Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Heating Oil Until It Smokes and Other Common Cooking Mistakes You Should Stop Making [Cooking]

 A while back we looked at a great list of common cooking mistakes that many people—myself included—are guilty of committing from time to time, but this list from the folks at EatingWell hits on a few other common errors that many of us make, like heating oil until it starts to smoke. Instead, they suggest, resist the urge to put some oil in a pan, turn it on, and turn your back on it—the flavor and healthy properties of some cooking oils will be better off if you keep an eye on it.


Overheating oils is a pretty common cooking issue that many of us run into, but the rest of the list is just as interesting. They also address why you should avoid putting Pyrex baking dishes under a broiler (they can't withstand the direct heat and may shatter), and the ever-popular but oh-so-messy turning on the blender with hot liquids inside before removing the stopper. If you've ever had to clean up a kitchen after someone's made that mistake, it's one you'll never make again.


Check out the whole list at the link below, and let us know some of your common cooking mistakes you've learned to stop making—or wish you could quit—in the comments below.

10 Bad Cooking Habits You Should Break | Kitchen Daily

Posted by Ambar jaiswal at 4:04 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

When To Use Different Types of Salt for Barbecue and Other Cooking [Crash Course]

Table salt, kosher salt, and fancy sea salt are the most common types of salt we can use to enhance our food. If you want to know more about this magical rock for cooking, The Virtual Weber Bullet is your guide.


The site offers an overview of different types of edible salts, including the three mentioned above, and, more importantly, when to best use them. For barbecue cooking, for example, table salt in a rub is good for uniform distribution especially if you have other finely ground ingredients. For coarse rubs, use kosher salt: a coarse, flaky salt that is easier to pick up and sprinkle with greater control.


Just as Cooks Illustrated previously suggested, The Virtual Weber Bullet says table salt is good for everyday cooking and baking. It adds that fancy sea salt is a good "finishing salt" on cooked dishes.


A very useful chart in this article is the salt equivalent measures. If you're going to brine a turkey or other meat with salt, know that table salt and kosher salt don't have the same saltiness, so you have to measure them differently by volume to get the same effect. Use the chart to adjust accordingly.

Posted by Ambar jaiswal at 2:44 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , ,

Friday, March 16, 2012

“Power Soak” Your Beans Before Cooking by Giving them a Two Minute Boiling Water Bath [Cooking]

 We've discussed the old soak beans for 24-hours trick to...alleviate excess gas, but if you don't have a whole day to wait before you start cooking your bean dish, this method from the folks at Bon Appetit magazine can save you a ton of time and waiting. Just put your beans in a pot, cover with water, bring them to a boil and keep them there for two minutes, and set aside.


This "power soak" method, as they call it, is essentially just pre-boiling, and once you've finished the two-minute boil, you let the beans stand for about one hour. In that time, some of the more complex sugars that may...contribute to gastrointestinal distress after eating, dissolve in the water, which is then discarded prior to cooking the beans. After the hour's rest, your beans will be ready to use in any recipe, as though it had been soaking for hours.


Have you tried this "power soak" pre-boiling method before, or do you have a different preferred method? Share your tips in the comments below.

The Faster Way to Soak Beans for Cooking | Bon Appetit

Posted by Ambar jaiswal at 11:29 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Save Money on Groceries By Cooking Like a Peasant [Saving Money]

Making great meals using just a few resources is an art many of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers know how to do. Get Rich Slowly reminds us that we can use the same principles of using cheap, filling ingredients to make comfort foods today—and reduce our grocery bill.


The same cheap ingredient can be made multiple ways—each culture, for example, has its own take on rice:



Risotto in Italy, Spanish rice in Mexico, dirty rice in New Orleans, paella in Spain - all filling dishes that can satisfy a family with just a few ingredients.


Cheap but satisfying dishes you can fall back on and incorporate into your meal plan include ratatouille (example shown in the photo above), bibimbap (a Korean dish typically made with rice, vegetables, a raw or fried egg, and sliced meat), frittatas, and fajitas.


Rice, eggs, and veggies are the inexpensive ingredients. Stock up on those items (beans too) and some other staples (like bacon, extra-virgin olive oil, and some salty extras) and you can whip up a tasty meal and have more money in the bank.


(By the way, it looks like it's out of print now, but The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors by Jeff Smith is a great cookbook along this same line, containing recipes celebrating lots of ethnic traditions and old world peasant dishes.)


What peasant-like staples do you keep on hand?

Want to Save on Groceries? Cook like a Peasant | Get Rich Slowly

Posted by Ambar jaiswal at 3:26 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , ,

Monday, March 12, 2012

Apple reportedly cooking up new audio file format

Apple reportedly cooking up new audio file format | Apple - CNET News CNET News 

CNET News Apple Apple reportedly cooking up new audio file format  by Lance Whitney February 29, 2012 6:25 AM PST Follow @lancewhit The file format would adapt itself to high-quality or low-quality audio depending on the bandwidth and other conditions, says The Guardian.
(Credit:Apple)Apple may be tuning up a new streaming-audio format that handle varying degrees of quality.
Citing an anonymous source, U.K. news site The Guardian reported yesterday that the format would offer "adaptive streaming" to iCloud users, automatically choosing between low-quality and high-quality sound based on the bandwidth and amount of local storage.
Users with lots of bandwidth could listen to a studio-quality recording, while those with minimal bandwidth would get more standard digital quality.
The source reportedly told The Guardian that Apple has reached out to a music studio in London to create audio files to tap into the new format. If true, Apple may use the format for its iTunes Match service, which creates a copy of a user's iTunes library in the cloud, then accessible from any iOS device.
Using iTunes Match, your entire iTunes library could transform from the default AAC format to high-definition, instantly improving the quality of your music, according to the source.
Assuming the source's intel is accurate, the new format may be introduced on March 7 when Apple is expected to unveil the next iPad.
Related storiesNeil Young: Apple was working on super high-def musicHow to use iTunes Match to upgrade audio quality Does it still make sense to buy CDs?An Apple spokesman told CNET that he declined to comment on rumors and speculation.
This latest report follows recent comments from rock star Neil Young that he had spoken with the late Steve Jobs about improving the quality of digital music.
The project, which Young said never came to fruition, could have seen digital music pushed to studio-level quality. An earlier report from CNN suggested that Apple was already talking to record labels about a way to preserve the high-fidelity sound of studio recordings for digital downloads.
Many audiophiles have long complained about the loss of audio quality as music wends its way from the studio all the way down to portable media players. In his interview with AllThingsD, Young claims that Steve Jobs himself would go home and listen to music on plain, old analog vinyl records.
Updated 7:30 a.m. PTwith response from Apple.
Posted by Ambar jaiswal at 9:31 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)