Feb 09
Owen JonesUncategorized business, crock pots, fitness, food, gourmet, health, hobbies, kitchen, nutrition, other, recipes, recreation, reviews, Uncategorized
Everybody likes a meal correctly cooked. The proof of this, if it needs proving, is that members of religious orders like monks often have to eat dreary food like porridge, gruel and unleaven bread for penance.
I would like to share a few tips with you to help you get the most out of your food.
Chicken Tarragon – I love chicken tarragon, but this is my preferred version. Take: 1 chicken; .25 teaspoon of chopped onions; 1 heaped tablespoon of dried tarragon (double of fresh); brown stock or Bovril and water, cream, flour and salt.
Roast the chicken, carve it and place in a plate. Pour off the fat and make a gravy with it, the salt and the flour. Bulk the gravy up with the stock or Bovril and water. Add the tarragon and cream and cook for a minute or two. Serve with the gravy already poured over the chicken or serve the gravy separately. Add your favourite vegetables. This recipe will serve four.
Chicken Left-Overs – if you are uncertain what to do with left over chicken, you could do worse than try this recipe.
Chop the chicken up small and mix it with sliced avocado. Cover with mayonnaise and sprinkle with crumbled, fried, crispy bacon. If this sounds good to you, take it from me that it tastes even better.
Apple Sauce – if you like apple sauce with your pork, bake a couple of cooking apples beside your joint of pork. Prepare and core them just as you would as if you were going to prepare them normally. Sprinkle with sugar, if you like. Then, run a knife tip around them, so that they will puff upwards, but still retain their shape. Gorgeous.
Sauces – if you cannot get the sauce right, just strain it and do not tell anyone. Nobody will know the difference and what are strainers for if not straining?
Soups And Stews – if you find that you have added too much salt to a soup or stew at the last moment, do not be concerned. Put a cube of sugar in a large spoon and lower it into the liquid for twenty seconds. It will absorb the excess salt. If you have longer, and it is appropriate, add a diced potato and it will absorb the salt too.
Pie Crust – if you want a quick, yet flexible topping for a savoury pie like chicken or beef, leave the pastry off. Take a large bag of crisps; pop the bag to let the air out and scrunch it up until the crisps are but crumbs. Pour this over your pie before you bake it. It is unusual but you can experiment with different flavoured crisps.
Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching the Rival Versaware crock pots. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots
Feb 01
Owen JonesUncategorized business, crock pots, fitness, food, gourmet, health, hobbies, kitchen, nutrition, other, recipes, recreation, reviews, Uncategorized
There are few festivities celebrated around the world on the same fantastic scale that the Chinese New Year is enjoyed. This is an event that affects people all around the world. The celebrations are quite exotic and a lot of fun for everyone involved. One thing that many outsiders may not realize is that the majority of the aspects of the Chinese New Year celebrations have a very specific purpose and meaning. Even the food.
Whether you are Chinese are not, I ‘m certain that you could use a degree of good luck to make things run a little more smoothly in your life.
When it comes to cooking for a Chinese New Year celebration there are a few things you have to keep in mind. The dishes that are prepared each have their very own significance and a definite reason for being cooked.
Dumplings are supposed to bring riches in the New Year to those who eat them on this special day. Of course, riches is something that most people want to have and there are many ways of doing so. Other foods that symbolize the attainment of riches on the Chinese New Year are bamboo shoots, black moss seaweed, egg rolls, and oranges. This is just the beginning of the tutorial in the symbolic nature of food for the Chinese New Year.
Longevity or long life is something else that the Chinese famously yearn for. Eternal youth some may term it. The secret, they say, to a long life is the consumption of the right food as part of the New Year festivities. Those foods include: noodles, Chinese garlic, chives, and peanuts.
Prosperity is attributed to foods such as lettuce, whole fish, and pomelo. In addition to success whole fish and pomelo are believed to bring abundance and togetherness (as in marriage or romance) during the coming year.
Chicken is the main course when happiness is the goal. In addition, chicken is associated with marriage, particularly when served with foods, which are reckoned to be dragon foods, such as lobster.
Those wanting children in the not too distant future ought to add eggs, seeds (such as watermelon seeds) and pomelo – especially the last two, if you want several children.
To end with, if good luck is what you most require, try to add a tangerine or some seaweed to your plate on this special day. If your run of luck has been really very bad recently, you may want to double up on your serving of both.
The Internet contains masses of delicious recipes to help you commemorate the Chinese New Year as traditionally as you can. Recipes for foods such as Jiaozi (Chinese noodles) and egg rolls are to be found online and they will go a long way towards creating the proper ambiance. Add a few lettuce wraps and longevity noodles and you will have a good basis for a Chinese New Year meal.
The only other thing you require then to make your Chinese New Year celebrations go with a bang (quite literally) is fireworks. The Chinese New Year would not be the same without them, so choose your food well, either buy it or cook it (or both) and then let off your fireworks safely for a great winters evening’s entertainment.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with the programmable crock pot. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots
Feb 01
Owen JonesUncategorized business, crock pots, fitness, food, gourmet, health, hobbies, kitchen, nutrition, other, recipes, recreation, reviews, Uncategorized
In the West, alcoholic beverages are never far away from the arena at festive times, but do we aways know how to get the most from these expensive luxuries? Too many people these days just think its a question of ‘getting as much down as possible in as little time as possible’. This is the wrong approach.
After all, most people understand that a good meal does not consist of eating as many chips as possible in fifteen minutes, so why should that theory not apply to having a drink too? You will get far more enjoyment from a bottle of wine, if you spend an extra dollar on it and drink it slowly with a friend and some appropriate food than if you gurgle down a cheap bottle of plonk on your own. It makes obvious sense, but not everyone sees it.
So, with that idea in mind, I have put together a few tips on how to get more enjoyment from your alcoholic drinks, if you are old enough and of that turn of mind.
Gin and Vodka – if these white spirits are your proffered tipple, always keep the bottle in the fridge, not the drinks cupboard. Keep the mixers in the fridge too. That way the ice will survive longer and you will not be tempted to have to gulp it down before the ice melts. If you are having friends around, go one step farther and put the bottle in the freezer. It will not go solid. You can even cut the top off a plastic cola bottle, put the bottle of gin or vodka in that, fill it with water and then freeze it. Take off the plastic bottle and you have an attractive “collar of ice” around your bottle.
The Last Tot – five minutes or so after finishing a bottle of spirits, tip it out one more time and the bottle that you thought was drained will deliver one more tot of contents. It is not a lot, but it is a pleasant free surprise. The same works for many alcohol based products including underarm roll-on and scent.
White Wine – white wines taste better when they have been gently chilled over a protracted period, but if you get taken by surprise visitors, put the bottle of wine in a container of ice and cold water. Try not to have to put it in the deep freeze, it is too severe, but if you must, then ten minutes is all that it requires.
Port – it is always better to decant port and older, heavier red wines, because of the sediment that may be in the bottom of the bottle, which tastes horrible and because it assists the aeration of the wine. However, it is not always easy to see when the dregs are coming. The books say to use a candle, but they were written a hundred years ago. The concentrated beam from a torch is much better. Try using a Durabeam because its rotateable head allows it to be directed more accurately.
Decanters – sometimes the stopper becomes stuck fast. Tap it with another glass item and it should come loose. If not, run the neck of the decanter under hot water for a few seconds and it will come out.
Labels – if you store your wine in a damp place where the labels are likely to rot or fall off, spray them with hair lacquer first.
Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching the programmable crock pot. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots
Jan 30
Owen JonesUncategorized business, crock pots, fitness, food, gourmet, health, hobbies, kitchen, nutrition, other, recipes, recreation, reviews, Uncategorized
Whether you are genuinely looking for chances to explore new cultures or you are Jewish looking for great recipes and cooking tips, you have come to the right place to get some of the basics. For as long as there have been family customs, eating good food at special events and during holy times has been a part of the merriment.
Regrettably, that appetizing food cannot be eaten unless someone goes to the trouble of actually cooking it. If you are looking for some delicious treats to do with the Hanukkah celebrations or simply want to get a taste of what other cultures do during their religious or cultural festivities there are a lot of appetizing foods you could be cooking for this particular holiday.
Oil is imperative in the celebration of Hanukkah and, as a consequence, many of the foodstuffs that are to do with Hanukkah traditions are cooked in oil. One popular favorite is Latkes, which are a kind of potato pancake that is deep-fried. Another popular favorite is fried lamb chops. The lamb is breaded and then fried much the same as many Americans fry chicken. Once again oil is used in the cooking of the meal.
If you are looking for something more like finger food or a snack, you might consider deep-fried ricotta balls, fried zucchini, fried onion rings and fried mozzarella are appetizing savory fried tid-bits for the season of light. Of course, fried food is not the only thing that is eaten during this 8-day celebration, but it does play a vital part in the menu and in the celebrations.
Even the sweet treats for this celebration include a few fried bits and pieces. There are apple fritters and raspberry dough nuts and lots of other delicious fried foods for you to snack on. If you like something a little sinful to enjoy during this delightful celebration you might like to try blintzes in your favorite flavor. There are many to pick from and their recipes can be found freely online.
If you would like to include something a little healthier in your cuisine, then you might like to include an Israeli salad, stewed white beans, and baked aubergines and peppers. These meals provide the opportunity to have something that is not either fried or sweet to assist weight watchers, who always have a problem during festive seasons no matter which religion they observe.
Other Hanukkah favorites include delectable dishes like cheese gelt coins, loukoumades, vegetable kugel, and brisket. Once again the recipes for these dishes are very extensively accessible online and in books on Jewish cooking and traditions.
To make things go a little more efficiently cook as much food as possible well in advance and store items away quickly in order to stop them going off. Enlist the help of children and other family members when required to move things along by taking turns preparing food.
You should also make an effort to keep the preparations as straightforward as possible to avoid delays and stress. This is a time of the year that is meant to be committed to celebration not to trying to cook tons of food. The good news is that with all that deep fried food, it is unlikely that you will find these dishes too difficult to prepare. Good luck and have fun exploring the world of cooking for Hanukkah.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with the 2 quart crock pot. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots
Jan 24
Owen JonesUncategorized business, crock pots, fitness, food, gourmet, health, hobbies, kitchen, nutrition, other, recipes, recreation, reviews, Uncategorized
There can not be many individuals who do not enjoy their food, but the human race, being what it is, I expect that there are a a small number of them. However, for the remainder of us, food is a source of daily delight and, like drink, it is frequently employed to commemorate a happy event. not only that, but various foodstuffs are used for the various meals or distinct events.
Festive meals were indubitably considered around the seasonal foodstuffs on hand, but some foods were transported huge distances for the benefit of those who could pay for them. For instance, my father thought it a grand treat to be given an orange in his stocking on Christmas Day 60 years in the past. How the times have altered! Very few kids would judge an orange a present, special or otherwise, any day of the year these days.
Yet, the storage of foodstuff is still a daily affair and subsequently, I have written a couple of good guidelines on storing foodstuff underneath, so that you will obtain the best from what you have purchased or grown in your garden even a long while later.
The Quickest Quiche: a quiche is the conventional healthy fast food and this is one of the finest quick methods to make one. Put one onion, four eggs four ounces/125 grammes of butter, half a pint/250 ml milk, baking powder, 2 ounces/60 grammes of grated Cheddar cheese, parsley, salt and pepper and whatever else you like into a strong food mixer/blender. Whirl it all up together and pour it into an appropriate dish, lined if you have it with some pre-made, shop bought, pastry. Bake at 190C/375F/Gas Mark 6 for 40 minutes. It serves four and is delicious.
Heavenly Hamburgers: next time you make hamburgers, do not salt the meat before cooking them. Use your usual recipe and prepare the patties as usual. Then, put a handful of sea salt in your favourite heavy duty frying pan and heat it up to very hot. Drop the hamburgers onto the salt and cook as normal. The outside of the hamburger will go crisp and the fat will be kept to the absolute minimum.
Salmon In The Papers: a great way to cook a whole salmon is to cook it in newspaper. You ought to try it. Prepare your salmon according to your favourite recipe. Then wrap in three or four thoroughly drenched sheets of newspaper (any name). Make a nice parcel out of it; as neat as you can. Place the soaking-wet parcel on a baking tray in the centre of a moderate oven. Bake until the paper is dry on the top and then turn it over. When that side is dry the salmon is done. It’ll take about an hour. If you want to eat it hot, peal the paper off straight away and dish up. If you want to eat it cold, leave the package until it is cold and then unwrap. Either way the skin will stick to the newspaper.
Off The Wall: if you are uncertain when spaghetti is fit to be eaten, through a strand at a tiled wall. If it sticks, it is done.
Cheap And Cheerful: for a quick, healthy, unusual summer sandwich filling, pick some fresh, young dandelion leaves; wash them thoroughly; dress if you wish and put between slices off a good loaf of bread.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching the Rival Versaware crock pot. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots
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