Learn how to make tortillas soft, warm and pliable for your next taco or fajita night.
Posts with tag howto
Grilling With Honey
 |
| Gena visits Ted at Savannah Bee. |
When most people think of honey, they think of breakfast and hot tea, but honey is actually one of the most versatile ingredients in the kitchen -- so versatile, in fact, that I use it on an almost-daily basis. A natural way to sweeten marinades and salad dressings, honey can be used to add flavor to savory dishes and not just desserts.
Of course, as with any food, you want to use a good quality honey. One of my favorites is Savannah Bee, and my friend Ted, the owner behind this delicious honey, has chosen his favorite full-bodied honey for grilling. The rich amber color and robust flavor stands up to the smokiness of grilled foods and the easy, no-spill pump isn't bad either.
How to Cut Open a Lobster with Chef Marc Murphy
Summer leaves seafood lovers craving lobster in some incarnation, whether it be tucked into a buttery roll, scattered throughout risotto or luxuriating in the butter-cream bath of lobster Thermidor (thought to have been a favorite of Napoleon).
However you like your lobster, getting to its tender meat can be nightmarish, with spiny claws and juice flying everywhere. Not so in this excellent Howcast video, with a demonstration by chef Marc Murphy of New York City's Landmarc, who knows his way around the leggy critters. Who knew you could either snip open or crush those dastardly knuckles? Or crush the tail under a towel?
The video even ends with a quirky factoid: Boiling lobsters alive in Reggio Emilia, Italy is illegal, with violators facing fines nearing $800. We wonder how many Italians risk it!
[Via Howcast]
Buying and Storing Tea - Tip of the Day
Different teas last for varying amounts of time. Find out the best way to buy and store tea so that you can enjoy its unique taste longer.
Cleaning and Drying Mushrooms - Tip of the Day
Washing dirt off mushrooms can be frustrating and challenging if all you have is a wash cloth. Instead, use a salad spinner to make cleaning and drying mushrooms an easy efficient task.
Continue reading Cleaning and Drying Mushrooms - Tip of the Day
Tip of the Day - Adding Volume to Whipped Cream
Thinking about making whipped cream? Find out the best way to make it so that you can maximize every ingredient and whip the cream easier to a higher volume.
Continue reading Tip of the Day - Adding Volume to Whipped Cream
Tip of the Day - How to Clean Wooden Cutting Boards
Unlike plastic cutting boards, wooden cutting boards need to be dealt with differently to preserve their quality. Find out quick and easy ways to clean and to remove stains from wooden cutting boards.
Continue reading Tip of the Day - How to Clean Wooden Cutting Boards
How to fold bread dough
If you bake a lot of bread, you've almost certainly come across directions to fold the dough. In times past, bread recipes instructed you to punch down the dough after it had fermented, though now bakers are generally directed to "deflate" the dough. Folding accomplishes the same goals as deflating, but with some added benefits.
Folding is a technique that's more often used with wetter, or more hydrated, bread doughs, as well as doughs that have been underdeveloped for some reason or other. Doing this procedure does two things: it redistributes air/gasses and evens out temperature, and it aligns/develops the gluten structure. Deflating only accomplishes the redistribution element of folding, but that's really all that's needed for less hydrated doughs. Folding is always used as part of the fermentation stage. Generally, you'll proof the dough for an hour (first rise), fold it, then let it proof (rise) for another hour or so. An under-developed, wet dough can be fermented for many hours with multiple folds.
Now that's artisan bread.
To fold, first flour your work surface fairly well. Turn your dough out onto it and pat out most of the gas. I like to work left to right, top to bottom, but use whatever directions work for you as long as you hit all points of the compass. Take the first side, stretch it out and fold it onto the middle of the dough. Repeat this for the opposing side, then do the same thing to the top and bottom. To finish, get you hands under the dough and turn it over so that the smooth side is on top. Then put it back into whatever proofing container you're using and let the dough finish proofing. Check out the gallery below for images matching the directions.
Gallery: Folding dough
How to husk corn and eat cheese in France
Although not at the same time. The folks over at World Hum feature lots of wonderful information on traveling and things you should know before flying off to a new country. In a recent feature, a Terry Ward walks you through how to behave and what to expect when eating with your new French friends. For those of you who are challenged when it comes to getting all the husk and silk off an ear of corn, wikiHow has some guidance for you, along with step-by-step instructions to ensure that you do it correctly. My favorite piece of wisdom from their article is how they instruct you to deal with any little critters you might find in your corn, "While they look unpleasant, there is no need to discard the ear. Just cut away the damaged portion." Waste not, want not!
Talk about a king sized Kit Kat bar!
Are you a fan of the Kit Kat candy bar? I must admit to enjoying one occasionally. Well, whether you do or don't like Kit Kats, I think you'll get a kick out if this.
Over at Supersized Meals, you can see, step by step, the making of a giant Kit Kat bar! I mean, seriously, this thing is awesome. If you ever wanted a candy bar that has about 45, 888 calories but still fits in the refrigerator (barely), then this one is for you. Enjoy, 'cause you're gonna need a lot of breaks for this Kit Kat bar.
How about homemade bagels this weekend!
Bagels are one of my favorite breakfast items. They're so easy and tasty, and they travel well. Usually if I want to make a special weekend breakfast, though, it's not bagels- for all the previously mentioned reasons. But what if I made them from scratch? Well, that'd be a different story.
Joe Pastry, one of my favorite baking blogs, has been talking a lot about bagels this week. Joe talks about everything from high gluten flour to how much sugar and baking soda go into his boiling water. There is a step by step photo guide to making bagels from scratch. The only thing Joe doesn't offer is a recipe for the dough, but you can find some here and here.
Unfortunately, I can't link directly to individual posts on Joe Pastry. All of the above mentioned posts are very recent, though, and you can get to them by scrolling down just a little bit. That is, if you're going to make bagels this weekend!
Tip of the Day: Enjoy the long-lasting flavors of artisanal cheeses
The most exciting thing about artisanal cheeses is their complex, multi-layered flavors. However, for many people, they seem unapproachable. The best way to savor these cheeses is to breakdown the experience from the first encounter (touch and smell) to the last encounter (after-taste).
Continue reading Tip of the Day: Enjoy the long-lasting flavors of artisanal cheeses
Tip of the Day: How to keep your radishes fresh
Wondering how to keep your radishes fresh and crisp? This reader-submitted tip will save the day.
Continue reading Tip of the Day: How to keep your radishes fresh
Tip of the Day: An easier way to cut peppers
Looking for a quick, easy and less messy way of coring a bell pepper? Well, you've come to the right place!
Continue reading Tip of the Day: An easier way to cut peppers
The art of homemade butterscotch
I have always been a sucker for butterscotch. When I was a kid, I would always choose one of those hard, orange butterscotch candies over a piece of chocolate. One those rare occasions when my family went out for ice cream sundaes, I would choose vanilla ice cream with hot butterscotch syrup drizzled over top (my mother, being a chocolate person herself, never understood my choice). While I don't always make the same selection these days (I did come around to chocolate sometime in my teens), I still love the flavor of real butterscotch.
Yesterday on Simply Recipes, Elise published a guest post written by Shuna Fish Lydon of the blog Eggbeater on how to make homemade butterscotch. The post comes with step-by-step pictures, which are extremely helpful for those of us who are never sure if the sugar/butter/cream mixture has cooked to the proper consistency. She makes it sounds really easy, which is at once both encouraging and a little dangerous, as the last thing I need in life is the ability to make butterscotch on demand.
What Can I Get You Folks? - Server Revenge
Reality-Show Celebrities Serve Up Chef Curtis Stone's 'Hundred-Dollar Burger'
Foods Celebrity Chefs Hate
