Christmas Recipes: Main Dishes. No.8 of 12 - Christmas Pheasant
December 31, 2008
Christmas Recipes: Main Dishes. No.8 of 12 - Christmas Pheasant
by: Paul Curran
Christmas recipe serves: 6
calories per serving: 490
preparation time: 30 minutes
cooking time: 2 hours 15 minutes
suitable for freezing (after step 4)
Christmas recipe ingredients:
shallots or small onions, 225 g (8oz)
streaky bacon, rindless 225 g (8 oz)
pheasants, oven ready, brace
salt and pepper
oil, 30 ml (2 tbsp)
butter, 50 g (2 oz)
garlic cloves, 2
Madeira, 300 ml (10 fl oz)
beef stock, 600 ml (1 pint)
thyme, fresh (sprig) or dried (pinch)
bay leaves, 2
juniper berries, 6
orange, pared rind and juice from 1
recurrant jelly, 90 (ml) (6 tbsp)
chestnuts, peeled 225 g (8 oz), canned, frozen or vacuum-packed)
garnish, thyme (fresh)
Christmas recipe instructions:
1. Remove the backbone and knuckles from the pheasants and cut into four pieces each. Season with salt and pepper. Cut up some bacon and peel the shallots.
2. Brown the shallots and bacon in the butter and oil and put to one side. Add the pheasant, two pieces at a time and fry until golden. Then reome the pheasant and put to one side.
Streetwise Beer Making Secrets!
December 30, 2008
Streetwise Beer Making Secrets!
by: Mike Corrado
Beer making is a complicated process that involves several steps that should be carefully thought out. Here are some basic ideas that will help you to get started on your beer making adventure.
The first step in brewing is called malting. Malting involves steeping grain in water for several days until the grain begins to germinate or sprout. During germination, enzymes within the grain are converted to a type of sugar called maltose. At this point in the beer making, the grain becomes what is referred to as malt.
After several days, when the majority of the starch has been converted to sugar, the malt is heated and dried. This process of the beer making, called kilning, stops the malt from germinating any further. A portion of the malt may be further roasted to varying depths of colour and flavour to create different styles of beer.
After kilning, the dried malt is processed in a mill, which cracks the husks. The cracked malt is transferred to a container called a mash tun, and hot water is added. The malt steeps in the liquid, usually for one to two hours. This process of beer making, called mashing, breaks down the complex sugars in the grain and releases them in the water, producing a sweet liquid called wort.
A Pease Journey
December 30, 2008
Remnants of dried peas were found in Egyptian tombs. Hot pea soup was sold by Athenian vendors to passersby. The Romans served them with poultry or meat and vegetables added to them. In the middle ages, peas were a main staple food that kept the peasants well-fed during the harsh winter months. The Chinese grew pea pods and ate them fresh. The old Anglo-Saxon word pease was later changed to pea in modern English.The French court of Louis XIV were fond of petit pois,or baby peas that were too expensive for the common Frenchman.
In America, peas were canned during the nineteen twenties and then frozen with the invention of the refrigerator in the nineteen-thirties. Bowls of the hot peas were placed on dinner tables across the country alongside pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy. On Sundays, frozen peas were creamed and served as a side dish to accompany a large roasted hen. Later, cold pea salads appeared on buffet tables everywhere.
As women entered the work force and spent less time in the kitchen faster ways of cooking peas became important. One cup of peas has as much protein as a whole egg or a tablespoon of peanut butter but with lower grams of fat.
Gourmet: A Defining Moment
December 29, 2008
Gourmet: A Defining Moment
by: Charles Nicholson
Do you remember the first time you had a “gourmet” delicacy? I do. I was having dinner in a restaurant of supreme quality and reputation, and I ordered the escargot. It was the most wonderful entrée I have ever had the pleasure of consuming. The food there was delicious and prepared with individuality. Therein is the chief ingredient for gourmet. The definition of gourmet is a person devoted to refined sensuous enjoyment, especially good food and drink. That is the discriminating difference between McDonald’s and Savoy’s. Food production for the masses is a necessity. But it eliminates the wonderful, sensual, enjoyment to be had in the consumption of a gourmet meal.
Having operated a restaurant for several years, I can vouch for the truth in the discriminating taste of the public. Everyone would like a gourmet meal on a shoestring budget. It is just not a possibility. If you’re going to ask for sensual enjoyment, you’re going to have to pay for that privilege. It’s not cheap food. It was not intended to be. Gourmet food is prepared with the individual tastes and talents of a trained chef. The use of only fresh, high, quality ingredients is a must, and strict adherence to the chef’s preferred seasonings required. Given all this special attention, one must assume the price to be more than $2.95. But then, I ask you, if it’s gourmet, is price not irrelevant?
Buying Wine, How to Read a Wine Label and Select a Great Bottle of Wine
December 28, 2008
I must admit, that for many of us, walking into a store to buy a bottle of wine can be a little like visiting a foreign country and not knowing the language. If you’re buying wine for yourself that’s probably not a big deal, although it might be nice to be somewhat knowledgeable so that you’re more likely to buy something you will enjoy. However, if you are buying a bottle of wine as a gift, then being able to interpret information on the label becomes a bit more important. But, first things, first.
Your first consideration should probably be where you will be shopping. If you live in a state where alcohol sales are controlled or restricted, your options may be limited. I happen to live in Pennsylvania where consumers are only permitted to purchase packaged wine and alcohol from state-operated Wine and Spirits Stores or a privately owned Pennsylvania Winery. You may, of course, travel out of state to purchase a limited amount of alcoholic beverages, but these purchases are subject to an 18% state tax. (However, I can’t say that I know anyone who has traveled out of state to buy wine and actually fessed-up, claimed their booty, and paid that outrageous tax.) To find the best selection of wine in a state where alcohol sales are controlled, check on the internet for information and locations of any retail outlets. For example, PA has premium wine stores and you can get a listing of their locations by checking out the PA Liquor Control Board web site.
Christmas Recipes: Main Dishes. No.9 of 12 - Duck with Cardamom Sauce
December 27, 2008
Christmas Recipes: Main Dishes. No.9 of 12 - Duck with Cardamom Sauce
by: Paul Curran
Christmas recipe serves: 6
calories per serving: 400
preparation time: 15 minutes
cooking time: 2hours 30 minutes
suitable for freezing after step 3.
Christmas recipe ingredients:
duck legs, 6, about 2 kg (4.5 lb)
onions, 350 g (12 oz)
root ginger, fresh, 5 cm piece, (2 inch)
butter, 125 g (4 oz)
caster sugar, 15 ml (1 tbsp)
green cardomom pods, 8 whole
chicken stock, 1.7 litres (3 pints)
ginger wine, 300 ml (10 fl oz)
dry white wine, 150 ml (5 fl oz)
salt and pepper
orange juice, 45 ml (3 tbsp)
lemon juice, 15 ml (1 tbsp)
oil, 5 ml (1 tbsp)
sea salt, coarse 10 ml (2 tsp)
garnish, coarse fresh coriander
Christmas recipe instructions:
1. Simmer the duck legs gently in a large pan of boiling water for about 2 hours.
2. To prepare the sauce, fry peeled, chopped onions in 50 g (2 oz) of the butter for about 10 minutes or soft. Add peeled and grated ginger, with the sugar and csardomom seeds from one pod. Cook until the color of the mixture turns dark golden brown.
Chinese Cooking Technique: Deep Fry
December 26, 2008
There are usually 2 ways of deep frying in Chinese cooking:
The latter is the most commonly used method. Here are some pointer in how to deep fry Chinese food most effectively.
The dimensions, including the thickness of the pieces that you are frying should be as close as you can get them. Otherwise, some pieces will be overcooked, some will be undercooked, and even the colors will be different piece by piece.
This will enhance the taste and the aroma of your cooking.
The oil temperature require for each dish will vary depending on the ingredient types, sizes, batters, wraps, etc. For those not easily cooked through, they will require cooking twice (see below). For those easily cooked through, it can be done simply in high heat.
When deep frying, maintaining constant oil temperature is a must. Most idealy, the ingredients need to be put in together. If you are cooking large servings, then divide them up, but still put each divided servings in together to get the same taste and color. Once done, pick them up with a strainer to preserve the appearance.
Sweet & Sour Pork (Gu Lao Rou)
December 25, 2008
Sweet & Sour Pork is the most well known Chinese food abroad. According to a Cantonese chef, the primitive or the authentic cooking method of the dish is to add Cantonese pickled vegetables. When cooking, simply sauté the pickled vegetables along with the deep fried pork. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to find Cantonese pickled vegetables, so here I’ll be pleased to introduce everyone a Sweet & Sour Pork recipe without the pickled vegetables but still tastes as delicious.
Ingredients:
a). For step 1 & 3:
- 300g (10 oz) pork tenderloin
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon cooking wine
- ginger juice
- cornstarch
b). For step 4 & 5:
- 1 small bamboo shoot
- 2 dried mushrooms (soaked)
- 1 small onion
- 1 small carrot
- 1 green pepper
- 2 slices pineapple
- 1 clove garlic
- 3 tablespoons oil
c). Seasonings for step 5:
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 6 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup soup stock
- dash of monosodium glutamate
d). For step 6:
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons vinegar
Method:
Cooking time: 40 minutes
The Maligned Potato: Respect At Last?
December 25, 2008
The Maligned Potato: Respect At Last?
by: Eileen Church
Ah, the poor, maligned potato! Beaten up by dieters (especially the low-carb variety), nutritionists and other experts as being “ok in moderation”, the potato may at long last be gaining some respect in the scientific community.
From an article in Science Daily (”Transgenic Potato Confers Immunity: Vegetables Or Fruit Could Replace Vaccine And Needles”), we find that the potato could be used to help keep us health.
We quote from the article:
“Transgenic potatoes engineered to generate an immune response to E.coli infection have passed their first test in human beings. In the May issue of the journal Nature Medicine, Carol Tacket, MD, professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and colleagues report successful results of their first human clinical trial of the transgenic vegetablesdeveloped at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, affiliated with Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Fed to healthy human volunteers at the University of Maryland Center for Vaccine Development, potatoes genetically engineered to contain a gene from the E.coli bacteria produced antibodies in the blood and in the mucosal lining of the intestines. Volunteers who ate garden-variety potatoes in the randomized, double-blind trial showed no immune response.
Planning for those Holiday Meals
December 24, 2008
Planning for those Holiday Meals
by: Teresa Ruddock
It is that time of year again when everyone begins to think and prepare for the large family dinner parties.
If this is the year that you have been chosen to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for the entire family you may be feeling overwhelmed. But, as long as you prepare and have everything ready beforehand, your dinner could be that special wonderful meal and will turn out to be a joyous time to remember for you and your family.
Start planning your Thanksgiving dinner around Halloween. Yes, that is correct about one month in advance. You will need to choose what recipes you plan on serving. You will have plenty of time to scout for new recipes and maybe try a few on your family. You may wish to order either a turkey or ham that has already been prepared or you may prefer a fresh turkey to a frozen one. A fresh turkey does have a better taste than those frozen ones and they are easier to prepare, so go with this option if you can.
