Fusion Cooking - Blended CuisinesWhat do you get when you cross hot Indian food with the English love of tomatoes and all things creamy? Chicken Tikka Masala is a famous combination of chicken tikka and masala.Chicken tikka is a marinated piece of meat cooked in a tandoor, an...
Safeguard Your FoodEvery year, an estimated 7 million Americans suffer from cases of foodborne illness. Some cases are violent and even result in death. Of course this is commonly known as "food poisoning." The culprit is food that has dangerously high levels of...
Barbecue For YouIn may just be in human nature to barbecue. Well, we have been doing it as far back as time can denote. In the Stone Age, man hunted for food and cooked it over an open flame. And while we still cook over flame today, there are actually two...
About How Processing Affect ApricotsNinety-eight percent of all juices, including apricot juices, sold in the United States are pasteurized to stop the natural enzyme action that would otherwise turn sugars to alcohols. Pasteurization also protects juices from potentially harmful...
Easing Coughs Naturally Whether it be the dead of winter or the high life of summer, colds and allergies seem to pop up out of nowhere and catch us completely off guard. Hand-in-hand with these seasonal terrors come the dreaded cough and there are two ways you can fight...
Choosing a User Friendly Cookbook: 7 Tips
October is National Cookbook Month, making now the perfect time to add to your collection. But with more than 24,000 new cookbooks published each year, how do you choose one that doesn't just sit on the shelf gathering dust?
1. The cookbook works for you. New or busy cooks will be happy with a variety of family-friendly dishes presented in an easy-to-follow format. Look for key works in the title like basic, simple, busy, or quick. Experienced cooks might be looking for more creative recipes, maybe a specialty book on pasta, or Chinese cooking, or vegetarian dishes. Ready to whip up a gourmet meal? Choose a glossy chef-authored book.
2. Recipes arrangement is logical. Are the recipes in defined sections and arranged according to the main ingredient, (chicken, pasta) or cooking method (grilled, baked, one-pot) or type of dishes (entrees, salads, soups)? A book of 800 consecutive recipes may seem like a great deal, but excitement can quickly turn to frustration when the recipe that piqued your interest the other day is hidden somewhere in the middle of a never ending tome.
3. Easy-to-follow directions. Most of us prefer easy-to-follow numbered directions written in chronological order. Avoid cookbooks whose directions are in a narrative format or that are continued on a non-facing page. Any interruption makes it too easy to miss an important preparation or cooking step.
4. Bonus information. Good cookbooks show the preparation time and number of servings for each recipe. Really good cookbooks also give you bonus information; cooking tips, suggestions of what to serve with each
dish, definitions of unusual ingredients, recipe history, and/or nutrition information.
5. The book lays flat. Is there is anything more annoying than trying to follow a recipe when the book keeps slapping shut? A user-friendly cookbook has a plastic comb, wire coil, or lay-flat binding. How can you tell if the binding is lay-flat? Hold the book open with both hands and look at the spine. If the cover is attached to the end pages, but not attached to the spine, the binding is lay flat. Force the pages open by running your hand down the length of the open book. You will not damage the binding.
6. An extensive index. Cookbook indexes should list recipes both by name and main ingredients. Want to make Florentine rice? You should be able to find it under "F" for Florentine, "R" for rice and "S" for spinach. A good index makes the cookbook one you'll use again and again.
7. Provide inspiration. A cookbook should inspire you to go beyond the written recipe and experiment on your own. Some books do this by suggesting alternative ingredients, others by the shear creativity of the recipes. Cooking is a creative endeavor and the best cookbooks will serve as a jumping off point to your own unique dishes.
Follow these tips and soon you will have a shelf of dust free cookbooks!
About the Author
Renee Pottle is the author of "I Want My Dinner Now! - Simple Meals for Busy Cooks" and "The Happy Lunchbox - 4 weeks of menus and recipes". As a Home Economist and Instructor, she follows her own advice when writing or buying a cookbook! Visit her web site at: www.craftandcook.com. ©2005.
