Cooking Tips Articles & News
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 endless. Barbecue sauces, rubs and marinades are the three basic methods of seasoning and each brings its own unique element into the barbecuing ...
High Altitude Baking A Cook's Guide
High altitude baking can be a real adventure for the cook, with a number of challenges to keep you on your toes. The higher you are in elevation, the less pressure there will be. How does this affect your baking creations? Low air pressure creates increased evaporation of liquids during the baking process and this can cause your cakes to fall. Baking at high altitudes means a few more adjustments so that your baked goods will come out perfectly, ready to tempt the finest of taste buds.
How to Cook a Lobster
French chefs plunge them into boiling water; English ones, in an attempt to appear more humane, drive kitchen knives through their skulls before doing the same thing.
How to cut a cake
Have you ever wondered how to cut a cake? I have had a lot of practice. When I turned 16 and requested a Spider Man sheet cake I busily honed my cake cutting skills by making concentric rectangles and then served up the master piece. My family all refused to eat stating lack of presentation skills. Since that time my skills have, thankfully, been refined. Here are tips to cutting a round layer cake.
Chinese Cooking Technique: Deep Fry
There are usually 2 ways of deep frying in Chinese cooking: Deep frying the ingredients directly Deep frying the ingredients with batter The latter is the most commonly used method. Here are some pointer in how to deep fry Chinese food most effectively. The sizes of the ingredient pieces should be uniform. The dimensions, including the thickness of the pieces that you are frying should be as close as you can get them. Otherwise, ...
Wok this Way! (Part 3 of 5) Seasoning Your New Wok
Seasoning is the most important thing you can do to your wok. Only carbon steel and iron woks need to be seasoned. The purpose of seasoning is to remove the manufacturer's protective coating and coat it with a thin layer of oil. This creates a smooth cooking surface which enables food to shift and glide easily, thus preventing your food from sticking, discoloring, and picking up a metallic taste.
The Perfect Omelet(te), How To Cook It
Omelet(te)s They’re easy to cook, right? We’ll see. The first thing to remember is that you need the right size of frying pan. This is more important than you may think. Too large, and the omelet will dry out; too small, and it will not cook through. As a basic guide, you need a 15 centimeter pan for a two-egg omelet and a 25 centimeter pan for a four to six egg omelet. That is, 6 in. and 10 in. respectively. Which, handily enough, is pretty much the size of pans you should have in your ...
Cooking Instructions For Prime Rib Roast
Have you been searching for cooking instructions for prime rib roast and still can’t find a recipe that will give you the juicy and tender prime rib roast that you deserve? The reason may be that recipes only give you the basic ingredients for cooking and not the cooking instructions for prime rib roast.
The Almighty Beer Can Chicken
A popular method of cooking chicken in recent years both in Barbeque contest as well as backyard barbeques is the beer-can chicken. Cooking a beer-can chicken couldn’t be any easier but the results are worthwhile. This is a technique that delivers a moist, succulent chicken and flavorful chicken. It’s also a bit of a showstopper and makes a lively conversation starter as well. Is it chicken in a beer can? Close but try beer can in a chicken. The beer is used to both keep the bird ...
Wok this Way! (Part 2 of 5) Selecting a Wok
As mentioned in Part 1 of the series, woks come in different sizes ranging from 10 to 32 inches in diameter, but a wok that's 11 to 14 inches in diameter should suffice for use in a household kitchen.
Barbecue for You
In may just be in human nature to barbecue. Well, we have been doing it as far back as time can denote. In the Stone Age, man hunted for food and cooked it over an open flame. And while we still cook over flame today, there are actually two different types. True barbecue requires a sauce. If not, you are just grilling. While both are good, barbecue involves slowly cooking the meat with low temperature for hours.
Cake Baking Tip Guide
Successful cake decorating is all about preparation. Baking and preparing your cake for decorating is a critical part of the total process. In this article, I'll share some expert tips for basic cake preparation to get your cake creation off to a fabulous start! These easy tips will ensure your cake decorating success.
The Best Kept Secrets of Beef Revealed! Get Ready to Become the Meat Expert in Your Family!
Do you helplessly stand at the meat counter looking from package to package, not knowing what to buy? Do you end up buying chicken because you don’t know which cut of meat to buy and wouldn’t know how to fix it if you did buy it?
Cooking With Kids Safely!
School's out! And summer is a good time to introduce your child to chores in the kitchen!
Wok this Way! (Part 1 of 5)
Introduction Woks have been synonymous with Chinese cooking since the emergence of Chinese cuisine. They have been used for some 3000 years in China for a variety of cooking methods, including stir frying, boiling, and steaming. A wok is a large, thin-walled, round-bottomed, metal cooking pan, and shaped like a shallow bowl with handles. The addition of a wooden rack and cover transforms the wok into a steamer. Although woks come in sizes ranging from 10 to 32 inches in diameter, a ...
Cooking What You Need To Know
From ancient times till the nineteenth century cooking was basically a survival skill. The nineteenth century marked the division of cooking into two main categories.
Kid Birthday Cake Idea Collection Cake Decorating Without Fear
Our kid birthday cake idea collection makes cake decorating fun and fearless. You don't have to be a pastry chef to create a professional quality cake for your child's birthday or other special event. Learn unique and easy cake decorating ideas to make spectacular homemade cakes.
Hot Apple Pie The American Apple Pie Legacy
While each country might have its own preferred style, "American Style" apple pie includes your basic pie with apples in it, spiced up with cinnamon and/or nutmeg. Some folks top it off with a scoop of ice cream (such as vanilla) and this is known as "Apple Pie a la mode."
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 Fry Daddy? It must be a pretty big sin to eat fried foods these days. Or is it?
Barbequing, a Fun and Convenient Way to Make Dinner
"There’s nothing more enjoyable than having friends and family gathered around amidst the wonderful smells of charcoal-grilled prawns, vegetables and selected favorites. Barbecuing is one of those time- honored rituals that go hand in hand with summertime. Whether you’re in your backyard or at you’re favorite camping site, barbecuing is a pleasure to be enjoyed by the whole family." Barbecuing has never been more exciting; with the endless designs of barbecues available and ...
What is a Serving Size?
Have you ever wondered how much a serving really is. Well, pull out your box of Raisin Bran, grab the milk a bowl and a spoon. Now fill up your bowl with cereal pour on the milk and get ready. This is around four servings. On average a single serving of raisin bran is ½ cup cereal and ½ cup milk. If this was all anyone ever ate for breakfast refrigerators world wide would be open for raiding by 9 am.
The Joys of Refrigerator Cookies
Baking cookies seem to fill the house with a sense of well being and peace. Perhaps it is the smell of butter, vanilla, and spices emanating from the hot oven. Maybe it is the love and caring attention that is evident in cookies. Home, love, and cookies seem to go together.
Do a Dry Rub First
The debate on ribs has ended in my home. After years of toil I have finally capitulated and agreed to make ribs the fool proof way every time. Consequently the neighbors, the kids, and family from out of town all place special requests for ribs.
Bread in the Woods
We really like fresh bread while we’re camping. There is something about bread products that just seems especially good in the woods. Maybe it’s the fresh air; maybe it’s the appetites that we work up in the woods.
The World of Cornbread
We're partial to cornbread. We like its rustic texture and chewy goodness. We like its versatility—it works for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It complements eggs in the morning, a hearty soup for lunch, or a dinner meal such as pork chops or chicken. Cornbread always reminds us of the South and some of the best is the result of wonderful Southern cooking.
Secrets of Great Breads
Often we field questions about making great bread. Great bread is a matter of using the right ingredients and the right techniques—there’s no single secret that will make perfect bread. But really great bread is readily attainable. We’ve compiled our list of what goes into great bread.
Foods That Freeze Well
"Can I freeze it?" is a question often asked in our homes, and for good reason. Probably most of us, at some point or another, have attempted to freeze a particular food only to find out that it did not freeze well and either spoiled or became inedible. Here are some foods that are "freezer-friendly"...
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 to plan a day ahead of time.
Family Meal Planning Made Easy
As moms, we have hectic lives. Whether we work out of the home, in the home or look after the kids full time, we definitely have our jobs cut out for us. We clean, chauffer the kids around, mend scraped knees, help with homework, do laundry and on top of all that we STILL have to figure out what we're going to make for dinner each night.
Baking Bread in a Dutch Oven
Dutch ovens were made for baking. In the hands of a practiced baker, a Dutch oven will create beautiful breads and desserts. (Though some of us tend to burn breads in a Dutch oven.)