Meat | Food & Cooking Advice

Time-Tested Tips and Tricks for the Kitchen and Grill

Ask anyone who takes cooking seriously, and they will tell you that they have their own tips and tricks that they use to consistently prepare delicious meals: Maybe it’s a secret ingredient or an extra step during preparation or perhaps hours of watching direct.tv cooking specials. Many of these tricks have been passed down from generation to generation, and some remain closely-guarded secrets to this very day.

And some of them are, to be perfectly honest, complete nonsense. But while that may be true, and while it’s not uncommon to receive five different types of advice from five different people when it comes to cooking, there are some well-known tips that will not only make food preparation easier but will also make the end result tastier.

Grilling Tips

Use tongues instead of a fork to turn meat on the grill. Poking holes in the meat will cause its juices to run out.
When preparing kabobs, soak wooden skewers in cold water for 30 minutes prior to cooking to prevent burning. Also, for best results make sure pieces of meat, fruit or veggies are threaded closely together with no space in between.
Never place cooked meat on the same plate that held raw meat.

Healthy Cooking Tips

Don’t remove skins from fruits and vegetables: The skins contain lots of healthy nutrients.
To retain vitamins and nutrients, keep the lid on the pot while cooking vegetables.
When sauteing meat or vegetables, use chicken broth instead of butter to reduce fat.

Tasty Tricks

Use fresh herbs instead of dried whenever possible.
When serving roast, let it stand for five to ten minutes before carving so that it retains its juices.

Filed Under: Food, Restaurant Tagged With: Cook, Grilling, Meat, Vegetable

Ditching the Carbs and Fats

Image by Taekwonweirdo via Flickr

Learning the tips and tricks to healthier eating is easy with an initial time investment. Constructing some simple rules about eating will give you an outline to live by and turn a diet into a new lifestyle. Don’t start a diet as diets are usually temporary. Instead, attempt to make food changes that are life changing.

Red meats are delicious for so many people. Cheeseburgers, steaks, etc. taste great but are best consumed moderately to prolong your health. Try consuming red meats only once a week and substitute lean meats over red meats. Lean meats like turkey and chicken contain far less fat than red meat and are better overall for your body. You get the protein and iron you need from red meat but without the artery clogging fat found in red meat.

Eating small controlled meals throughout the day makes it easier to eat food low in fat. Apples, fiber cars, and fruit make great snacks and are easy to pack. Peanuts can also fill your stomach without expanding your waistline. Portion off about 8 ounces of peanuts and eat them in tandem with a fruit or vegetable. This can serve as several of your six small meals throughout the day which will boost your metabolism and allow the pounds to melt off.

Eliminating processed foods and sugar drinks from your diet will be your greatest aid in ditching the carbs and fats. Turn to water and natural foods and you will be losing weight and feeling healthier even if you don’t exercise very often.

Filed Under: Business, Food Tagged With: Health, Meat, Red meat

Grilling Steakhouse Steaks at Home

There is no better way to prepare a cut of fresh, red, and perfectly marbled beef than to grill it. Somehow working over an open flame seems to bring out more primitive instincts, without growing a beard and protruding brow. Grilling may appear so easy a caveman can do it, but there is a bit of skill and knowledge required to get a steak to resemble a favorite steakhouse cut. Before slapping the steaks over the flame, follow some simple tips to keep meat from going extinct.

A grill is a high-heat, dry cooking environment. Only cuts with loads of marbling, or lines of fat, should be used to keep the meat tender. It’s better to choose a thinner cut, say one inch or less, than a thicker cut when grilling. Steaks need high heat. Without intense heat, beef will not be seared and form a crust on the outside. Searing allows for the flavorful juices and fat to stay inside the meat, rather than falling onto the coals. Some thicker cuts of beef will require two different temperature zones within the same grill to keep them from burning while cooking.

You can create this environment by spreading coals into a double-thick layer on one side and a single layer on the other side of the grill once they are ready. Seasonings should be simple to allow the natural flavors to dominate. Salt, pepper, and a bit of garlic will accent a steak’s natural flavor nicely. Steaks should be turned only twice during cooking. Only use a spatula or tongs to turn meat, so you don’t puncture it and let the tastiness flow onto the coals. Once steaks are done, transfer them to a dish and let them sit a few before serving. This lets the flavor return to the center of the meat, giving each bite flavor. All that’s left is to dig in!

Filed Under: Food, Restaurant Tagged With: Beef, Cooking, Meat, Steak

Kitchen Tips and Tricks

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Whether you love to cook, hate to cook, or simply cook because you have to, everyone could use a few extra tips when it comes to navigating the kitchen. Here are a few I’ve learned through my cooking adventures.

Take Off Your Jewelry

Not only will removing your expensive Tacori ring or Guess watch while cooking keep them free from food particles, it will also prevent losing parts in your food. Say for example you are kneading some bread dough and one of the diamonds from your ring becomes loose. You’ve not only ruined your bread because you’ll be tearing it apart to find the diamond, but you have also ruined your ring.

Always set a Timer

Even if you don’t know how long something needs to bake or boil, make sure you set yourself a timer. This will simply remind you to check on the cooking food, rather than allowing you to forget about it and ruin your dish.

Follow the Directions to the Letter

We’ve all tried to improvise a dish or have simply skipped a step on accident, and it’s really hit and miss on whether the food will turn out or not. Be sure that if it’s your first time trying something, you follow the directions carefully. After you’ve pulled it off a few times, then you can try and make it your own by changing things up.

Make Your List, Check it Twice

We’ve all been in the middle of cooking something and then realized we are missing a key ingredient. Then you have to try and beg your neighbors for the missing item in the hopes you can salvage your meal. So, whenever you want to cook something, write down a complete list of the ingredients, check your cupboards, then go shopping.

I hope these tips help some of you out. Happy cooking!

Filed Under: Food, General Tagged With: Business, Cook, Food, Home, Jewelry, Meat, Tacori, Thermometer

How to Become a Vegetarian

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There are many ways to improve your diet and get healthier. Although you can use food dehydrators on your food or cut down on fatty and starchy foods, one great way to eat a better diet is to become a vegetarian. However, becoming a vegetarian is a difficult process that does not simply happen overnight. There are a few things you will need to do in order to successfully become a vegetarian for life.

You will need to start by eating a lot of different vegetables and having variety in your diet. If you go from eating meat regularly to simply having the same plate of vegetables every night, you will quickly get bored and will want to give up. You should also realize that giving up meat itself can be difficult. Indeed, some people can find it as difficult as giving up smoking or drinking. You may need to ease yourself into a vegetarian lifestyle and eat meat one less night a week for a few months.

Learning about vegetarianism is a great way to get started as well. Read books by nutritionists and other vegetarian cook books to get ideas for recipes. You should also read up on ways to get the necessary vitamins and minerals you need from other sources.

Another thing you will need is dedication and will power! Becoming a vegetarian can be difficult, but if you take small steps and gradually change your diet then you will feel the benefits. You might also want to tell the people around you about your new choice of lifestyle. It can be especially hard if you are sitting with a group of people who are eating meat while you are trying to give it up. Letting them know that you are a vegetarian will help you avoid circumstances like this where temptation may get the better of you!

Filed Under: Food, General, Restaurant Tagged With: diet, Eating, Food, Lifestyle Choices, Meat, Veganism, Vegetable, Vegetarianism

Using Food Dehydrators to Make Healthy Snacks

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Food dehydrators can be used to preserve meats and vegetables, especially when you have limited freezer space and are worried about using canning methods because of the dangers of botulism and other food-borne illnesses from improper preservation. And you probably also know that dehydrators can be used on fruits, although many only do so for making desserts or other fruit dishes.

Have you ever considered that food dehydrators can be used to make healthy snacks? After all, what are great treats such as raisins, shreds of coconut and other items used in trail mix, and other snack foods except dehydrated fruits? In addition, some potato chip products are made using dehydrated potatoes.

By using a food dehydrator, you can buy large quantities of grapes, plums, and other fruits when they are in season or a store is offering a good buy on them. Then, when you dry fruit for later use in desserts and other dishes, you only need to throw a few more slices on the dehydrator tray and put them aside for adding to snack bags.

You can even dehydrate lean cuts of meat, especially if your kids like things such as jerky or other dried meat products. By making your own, you can control the amount of salt and other seasonings that are used so that the resulting product is more healthy.

When you use a dehydrator to make healthy snacks, you save money. Anyone who has priced snack food lately knows that prices can be outrageous, and unfortunately, many processed snack foods just aren’t that healthy. By making snacks yourself using dehydrated foods, you can make sure your children are eating the things they should without having to sacrifice sweetness, crunchiness, and all the other elements that make snacks so enjoyable. And, of course, that will make everyone in the family happy.

Filed Under: Business, Food Tagged With: Dehydration, Food, Food dehydrator, Fruit, Health, Meat, Snack food, Trail mix

Create A Fantastic Cheese Tray

When you want to pull together the best cheese tray your friends and family have ever seen, you are going to have to put a little work into it. Creating a cheese tray is more than just throwing some cheese on a plate and calling it a tray. To start, you want to make sure that you are providing your guests a wide variety of options. This way, they will be able to find their favorite cheese or explore new varieties.

You will also want to make sure that you have a variety of crackers, breads or deli meats for the tray. Adding some peppers and olives would be a nice touch as well. Of course, creating a fantastic cheese tray goes much further than just what you are putting on it. You have to make sure that the tray is visually exciting. There have actually been studies done that have shown that food that looks good, is perceived better by people, than food that is poorly arranged, even if it is the same food that they usually love.

Take out the fancy cheese cutter in order to get the creative cuts. You can use the same cutter for meats that are not too tough. If you are using small slices of deli meat, you will want to roll each individual piece. This way, everything is easy to grab. Do make sure that you have plenty of forks or toothpicks on hand for this.

Go ahead and alternate the meats and cheeses. The peppers and olives can be neatly arranged in the middle. Try to make sure that the juices from these do not mix with each other or get into the cheese or meat. By not using the correct kind of tray, you could end up with a disaster.

Take your time when creating the cheese tray and you will find that it will win the hearts of many of your guests!

Filed Under: Food Tagged With: Cheese, Food, Meat