Chef Foundation

Archive for February, 2010

Whatever the weather, nothing compares to cooking on the grill. Grilling is fun and family and friends have a great time outdoors together, but cooking on the grill requires proper hygiene and preparation to prevent food poisoning and harmful bacteria. Here are a few tips for learning safe outdoor grilling methods.

Marinating is great for infusing flavor into foods and for juicy meats. Proper marinating requires that you marinate food in the refrigerator and not on a counter top. Doing so will not give nasty bacteria the option of growing.

If you plan on making a dip or basting sauce, then reserve some before you add the marinade. Never use a marinade that you used on raw meat later for grilling other food.

Many grillers enjoy partially cooking meat before grilling begins. Known as precooking, this method works well if you reduce the grilling time by microwaving meat or chicken in advance. Unless you are able to start grilling immediately, precooking is not a good idea. If not, then don’t forget to refrigerate precooked food until you can get it on the grill.

As mentioned above, bacterial growth is a big concern when cooking raw meat or chicken. When grilling, make sure to cook the meat and poultry completely through; using a meat thermometer is a good idea just to be safe. If you’re cooking large pieces of beef, cook until the internal temp reaches about 160 degrees F.

When it’s time to serve the meal, make sure you’ve clean any or all utensils that you have used on the raw meat or chicken before handling cooked food to be served. Do not put cooked meat on a plate that previously had raw meat on it. Try to serve as quickly after cooking on the grill as possible because as food cools it can grow bacteria. And naturally, store all leftovers in the refrigerator.

All good outdoor chefs know that successful cooking on the grill requires proper cleanup afterwards. Scrub your grill and grill utensils so they’ll be ready to use again later.

Enjoy cooking on the grill outdoors with your friends and family. Knowing how to grill is a skill that many desire, but few truly master.

Above deck! Dead ahead is the wedding ceremony of the decade. Are you a sailor? Absolutely love the water? This may be the wedding theme you’ve been searching for. Read on for how one bride created the nautical wedding of her dreams..

Start off by sending save the date and invitations that have a nautical look and feel. Sailboats, shells, lighthouse – whatever evokes the feeling of being at the ocean.

You can hold your nautical wedding in a country club, dockside, or around a crystal blue lake. A beautiful red, white, and blue color scheme makes it easy for you to start off the planning of your wedding. No frilly white dress for you – you’re a practical sort of woman. One who wants to be able to move and enjoy her wedding day. A classic empire waist wedding gown sets the tone for your elegant nautical wedding. Your beautiful A-Line cut dress with pearls and Swarovski crystals spread across the bustline accents your athletic curves. After all, you’re in fantastic shape from sailing and spending long days on the water. Your light summer tan provides you with a beautiful base and you glow throughout the day naturally.

Ask people to say “Cheese” and they’ll smile; ask them to say “cheesecake” and they’ll start drooling. This humble, yet delicious dessert is a world favourite comfort food that’s served at restaurants in various forms. It’s also a versatile dish that can be flavoured with different kinds of condiments, each having a unique taste. Baking the perfect cheesecake is an art that’s the pride of many a good chef.

Ancient Greece is said to be the birthplace of the cheesecake. The dessert recipe has been carefully preserved and spread all over Europe. Its journey continued on to the United States when immigrants took it to the New Country. America took to cheesecake like a rat to cheese and an American; William Lawrence invented cream cheese which is now a staple ingredient to make the dessert.

Take your pick from the plain cheesecake, the famous New York Cheesecake or cakes flavoured with fruits, chocolate, mint or a variety of other unique flavours. For best results, prepare the cheesecake in advance and let the flavour set in.

Keep these ingredients ready for your cheesecake -

* Powdered graham cracker crumbs – 1.75 cups
* Powdered cinnamon – ½ cup
* Walnuts chopped – ¼ cup
* Softened butter – ½ cup
* Eggs – 3
* Softened cream cheese – 16 oz
* White sugar – 1 cup
* Salt – ¼ tsp
* Almond essence – ½ tsp
* Vanilla essence – 2 tsp
* Sour cream – 3 cups

How to make cheesecake -

Preheat your oven to 375oF. Make a mixture of broken walnuts, butter, graham cracker crumbs and cinnamon. Take a 9 inch spring form pan and spread out this mixture on the bottom tightly. Beat the eggs well and blend them along with cream cheese, sugar, salt, almond extract and vanilla essence. Beat thoroughly till you get a creamy mix. Now add sour cream and pour the entire mixture on top of the crumb layer.

Keep this in the oven and bake for 35 minutes or till you know the cake’s ready. Take it out and let it cool. Refrigerate this and add topping when you serve.

Your cheesecake’s now ready. Be creative with your toppings; each topping could change the taste of this soft cake. Or just top up the cake with seasonal fresh fruits and relish the experience.

Now, you no longer have to go to a restaurant for your favourite cheesecake. Homemade cheesecake is easy to make and just as tasty; if not better.

One of the greatest misconceptions when suffering from Candida albicans overgrowth, and someone must take up a yeast free diet, is that you’ll be required to eat boring, tasteless food all day every day. Some people have gone to the lengths of referring to it as a “caveman diet”. But that doesn’t have to be the case, not at all. There are hundreds and hundreds of great tasting Candida diet recipes available that could be tried and enjoyed.

Most of us have heard of the phrase “You are what you eat“…if what you’ve been eating lead you to being a yeast overgrowth victim, maybe the caveman diet is not a bad idea if it will lead you back to health. I have put up a list of a few simple, easy, quick to prepare list of recipes that can taken advantage of.

There are various kinds of foods that can be tried for different recipe ideas perfect for breakfast, lunch or supper. You can also be creative and just go wild and try other things, just as long they are within the list of foods to be used when on an anti Candida diet like the…

Stir fry vegetable omelette

Try not to be limited just use anything you like for your stir fry.

Ingredients

2-3 Organic eggs (remove yolks if you’re watching your cholesterol)
2 tablespoons of olive oil ¼ finely chopped onion
¼ chopped green pepper
¼ chopped yellow pepper
2 celery stick or handful of spinach

In a pre-heated pan add all the vegetables and stir fry until they’re tender. Once tender go ahead and add your beaten eggs in the pan, stir lightly until the eggs are well done then add a pinch of salt & pepper for taste the serve immediately.

Tuna Salad Ingredients

1 can of tuna 3-4 leave of lettuce
2 tablespoon of finely chopped shallot / Onion
¼ finely chopped red pepper
¼ finely chopped yellow pepper
2 tablespoon anchovy
1 diced hardboiled egg
2tablespoons Fresh squeezed lemon juice

Mix everything up n a salad bowl and serve.

Grilled Marinated Pork Ribs

Ingredients 3 lbs pork back ribs

½ onion
½ Spanish onion
1 Chopped green, red & yellow pepper
1 full tablespoon crushed garlic
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon dried oregano leaf
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon salt

Chop your onions and peppers, add the crushed garlic, apple cider vinegar, cumin seeds, oregano leaf, salt and the cayenne pepper. Put all of these into a food processor then whirl until finely chopped.

Rub this mixture on your pork ribs then place it in a resealable plastic bag or dish to marinade for at least 6-12 hours. When your marinade is ready barbecue in medium heat with the lid closed, let it grill for approximately 45 – 60 minutes until they’re golden brown, remember to turn so that the ribs don’t burn.

Once cooked, this can be served with a green vegetable salad.

If you’re not entirely sure which foods have yeast content, try to read the labels on the packaging as some of these companies are ethical and they do provide truthful, informative nutritional information on their packages. These are just some of the few delicious recipes that can be enjoyed when on a Candida diet.

You, too, can be a kitchen genius. All it takes is to possess a love of food, of cooking, and of making other people feel happy with the feast you are offering. Plus, it does not hurt either to practice, practice and practice until you have committed the following tips and others like it to your heart and mind.

Preparation Tips

The importance of preparing your solid and liquid ingredients, bowls and spoons, pots and pans, and other kitchen appliances cannot be overemphasized. You have to keep all that you will need from start to end for many reasons.

For one thing, you want to make the process easier and faster, which can only be made possible if and when you are not running to and fro getting ingredients and equipment as you need them. And with cooking sometimes being a strenuous activity, you cannot afford to lose energy on mindless things. For another thing, food ingredients will spoil and/or burn easily if you fail to take timely action. Think of the consequences if you still have to cut a big bowl of potatoes when you are already finished with the roast.

Equipment Tips

When it comes to equipment, you have to ensure that proper precautions are made during their use, cleaning and storage for two main reasons. One, kitchen appliances have sharp blades and electrical connections that can pose safety threats to users. Think of the food processor and the kitchen mixer. Two, kitchen equipment can be the breeding grounds for bacteria like salmonella when not cleaned and stored properly. Think of knives and chopping boards.

Thus, always make sure that you clean your kitchen appliances and equipment with a good dishwashing detergent, rub them with salt, place in the dishwasher and store in insect-free areas, when and where necessary. And do make sure that children cannot easily access them.

Food Tips

Of course, cooking is incomplete without the food ingredients. After all, it is food that is at the center of the kitchen and the dining table.

With that in mind, you should always make sure that the following food tips are followed in the kitchen to ensure freshness, flavor and safety:

Keep cold foods cold and hot foods hot. Thus, place them in appropriate storage areas like the refrigerator or the stove. If you must cool something, set it on the table instead of placing it inside the refrigerator. Use a meat thermometer to assess the doneness of meat. You want to ensure that it is cooked through to avoid meat-borne diseases unless, of course, you are aiming for very rare steak. Separate raw meat products from other food ingredients, as well as utensils and equipment, until the very last minute of mixing. You want to avoid contamination especially if the other food ingredient will not be cooked as long as the meat. Use fresh ingredients especially in fruits and vegetables. This is because the fresher an ingredient is, the tastier the finished dish can be. Of course, exceptions like aged ingredients (wine, cheese and vinegar) exist.

With these cooking tips in mind, you can start experimenting in the kitchen with various recipes. Just always make sure that your food is not only nutritious, flavorful and savory but more importantly is safe on the stomach and the body.

Eggs are one of the most useful and versatile food products in the world. They’ve been a staple of human consumption for over 5,000 years, and they’re used in almost all varieties of cuisine and in practically every type of meal. However, even though most of us are quite familiar with the uses of eggs, we can get quite set in our ways and forget that there are more to eggs than simply making breakfast or baking desserts. Here are some important egg-related tips that every cook should know.

1. What’s the difference between white and brown eggs? Most of us have asked this question at some point, but the answer is not immediately apparent when shopping for eggs at the grocery store. Some people prefer one over the other, but their reasons for doing so are usually vague and unhelpful. What’s the real story of white and brown eggs?

Here’s the simple fact: White eggs are produced by white hens, and brown eggs are produced by darker colored hens. That’s it. It’s a color difference, and nothing more. White eggs and brown eggs are exactly the same in content, flavor, and nutrition.

2. Perfect boiled eggs: There are many different techniques for making hard-boiled eggs, and most work pretty well, but there is definitely an optimal way to do it. Here’s how: First, fill a pot with cold water, and place the eggs in. Then, turn on the water and bring it to a rapid boil. Once the water is boiling, turn off the heat and cover the pot. Let the eggs sit in the hot water for about 20, then take them out. They can be peeled and eaten immediately. If you prefer your boiled eggs cold, you can place them in a bowl of icy water or run them under the cold-water tap.

3. Perfect scrambled eggs: Although pretty much everyone can make a passable batch of scrambled eggs, not everyone knows the best techniques. Here’s how to do it: Break the eggs into a bowl or cup and add a few tablespoons of milk. Tilt the bowl and whisk it all together, from the bottom up, for about two minutes. Even if the mixture looks right, don’t whisk for less than two minutes, as it’s important to get some air bubbles into the mix. Finally, cook over medium-high heat on a warm pan, add salt and pepper, and you’re done.

4. Perfect omelet: Omelets are much harder than scrambled eggs, even though they’re deceptively simple. The key is to have patience. Pour your eggs onto a medium-heat pan and don’t touch them until they’ve solidified. Add your additional ingredients only after the egg is solid. Then, the flip should be done in one quick motion. You probably won’t get it the first time, but practice makes perfect. Just make sure before flipping that no portions of the egg are stuck to the bottom. Otherwise, you’ll get a broken mess. Once you get past the flip, everything else is easy.