Know Your Ingredients

61 Pages·2016·0.42 MB·English

by  VJJE Publishing.

Know Your Ingredients
VJJE Publishing Co.
Know Your Ingredients
Table of Contents
Introduction.........................................................................................................................................................1
Personalized Cooking Aprons...........................................................................................................................2
Apples .................................................................................................................................................................3
Artichokes ..........................................................................................................................................................4
Beans ..................................................................................................................................................................6
Beef Tutorial ......................................................................................................................................................7
Blueberries .......................................................................................................................................................10
Butter ...............................................................................................................................................................11
Carrots .............................................................................................................................................................12
Celery ...............................................................................................................................................................13
Chicken ............................................................................................................................................................14
Chocolate .........................................................................................................................................................16
Corn ..................................................................................................................................................................18
Cranberries ......................................................................................................................................................19
Cucumbers .......................................................................................................................................................21
Eggs ..................................................................................................................................................................22
Fish ...................................................................................................................................................................24
Fruit Selecting .................................................................................................................................................26
Garlic ................................................................................................................................................................29
Horseradish .....................................................................................................................................................30
Lettuce ..............................................................................................................................................................31
Milk ..................................................................................................................................................................32
Mushrooms ......................................................................................................................................................34
Olives ................................................................................................................................................................35
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Know Your Ingredients
Table of Contents
Onions ..............................................................................................................................................................36
Pasta .................................................................................................................................................................38
Peanuts .............................................................................................................................................................39
Pork Tutorial ...................................................................................................................................................40
Potatoes ............................................................................................................................................................42
Pumpkins .........................................................................................................................................................43
Rice ...................................................................................................................................................................45
Spaghetti Squash .............................................................................................................................................47
Strawberries ....................................................................................................................................................49
Sugar ................................................................................................................................................................51
Sweet Peppers ..................................................................................................................................................53
Tomatoes ..........................................................................................................................................................54
Turkey Tutorial ...............................................................................................................................................56
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Introduction
Know Your Ingredients
Copyright© 2002 VJJE Publishing Co.
All Rights Reserved
Introduction 1
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Personalized Cooking Aprons 2
Apples
Apples and Autumn were made for each other! Who can imagine the season
without freshly baked apple pies, fresh apple cider, caramelized apples, an
apple for the teacher, or the old tradition of bobbing for apples at Halloween?
With stores and local farm stands loaded with a wide assortment, you may
feel challenged in choosing what kinds of apples to buy. How you will use
them is as important in making this decision as personal taste.
What Kind?
For eating straight from the bushel basket, crisp, juicy, tangy varieties are best.
Red Delicious is the most popular eating apple, though you may prefer a denser
Granny Smith, a softer−fleshed McIntosh, or the distinctive taste of local farm
varieties like Newton, Pippin, Macoun or Sweet Sixteen. And, no matter how
much you like them, avoid using Red Delicious in cooking, which turns them
into bland mush.
For sauce, McIntosh is moist and has good flavor. Cortlands are also good
because their sweetness means adding less sugar; Braeburns are good, too.
Rome is a good baking apple as they hold their shape and have room for lots
of filling. You can also try baking with Fuijis, which are sweeter and wetter,
with a slightly spicy flavor.
For pies, a mix of apples is best. Include Golden Delicious for sweetness and
good shape, a tart apple like the greening Granny Smith, and some flavorful
varieties like the Pippin, Winesap, Crispin and Jonagold.
How Much to Buy
When deciding how many apples to buy, figure 2 large, 3 medium or 4 small
apples to the pound.
For sauce, a large apple yields 3/4 cup, a medium one cup, and a small apple,
1/3 cup. For pies, most recipes call for 6 to 8 apples, but you can always use
8 large or 10 smaller ones.
Remember to always store apples in the fridge, where they keep 10 times as
long as they do at room temperature.
Apples 3
Artichokes
Novices often don't know where to begin with this intimidating vegetable, but
don't worry, it's not that difficult to tame even the wildest artichoke.
Buying & Storing Artichokes
When buying artichokes, look for a vibrant color and a vegetable that is tightly
closed. An artichoke that is starting to open is not that fresh. Another good rule
of thumb, as it is with many fruits and vegetables, is to look for one that feels
heavy for its size.
To store artichokes, first wash in cold water, then place them, still wet, in a
plastic bag in your refrigerator. They should keep for at least a week.
Preparing for Cooking:
1. Remove the sharp outer top leaves by cutting about a quarter of the
artichoke from the top −− a serrated knife works well.
2. Trim the base so that your artichoke can stand up straight.
3. Place in pan with about an inch and a half of salted water (you can also
add a little lemon juice to the water if you like). Or you can use a steamer
basket.
4. Cover pot and steam artichokes for about 30 to 40 minutes (depending on
size), or until bottoms of the artichoke are tender (test with a fork).
Check the water levels often, as it's easy to forget about and let boil dry.
I know from experience, this does not add a pleasant aroma to your
house.
5. Serve with melted butter (I like to add a little lemon juice and garlic to
mine), a mayonnaise style dressing or even a hollandaise sauce.
How To Eat An Artichoke
Pull off a leaf and dip the widest end into butter or sauce. Pull the leaf through
your teeth, taking off the tenderest part. Discard the rest of the leaf. Continue
with other leaves. As you get closer to the heart, remove the tiny leaves and
the hairy choke from the heart. The rest is entirely edible.
How To Prepare An Artichoke For Stuffing
A hollowed artichoke can become an artful, elegant container for any number of
stuffings. Try filling stuffed artichokes with dips for party hor d'oeuvres or stuff
with tuna, shrimp or chicken salad for a light lunch entree or stuff with rice,
couscous or other grains and veggies for a spectacular side dish.
1. Cut off stem so artichoke can easily stand.
Artichokes 4
Know Your Ingredients
2. Cut about an inch off the top.
3. Using a spoon or (even better) a melon baller, hollow out the middle, including
the hairy choke (make sure you remove all of this).
4. Stand artichoke upright, steam the artichoke as usual then stuff with filling of
your choice (depending on your stuffing choice, you may want to cool or even
chill the artichoke first).
Artichokes 5
Beans
These seeded pods of various legumes are among the oldest foods known to
humanity, dating back at least 4,000 years. They come in two broad categories
— fresh and dried. Some beans, such as BLACK−EYED PEAS, LIMA
BEANS and CRANBERRY BEANS, can be found in both fresh and dried
forms. Fresh beans are those that are commercially available in their fresh
form and are generally sold in their pods. The three most commonly available
fresh−bean varieties are GREEN BEANS (eaten with their shell or pod) and
lima beans and FAVA (or broad) BEANS, which are eaten shelled.
Store fresh beans in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator up to 5
days; after that, both color and flavor begin to diminish. If cooked properly,
fresh beans contain a fair amount of vitamins A and C; lima beans are also
a good source of protein. Dried beans are available prepackaged or in bulk.
Some of the more popular dried beans are BLACK BEANS, CHICKPEAS,
KIDNEY BEANS, PINK BEANS and PINTO BEANS. Dried beans must
usually be soaked in water for several hours or overnight to rehydrate them
before cooking. Beans labeled "quick−cooking" have been presoaked and
redried before packaging; they require no presoaking and take considerably
less time to prepare. The texture of these "quick" beans, however, is not as
firm to the bite as regular dried beans. Store dried beans in an airtight container
for up to a year. The flatulence caused by dried beans is created by
oligosaccharides, complex sugars that — because they're indigestible by normal
stomach enzymes — proceed into the lower intestine where they're eaten (and
fermented) by friendly bacteria, the result of which is gas. Dried beans are rich
in protein, calcium, phosphorus and iron. Their high protein content, along with
the fact that they're easily grown and stored, make them a staple throughout
many parts of the world where animal protein is scarce or expensive.
Beans 6
Beef Tutorial
How many servings can I expect out of a cut of beef?
Boneless beef cuts, such as for stew or pot roasts or boneless short ribs,
will yield between 2 1/2 and 3 servings (3 oz. cooked, trimmed) per
pound. Bone in cuts, such as a 7 bone pot roast, will yield about 2 to 2 1/2
servings per pound; and very bony cuts, such as short ribs, will yield 1 to 1
1/2 servings per pound.
Cuts of Beef
While not all markets will carry the same beef cuts, many chuck and round
cuts can be used interchangeably. For example a chuck blade, arm or
shoulder pot roast can be substituted in a recipe calling for one or the
other, with only a slight variation in cooking time. The key to determining
cooking time is simple − simmer until beef is fork tender.
Beef Cooking Tips
•
Use moist heat methods such as braising, simmering, stewing or poaching to
cook less tender cuts of beef.
•
Moist heat and long, slow simmering in a tightly covered pan results in fork
tender meat.
•
Moist heat means gently simmering, not boiling, which keeps the meat from
shrinkage and keeps it moist and juicy. We've all had dry pot roast. This was
most likely due to boiling rather than simmering.
•
Dredging beef in flour helps seal in flavors and moisture, espedcially for cuts
that are very lean.
•
Dry cooking methods like broiling, roasting, pan frying, sauteeing, grilling
work best for more tender cuts of meat.
•
While not needed for tenderization, moist cooking methods can be used for
ground beef when making chilis or soups.
•
Browning beef prior to cooking by moist heat methods adds rich color and flavor.
•
The key to browning beef before moist cooking is to do it slowly, as a slow
browning adheres to beef better than a quick one.
•
Browning usually requires a small bit of oil, and always if the meat has been
dredged in flour as it will otherwise stick to the pan.
Beef Tutorial 7