Cooking tips on substitution of cooking items
Cooking tips on substitution of cooking items
There’s nothing more annoying than buying an entire quart of buttermilk for a recipe that only calls for a small amount. Instead, combine 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar, plus enough milk to equal one cup. Stir together and allow to stand for 5 minutes to create “faux buttermilk.” For another option, mix 1 ? teaspoon cream of tartar with a cup of milk and let sit for several minutes.
One cup evaporated milk equals about 3 cups whipped.
Light cream and half-and-half can be substituted for each other.
Substitute 3T cocoa plus 3T shortening to equal 1 sq. of unsweetened chocolate.
Cooking tips: To substitute all-purpose flour for cake flour, measure out 1 cup of all-purpose flour, and then remove 2 tablespoons.
When a recipe calls for 1 cup sour milk, combine 1 to 2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice and enough milk to measure 1 cup.
You can substitute 1/4 tsp baking soda plus 1/2 tsp cream of tartar for 1 tsp of baking powder.
When your recipe calls for 1 tsp allspice — you can use 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp ground cloves.
When the recipe calls for buttermilk and you?re out, add 1 Tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup milk.
Let sit for a few minutes before you use it.
If you don?t have any whipped cream, you can pour a 13 ounce can of evaporated milk in a bowl and chill in the freezer until ice crystals form. Add 1 tsp lemon juice and whip it until it?s stiff.
If you don?t have a rolling pin, fill a jar with cold water and roll on your pastry.
You can substitute 3/4 cup granulated sugar plus 1/4 cup molasses for 1 cup of brown sugar.
Practice food home safety
Practice Food Home Safety
Home safety is a hot topic, with innumerable TV shows, books and DVDs available to teach you how to keep yourself and your family safe from everything from burglars to house fires. One thing that gets overlooked, though, is food home safety. Poor attention to food safety and lack of knowledge about it contribute to food-borne illnesses, which cause more hospitalizations every year than other home dangers combined.
One simple thing you can do is to check your refrigerator. Most kitchen stores and mega stores sell refrigerator/freezer thermometers, which will allow you to check the actual temperature inside the appliances, ensuring that they are functioning properly. Be sure and move the thermometer around, checking inside the crisper drawers and on the door shelves. If airflow is blocked, the drawers could become too warm, meaning food could spoil.
Also, never, ever put hot food into your refrigerator. It will cause the temperature within the refrigerator to rise steeply, and other foods in the refrigerator can spoil in the time it takes for equilibrium to be restored. Use an ice bath to bring the temperature of hot foods down before putting them in cold storage.
In the freezer, make sure you don’t let ice build up on racks, walls and vents. Most modern freezers are frostless, but in times of heavy use they can need some help.
All around the kitchen, let sterilization be your watchword. A simple solution of one tablespoon of bleach to one gallon of water is all you need to kill bad bugs on kitchen surfaces, and you can even make such a mixture in your sink and dip your small kitchen items in it to keep them spotless and germ-free.
Practicing food safety around the home isn’t hard at all to do, but it does require constant attention. Every time you cook, take a few extra minutes to make sure your workspace is well cleaned both before and after the process. You won’t regret it!
Authentic indian recipes
Authentic Indian Recipes
India cuisine has become popular in the United States. It is known to be cooked with many herbs and spices.
Indian cuisine involves the use of numerous herbs and spices. It differs slightly from one city to the other. It is reflected in the demographics of various ethnical Indian subcontinents. It is influenced by other cuisines in the world particularly those from the Southeast Asia.
The usual spices used are garlic, coriander, ginger, asafetida and fenugreek, turmeric as well as cumin, black mustard and chili pepper. Garam masala is a famous spice mixture of India. Goda masala, on the other hand, is the famous spice mixture of Maharasthra. Most of these are naturally grown around them.
The East Indian cuisine is popular for desserts, particularly for sweets like kheeri, gaja, chhena poda, rasabali and sandesh. Most of the sweet dishes are now famous in Northern India, primarily originating from Orissa and the Bengal regions. Aside from sweet dishes, East India cuisine also offers posta delights.
Bengali cuisine is also part of East Indian culture. The common ingredients of their curries are cumin seeds, mustard seeds and cumin paste as well as black cumin and chilies. Cashew paste, poppy seed paste, curd nuts and mustard paste are cooked in mustard oil.
South Indian cuisine is an ubiquity of rasam and sambar, also known as «rasa and saaru.» Sambar is prepared in different ways. South Indian favorites are the bajji, bonda, vada, idli, poori and dosa. Western Indian cuisine has some main food groups such as the Goan, Maharashtrian and Gujarati.
Indian Cooking Recipes
Aloo Ki Puri
Ingredients:
2 teacups of maida
2 pinches of pepper powder
2 boiled potatoes
2 pinches of saffron
2 tablespoon of melted ghee
½ teacup of milk
½ teaspoon of salt
Ghee for deep frying
Directions:
Grate and peel the 2 boiled potatoes. Create fine paste. Mix the salt, ghee, pepper and flour properly. Place saffron in the milk and bind with flour or place a small amount of saffron color in the milk and dough. Knead it properly. Leave it for about an hour. After an hour, roll it into small purees and then deep fry it in hot ghee until it puffs up.
Subzi Ka Paratha
Ingredients for the dough:
1 ½ teacups of maida
1 ½ teacups of gehun ka atta
1 teaspoons of melted ghee or butter
½ teaspoon of salt and milk
Ingredients for the stuffing:
2 teacups of finely chopped boiled vegetables like capsicum, French beans, green peas, cauliflower and cabbage
1 chopped onion
2 mashed and boiled potatoes
2 chopped green chilies
2 tablespoons chopped coriander
2 tablespoons of ghee
Salt
Directions for the dough:
Combine butter, salt, gehun ka atta and maida in a large bowl. Put in the milk and create soft dough. Knead the soft dough properly. Keep the dough for about 15 minutes. Divide the soft dough into 15 or 20 equal portions. Apply enough flour and roll it into rounds. Cook it very lightly in the tava and keep it in a folded wet tissue or napkin.
Directions for the stuffing:
First, heat the ghee for about 3 to 5 minutes and then put in the chopped onion. Cook it until it becomes soft. Put the salt, chili powder, coriander, garam masala, green chilies, potatoes and vegetables in the heated ghee. Cook it for about 2 to 3 minutes.
Amla Pickle
Ingredients:
5 amla
4 green chilies
2 teaspoons of turmeric powder
1 teaspoon of mustard seed
3 teaspoons of oil
1 teaspoon of hing
Directions:
Cook the 5 amlas in the cooker with a small amount of water. Grind the green chilies with the cooked amla. In kadai heat oil, add tumeric powder, hing and mustard seeds. After adding all the ingredients, add the paste of green chilies and amla. Cook it for 3 to 5 minutes.
Southern cooking brings essence to food
Southern Cooking Brings Essence to Food
I was born and raised in the heart of the Deep South. From as far back as I can remember I remember long summer afternoons spent drinking iced tea and shelling peas and butterbeans on my grandmother’s porch. I have moved on from my roots and have made my way into other regions of the world. One thing, however, that has remained constant in my life is my deep and abiding love for southern cooking and cuisine.
I was probably well into my teen years before I realized that tea could be served any other way than loaded with sugar and over ice. It was about that same time that I realized some folks would eat vegetables that hadn’t been soaked in batter, dredged in cornmeal, and deep fat fried. Southern cooking is not for the faint of heart though it can cause many hearts to grow faint. One thing that can be said is that you’ll never find anything else like it on earth.
People in the south learned to make do with little in many instances. Some of the poorest people in America live in the southern part of the country. Of course, you will find that many of these people despite their poverty are also among the most generous. The same can be said of food. It’s the one thing that seems to be in ample supply in most southern homes and very few will turn you away with an empty stomach.
Perhaps it’s the seasonings that are often used when cooking southern food. From the crab boil and gumbo file of Cajun Cuisine to the secret ingredient that almost every southern kitchen contains for their fried chicken recipes (and no one on earth can fry chicken like a born and bred southern grandma). Perhaps it’s the Sunday church dinners where everyone shares a little of what they have with others or the love that goes into preparing these meals that are shared with friends and family. Whatever the case may be, if you ever have the occasion to experience real southern cooking, do not pass it up. You might shave a day off your life, but a good southern fried chicken leg is really living and well worth the sacrifice if you ask me.
Of course it would be remiss to mention southern cooking without bringing up some of the more delicious desserts that seem to be perfection for the south. I mentioned banana pudding above but there are so many more. Pralines are a perfect for those living down around New Orleans as is bread pudding. A little to the east there are grandma’s who have taken their lemon icebox pie recipes to the grave with them so coveted were these delicious deserts and the same holds true for pecan pies as well. We should never forget the flavorful Mississippi Mud cake though, and so many other wonderfully delicious treats that southern cooking has introduced to the world at large.
Favorite vegetables in the heart of the south as I mentioned above included peas and butterbeans, snap beans, corn, summer squash (after all, it’s summer all year in the south), and okra (fried or boiled in many southern kitchens). Not all vegetables were deep fried though few were off limits. I remember eating my share of fried okra, fried squash, and yes, fried green tomatoes. Life was good back when calories weren’t counted and no one really worried about clogging arteries. While I wouldn’t make these a daily dish in any household, I certainly would recommend trying them out if you ever find the opportunity.
Another great thing about southern cooking is the wonderful fried seafood that seems to abound. From fried fish (almost any variety works well when it’s southern fried) to fried oysters, seafood just seems to taste so much better in the south. If you are hoping to learn some of the southern cooking and cuisine you will most likely need to order your spices and have them shipped unless your grocery store has a rather extensive ‘exotic’ foods selection. You can sometimes find great southern seasonings on the International food aisles in grocery stores as well. If you want to really treat your family to an outstanding meal, you should really try southern cooking for the night.
Baking tips for novice chefs
Baking Tips for Novice Chefs
Baking can be an intimidating process when one is first learning. Images of smoke pouring out of the oven and rock hard rolls can haunt thoughts of preparing a Thanksgiving dinner. But have no fear; there are a few simple ways to avoid the confusion and stress that comes with baking. The first key is to gain a basic understanding of what you are looking to make such as ingredients, and the baking process.
Read the recipe thoroughly before turning on the oven. Make sure you understand the process and ingredients involved in what you are looking to make. It will not be enough to simply know the recipe; you need to understand the recipe as well. Keep a basic dictionary of baking terms handy to look up anything that confuses you about the recipe. A good dictionary can explain the differences between chopping, dicing and other methods of cutting fruits and vegetables. It will inform you about the types of pans you will be instructed to use. Beyond all of that, it can explain the different techniques that may be required by some recipes. This resource is vital when you are learning to bake. It can guide you through just about anything.
Once you have figured the recipe out, the actual cooking is often fairly easy. But there is a little more to the process then simply pre-heating the oven, putting in your baked good and getting back in time to take it out. Be sure to check on things every once and a while to make sure everything is cooking properly. Some ovens tend to work at temperatures slightly higher or lower then those listed on the dial. This can be disastrous if you stick too closely to the timer. Look closely at the recipe so that you know how things are meant to turn out, and you will be able to take your baked good out of the oven with perfect timing.
If you are still nervous about baking, there is a simple way to build confidence. Begin by baking cookies. These delights are perhaps the easiest baked good to create, but are challenging enough to serve as building blocks to more complex recipes. Many cookie recipes can be produced in a relatively short amount of time, making them perfect to fit into your busy schedule. Mixing the dough is pretty basic. Another advantage is that most cookies use similar ingredients. This makes them simple and easy to make. When you have made your dough, you should keep it chilled in between batches. It can also benefit the process if you cool your baking sheets by running water over the back of them before placing them in the oven. If you like to make your cookies softer, use less butter or margarine. All in all cookies are a perfect place to begin and experiment.
Once your cookies are completed things can get a bit tricky. Storage can be quite the predicament. If your cookies are soft you will want to put them in a container with a tight lid and a slice of apple. Having the apple in the container will help keep the cookies from drying out so they will stay nice and soft. If your final product is meant to stay crispy you will want a loose lid. This will keep air moving and prevent the cookies from taking in moisture from the air. If it is especially humid you can add a piece of bread to the jar. The bread will take in the moisture and prevent your crispy cookies from becoming stale. When all of this has been taken care of you are free to enjoy your delicious dessert.
One of the frustrations with baking is what to do after finishing your recipe. Cakes, cookies and breads need to be kept fresh, and sometimes this can be a difficult task. Many baked goods can be stored in a freezer for long periods of time. There are a few easy steps to ensure that your baked good will handle freezing. Having plastic wrap, heavy aluminum foil and heavy plastic containers handy is very important if you are going to freeze your product. If your recipe has a topping of some sort, place it on a cookie sheet and wrap it. Be sure to unwrap it again before defrosting. It is also helpful to double wrap everything to make sure it stays sealed. You should also make sure to mark your product with the date that you placed it into the freezer in case you forget about it at any point. Not all baked goods can be frozen, so be sure to experiment before you depend too heavily on freezing.
Yes, baking can sometime be difficult and intimidating, but the reward of learning to bake is well worth the time and effort. If you take the time to learn the terminology, give yourself room to experiment a little and make a few mistakes you can come out of the learning process with the skills needed to create desserts that the whole family can enjoy.
Portable barbecue grills reasons to buy a portable gas grill this summer
Portable Barbecue Grills — Reasons to Buy a Portable Gas Grill This Summer
The summer months are nearly here and it is at this time that each and every home should purchase one of the many portable barbecue grills that are for sale. This is a great option in the event that you live in a house that only has a small-scale backyard.
A portable bar-b-q propane gas grill is certainly a great way to cook a tasty lunch during a sunny day out on the patio with very little effort.
The Weber Portable Gas Grill
Portable bbq grills are available to buy in different sizes and shapes but if you are after a grill that looks a little bit distinct and contains quite a contemporary style then you may like to look at purchasing something from the Weber portable gas grill range.
These type of grills function by using propane gas. All you need to do is to add a small gas container on the device after which at the push of a knob, you should have all the power and heat that is needed to get the grill cooking.
You are able to set how much gas is necessary by switching the flexible control device that is on the side. It is an amazing addition mainly because it will be easy to determine how hot you need the grill to become dependent upon what you are currently preparing.
Food To Cook On Your Portable BBQ Grill
This grill will help you prepare a variety food so you can make a complete meal that everyone will enjoy. All you have to do is to put your choice of meat and vegetable products on the grill and wait while it goes to work.
This type of food that you can prepare is really up to you but you should definitely includes lots of sausages, some steak and pork chops as well as crunchy vegetables like peppers and sweet corn.
If you are looking forward to the summer then a portable barbecue grill is a wonderful way to prepare a meal and spend the day out in the garden soaking up the sun’s rays.
Find out more about buying portable barbecue grills if you are looking to compare and contrast the different portable gas grills that are currently available.
Social networking and outdoor cooking
Social Networking And Outdoor Cooking
The first meat that I ever wanted to cook on a barbecue was a chicken using the rotisserie and I’ve never really stopped to think about why. I guess it’s down to «the boy with a new toy» mentality in that the BBQ spit came in the pack with the grill and a rotisserie cooking process adds dynamism. Looking back not only is it visually appealing but also the spit does the work for you leaving plenty of time beer or two!
Maybe I did one too many beers on that first cookout because the results weren’t quite up to standard. I tried to light my grill with paper and wood which sent ash all over the chicken. I didn’t balance the chicken very well on the spit so one side cooked before the other. I made every mistake in the book.
Having said that, getting that first taste of BBQ smoke was still a defining moment and even after my first disastrous attempt with the rotisserie I was (and still am) hooked on outdoor cooking.
I progressed gently onto sausages and burgers learning as I went that the fat off the food causes the smoke and also the flames and when flames appear, the food doesn’t cook, it burns. Since discovering this point I’ve had to adjust every charcoal barbecue that I’ve ever bought with an extra notch to raise up the grill and keep the flames from lapping up at that first spit of the fat. Grill manufacturers take note!
For greater variety I later invested in a copy of Ainsley’s Barbecue Bible and this took me to higher levels even to the point where people were starting to look at what I was cooking and asking how I’d done it. If they were lucky they even got to taste it!
Anyway, barbecuing has become a way of life for me and now the internet provides so many free barbecue recipes and easy smoker recipes there’s plenty of menu ideas for my next cookout. Social networking though is still my favourite way to learn and by that I’m referring to talking with fellow enthusiasts and not necessarily over the web.
I tried barbecue cookout competitions and whilst there was a great sense of occasion and lot’s of fun, it was a little too competitive and recipes kept as closely guarded secrets. So where can you go to meet like minded people? Where can you find more barbecues, smokers and outdoor grills in one place and people sharing and having fun?
At a sports event!
Being a petrol head I regularly hit Les 24 Heures Du Mans (that’s the Le Mans 24 Hour Endurance race to you and me) in France. Not only is there a mix of barbecue nutcases and pyromaniacs they come from all over the world so where else is there such a wealth of knowledge, experience and above all a sense of fun?
Camping by a race track with cars flying past at 150+mph, what could be better? OK so it might not appeal to everyone and it doesn’t have to be as exotic as Le Mans, I found a similar atmosphere with a completely different crowd down at Twickenham for the rugby cup final, everyone focused on partying, enjoying the food, the event and the other people there. The event isn’t important, it’s the occasion and the people that make it what it is.
So in my book social networking is the answer for new ways to barbecue. For free barbecue recipes, get down to you local sports stadium and have a wander around before the ball game and the inspiration for your next barbecue menu ideas will be right in front of your eyes. This is my idea of social networking!
Bon Appetite!