Cooking Tips

Fish To Eat And Fish To Avoid

Lee — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:00:22 +0000

Everyone knows fish is good for you. It’s low in saturated fat, and it makes you smart. So it’s no wonder consumers are confused by headlines warning fish eaters of impending doom.
In late 2002, a San Francisco Chronicle headline warned that eating fish can be risky because of the high content of mercury in some deep-water fish. A physician in Northern California had discovered that wealthy individuals eating expensive fish, such as swordfish and tuna, were putting themselves at risk for mercury poisoning — even as they were trying to eat healthy. In one case, a woman suffered hair loss and high levels of mercury in her blood. That spurred Dr. Jane M. Hightower, an expert of internal medicine at San Francisco’s California Pacific Medical Center, to fish around for answers. Hightower studied her own patients, who were affluent and ate plenty of gourmet fish — swordfish, sea bass, halibut and ahi tuna. She found that patients who often ate these fish or were experiencing symptoms of mercury exposure (fatigue, headache, joint pain, and reduced memory and concentration) had unacceptable levels of mercury in their blood. Hightower retested these patients after they abstained from the suspect fish for six months. The high levels of mercury disappeared. Not surprising, the FDA has issued warnings about high levels of mercury for some of these fish.
Fish remains tasty – and healthy
Fish is naturally low in cholesterol and has been the protein of choice for cardiologists and weight-conscious Americans. It is a fantastic source of omega-3 fatty acids, which have been shown to lower the risk of heart disease by lowering cholesterol and decreasing the stickiness of blood platelets. This means omega-3 fats can lower the risk for stroke. Studies have shown conclusively that men and women who eat a diet rich in fatty fish — salmon, mackerel, sardines, anchovies and tuna — are less likely to suffer heart disease and stroke. One study published in the journal Circulation (American Heart Association) showed that eating fish regularly reduced the risk of heart disease in diabetic women as much as 64 percent. Researchers at Chicago’s Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center found that older people who eat fish at least once a week may cut their risk of Alzheimer’s disease by more than half.
It’s not necessary to eat fish every day to reap the benefits. According to a study in The Journal of the American Medical Association, men who ate about three to five ounces of fish one to three times a month were 43 percent less likely to have a stroke during 12 years of follow-up. Men who ate fish more often did not reduce their risk any further.

Caviar – Environmentally Friendly, And How To Serve

Lee — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:26:20 +0000

Salted roe of sturgeon and other varieties of fish are popularly known as caviar. It is a delicacy used as a spread or garnish and with hors d’oeuvres. Caviar is a deviate of the Persian word Khag-avar which means “the roe generator” referring to roe of the sturgeon.
There is good news for environmentally conscious American citizens who also happen to be connoisseurs of caviar. Now new varieties of caviars are available which are produced from paddlefish and sturgeon farmed in the US. They taste good and at the same time are environmentally sustainable. The development of American caviar also addresses the worries of consumers and culinary experts about the decline of sturgeon in the Caspian Sea.
Caspian Sea Sturgeon is the major source for the caviar needs of the world. Sturgeons produce the famous beluga. Due to illegal trade, pollution, over fishing and habitat loss, there is a severe downward spiral in the population of sturgeon in the Caspian Sea.
SeaWeb, Pew Institute for Ocean Science and Natural Resources Defense Council of University of Miami is urging the American consumers to support American caviars as a better alternative and to safeguard the endangered species of the Caspian Sea. The caviars from Missouri and California are prominently supported by consumers, renowned chefs and media organizations.
Jacques Pepinand and Rick Moonen who are leading chefs of New York’s Restaurant RM and San Francisco’s Traci des Jardins of Jardiniere removed Caspian Sea caviars from their menu and replaced them with American caviars in an effort to help the environmental groups protecting the Caspian Sea sturgeons.
Most of the party givers would like to know how much caviar should be bought for their party. It depends on the number of guests attending the party and how the caviar is going to be served. With every ounce of caviar, you can serve 8 to 10 guests. Quarter teaspoon or less of caviar can be used for garnishing purposes. With caviar on top of an appetizer and to enhance the taste of caviar predominantly, use half a teaspoon.
Caviar should not be opened until it is needed. Leftovers should be promptly covered and stored in the fridge to be used within a couple of days.If the taste of the caviar is to be retained, do not freeze it. When you freeze the caviar the roe membrane of the caviar gets toughened and the flavor is altered. If you do freeze it, slowly defrost the frozen caviar in the fridge for at least a day or two before you serve. Caviar should be refrigerated at 28 to 32 degrees by putting the tin in the meat shelf or surrounding the bowl containing caviar with ice.

Bubba Knew Shrimp

Lee — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:11:47 +0000

Yes, it is a ‘Forrest Gump’ reference and it should be expected any time shrimp is mentioned for the next twenty years. “Bubba Gump” shrimp is how Forrest made his millions in the Hollywood movie. But, the movie will always be remembered for the amazing number of ways a person can make shrimp. As Bubba would say, “There’s barbecue shrimp, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp soup, fried shrimp…..the list is almost endless. And while there are certainly a large number of ways to cook shrimp, there is actually a fair amount of confusion as to what exactly a shrimp really is. Maybe Bubba wasn’t actually cooking shrimp?
In England and a number of other places, what would be called shrimp in the United States is actually referred to as prawn. If you were to look at a prawn and a shrimp side by side, it would be virtually impossible to distinguish which was which. Technically speaking, however, a prawn truly is not a shrimp.
To the naked eye, the two may appear identical but they are biologically different. On the abdomen of a shrimp or prawn are flaps. Without going into too much detail and causing everyone to go running for a Biology book, let’s just say that the there is a very subtle difference between the first abdomen flap on a shrimp and a prawn. But essentially, these are the same creature.
As far as the Americans are concerned, a shrimp is any crustacean that is part of the Natantia family of crustaceans. It doesn’t matter how big the shrimp is or where it is found—so long as it is a Nantantia crustacean—it’s a shrimp! However, there is a rather peculiar phenomenon among American shrimp that does have to do with size.
Were Bubba to have grown up on the West Coast of the United States, he most certainly would not have seen much potential in the shrimp—for eating, let alone making any money! This is because the typical size of a shrimp found of the West Coast is about ½ inch in length. For some reason, the Pacific Ocean just is not a great place for jumbo shrimp to grow. But elsewhere, it is nothing for shrimp to be 12 inches in length or more.
Shrimp, like any species, comes in a wide assortment of variety. There are rock, brine, royal red, white, brown, and even pink shrimp to choose from. Each offers a unique flavor and consistency but all are absolutely delicious when prepared properly. And, Bubba was correct—you can make shrimp just about any way your imagination will let you! So whether you want to call it prawn or just plain old shrimp—the truth is that it tastes great no matter how you make it!

Hottest Hot Sauce:Pepper Extract That Can Kil

Lee — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:01:36 +0000

This Hot Sauce is so hot, you’d have to gulp 250,000 gallons of water just to put out the fire.

“We live in an extreme world,” describes Blair Lazar, a hot sauce inventor. “And I make extreme foods. ‘ In his palm of his hand is the most blistering pepper extract in the world, an over-the-top version of pepper concentrate so blistering that customers must sign a waiver clearing him of any liability if they are crazy enough to try it.

Locked in a crystal bottle sealed with wax and a tiny skull, Mr Lazar’s lip-scorching concoction is pure capsaicin – the chemical that gives habanero and jalapeno peppers their atomic heat. Blair Lazar claims to try his sauce is to encounter ‘pure heat’. His “16 Million Reserve”, which was released to the public in 2006, is the brass ring of hot sauces, the most blistering pepper extract that chemistry can create. It is 30 times hotter than the hottest pepper, the Red Savina from Mexico, and 8,000 times more powerful than Tabasco sauce.

To put the smallest dot on the tip of your tongue is to encounter “pure heat”, Mr. Lazar says. Although capsaicin does not actually burn – it tricks your brain into thinking that you are in pain by exciting nerve endings in your mouth – some health specialists think that it might kill an asthmatic or hospitalize a user who touched his eyes or different susceptible parts of the anatomy. Mr Lazar has trained his taste buds to endure the feeling, but he remembers the instant he decided to try his “16 Million Reserve” himself. “The pain was exquisite,” he said. “It was like having your tongue hit with a hammer. Man, it hurt. My tongue swelled up and it hurt like hell for days. ” The Scoville Scale measures the heat of peppers. The eye-watering merits of peppers are measured in Scoville units, established by Wilbur Scoville, an American chemist who, in 1912, asked panelists to evaluate how many parts of sugar water it took to remove the heat.

Today, capsaicin content is measured in parts per million, using a procedure recognized as high-performance liquid chromatography; one part being equivalent to 15 Scoville units. Benign bell peppers rate zero Scoville units and the Red Savina joined Guinness World Records at 570,000 units. Pure capsaicin, meanwhile, has a heat score of 16 million units – inspiring the name for Mr Lazar’s latest innovation. Each of the 999 limited-issue bottles, priced at $289, comprises just a few crystals. The concentrate is so strong, though, that Mr Lazar approximates that it would have to be dissipated in 250,000 gallons of water before it might no longer be tasted.

His calling as a hot sauce inventor began when he established that the best way to remove people under the influence out of his seaside bar was to give them free chicken wings immersed in an eye-watering home-made hot sauce. Now he owns and manages Extreme Foods in New Jersey, marketing his existing assortment of sauces, including “Mega Death” and “Jersey Death”, the second, according to Mr Lazar, being the world’s most blistering usable hot sauce. He maintains a refrigerator full of purified water in his headquarters for those courageous enough to try some of the sauces. Most testers sweat severely and are powerless to see through their tears for up to half an hour. It takes many tons of crisp peppers to produce 1lb of capsaicin for the 16 Million Reserve, and the work takes months. First, wetness is separated from the crisp peppers until a thick tar-like substance is left. The process by which all additional impurities are removed, leaving pure capsaicin concentrate, is classified, but the work takes place in a research laboratory where Mr Lazar and his team wear sealed outfits with masks to steer clear of inhaling the dust. Several years ago Mr Lazar developed “2am Reserve” in honor of the hour at which he once closed his bar. It was hotter than any other hot sauce creation on the market, measuring up to 900,000 Scoville units. He then distilled even more powerful extracts, including the scorching “6am Reserve” at 10 million units. Most of the signed and numbered bottles of “16 Million Reserve” will be purchased by hot sauce addicts recognized as chili heads.

Buyers have to agree to a rider cautioning that any handling “must be under a controlled environment using protective eye wear”. “It can’t be used for flavor,” says Mr Lazar. “The only purpose is its heat value.” He prefers not to guess on what might happen should anyone be crazy enough to down a whole flask. Rinsing the mouth with milk is among the best cures as it binds to fat molecules; it will also dissipate in alcohol.

Fabulous French Toast

Lee — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:04:31 +0000

The ingredients listed below will make 5 or 6 slices french toast.
Ingredients: 2 eggs – 1/2 c. milk - 1/2 tsp. vanilla – 1/8 tsp. cinnamon – 6 slices bread – 1 tbsp. (or more, as needed) butter – maple syrup, jam, powdered sugar, whipped cream, or chocolate syrup (for topping)
Go ahead and put the oven on to warm in order to keep the first few pieces hot. Then beat the eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon in a shallow bowl or small baking pan. Dip bread into egg mixture and coat both sides. Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Don’t get the skillet to hot. Add bread in batches and cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Add more butter as needed. As mentioned in step 1, keep the cooked slices warm in the oven until all the toast is ready. Serve the toast warm with maple syrup, jam, powdered sugar, whipped cream, or chocolate syrup. For a different flavor, add a pinch of nutmeg to the listed ingredients. Just a pinch though because nutmeg has a strong flavor. You can substitute pumpkin or apple pie spice in the place of the cinnamon if you are feeling frisky.
Here is a tip , be careful to not over saturate the bread in preparation. It can make the bread stick to the skillet if you are not careful.
That’s all there is to it. This simple and easy dish is great for when you have over-night guest and want to break from the normal eggs and bacon routine and it also makes a great change from your normal dinner planning. So put on your apron and get cooking…enjoy and have fun.

Wing Sauces – Great For All Occasions

Lee — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:12:36 +0000

It’s hard to tell which wing sauces are better because we all have different tastes. Buffalo wing sauces are not hard to make at all. The original Anchor Bar Buffalo, NY wing sauce is said to only have five main ingredients. But with so many varieties already available and with such inexpensive price tags, there’s no reason to make them on your own. Buy a variety of wing sauces and try them all out I say!
More Info on Wing Sauces
If you want to have the widest selection of wing sauces, then you should go to InsaneChicken. They carry a VERY large catalogue of wing sauces, condiments, marinades, and barbecue ingredients that are hard to find in some retail outlets. The most popular brands include those coming from restaurants like Anchor Bar, home of the original Buffalo wings, and Hooters. They also carry brands that are extra hot or quite hard to find. Ordering is secure and convenient. Because most wing sauce products are inexpensive, you should try ordering a lot and stock up on this essential ingredient.
Wing sauces aren’t just useful for chicken wings you know. You can use them on any chicken part. You can even use them on ribs, pork chops and steaks. While wing sauces are typically mixed with the wings after frying, you can use wing sauces to marinate meats as well. They also make great seasonings to such viands like steak, meatloaf and various fried foods.

For the best culinary experience, consider serving your chicken wings with your choice of dip. The type of dip you should serve depends on the wing sauces used. For instance, hot wing sauce calls for blue cheese, ranch and mayo dips, while sweet wing sauces go well with sour cream and onion or cheddar dips. Also, remember that fresh salsa, pickle relish or minced tomatoes go well with ANY dish.
Buffalo Wings – Fun Recipe Ideas

Buffalo wings are fun to eat. Adults and children simple never tire of them! They are also very easy to make. You can fry them, bake them or grill them. You can make your own barbecue sauce or buy prepared sauces available in grocery stores. However, if you plan on making a lot of wings and feeding a lot of people, consider buying a variety of sauces at InsaneChicken.com, an online specialty sauce and condiment retailer. Below are some fun ways you can prepare wings quickly.

Wings – Coat Me Silly Ideas

Easy Wings. This dish is just perfect for those who don’t have the time to make elaborate dish preparations. Simply get your frozen wings out of the freezer and defrost them in the microwave. Afterwards, you can mix some water and the wing sauce of your choice with the wings, and boil them on the stove. After the chicken and the sauce are thoroughly cooked, simply place the wing in barbecue sticks and sear them with the flames of your gas stove. This recipe is easy and delicious.
Tender Wings – Sweet chicken barbecue that falls off the bone is simply irresistible. It’s relatively simple to make too. Just mix your favorite barbecue sauce into the chicken wings, along with paprika, brown sugar or pancake syrup. Place this in greased aluminum foil and wrap tight. Bake slowly for 3-4 hours and you’ll have mouth-watering barbecue the entire family will enjoy. Enjoy these with baked potatoes and sour cream for a delicious dinner.

Fried Wings – This is a quick barbecue recipe that tastes just as good as the grilled counter part. Coat your chicken liberally with bottled wing sauce like Wing Time Mild Wing Sauce (for a slightly hot taste), or Jim Beam Wing Sauce (for really hot), or Spontaneous Combustion Chicken Wing Sauce (for ARE YOU CRAZY hotness). Then in a non-stick pan, melt two sticks of butter and add half a cup of olive oil. Fry your wings until brown. This goes well with cucumber salad or some great tasting salsa!

Yes, You Can Bake It

Lee — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:30:07 +0000

Even if you’ve never baked before, the rewards of home baking are within your reach. Many recipes for baked goods aren’t at all difficult. Plum-Good Coffee Cake is a prime example. The coffee cake is a good way to add more fruit servings to your diet for breakfast, brunch or a late-night snack and, best of all, it’s easy to make.
For success, start by gathering all the ingredients and equipment. Let the butter sit at room temperature until it’s soft. This makes it easier to beat the butter with the sugar so they take in air and form a fluffy, creamy mixture. Adding cold eggs to the creamed butter and sugar could harden the butter again and make the batter curdle. To prevent this, take the eggs out of the refrigerator 20 to 30 minutes before you use them or put them in a bowl of warm water while you’re assembling the other ingredients.Low speed on the mixer helps keep the flour mixture from flying in the air. Because overbeating the flour could toughen your cake, beat just until the batter is smooth. Use a rubber scraper or spoon to add half of the fruit by hand. Be gentle to avoid crushing the plums.In about half an hour from the time you pop the pan into the oven, you’ll have a cake you can proudly serve to family and friends. Nobody has to know how simple it was to bake!
Plum-Good Coffee Cake
1 (9-inch) cake or 8 servings
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened 2/3 cup sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin piespice 1 1/2 cups diced fresh plums(about 8 oz.) Confectioners’ sugar, optional In small mixing bowl at medium speed, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla until thoroughly blended. Stir together flour, baking powder and spice. Add flour mixture to egg mixture. Beat at low speed until smooth. Fold in 3/4 cup of the plums. Pour into lightly greased 9-inch round cake pan or quiche pan. Top with remaining plums.
Bake in preheated 375 F oven until lightly browned and top springs back when lightly touched with finger, about 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Dust with confectioners’ sugar, if desired. Cut into wedges. Serve warm or cool.Nutrition information per serving of 1/8 recipe without sugar dusting: 283 calories, 15 g total fat, 137 mg cholesterol, 210 mg sodium, 101 mg potassium, 33 g carbohydrate, 5 g protein and 10% or more of the RDI for vitamin A, riboflavin

Alaska Wild Salmon Are A Real Catch

Lee — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:21:58 +0000

Alaska is famous for its wild salmon. The flavor of Alaskan salmon depends upon fat content and the environment in which it matured. Alaska’s pure waters and the abundance of natural food give Alaska salmon unparalleled flavor. Although salmon are caught in Alaska’s pristine waters year-round, fishing season in Anchorage and southcentral Alaska really heats up in late May, when the prized king salmon returns home to spawn in the area’s glacier-fed, freshwater streams. The remaining four varieties of Pacific salmon-sockeye, coho, chum and pink-are also found in the general area. Many anglers are now trying to catch what’s known as a “grand slam”-all five species of salmon. Some say an easy way to remember which kind is which is to match them up with the fingers on your hand.
Thumb-Chum salmon (Dog). The best fishing for this fish is mid-July to late August. Chum salmon have a firm texture, tempting orange-pink color and delicate flavor that makes it a perfect fish for smoking. The average weight is eight pounds and they can grow to be 25 to 27 inches long.
Pointer finger-Sockeye salmon (Red). Most available late May to early June or mid-July, sockeye salmon are the second most abundant Alaskan salmon species. This species turns from a silvery color to a bright red body and green head as they begin the journey upriver to spawn. Their average weight is six pounds and they can grow to almost three feet in length.
Middle finger-King salmon (Chinook). The best fishing for king salmon is mid-June to mid- July. The largest species of salmon in Alaska, they are prized for their color, high oil content, firm texture and succulent taste. Average weight is approximately 20 pounds and length ranges from 30 to 40 inches.
Ring finger-Silver salmon (Coho). With its orange-red flesh, firm texture and delicate flavor, cohos are very popular among locals. The best fishing for them is found in early August to mid-September. Cohos are the second largest of the species, with average weights of 12 pounds, and range from 25 to 35 inches in length.
Pinky finger-Pink salmon (Humpy). At the height of their run, millions of pinks swim up the freshwater rivers and streams to spawning grounds. Pinks are the smallest and most abundant of the species and average about two to three pounds. The best fishing for pinks takes place in mid-July to late August.

Some Problems With Percolator Coffee

Lee — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:39:22 +0000

The word “percolator” has come to mean that special coffee pot that used to sit on Grandma’s stove and bubble away like mad all morning long. Typically they consist of a heat proof pot that holds the water, a long tube (like a straw) that holds a filter basket at the top. This filter is normally made of metal and holds the coffee grounds apart from the water in the main pot. Usually fairly oarsely ground coffee is used and a perforated lid is placed over the filter in order to distribute the water evenly over the grounds. As the water in the pot reached the boil, it is forced up the tube and repeatedly spilled over the grounds in the filter basket. In this way both water and the freshly brewed coffee drips back down into the hot water and over the grounds. Gradually the coffee becomes stronger as the water/coffee continues to drip over the grounds. This process continues as long as the pot is kept at the boiling point.Even though we may hold special memories of percolaters, they are not a particularly good way to make a great cup of coffee. In fact many people rank percolator coffee right beside coffee boiled directly in the water! When it is made in a percolater a number of things happen that produce a less than perfect cup of coffee.For starters, the water is overheated. Boiling water simply extracts too many of the unwanted bitter flavours in the coffee and should be avioded if possible (which isn’t possible with a percolator). Also the coffee grounds become overextracted by repeatedly passing already brewed coffee back over the grounds. Finally the boiling/percolating action of the liquid tends to release many of the desirable flavours and compounds into the air. While this does produce a wonderful aroma of fresh coffee in the house, it can often lead to flat tasting coffee.In the end, it is often best to avoid percolators if you can. There are other affordable ways of brewing great coffee, even if it may mean turning your back on wonderful aromatic memories.

Cooking Classes for the Masses

Lee — Tue, 25 May 2010 20:11:58 +0000

Whether you are a seasoned pro when it comes to the fine art of cooking or an utter novice there should be some cooking classes or resources in your area that can help you learn and improve your existing skills. Surprisingly few people manage to utilize the many wonderful opportunities that are available to them when it comes to cooking classes.

If you are considering a cooking class you should be glad to know that many communities offer them for a nominal fee at night and sometimes on the weekend. These classes are rather basic and often designed to help women learn the basics of a few economical and healthy meals to prepare for their beginning families. If you fit the bill for this, then you should check out your local library for possible leads for these sorts of classes in your area. Even if they do not have the information available it is quite likely that they can point you in the right direction.

If you are looking for cooking classes that you can take with your children, check out your library once again for the first resource. There are also many gourmet food shops that offer cooking classes for parents to take with their children. This is a great opportunity to bond with your child while you both learn to prepare a new dish or two together. It is quite likely that you will be quite surprised by the things you can learn from your child as well as the things you can learn by simply taking the class.

For those among us who are seeking culinary experience with very specific cuisines you will have to search a little more for the perfect cooking classes in which you can achieve your goal. They do exist however, though your chances of learning Thai cooking are much greater in a larger city than in smaller towns throughout the country. If you are really interested in learning some exotic cooking techniques perhaps you should consider a vacation in which you can try out a few new cooking classes while you are there. If you prefer other things on your vacation to cooking you could make a point of attempting one basic class in the cuisine of your choice for each vacation you take. This will give you a little more than the same old souvenir to bring back from your trip and an experience that in many cases is quite memorable.

Finally, if you are looking for a romantic idea, how about signing up to take a couples cooking class? Believe it or not, these classes are often offered in both big and smaller cities. They seem to be all the rage around Valentine’s day, perhaps the hint is that the other partner in a relationship can share some of the cooking responsibility or perhaps the idea is that there is more than one way to steam up the kitchen.

Regardless of the reason for taking cooking classes they can bring not only a great deal of enjoyment to your dining room, but also increase your ease in your kitchen. If you’ve never taken a cooking class, there is no time like the present to do so. No matter how skilled you are in the kitchen there is always something that can be learned.