Thursday May 16, 2013
When it comes to cooking a steak, there are two major problems people tend to have: they either don't get the grill hot enough, or they don't season the steak enough. Or both.
How to cook a steak.
Photo © Lara Hata / Getty Images
Sure, there's more to cooking a steak than these two factors, but they're the biggies. Obviously there are other factors as well. For instance, you have to choose the right steak to begin with. And by the way, I mentioned the grill, but it doesn't literally have to be a grill. You can cook a great steak in a pan on the stovetop. You just have to make sure it's really hot.
Check out these four simple steps for
How to Cook a Steak. And here's more on cooking the perfect steak:
Join Me on Facebook | Follow Me on TwitterTuesday April 30, 2013
A lot of recipes, like this tasty
baked chicken recipe, call for a cut up chicken — meaning one that's been fabricated into its component parts: two breasts, two thighs, two drumsticks and two wings. And while you can buy a chicken that's already cut up that way, you can save a lot of money by buying a whole chicken and cutting it up yourself.
Video: How to cut up a chicken.
Another benefit of doing it yourself is that after you've removed the breasts and legs and so on, you get the carcass — the ribs and back of the bird, which are great for
making chicken stock — for free. This quick video will show you
how to cut up a whole chicken. And here's more about cooking chicken:
Join Me on Facebook | Follow Me on TwitterMonday April 29, 2013
There are quite a few ways of making pudding. There are baked puddings, an example of which is bread pudding, and there are steamed puddings, which take a while to make and can be a little on the heavy side. But the most common type of pudding, and what most people probably think of as pudding, are boiled puddings.
Boiled puddings in turn come in two types: cornstarch puddings and cream puddings. Cream puddings feature eggs while cornstarch puddings don't. Both types are actually made with cornstarch, but cream puddings use less because the eggs help to thicken the pudding. A true cornstarch pudding would be thick enough to use as a pie filling. Even thicker than that and you have pastry cream, which is used in éclairs, cream puffs and so on.
Anyway, my preferred pudding method is the cream pudding which is thickened with eggs or egg yolks. The trick here is to make sure you don't cook the eggs when you add the hot milk. And of course, a good pudding should have a nice, smooth texture with no lumps. Here are two pudding recipes:
Join Me on Facebook | Follow Me on TwitterThursday April 25, 2013
Crème brûlée (pronounced "krem broo-LAY") is one of the most amazing, elegant desserts, and it's surprisingly easy to make. It takes about four hours to properly chill a crème brûlée, so it's not a quick process, but it's definitely worth the wait.
Crème brûlée with fresh berries.
Photo © Danilo Alfaro
Crème brûlée is a simple custard, made with nothing but eggs, cream and sugar, along with a little vanilla. I like to use equal parts heavy cream and
half-and-half. For a richer crème brûlée, use all heavy cream. For a lighter one, you can use all half-and-half.
To make crème brûlée, you'll need some heatproof dishes called ramekins. You'll also need a crème brûlée torch to caramelize the tops of the crème brûlées when you're ready to serve them. You can even get a crème brûlée set that includes the torch and the ramekins. Enjoy this
crème brûlée recipe.
And here's more about crème brûlée:
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