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Kitchen Survival Recipe Guide
You open the cookbook and see a recipe title or a photo that
tempts your tastebuds. Then you start to read the recipe,
realize the preparation is more difficult than you first
thought, and put the book back on the shelf.
Sound
Familiar? Well here's a simple guide to help get you started:
1. Abbreviations for Measuring
Tsp. = teaspoon
Tbsp. = tablespoon, which equals 3 teaspoons
C = cup.
Tip: Get a set of measuring spoons. The set will usually
have 1/4 tsp., 1/3 tsp., 1/2 tsp., 1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon.
Dry measure cups look like little saucepans and can be
leveled off with a knife or other straight-edged tool. They come
in sets like the measuring spoons. Liquid measuring cups have
ounce marking lines so you can measure however many ounces you
need.
Tip: Some recipes require exact measurements to
turn out right so learn to measure correctly.
2. Common
Ingredients
Make sure you know what you need.
Tips:
- Baking powder and baking soda are not
the same.
- Ask the produce manager at the market about
fruits and vegetables, the meat manager about cuts of meat.
- When trying something new, buy ONE. You can always go
back for more if it turns out well.
3. Common
Terminology
- Bake: Dry heat in the oven. Set oven
control to the desired temperature while you're preparing the
dish to be baked. Once the light that says it's heating turns
off, the oven is at the proper temperature. Then put in the
food--for best results, center it in the oven.
- Boil:
Heat a liquid until it bubbles. The faster the bubbles rise and
the more bubbles you get, the hotter the liquid. Some recipes
call for a gentle boil--barely bubbling--or a rolling boil--just
short of boiling over. Watch so it doesn't boil over.
-
Braise: A moist cooking method using a little liquid that barely
bubbles on the top of the
stove or in the oven. This is a good
way to tenderize cheaper cuts of meat. The pan should be heavy
and shallow with a tight-fitting lid to keep the liquid from
boiling away. There's a lot that can be done for flavoring in
your choice of liquid and of vegetables to cook with the meat.
- Broil: Turn the oven to its highest setting. Put the
food on broiler pan--a 2 piece pan that allows the grease to
drain away from the food. In an electric oven on the broil
setting only the upper element heats, and you can regulate how
fast the food cooks by how close to the element you place it.
Watch your cooking time--it's easy to overcook food in the
broiler.
- Brown: Cook until the food gets light brown.
Usually used for frying or baking. Ground beef should usually be
browned (use a frying pan) and have the grease drained before
adding it to a casserole or meat sauce.
- Fold: A gentle
mixing method that moves the spoon down to the bottom of the
bowl and then sweeps up, folding what was on the bottom up over
the top. This is used to mix delicate ingredients such as
whipped cream or beaten egg whites. These ingredients just had
air whipped into them, so you don't want to reverse that process
by mixing too vigorously.
- Simmer: Heat to just the
start of a boil and keep it at that point for as long as the
recipe requires. The recipe will usually call for either
constant stirring or stirring at certain intervals.
Now
you are ready to do the shopping and prepare that recipe that
you've always wanted to try!
Happy cooking...
Visit:
www.cookbookonline.net
About the author:
I love the creative aspect of cooking - that you can make
anything you want - living it out in the creative caverns of
your mind and then finally putting into something for others to
share the experience. Go to www.cookbookonline.net and try some
of the free recipes, or publish your own!
