions together with a section for weight-watchers and a free weight control program.




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