Turkey is such special meat that Benjamin Franklin proposed that the wild turkey be America’s national bird. Many families on both sides of the Pond serve turkey during special holidays like Christmas when many people are gathered together. As you are carving the turkey for your hungry guests, you notice brown spots in the meat. …
Cooking is not an easy skill to learn. It takes plenty of practice, and the more involved your recipes get, the more skill is needed. Making a good roux is a cornerstone of making soup, and so often, a roux may break or separate due to issues that we both can and cannot control. There is no …
While you can use a slotted turner in place of a solid turner and vice versa, they both have a particular purpose. You can purchase turners in long and slender styles, short and stubby, and offset. Often the term turner is used interchangeably with the title, spatula, and in some instances, that is so. However, …
For those of you that are familiar with working with the meat-substitute seitan, you know that it can be a rather finicky food item. Depending on the brand, seitan prefers to be cooked perfectly, or else you’ll risk ending up with a spongy, rubbery, or hard result. If you have ever prepared a meal that had this …
Many Americans have fond memories of their parents or grandparents taking a glass pan full of edible goodness from the refrigerator and sticking it into a waiting oven. Unfortunately, those days are over. Modern glass pans are made differently than glass pans first made in the early 1900s. They are prone to breaking or even …
You’re reading a recipe and it calls for a food item like meat or rice to be fully cooked. Perhaps you’re browsing the frozen foods section at the grocery store and notice a phrase that pops up again and again on boxes or bags – fully cooked. All fully cooked means is that the food …
Dry rubbing spices and herbs into the meat can help trap moisture and create a more tender and flavorful dish. A rub can keep the meat moist and more delicious by drying out the skin and containing juices. You can create your own dry rub with favorite combinations of herbs and spices, or you can …
When defrosting a steak, soaking it in water is a controversial method. While you may have watched your parents soak the steak in water or simply leave it on the counter to defrost, you may have been told by friends or neighbors that these methods spoil the steak. Then, you may see that same friend …
One of the recommended methods of cooking steak is to pan sear it in butter, but what about cooking steak without butter? Can you even do that, and if so, how? If you are counting fats and calories, there are several alternative ways that you can cook your steak. No, butter is not a necessary …
In this blog post, we will be answering the age-old question: can you put a cold dish in the oven? This might seem like a silly question, but it is important to know if your dish needs to be heated up before cooking. If you are going to cook a cold dish in an oven, …