Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Cooking Has Never Been This Easy Before!


It's a struggle for any parent to find time to make tasty and healthy meals. Sometimes it's tempting to give up on cooking and just order take-out. But before you place that order, read this article. You'll find some tips that will help any busy mom or dad in the kitchen.

Choose the correct apples when making apple pie. The best apples for an apple pie should always have a firm texture and slightly tart flavor. Good varieties include Granny Smith, McIntosh and Jonathan. If you are unsure of which apple to choose, ask the produce manager for an all-purpose baking apple.

If you want to cook the perfect roast but feel that you won't have enough time before you would be able to serve it, buy a roast with the bone attached. When cooking, the bone holds the heat in, and then distributes the heat throughout the meat. This allows the meat to cook faster than boneless cuts.

Make Johnny cakes for a treat at home or in camp! All you need is flour, baking powder (the kind that comes in a can, not baking soda that comes in a box), and cooking oil. Mix about a teaspoon of baking powder thoroughly into a cup of flour. Add enough water to make a thick batter. Pour it into a hot greased skillet, and fry the cakes like you would a hot cake.

If you have made your gravy and skimmed the grease and it is still greasy at the end you can take a few sprinkles of baking powder to the top of it and then skim it off. The baking powder will make the grease disappear and you will have awesome gravy.

Save the stems of herbs like cilantro, parsley, or dill! Do not discard them! The stems have just as much flavor as the leaves. You can chop or snip them into soups, salads, sauces and other dishes - just as you would use their leaves. This leaves less unnecessary waste and lets you get more bang for your buck, if you purchased the herbs!

Learn to make a good roux. When you are learning to make the best bases for your cooking, consider learning the art of making a roux. It consists of mixing oils, fats, or butters and cooking with flour. If you enjoy making Cajun or French foods, roux is a mainstay.

To make grating blocks of mozzarella, Colby, cheddar and other cheeses easier, place the block of cheese in the freezer for ten minutes prior to shredding. The freezer will stiffen the cheese a bit without freezing it solid, so you can grate it without as much sticking, crumbling or becoming rubbery.

Don't overcook cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, and brussel sprouts. While lightly steamed cabbage that still retains its crunch is delicious, particularly in dishes like coleslaw, and lightly steamed broccoli is great in salads, when either are overcooked, they liberate stinky sulfur compounds and lose a lot of nutritive value and texture.

To prevent the top layer of cheese from peeling off your lasagna or other casserole when you remove the foil, spray the foil with cooking spray prior to covering the dish with it. When you remove the foil so the cheese can brown, the cheesy layer will remain intact.

Choose the correct potatoes, according to your recipe. Potatoes are classified as all-purpose, waxy or mealy. Mealy potatoes have a dry, crumbly texture and are perfect for mashing. A common mealy potato is the russet. Yukon gold are considered all-purpose, and suitable for any dish. Waxy potatoes hold their shape very well, and are suitable for boiling or steaming. Regular white or red potatoes are the most common waxy varieties.

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