Cook and Brew. » Cooking 101

No Progress Still.

admin — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:11:28 +0000

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.

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Cooking Lesson Plans

admin — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:21:03 +0000

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.

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Cooking 101: Sweat

admin — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:00:43 +0000

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.

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Cooking 101: Julienne

admin — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 06:10:02 +0000

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.

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Cooking 101: Al Dente

admin — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:05:28 +0000

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.

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Cooking 101: Baste

admin — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:31:02 +0000

The husband wished for any chicken dish for dinner that has sauce or any that isn’t dry or fried. So here come my cookbooks to the rescue. But I halted for a while when I encountered the term “Baste“.

Wikipedia defines “Basting is a cooking technique, and usually involves cooking meat with either its own juices or some type of preparation such as a sauce or marinade. The meat is left to cook, then is periodically coated with the juice or marinade as it cooks.”

This term can often be used around the holiday season when the Thanksgiving turkey comes out. Roast lamb or chicken are often basted with the juices in the pan during cooking, in order to keep the meat moist and for an added flavor. Several liquids may be used for basting meats such as broth, melted butter, pan drippings, or a combination of these ingredients.

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Cooking 101: Blanch

admin — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:05:21 +0000

Image Source: Wikipedia

This process sets the color of vegetables, lets you easily peel fruits such as onions, tomatoes, plums, peaches and slip the skins off nuts such as almonds, and prepare vegetables for canning or preserving.. The food does not cook all the way through. It’s just partially cooked in boiling water for a minute or so, so crisp texture is preserved.

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Cooking Jargons

admin — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 09:34:29 +0000

Anyone trying to cook for the first time may be a little hesitant on following a recipe because of confusing cooking terms. I remember the first time I tried to cook a lunch meal, I had to scour the definition on the web the term “blanch” because I totally forgot what my Home and Economics teacher taught way back my grade school years. You see, we grew up with a household help who cooked for us while we studied so basically, I was really clueless on cooking and it’s only when I got married that I was forced to mingle with kitchen stuffs and cooking utensils. I’m far from being a good and expert cook so in my journey to learn more about learning cooking further, I’d be sharing in this blog the cooking terms or should I say “cooking jargons” that appear to us, newbie cooks.

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