info - cooking tips

miscellaneous

• always read your recipe carefully before starting

  True

  If all else fails read the instructions, as the saying goes. Never start of half cocked. always start only after fully reading and understanding the recipe, this means both the ingredients and methods. Completing further research if needed.

• secrets to yorkshire puddings

  Firstly use an all purpose flour, a cake flour will make them soft, a bread flour will make them tough.

  Use plenty of eggs. Use as many as u can, with just a dash of milk or water and add the flour to the liquid so you can control the thickness and maximise the egg content. It is the eggs that will make them puff and rise nicely.

  The batter should be pourable but not too thin and not too thick. Too thin and they will collapse, too thick and they will be heavy stodgy and wont rise properly. A few attempts will be required to get this right, but rather than doing from week to week, the next time you make them just give yourself some time and bake one or two off ahead of time to get the right consistency.

  Tart them up by adding your favourite herb chopped into the batter or some garlic or chilli, etc.

  Heat some oil or dripping etc up first and place a tablespoon into the moulds first, pop moulds into the oven to heat up. the oil should be nearly smoking before you pour the batter in, this will make the batter sizzle and cook straight away and helps cause that nice puffed sides and hollow middle.

  Yse them in other ways, they are great filled with a curry, rogan josh, tuna salad etc for an appetiser with a difference or as a wonderful brunch dish or even filled with ham, poached eggs and hollandaise for eggs Benedict with a difference.

• pie, tart or flan?

The first pies were or "coffyns" and were savoury meat pies and open-crust pastries were known as "traps."

Technically and correctly:

• a pie is a filling fully encased in pastry
  
• a tart is pie without the top pastry crust
  
• a flan is a baked custard with no pastry top or bottom

But for the most part these days all three terms are used interchangeably and many people will have their own definitions

A shepherd's or cottage pie is a pie, in so much that it has a potato "crust"

• stale biscuits, crackers, potato and nacho chips

  To freshen stale, softened biscuits spread them onto a baking tray and place into a pre-warmed oven (170°C) for 5 to 10 minutes. The staleness is normally due to moisture, remove the moisture and they will be as good as new (well nearly). It is also a good way to serve them, warm and fresh like home made.

• sugar contains more calories than fat does

  False

  Per gram sugar has approximately 4 calories (a level teaspoon equals 1 gm), while pure fat has approximately 9 calories

• all calories are the same

  Basically yes, a calories from fat is no different from a calorie from sugar, starch or any food.

  A calorie is simply a unit of energy or heat, it is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius. Often decimalised these days to kilojoules, one calorie is equal to 4.184 kilojoules.

  While normally associated with food they apply to anything containing energy. For example, a litre of petrol contains about 7,750,000 calories.

• decaffeinated coffee still contains caffeine?

  True

  Most decaffeinated coffees have only had 97 to 99% of the caffeine removed. But 6 to 10 cups will need to be consumed for that level of caffeine to have any effect.

• you cannot deep-fry in olive oil

  False

  Italians deep fry in olive oil all they time. Olive oil does have a lower smoke point than most other oils, and not much good in commercial deep fryers, but perfectly okay for small amounts in a deep sided pan.

  Deep frying in olive oil is of course expensive, and you will probably need to discard it after one use. But it is better for you as it is cholesterol free.

• all alcohol is evaporated during cooking or flambé

False

Source: US Department of Agriculture Nutrient Data Laboratory

• hot pan, cold oil for sauté or stir fry

  Often quoted as the best way to prevent food from sticking to the pan when sautéing or stir frying. What you really need is a hot pan and hot oil, pre-heat the pan, pour in the oil allow that to come up to temperature and then place in the food, being careful the food is dry and placed in carefully to avoid the hot oil splashing or spitting.

• heating a pan prevents sticking by closing cracks in the metal

  False

  Whoever came up with this idea knew nothing about the physical properties of metals. Metal expands due to heating, so cracks cannot possibly close. Which is why running hot water over glass jar lid loosens it, by expanding the entire lid and loosening its grip on the jar, making it easier to remove.

• you must use a serrated knife to slice ripe tomatoes

  False

  A straight edged sharp knife will do the trick just as well. If you always find it better to use a serrated knife it is probably because your straight-edged knives are not sharp enough.

• aluminium cookware causes Alzheimer's disease

  False

  This myth started a few of years ago when medical researchers found elevated levels of aluminium in diseased tissue from the brains of Alzheimer's patients. People started avoiding aluminium cookware, and some still do, but unnecessarily as it turns out as subsequent research has failed to show any connection between aluminium exposure and Alzheimer's. It is now believed that the elevated aluminium in the brains of Alzheimer's patients is a result of the disease process. In other words, high aluminium levels do not cause Alzheimer's, but rather Alzheimer's causes high aluminium levels.

• cold water boils faster than warm water

False

Another myth that falls into the category of "lets suspend the laws of physics", the warmer or hotter the water the quicker it will boil.

• stock, bouillon or broth?

Often of course many people will have their own versions and definitions, but for professional culinary purposes for the following apply.

Stock and bouillon are one of the same, just different names for it. Both made by simmering ingredients in water to 'dissolve' out the flavours. These stocks are then used as a base for broths, soups, sauces, etc.

A broth for culinary purposes is a type of soup, essentially a refined stock with ingredients added, usually including a grain, pulse or noodle

• how does one remove strong odours from chopping boards?

Immediately after use, such as chopping onions or garlic, cutting fish. etc. scrub the board in cold water first. Hot water will only cook the smell into the board.

If the smell still lingers, dampen the board and liberally sprinkle with salt and leave it to sit for a couple of minutes, then scrub and rinse in cold water, rubbing it with a cut lemon. This should remove the smell and deodorise it. the board may then be sterilised in hot water.

• it is okay to defrost foods on the bench overnight or in water

False

This can be a major cause of food poisoning. Foods should be defrosted slowly in the refrigerator. If caught short of time, use the defrost cycle of a microwave, but be sure to cook it straight away and don't leave it lying around.

• what is the difference between a tortilla, burrito, enchilada, taco and quesadilla?

A tortilla is the Mexican flat bread from which the others are made. The others are can all have the same fillings but it how they are served that makes the difference.

		burrito	-	rolled and folded
		enchilada	-	rolled
		taco	-	folded in a U shape
		quesadilla	-	sandwiched between two tortillas

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