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Cooking Tips


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Cook Corn

 

Instead of boiling corn on the cob, dot it with a little butter, salt, and black pepper. Place on a baking sheet and roast (350 degrees) until tender. Caramelize a little honey in a saut? pan and, when the corn comes out, brush with the honey.

 

—Alex Guarnaschelli, Butter, New York; host of Alex's Day Off (Cooking Channel)

 

 

 

Bread Meat

 

After you've breaded a piece of meat for panfrying (dip in flour, dip in a water-and-egg-white mixture, dip in bread crumbs), spray the breaded meat with a little water from a spritz bottle. The moisture will prevent the crumbs from absorbing too much oil while still preserving that crispy crunch.

 

—David Burke, David Burke Kitchen, New York

 

Make a Sandwich

 

Less is more. Proportion is key, making sure each element balances the next. I like a fresh slaw tossed in a light vinegar for some crunch and some acidity. Throw in the protein of your choosing, bearing in mind the salt that comes with cured or smoked meat. And when is adding a fried egg a bad thing? Butter the outside of your bread, griddle it, and that's a sandwich.

 

—Michael Schwartz, Michael's Genuine Food & Drink, Miami

 

Hold a Knife

 

Pinch the dull side of the blade with your pointer finger and thumb where the blade meets the handle. Wrap your other three fingers around the handle, leaving your thumb and pointer finger gripping the heel of the blade. Practice on a big bag of vegetables.

 

—Kelsey Nixon, host of Kelsey's Essentials (Cooking Channel)

 

 

 

Scramble Eggs

 

For two eggs, add two tablespoons of water and two tablespoons of heavy cream, season with salt and fresh-cracked black pepper, and whip the hell out of them with a whisk until frothy. Melt some butter over medium heat and cook the eggs, not touching them until they are partially set. Then start some light stirring until they're almost finished, and turn the heat off. They will finish cooking because the pan is still hot.

 

—Randy Zweiban, Province, Chicago

 

Grill Fruit

 

Start with ripe, juicy fruit with a high moisture content. Lightly brush on all sides with melted butter or coconut milk. Make a dessert rub by combining one cup sugar with one tablespoon cinnamon. Set up your grill for direct grilling — a preheated grate over a hot fire: Brush the grate clean with a stiff wire brush. Oil it with a paper towel folded into a tight pad, dipped in oil, and drawn across the bars of the grate. Oiling prevents sticking and gives you killer grill marks. Dip fruit in rub to coat on all sides, shaking off excess. Grill the fruit long enough to turn the sugar and fruit juices into bubbling, golden caramel.

 

—Steven Raichlen, author of The Barbecue Bible; host of Primal Grill (PBS)

 

 

 

Cook a Lobster

 

Use water that's as close to seawater as it can be — extremely salty or, better yet, seawater itself. And don't use much: Put three or four inches in the pot, and when the water is steaming like mad, add the lobster. A pound-and-a-quarter lobster takes about nine minutes. Afterward, don't shock it in ice water. That makes the meat tougher. Just let it cool down.

 

—Dave Pasternack, Esca, New York

 

Sear a Scallop

 

Make sure the scallop is totally dry — use a paper towel for this. Season it with salt. Get your (small) pan very hot and add cold oil. This way, the scallop will never stick. Once the scallop is in the pan, do not touch it. At all. It will caramelize. Flip it once and serve.

 

—Michael White, Ai Fiori, New York

 

 

 

Make a Spice Rub

 

Start with spices that are whole (as opposed to ground) and fresh (as opposed to sitting in your cabinet for three years). Black pepper always goes well with coriander and mustard seed. Cinnamon always goes well with clove, anise, and allspice. Cardamom is usually too strong. Toast spices in a dry pan on the stove over low heat for a couple minutes, then grind them. (You can use a clean coffee grinder.) Then rub it on whatever meat you're cooking.

 

—David Katz, M?m?, Philadelphia

 

Season Meats

Salt draws moisture out, so season just before saut?ing meat or fish. If you salt too early, the surface of the flesh will become wet and will not get that nice golden crust. And if you marinate meat, remember to pat dry and season it just before you sear.

 

—Frank Stitt, Highlands Bar and Grill, Birmingham

 

Saut? Garlic

 

Start with a cold pan, add olive oil, then garlic, and turn burner to low heat. Through the gradual increase of temperature, you'll infuse the oil with the flavor of garlic while it turns slightly brown.

 

—Marco Canora, Hearth, New York; author of Salt to Taste

 

source: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/how-to...better-2535216/

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Bread Meat

 

After you've breaded a piece of meat for panfrying (dip in flour, dip in a water-and-egg-white mixture, dip in bread crumbs), spray the breaded meat with a little water from a spritz bottle. The moisture will prevent the crumbs from absorbing too much oil while still preserving that crispy crunch.

 

?David Burke, David Burke Kitchen, New York

At home we go straight to egg and then breadcrumbs, no flour. No water spritzing either.

 

Scramble Eggs

 

For two eggs, add two tablespoons of water and two tablespoons of heavy cream, season with salt and fresh-cracked black pepper, and whip the hell out of them with a whisk until frothy. Melt some butter over medium heat and cook the eggs, not touching them until they are partially set. Then start some light stirring until they're almost finished, and turn the heat off. They will finish cooking because the pan is still hot.

 

?Randy Zweiban, Province, Chicago

Cream? I don't see the point. As long as you don't overcook them then they should still be puffy. Seems like it would take away from the taste of the eggs.

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We don't bread meat and I have never let my scrambled eggs burn before.

 

I posted this because I found it interesting. Would like to try breading meat sometime in the future. Been meaning to make Korokke too but it isn't very healthy.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tried to make my own pizza tonight. Mom had some left over dough from something else she had made. Toppings were a bit random because I didn't have all the proper toppings at home and I didn't want to go drive to get some. Turkey slices, cheddar cheese, green+red peppers, onions, mushrooms, spiced tomato sauce.

 

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Results: Mostly fail. Taste was pretty bland. The main issue was the dough on the edges was perfectly fine but everything inside it was too thin and not hard at all so I had to eat most of it with a fork and knife.

 

Next time: Get a premade dough because (1) it will be the right thickness, (2) getting the dough ready took more time than anything else, (3) some spicing or something to change up the flavor.

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well, it doesn't look like much but i'd still eat it

like i said i'd still eat it..

but i wouldn't go so far as to say it 'looks good'

I'm going to go with Ren on this one. Looks like something that came out of a bad date movie. But we're bachelors so we'll still eat anything.

Actually, I'm with Chris on this one, talking strictly looks here, how does that not look like a normal pizza?

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Normally you use cheese as part of the base, on top of the tomato sauce not on the top of the toppings. Also the toppings are cut in too large of portions. On pure presentation, you'd need to make the toppings more bite sized, place the cheese on the bottom of the pizza and it would look significantly better than it does.

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rofl! I didn't notice the missing bite.

 

I like the crust slightly crispy tho. Chewy crusts take too long to eat and makes my jaw hurt from never ending chewing.

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lol. I'd take you guys on for a cooking/baking competition any day as long as it's not during the school semester.

You will lose.

To whom?

potluck night?

 

 

 

also semi-related since its lunch time (even though i cant eat right now). check the last page for embedded pic.

I believe they are dripping with the weeping of my arteries.

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http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=37753

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Also, once at my college the pub (that place we eat which isn't the cafeteria. I go to a tiny school.) had these special biodegradable plates last year. The thing about 'em is that they were safe to eat - the guys who were presenting them to us actually demonstrated by eating one.

 

Since this was at a college, they became part of the poor freshman's usual bill of fare. You'd use your meal plan to get dinner at the pub, eat that, and save the plates. Once you ran out of meals / the cafeteria was closed and you had NO money (like myself), the usual thing would be to find whatever sauces you had lying around your room (in my case, generally some sort of mayonaise) and eat the plate like that. or plain. Mmm. I have very fond memories of watching bad Godzilla flicks at 2:00 in the morning with my only nourishment consisting of biodegradable plate with a hint of grease and onion, a touch of mayo, and really flat coke.

http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?p=206307#p206307

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