All posts by blogger

Culinary

Pro Cooking Tips To Start Using Today

Comments Disabled

Many people agree that cooking skills are some of the most difficult to master. Read on for some great tips on cooking delicious, gourmet-type dishes that will make you look like a master chef.

Always bake your crusts a little longer than is absolutely necessary. They should be golden caramel in color instead of pale blonde. The color on your pie signifies that the caramelizing process is complete in your crust, yielding a scrumptious dessert.

Whenever you are spicing up your meat, consider starting off with a small portion before you cook the whole piece. It is important not to over-season foods such as hamburger, meatballs and other meat-based dishes. You do not want to cook the whole thing immediately after seasoning it. Just make a small piece and try it. If that piece turns out well, you can continue with the rest. If not, you can make adjustments to the spices.

Always make sure that your flour, sugar and baking additives are stored in airtight containers. By storing foods in airtight containers, you can ensure its freshness and prevent any contamination. These containers can be bought at almost any store and are totally worth it!

When boiling or sauteing veggies, use chicken broth instead of water. Chicken broth adds flavor to vegetables and prevents them from getting stuck to the bottom of the pan. Chicken broth can be found at almost all local grocery stores at a very cheap price.

If you are preparing pumpkins for a meal, position the pumpkin so it is sitting upright, then cut it into two equal halves. Put each half with the cut side facing down on their own baking sheet. Sprinkle a little water on to your baking sheets, then you can bake your pumpkins for an hour in a 350 degree oven.

In recipes that call for milk or water, try substituting more flavorful liquids. If the recipe calls for water, switch it up by using a broth, juice, or cooking liquids. Other dairy products such as buttermilk or sour cream can be used in place of milk. A good method for increasing your nutritional intake is by increasing the amount of liquids you drink throughout the day.

For better seasoning results, use smaller applications of seasoning at frequent intervals throughout the cooking process instead of dumping it all in at once. As such, you are getting the best flavor, and not wasting any of the seasoning.

If you are using garlic in the cooking, ensure it’s the freshest you can buy. In general, garlic tastes sweeter when it is fresher. You will want to look for the following characteristics; firm skin, and no bruises or shriveling.

If serving salad, keep the dressing on the side, rather than pouring it on the salad. Amount and type of dressing are personal tastes, so let your guests dress their own salad. Get different kinds of dressings to leave them more choices.

Even with no prior skill, cooking techniques can be improved with just a few simple tips and ideas. With this new found culinary knowledge, what are you waiting for? Cook something! You will be cooking dishes everyone will enjoy.

Tracie William is a house wife, cooking is her passion and she loves to try new recipes.. her latest blog is aboutHow To Make Cake Pops

Culinary

Culinary Schools In Italy

Comments Disabled

Why you should attend culinary schools in Italy? Maybe you are just curious to discover something new in your life, or maybe you are a cooking lover and you want to know secrets behind good tasting dishes you eat. One more reason, not less important than the previous ones, is about job. Today, if you want your career in cooking, you need a good cooking education. You need to attend lessons, learn recipes and make experience. Its important to learn basics of cooking, then specializing in some specific kind of cooking.

Cooking is absolutely one of the most known elements of Italian culture in the world. Not just spaghetti or pizza, but a very large variety of good tasting dishes, coming from a long and consolidated tradition. Italian people is really proud of Italian gusto: Italian restaurants are appreciated in every part of the world. Thats why many people choose culinary schools in Italy. Main Italian cooking elements to focus on are fresh pasta, artisan gelato and Italian desserts, Italian artisan breads and pizza and regional Italian cuisine. This last aspect in very important, considering that each Italian region has its traditional recipes and products. Some examples, worldwide famous, are Prosciutto di Parma, a particular and very sweet kind of ham, and the Chianti of Tuscany, that is both a specific geographic area but also a very good tasting red wine.

Torre di Babele, one of the best culinary schools in Italy, is located in Rome, the capital city. It offers a very interesting way to learn how to cook Italian recipes. In facts its courses of cooking can be associated with Italian languages lessons. In this way you can learn Italian language and cooking at the same time. Attending a culinary school you will improve your vocabulary and your cooking skills, going deeply into Italian culture and tradition too. Thats why its important to directly study in Italy, where you have the opportunity to stay in close contact with the costumes and the spirit of the nation. Torre di Babele was founded in 1984 and since its opening, the school has focussed also on the teaching of culinary art to foreigners. The school attracts people and students from around the world from countries all across Europe, as well as North and South America, Asia, Africa and Oceania. Classes are made up of participants of all ages, with a majority of university students and young from 18 to 30.

Torre di Babele offers four different kinds of courses. Italian cooking has just one week duration: this is a light version course, reserved to curios people who just want to learn basics. It is also possible to associate this course with Italian language lessons. Furthermore, there is the possibility to attend individual lessons or in group. Any course of Torre di Babele culinary school comes with wine tasting seminar, held in one of the best known enoteca in Rome.

Culinary

Chef’s Culinary Garden at Beechwood Inn

Comments Disabled

The Chef’s Culinary Garden at Beechwood Inn, Clayton, GA

The Northeast Georgia Mountains are home to some of Georgia’s leading fresh food producers. Vegetables, fruit, flowers, cheese, wine, nuts, grain, poultry, eggs, fish, pork and cattle are all seasonally available throughout the area. An abundance of fresh water, combined with soil rich in nutrients and a temperate climate offer a recipe for great fresh seasonal foods. Rabun County is particularly known for its cabbage crop. Maybe it’s the soil, but the cabbage grown here just tastes better. As spring moves towards summer we can hardly wait for our first ears of Osage Silver Queen Corn.

With all this local abundance we fret each spring as to what things we should plant in our culinary garden next to the Inn. We’ve been to restaurants where just moments before you are seated for dinner you observe the chef clad in her white coat tip toe into the gardens to snip fresh herbs and edible flowers. You just know you are in for a treat. We want to offer the type of experience where the diner sees and tastes things on their plate they know came out of the garden minutes before. The chef’s culinary garden should provide wonderful products but also needs to be close to the kitchen’s back door so it is as handy as walking into the pantry. And we want the garden to enhance and add to the variety, color and unique flavors for our guests’ dining experience.

Through the years we have honed our culinary garden to our style of cooking. Here is what we have planned for this year. We will plant a hedge of Genovese basil, as well as about 8 other varieties and colors. Other necessities include bay, dill, English thyme, tarragon, mints, lavender, oregano, rosemary, sage, parsley, savory and fennel; a rainbow of toy box tomatoes, lemon verbena, bee balm, heirloom tomatoes, edible flowers to bloom in succession. We also have an established asparagus patch, raspberries, blueberries, two varieties of crabapples, wild cherries (for drying), peaches, plums and a forest of Chanterelles. We can also count on Leckie Stack supplying us with some seasonal fruits from the Stack farm including Asian pears, persimmons and grapes. And Jenny Sanders will share with us wild ingredients in season such as ramps, elderflowers and berries, fiddleheads and a variety of mushrooms.

We would plant an acre of basil if we could. To many gardeners, basil is the king of herbs. Basil can play many roles while basking in the sun. Basil is essential in our kitchen, but it is also highly ornamental in our gardens and on our tables. We add branches to bouquets of flowers. Hot summer days become bearable if I can pluck fresh basil and use it in pestos, herbal vinegars, vegetable dishes and, most heavenly of all, nestle the leaves between slices of fresh bread along with a large slice of a ripe heirloom tomato and some creamy homemade mayo. Members of the mint family, basils are native to India, Africa and Asia but have a long, rich history of legend and use worldwide. Basil is best used fresh. Small leafed varieties can be grown in a pot on a sunny windowsill during the winter. To preserve summer’s flavor for winter make plenty of pesto and freeze it. We make sure that each year our garden has several Thai Basil plants. It is characterized by a strong licorice fragrance and flavor. Thai basil has many applications in the Beechwood kitchen due to its flavor appeal. It is the highlight of many Asian cuisines, including Thai, Vietnamese and Indian fare. The inn’s specialty is Thai Basil Rolls with Satay Peanut Sauce.

Another staple that we plant each spring is lemon verbena (Aloysia triphylla). It is native to South America and grows well in North Georgia, but it does not survive our winters outdoors. The Spanish brought it to Europe where it was used in perfume. It has been a favorite for garden rooms in North America since its introduction in the 1800’s. It has a clean, sharp lemon scent that makes it the Queen of lemon-scented herbs. In Gone with the Wind, lemon verbena is mentioned as Scarlet O’Hara’s mother’s favorite plant. One whiff of the smell, and I predict you will not want to live without this luscious smelling herb.

The inn’s specialty is lemon verbena ice cream but we use the leaves in a number of recipes. It makes an excellent tea, especially when blended with mint. It can also be used to brighten the taste of fish, poultry, veggie marinades, stuffing, salad dressing, sorbets, pana cotta, jellies, and vinegar. As the leaves are tough, remove them before serving. Finely crumbled dried leaves can be added to the batters of carrot, banana, or zucchini bread. Try adding some to cooked rice just before serving.

A rainbow of toy box tomatoes is essential to our culinary garden each year. They are cherry and grape tomatoes in a variety of wonderful colors and flavors, some heirloom some hybrid. The most important thing to the chef is the palette of colors and unique flavors they offer. Some are sugary and sweet some are puckeringly tart. But oh are they beautiful in tarts, salads, bruschettas and as garnish. Last year we planted about a dozen varieties and I had to resist eating them while I picked them fresh off the vine. We plant them in giant containers and they surround the Beechwood gardens. We will often see guests plucking a sample as they walk by.

Our heirloom tomatoes are good in almost anything but one of our favorite recipes is Black Krim Tomato Marmalade. Our wild cherries and crabapples are very tart, so they are best used in coulis, jams and remoulades. The blueberries and raspberries will find their way fresh to our breakfast table and also baked into muffins, breads and sinfully wonderful desserts.

The gardens also yield a succession of seasonal edible flowers. Today, many restaurant chefs and innovative home cooks garnish their plates with flower blossoms for a touch of elegance. They can be sprinkled on salads or added to your recipe. The secret to success when using edible flowers is to keep the dish simple. Most edible flowers have a very delicate taste, so when using them as a flavor component do not add them to something that already has strong flavors. Today this nearly lost art is enjoying a revival.

Not all flowers are edible, and the edible varieties should be grown without the use of pesticides or other chemicals. Edible flowers should be carefully identified and in some cases there are only parts of the flower that are edible (in some flowers the anthers should be removed). The Beechwood Chefs will often use a flower as the central part of an appetizer or entre. For instance, we use colorful organic daylilies and fill them with a light stuffing of local goat cheese and fresh herbs.

Writing about our culinary garden and thinking of these recipes makes us long for tomato season once again. Planting our culinary garden each spring renews our spirit and brings us joy. We appreciate the efforts brought to bear by local farmers and ranchers, but most of all we thank God for the variety and abundance of fresh products we bring to our table.

by Chef David Darugh http://www.beechwoodinn.ws

Beechwood Inn is Georgia’s Premier Wine Country Inn

Culinary

Sage Herbs Help Those With Sickness

Comments Disabled

Medicinal herbs are quite a common trend in todays era. Though there are a number of manufactured medicines, there are people who would want to take in something more natural. Many of these natural medicinal bulk herbs have several benefits aside from its curative properties. Some have been widely used as culinary components as well as part of a concoction creating helpful and effective solutions.

Sage leaf is one common natural medicinal herb. These are small shrubs located in Mediterranean regions. Leaves are green with strong citrus scent. These small herbs are commonly added into culinary masterpieces. It can add flavor to most poultry and meat dishes, cheeses and even wines. Others may find it appealing if these sage leaves are combined with bread and butter.

Not only does this sage leaf a quality supplement to dishes and drinks, it has useful properties of curing meats and preserving other foods such as labiatic acid and carsonic acid. Moreover, it suppress fish odor. However, these sage leave do not stop its use for culinary purpose only. A sage leaf can also take away some pain and sickness in a person when taken in. It is extensively for fevers, pains, coughs and matters of digestion.

Clinical studies show that sage leaf can pacify digestion problems such as indigestion and stomach cramps. As preferred, these leaves are boiled to create a nice hot tea good for drinking. Chinese strongly believe in the efficacy of medicinal herbs in providing solution for their digestive problems as well as other sickness. The oil of sage leaves can also cure stomach ulcers instigated by bacteria.

Sage leaf is a good remedy for treating excessive sweating. Body temperatures are regulated through sage leaf oil and reduce sweating of the body. These are of good use for people living in deserts to lessen body sweating due to too much heat. With this unique property, sage leaf is also a good element in creating deodorants.

Sage leaves are also great elements in making powerful mouthwash and gargles. It can strengthen teeth and gums as well as clean the whole mouth for lesser bacteria causing infection. It is also superb in enhancing memory and making our senses work faster.

These few but efficient properties are proofs of how useful a simple leaf can be. Both medicines artificially manufactured and natural medicinal herbs aim to cure many sickness.

Culinary

How to Choose the Best Microwave Oven

Comments Disabled

A modern kitchen is not complete without an old tried and trusted microwave oven. Most people know how to use a microwave and the benefits that it provides for your cooking exploits, but they are pretty much clueless when it comes to choosing the ideal oven for their cooking ventures. There are a few fundamental aspects that are worthy of taking note before you purchase your microwave oven.

For a lot of people, the most highlighted aspect of a microwave oven would be its volume and size. An oven of appropriate capacity and volume is necessary depending on your cooking needs. Choosing an oversized microwave to cook your daily chicken fillets would be foolhardy to say the least. Flipping the cards around, you wouldnt want to have a small oven to execute your culinary skills with. Integrating ovens of an appropriate size tailored for your requirements would help a lot in enhancing your cooking exploits. Microwave ovens come in an assortment of sizes; ranging from a tiny one cubic feet to a gigantic 2.5 cubic feet or more.

The next important criteria of selecting a microwave oven would be the strength of the punch that it packs. The strength of such microwaves is usually measured by the wattage that it delivers. Large scale microwave ovens can go upwards of 1500 watts. Choosing a microwave with a wattage exceeding your personal requirements would usually result in overcooked food specimens. Consult your local supplier or expert regarding the tailored wattage for your own needs before committing to a microwave purchase.

Congratulations! By now you would already have an idea of the desired size and the wattage of your desired microwave, but that is just half of the whole puzzle. The next point to consider when choosing such an oven would be the perks and functions hidden within the shell of it. Modern microwaves are filled with a plethora of different specific perks, tweaks and special add-ons. First of all, we take a look at the basic appeals of your chosen oven. A functioning microwave MUST have a decent turntable to back up its claim. The turntable is the primary tool for you to cook with your microwave and it must be both rigid and big enough to do a good job. Should your turntable be lacking in the aforementioned aspects, then you can expect you pot roast to be cooked on one side and be cold on the other. Lighting in the microwave is also essential to give you a good perspective of your food specimen. You have to see how your food cooks in an oven more than anything. There are a bevy of other elementary functions to consider, therefore proper consultation is advised before you purchase your microwave oven.

By now we have covered the basic functions and hardware of a microwave. The next key point would be an ovens appeal and how it stands out amongst the rest. Latest microwaves come with abundance of special add-ons; such as programmable menu screens, automated cooking options and even popcorn keys. These attributes are only useful once the basic appeal of a microwave is met. Once you are happy with the basic attributes of a unit, these are the extra perks which you would consider to help assert your choice from the others. A simple programmable sidebar can make a normal microwave oven stand out of the chasing pack.

There you have it. These are the basic aspects you would need to consider before committing to a microwave purchase. The budget for a microwave should be allocated based on your cooking needs as well as desired requirements of microwave. Budget microwaves are cheap, but they are only there to help you cook and rehear your food. If you wish to have a trustworthy kitchen counterpart there, then taking the extra mile to purchase a premium unit would go a long way to enhance your overall satisfaction.

1 … 16 17 18 19 20 21