Cook and Brew.

It’s a shame that I haven’t started the digiscrapped recipe book I vowed to start doing this month. Well, January brought me tons of online earning opportunities so that’s basically the reason why I haven’t got a decent time to sit down on this project. I have collected about 5 recipe books so for the time being, those will be my resources. And since my birthday will be in less than two months, it’s fine with me if, instead of lavish loose diamonds, the husband will gift me a library of recipe books! His tummy and my son’s will benefit from it anyway.

I can safely assume that we’ll enjoy our own space (read as territory) not later than the second half of this year. Our dream home is just an arm stretch away so with that said, my reign as the Queen of the house will also soon begin. Among the things I look forward to that excites me the most are my would be kitchen adventures. I admit I’m not a good cook. I know a little bit about cooking but there’s still a lot that I need to master. We grew up with a housemaid who does the cooking for us. Here in my in laws’ place, it’s my MIL who does it. This is the reason why I didn’t have the chance to learn some more. I’m planning to obtain a culinary arts online bachelor degree or enroll myself in a basic cooking class perhaps because after all, I need not be pressured to prepare luxurious menus like those offered in fancy restaurants. One step at a time.

Yes, there is a cooking term called “Sweat“.

Before you feel disgusted and think that it’s a yucky method or mixture, check out the definition below.

Sweating Onions and Garlic

To sweat is to slowly cook vegetables in a covered pan (although it may also be done uncovered) until they are soft, but still hold their shape. It usually results in tender, more translucent pieces.

It also means to cook vegetables in small amount of fat like butter and olive oil over gentle heat so they become soft but not brown, and their juices are concentrated in the cooking fat. This method softens, draws out the natural juices, and develops flavor. You may also consider lightly sprinkling with salt to further draw out, or “sweat”, your food.

This is often done with onions or garlic.

Photo credits to www.sourgrapes.ie.

You may know of someone who’s named Julienne. But don’t be surprised if you also encounter this term in cooking books.

Julienne is a method wherein a food item is cut into long thin strips. The origin of the term is uncertain, but may have derived from the proper name Jules or Julien.

This can be done with many vegetables like carrots or celery.

For some, they make their food preparation easy through a julienne peeler, a little gadget that makes perfect stylish, thin, long strips.

This is an Italian phrase that has something to do more commonly with pastas and it means “To the tooth” or “To the bite”. Often, this can be read at the cooking instructions of pasta on their plastic labels. There are also a number of restaurants worldwide with such name.

By Al dente, it means pasta is cooked just firm to the bite. Tender but not mushy. Never crunchy. The pasta will still offer some resistance when being chewed.

The term is also occasionally used in reference to cooking vegetables, such as green beans, but should be interpreted as cooking them just until they lose their raw taste, as a way to avoid overcooking them.