Ask a Chef

Choosing the right cuts of meat as a High energy diet is one of the most difficult things to do when following a healthy lifestyle .  Meat contains the thickest fat and the calorie content is also more in it, which is not always a good part to eat .

It is important, as yet, to opt lean cuts of meat when cooking healthy dishes.  Even the lowest fat meal that can be Eat for energy can be sabotaged by the addition of a high fat pork chop, roast or other cut of meat.

Of course it is still possible to admit meat in a healthy diet .  There are many lean cuts of meat available at the local grocery store, and meet provides much needed protein for energy and muscle development .

The key to buying the leanest cuts of meat for your healthy diet is to strain the cuts of meat carefully, and to have any additional fat trimmed.  In cases wherever the grocery store has its own butcher, this is a relatively easy process.  Most in store butchers are happy to show customers the various cuts of meat, and to trip the meat to their specification.

In the case of grocery stores where all the cuts of meat is prepackaged, choosing the leanest cuts is often more difficult.  Once the meat is purchased, it should be trimmed back as it gets repacked in the grossary stores which conceals fats. .

It is important, however, to trim meat carefully, no subject where it is purchased.  Trimming the extra fat off the meat you cook is very important when preparing healthy meals for yourself and your family.

Shopping for good cuts of poultry is much easier than finding the leanest cuts of meat.  That is because the most common poultry products, such as chicken and turkey, are naturally low fat.  There are high fat varieties of poultry, such as goose and duck, but these are not served on a regular basis in most homes.

Some people didn’t learn how to prepare a meal during the time they were younger or maybe were raised in households  where dinners seemed to be at random times during the day, if they made an appearance in any respect and for that reason have no clue  about how to make easy meals at home.

Organizing a straightforward meal in the house along with setting it out at the same point in time on a daily basis can be an excellent routine to master. Instead of reducing or maybe stifling creative imagination, it actually  HELPS the imaginative function, simply by supplying a framework within which inspiration can be increased.  The actual routines required may help encourage fresh ideas or even enable inventive thoughts to bubble up. In cases where  you currently have a fabulous spouse and children, making a regular, home cooked meal, however easy would ensure all the little ones are there to actually eat at the very same point in time and this  can easily assist in family unit updates and enables children to help you with mealtime preparation. It  also means you know that your young ones are obtaining the nutrition they need to be able to grow strong, healthy bodies.  If you’re simply cooking food for yourself or for some other adult household people, this  ensures that everybody receives healthy nutrition every single day, helping avoid unhealthy treats  and also junk food from hunger or perhaps habit. Food preparation at home is also a whole lot more affordable as compared to  eating dinner out, purchasing take-aways or getting ready foods.

If you haven’t been in the practice of preparing food stuff at your home, you might consider it stressful to begin to  find something to make each day. You could perhaps wonder with regards to how to get every little thing  ready in order to serve at the same time! But you don’t have to start with anything challenging.  There are many easy economical food items that can keep your household fed and nourished without difficulty.  This article will concentrate regarding how to create some basic  nourishing, nutritious and  easy on the pocket dishes for your household.

Several simple ingredients will make entire dishes on their own or simply with just a couple of  added components. And if you wish to encourage yourself to accomplish anything, whether to cook meals on  a frequent basis or to cultivate another very good habit – look at Freedup to determine approaches to  inspire yourself to try and do what you desperately want to attain.

Maybe you currently create sandwiches? Are you aware that many hotels and dining places  offer soup and sandwiches for a meal option? It is specially popular with firms  holding training courses, company group meetings or perhaps seminars because it is usually quick, suits the majority of  people and also can be less likely to make individuals seem sleepy after lunch! Open and heat a tin of  soup and create a few sandwiches for something easy and quick. Sandwiches can be as  uncomplicated as a slice of cheese or ham, or simply tinned tuna put together with finely chopped up onion.

Ideal for the kitchen American Style Fridge Freezers and Black American Fridge Freezers

Well, it’s official and it is a lot of fun. The Santa Margherita Great Taste Challenge is on and we want your best recipes matched with your best wines!

Here is a great food and wine event if ever there was one! Here is a great way for you to show off your passion for the matching of great foods and even greater wines. For many this is a pure passion. Is that you?

And entering this delicious contest could not be easier. Simply visit the contest page, then follow the steps to upload your entry. How does your best recipe match up with a Santa Margherita Prosecco, Pinot Grigio or Chianti Classico? This is what the Great Taste Challenge is all about! 

By recording a simple video about yourself and how you came up with the pairing is all that is required!

So what’s at stake here in the Great Taste Challenge? Just bragging rights? Not a chance. There are tremendous prixes awaiting the winners.

The three finalists will win a 2-day trip to Chicago to compete at the Great Taste Challenge Finale at the Chicago Gourmet Festival on September 25^th.   The Great Taste Challenge Winner will be awarded an exciting 3-day trip for two to Los Angeles, and dinner with Top Chef Fan Favorite Fabio Viviani!

The contest has just begun, so be sure to enter for your chance to win!

If you love wine and food and if the idea of entering a great food and wine event is something that you feel compelled to do, this is a great event for you!

What do you do with left over tomato paste?

What I do is freeze the tomato paste, I take an ice cube try and portion out the paste into one tablespoon serving sizes then I freeze them once frozen put the cube into freezer baggie, they’ll keep for around 6 months.

What is a slurry and what is used for?

A slurry is a mixture of either cornstarch or arrowroot and cold water. It is normally mixed in equal parts and then used to thicken dishes. Slurries are very common in Asian dishes and can be very useful to the home cook. Two things to note is one the slurry will not be at its thinking power until the dish or sauce is simmering and two make sure a stirring the sauce or dish when you add the slurry so it does not lump up.

Does wrapping celery in foil make it last longer?

Well, I have only read about this but from what I can tell from multiple sources is that wrapping celery completely in foil and then keeping it in your fridge crisper will help the celery last longer. Personally I whenever I get celery home from the store I just go head and clean it then cut it up into sticks and wrap them in a damp paper towel and place in a baggie. This way if I munch on them for snacks or dice them up more for a recipe.

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Question
Please help me I love to make pasta dishes but I must be something wrong. No matter how hard I try the pasta always comes out a sticky mess. Is there any advice you can give to help with this problem.
Thanks

Answer
I get this question quite often it is either how to cook pasta so it doesn’t stick, how to stop pasta from sticking or should I add oil to the water and many other variations of the question. The good news is this is an easy problem to fix and it really comes down to following a couple of simple tips.

How to Cook Pasta Tips

1) Make sure you are using a very large stock pot, the large the pot the better. Pasta both fresh and dry pasta needs a lot of room when cooking so it can room around if the pasta does not have enough room to more around in then it get sticky and clump together. If you are wondering about the size of the pot on average a pound of pasta should be cooked in 4-6 quarts of water.

2) The water needs to be a rapid boil. Again pasta needs to be moving around in the pot while it is cooking to keep it from sticking, the only way this is going to happen is if the water is rapidly boiling. The water should be boiling like crazy before you put the pasta in, then you need stir a couple of time while the water come back to a boil.

These are the two most common reasons that pasta comes out sticky.

A Few More Cooking Pasta Tips

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Does adding a little oil to the water help keep things from sticking, there is no proof that it does anything to help with the pasta from sticking but millions of grandmas swear it does I learned a long time ago not to argue with grandma.

Adding a little oil to the pasta after it is cooked, this is a good if you cooked the pasta and it is a still a little sticky this will help keep it from sticking but on the downside the oil will keep the sauce from sticking to the pasta. On a side note this is a great if you are just tossing the pasta with a little tomato and fresh herbs.

Adding oil after cooking is also great if you just missed time things a little and your pasta gets done and you just got your sauce started. It is a also a good way to store cooked pasta for use the next day.

Sauté a cooking term that you have probably read many times before, but not many of those books talk the time to explain how to sauté. Sautéing is a cooking technique that cooks the food quickly in minimum amount of fat or oil. This technique is used mostly with delicate foods that do not require long cooking times.

How to Sauté

Step one:
Have all your ingredients ready before you start cooking. This is very important when cooking anything and is something that took me awhile to understand. The main reason that you want to have all ingredients ready is so you are not looking for something while you cooking. Most of the time this can cause you to burn the product.

Sautéing is also a fast cooking method so it is a good idea to have your side items made or just about finished before you start to sauté.

Step two:
Preheat your sauté pan over medium heat (goal is to get your sauté pan to 180 degrees). This is the most important step when sautéing. With going to deep into it there are two main for heating up your pan:

-One of the goals when cooking is to lock the moisture in the product. When you put an item especially a meat product into a hot pan with hot oil it causes a natural seal to from that locks the natural juices of the product in. If we do not heat the pan the seal will not form and you will end up with a dry product.

-Two when sautéing we are looking to get a nice golden color, if the pan is not hot when we start the color will not develop.

Step three:
Add your oil or butter to the pan. Make sure to give the oil or butter a chance to heat up as well. This will only take about 30-45 seconds.

Step four:
Add your product to the pan making sure to put the presentation side face down. This is done because this side is going to get the best color. You also don’t want to move the product around right away give it a minute or so to avoid sticking to the pan.

Step Five:
Time to turn the product first gently lift up product just enough to see under and ask your self does it have the color I am looking for, if it does turn the product and continue to cook until the product is done.

Following these easy steps will have you on your way to mastering how to sauté in no time at all.

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Thailand a small country located in Southeast Asia has some of the most wonderful foods. As with most regional foods Thai cuisine has many influences, with India and China having the biggest impact. Even with the influences of other countries on their food Thai cuisine has its own uniqueness.

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Thailand as with most Asian cuisine is centered a round rice. “Gkin kao” a Thailand phrase used to let be people know it is time to eat means “time to eat rice” and “ghap koa” means “things eaten with rice”. On a ordinary day meals with go something like this: for breakfast a rice that is cooked with twice the amount of water is eaten and may have small pieces of chicken, pork, fish or eggs added to it, lunch will be lighter meal either noodles or fried rice, dinner is always the more substantial meal of the day.

Thai cuisine is focuses on two main ideas. First is that use of quality ingredients and second is the use of the five flavors to add layers of flavor and aroma.

Five Flavors:

Salty-This is used to bring out the natural flavors and enhance the other ingredients. Unlike other styles of cooking adding salt more through salty ingredients then adding table salt. Most common items fermented fish, a salty shrimp paste, light soy sauce, and Thai oyster sauce.

Sweet-Most Thai food will have a subtle sweetness to it. This is not a desert type of sweet but just a hint to help balance that dish. Most common sweetening agents are palm sugar, coconut sugar, sweet black soy sauce, sweet pickled garlic and honey.

Sour-This is used not only to balance flavors in Thai cuisine but it also helps to tenderize meats. Most commonly this is done with limejuice, sour tamarind, and a few vinegars are used as well.

Bitter-The bitter flavor is most of the time served as one of the main ingredients in the dish so it must balanced out by the other four flavors. Most common items are dark green vegetables or herbs.

Hot-Thai cuisine has a reputation of being hot but it should not be overpower the other flavors. Most communal this done with the use of chilies either fresh, died or in pastes/sauce.

These five flavors are key to Thai cuisine. If they are kept in mind while cooking the dish will be wonderful.

How to marinate is very simple. Any type of meat, poultry, fish and vegetables can be marinated. There are many reasons to marinate a product but the main two are to tenderize the meat and to add flavor.

The three main ingredients that are used in a marinade.

Acid-this is used to tenderize the product; common items used are vinegars, citrus fruit juice and wine.

Oil-this is used to coat the product, any types of cooking oil can be used just remember stronger flavored oils like olive oil may over power the marinade.

Aromatics-this is where the flavor is going to come from, any type of herbs or spices can be used.

How to Marinate

First step-is to gather all the ingredients for the marinate, any large items should be roughly chopped then place in a food processor a few quick pulses and it ready. (I always recommended the use of a food processor to make a marinade; it is the fastest and easiest way to incorporate all ingredients.)

Second step-you want to taste the marinate before you add the product to be marinated to make sure it is the flavor you a looking for.

Last step-is to completely cover the item you are marinating with the marinate cover with a lid or plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. The amount of time something need to marinate will depend on the product itself, boneless chicken breast for about 30 minutes, a steak for about 2 hours, vegetables about 30 minutes and for large cuts of meat or whole chicken 1 to 2 days.

How to marinate is very simple and can be done in almost no time at all. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different kinds of ingredients in your marinate, if it sounds good give it a try. One of my favorite marinates, which I have used on all types of meat, fish and chicken (I’ve even used it as a salad dressing) I use orange juice, sesame seed oil, ginger, garlic, and just a touch of cayenne pepper.