Cooking Jlhongm

Just about cooking information

Cooking

How to Cook a Really Crispy Duck or Chicken

June 5, 2018

If youre like me you love the skin on the outside of duck, if its crispy. The texture of the meal can totally be changed with a crispy skin.

The secret is to make sure the duck is scored across the front and salted heavily.

This helps dry up the skin and makes for a super crispy skin. You will not be the only one that enjoys this Crispy Duck Recipe, but everyone else at your dinner table.

Take the duck that youre going to use for your main dish make slits in the breast with a knife and poke with a fork. Salt the breast heavily use your discretion and taste. You can use this method for any recipe you can think of.

Just use the cooking instructions from the recipe you are using. Place the bird breast down on the baking pan and cook like that for about of the total time that the recipe says to cook it for, making sure to drain the fat from the bird, usually by sticking it with a fork under the wings and legs.

During the last of the cooking use the broil on the oven to finish cooking up the breast. This should make the skin crispy while the duck is still moist. Since this way of cooking can be used for almost any recipe for crispy duck recipe you have, it gives you more choices for the texture you want to use for your meal.

Cooking is all about mixing things up and building your own ways of cooking and recipes.

Also since you are slitting only the fatty layer of the bird you can use that to tuck away some hidden seasoning. Try tucking your favorite herbs into the slits under the skin, as the fat melts away itll trickle down and out of the bird but first itll seep into the meat.

This can add a new dimension to the meat, making it even more succulent. Taking these tips you should be able to use your imagination to come up with many more combos. With crispy duck recipes you can add extra flavors and also add a whole new texture to the dish.

Use these two together to try out new things, using the crispy skin to add texture to an otherwise smooth meal. So the next meals with duck you cook try out some of these combos, just using your taste and imagination. There are thousands of recipes in books and the internet to mix and match with.

Cooking

Cooking on Your Outdoor Fire Pit

June 1, 2018

Have you cooked on your outdoor fire pit? Get the most out of your fire pit. It is not only great for enjoying warmth and relaxation on a cool evening but it is also great for cooking.

Our ancestors have been cooking on open flames for centuries. Knowing how to cook is a necessity for all of us. Cooking on an open fire can be a great activity with your family while teaching your kids a useful skill. Whether you have a permanent or portable fire pit cooking on it makes for great food and fun. You may be having a large gathering with friends or a simple meal with your family, either one your fire pit can be a great way to add uniqueness to your meal. Just about anything that you cook on your BBQ grill can be just as good and maybe better on your fire pit.

You can enjoy the outdoor cooking experience with any type of wood; any wood burning fire gives food a unique flavor. However, you can also experiment to get specific smoke flavors in your food. Using different types of wood can accent your food with different flavors. There are many different types of wood you can use but you need to be careful that you are going to get a flavor you like.

One key component to flavoring food when using different types of wood is the length of cooking time. The longer you cook the food the more flavors your food will pick up. If you are cooking foods for shorter periods of time the food will not pick up specific flavors. So don’t waste time trying to give specific flavor to fast cooking foods. The specific flavor is going to be dependent on the type of wood you use. Some woods will give a milder flavor while others will give stronger flavors. Woods such as almond, apple, apricot, cherry and citrus will give a milder light fruity flavor, while woods such as birch, maple, and oak give stronger but not over powering flavors. Alder is a traditional wood for smoking Salmon. Woods such as Walnut and Hickory can add strong over powering flavors.

Using a gas fire pit is another great way to cook food. You can use different types of wood chunks for different flavors. You simply moisten the wood chunks, you don’t want them dripping, then wrap them in foil. Poke 2 or 3 holes in the foil to allow smoke to escape. Lay them between the grill and burner. The foil will keep the ashes from getting into the burner and the smoke will flavor your food.

Two of my favorite recipes include:

Fresh Squash or Zucchini

Wash squash or Zucchini

Cut in half length wise

Scrape seeds out of middle

Cover with Zesty Italian dressing

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese

Wrap in foil

Cook on fire until tender

Meat and Vegetable Shish Kabobs

Marinade your favorite meat chunks

Cut up favorite vegetables and marinade – mushrooms, pepper, onion, tomatoes

Place on wooden or metal sticks
alternating meat and vegetables

Place on fire until meat is cooked
through and vegetables are tender

So whatever it may be, a quick hamburger or hot dog meal that will cook quickly or your favorite poultry, leg of lamb or steak, get started now cooking on your outdoor fire pit.

Cooking

How To Cook Salmon Tips & Methods

May 22, 2018

Salmon is a versatile fish for the reason that there are numerous ways to prepare the fillets. Its a healthy protein filled with Omega 3 Fats which have many health benefits, including enhanced brain function and overall wellness. Salmon is a flavorsome fish therefore can choose to cook it unseasoned or you can add a range of spices to add even more flavor. The most common ways of cooking salmon include baking, pan frying and poaching. Keep reading for a few helpful tips about how to cook salmon.

To bake the salmon, put the fillets in a dish which has been sprayed with olive oil apply or wrap the salmon in foil with various spices i.e. experiment with different spices and herbs or a squeeze of lemon juice or a hint of soy sauce. Bake the fish inside a pre-heated oven for about 15-20 min’s or until cooked the way you like (note – cooking times may vary depending on the size of your fillets). Serve the unseasoned salmon with mayo or djonaisse as well as a lemon wedge. For seasoned fillets, there is no need to serve with additional condiments. Serve the salmon with a mixed green salad for a healthy and also balanced meal.

Salmon is tasty pan fried or cooked on the Barbecue. As with the baking technique, you can pan-fry or BBQ salmon without seasoning or it is possible to add sea salt & spice up or even a herb crusting. Once pan-fried, the exterior of the seafood may become crispy, specifically if you maintain the skin. Spray the fish with extra virgin olive oil spray or brush it with olive oil just before cooking on a medium-high heat right up until it is cooked (generally about 4-5 mins on either side.) Serve the salmon together with your favorite mix of greens or perhaps vegetables.

The actual healthiest way to cook salmon would be to poach it. To get this done, fill a medium-sized pot with around 5 centimeters of water and bring this to the boil. Gently position the salmon in the water, then reduce the heat to a mild, simmer where tiny bubbles seem round the fish. Cook for about eight minutes, or before the trout becomes opaque. It is possible to flavor the liquid to give the trout additional flavor. Attempt poaching the trout in a some chicken or even vegetable stock, or even in milk using a bay leaf plus some peppercorns. Poached salmon is actually fantastic flaked or cut and used in eating salads, sandwiches and also stirred in pasta.

Regardless how you choose to cook your fish or the seasonings you add (or dont), once you know how to cook salmon, you can incorporate this particular delightfully flavorsome seafood in your family members diet on a regular basis.

Cooking

Nutrients saved with pressure cooking

May 10, 2018

A lot has improved in the last 20 years with the modern day pressure cooker. They’re most definitely safer than Grammies pressure cooker, and theyre built with style. Even though the pressure cooker was first built around 300 years ago, it’s become the leading cooking method for today. When food is cooked with pressure, it’s cooked the healthiest way possible. Food comes out tastier and faster than any conventional method. Meats come out tender and juicy, and vegetables are colorful and their flavors are intensified. Pressure cooking makes it easy for even the busiest cooks to prepare meals. With a 70% reduction in cooking times, your time spent slaving over the stove-top can be spent on more important things. Use your pressure cooker to make complete casserole style meals, or cook several foods at the same time and have a home cooked dinner served in minutes.

Nutrients

How meals are cooked can have a huge impact on their nutrient content. Cooking your food in an open pot of boiling water is the most effective way to destroy the vitamins. To conserve the most nutrients feasible, many experts recommend that you use as little water as possible. You should also cook your food as rapidly as you can because many vitamins are sensitive to water, heat and air exposure. Water used for cooking can dissolve and wash away water soluble vitamins, while the high temperature deteriorates them. Many vitamins including “B” and “C” are water soluble and the simple act of washing them takes away some of the vitamins. Fat soluble vitamins such as “E” and “D” are stored and metabolized with the fat in our bodies. Fat Soluble vitamins are not as sensitive as water soluble vitamins and are not cooked away so easily.

It is crucial to select the best cooking method that optimizes and keeps the nutrients in food. In a study published by Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, experts looked at the effects of different means of cooking broccoli. Up to 97 percent of specific antioxidant compounds were ruined by microwaving, while steaming the broccoli caused only 11 percent loss. Therefore, any cooking that lessens the time, temperature, and water will help to retain nutrients. Pressure cooking under steam is one of the best methods because it minimizes time and calls for little water.

The super-heated steam which is created by high temperatures within a pressure cooker, makes the food cook swiftly, and intensifies the natural flavors. This enables cooks to use less salt, sugar, and use less costly herbs and seasonings and also get a far better taste. Pressure cooking creates an airless atmosphere that holds more nutrients than other cooking methods. When food is cooked with less liquid, more vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients are preserved and not boiled away during cooking. The procedure of cooking in a steam environment is virtually a fat-free method of cooking as well.

As a rule, accelerated cooking approaches are much better for preserving nutrients than slower methods. Any type of cooking alters food in some way, and more nutrients are wasted when food is subjected to heat, light, moisture and air. The order in which nutrients are typically preserved from quickest to slowest is: Pressure Cooking, Microwaving, Steaming, Stir-frying, Poaching, Roasting, Baking and Broiling.

There are a few tips you can utilize to maintain nutrients. Leaving vegetables in larger portions will minimize the surface area of food. That way fewer vitamins are damaged when they are subjected to air. Always cover your pot to hold in steam and heat. This will also assist in decreasing your cooking times. Leftover cooking water can be used for: sauces, stews, soups or vegetable juice.

It’s not tough to see why a lot of people are beginning to catch on to pressure cooking. They’re efficient, save electricity, lock in nutrients, safe to use, designed to last and highly flexible.

Cooking

,

Thai cooking survival guide by a Thai soprano-wife-mother.

May 5, 2018

Where is the real Thai taste?

I am Thai. A Thai who grew up in a modern household; yet, I had the fortunate opportunity to witness the greatness of the Thai past. I was the last generation of my family to see the real Thai way from within my very own teakwood fence.

I remember Bangkok in a calmer way than most people now. The coolness of fresh air with the faint sweet aroma of Thai flowers – DokJumpee, DokPuth, DokMali, DokKaew, and DokPiguln- in combination with the sound of brass bells from a wooded tram on which I would ride along Rajchadahmneun Avenue, was the Bangkok that I knew. My mother was the oldest daughter in a family of five children.

Back then, she and her eldest brother were the two who were married and had their own children. We lived in one of three houses on my maternal grandparents’ large property on the west side of the Grand Chaopraya, the river so deep that it supports not only domestic traffic but is also the path for international freight ships, making it the major blood vessel of the country.

My grandparents occupied the largest house, also the first house at the front of the property, which faced a major road but sat far enough back and was disguised by many large and shady fruit trees. My eldest uncle and his family lived in the second house in the middle, and our house was set farthest back on the property. I was very happy with my never-ending activity from playing with my playmates ‘from tree-to tree,’ and waiting every afternoon for a Chinese “Olieng,” or iced coffee, iced tea and sweet snack goodies, vendor to arrive in his boat in the canal- “klong-” that marked our property line and the neighbor’s in the back.

I had many playmates, and I vaguely remember they all lived with us on our property- as to where on the property, I wasn’t sure. A few years ago, I asked my mother about them and received confirmation that those were our- or, rather, my grandparents’- hired help and their families who had been there since my maternal great-grandmother’s day. I was surprised that I could remember back that far, since my mother said that they had moved out when I was very young. She also confirmed my memory of the tram but said that it stopped running soon after I was born. I don’t know if I’m dreaming, but I have flashes of memory of this wonderful time, here and there, throughout my life.

My great-grandmother- the mother of my maternal grandmother- represented the real Thai extended family. She was a Thai-Mon. (Mon – the nation that got swallowed up by Myanmar-Burma back then. The Mons relocated to Siam since the Golden Age of Ayuthaya.) The word “Thai” means freedom, and coming to Thailand meant to open the door of opportunity among the peaceful people and under the cool shade of the Great King.

My great-grandfather was a Chinese boy who came to Bangkok with his family. He grew up to be an inventor, an author, a scholar, and a businessman who owned and operated an international trading company with his old country, China. Along with a British physician, Dr. Bradley, they started the first English language newspaper in Thailand and also invented the first Thai typeset for the typewriter. Later, my great-grandfather was granted a title from the King.

Cooking

, , ,