Category Archives: Cooking

Cooking

Nutrients saved with pressure cooking

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A lot has improved in the last 20 years with the modern day pressure cooker. They’re most definitely safer than Grammies pressure cooker, and theyre built with style. Even though the pressure cooker was first built around 300 years ago, it’s become the leading cooking method for today. When food is cooked with pressure, it’s cooked the healthiest way possible. Food comes out tastier and faster than any conventional method. Meats come out tender and juicy, and vegetables are colorful and their flavors are intensified. Pressure cooking makes it easy for even the busiest cooks to prepare meals. With a 70% reduction in cooking times, your time spent slaving over the stove-top can be spent on more important things. Use your pressure cooker to make complete casserole style meals, or cook several foods at the same time and have a home cooked dinner served in minutes.

Nutrients

How meals are cooked can have a huge impact on their nutrient content. Cooking your food in an open pot of boiling water is the most effective way to destroy the vitamins. To conserve the most nutrients feasible, many experts recommend that you use as little water as possible. You should also cook your food as rapidly as you can because many vitamins are sensitive to water, heat and air exposure. Water used for cooking can dissolve and wash away water soluble vitamins, while the high temperature deteriorates them. Many vitamins including “B” and “C” are water soluble and the simple act of washing them takes away some of the vitamins. Fat soluble vitamins such as “E” and “D” are stored and metabolized with the fat in our bodies. Fat Soluble vitamins are not as sensitive as water soluble vitamins and are not cooked away so easily.

It is crucial to select the best cooking method that optimizes and keeps the nutrients in food. In a study published by Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, experts looked at the effects of different means of cooking broccoli. Up to 97 percent of specific antioxidant compounds were ruined by microwaving, while steaming the broccoli caused only 11 percent loss. Therefore, any cooking that lessens the time, temperature, and water will help to retain nutrients. Pressure cooking under steam is one of the best methods because it minimizes time and calls for little water.

The super-heated steam which is created by high temperatures within a pressure cooker, makes the food cook swiftly, and intensifies the natural flavors. This enables cooks to use less salt, sugar, and use less costly herbs and seasonings and also get a far better taste. Pressure cooking creates an airless atmosphere that holds more nutrients than other cooking methods. When food is cooked with less liquid, more vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients are preserved and not boiled away during cooking. The procedure of cooking in a steam environment is virtually a fat-free method of cooking as well.

As a rule, accelerated cooking approaches are much better for preserving nutrients than slower methods. Any type of cooking alters food in some way, and more nutrients are wasted when food is subjected to heat, light, moisture and air. The order in which nutrients are typically preserved from quickest to slowest is: Pressure Cooking, Microwaving, Steaming, Stir-frying, Poaching, Roasting, Baking and Broiling.

There are a few tips you can utilize to maintain nutrients. Leaving vegetables in larger portions will minimize the surface area of food. That way fewer vitamins are damaged when they are subjected to air. Always cover your pot to hold in steam and heat. This will also assist in decreasing your cooking times. Leftover cooking water can be used for: sauces, stews, soups or vegetable juice.

It’s not tough to see why a lot of people are beginning to catch on to pressure cooking. They’re efficient, save electricity, lock in nutrients, safe to use, designed to last and highly flexible.

Cooking

How to Cook a Sweet Potato with Complete Ease

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If you are in the market to find out how you can cook a sweet potato, then you will be glad to know that you can now find the best of ways via which you can become the ultimate chef. Thankfully, there are a host of options available that are able to focus on knowing which are the best of ways via which you can cook a sweet potato for those that want it.

One of the characteristic features of a sweet potato is that it can become remotely easy to find out which are the best of ways these delicacies can be cooked with complete ease. There are a host of these available in the market, each recipe being designed to help you find out how to cook a sweet potato in the easiest fashion.

There are a number of variations via which you can find out how to cook a sweet potato and then figure out which are the right ways via which you can give your recipe the ultimate advantage. Most chefs today believe that finding out how to cook a sweet potato is one of the key advantages and features via which you can get the best results in the kitchen.

The first step that you need to do in finding out how you can cook a sweet potato is by ensuring a means via which you can get the recipe to work according to your flavors. Once you are able to do so, you will be able to ensure a means that only you will be able to ensure.

What needs to be remembered in this fashion is that when it comes to knowing how to cook a sweet potato, there are a number of recipe books around that will know which are the best ones to work to your advantage. If you are keen about learning which are the best in the series to ensure you have the upper advantage on sweet potato recipes, you will then finally be able to master the art of preparation in the kitchen for any sweet potato recipe on the planet.

While it may not be applicable to know which are the best ones around, it has become imperative that you find out which are the best ones that will work perfectly to your advantage. There are a host of potato and sweet potato preparations available to choose from and once you have mastered the art of cooking a sweet potato, you will be glad to know that you shall also become the ultimate chef of your domain. If you have any questions on cooking a sweet potato, you will be glad to know that you can now find the best of ways to get all your answers on the web at the best recipe sites online.

Cooking

A Cooking Network, what is it and why should you join one

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Normally a network is a group, large or small, of people who come together to talk about a subject that is common among each other. In the case of a cooking network the common ground is cooking. If you do a search on the internet you will find there are a lot of cooking networks you could join. Some of the cooking networks are offline but you will find that the online cooking networks are bigger. This is of course because their are no travel limits when you are meeting each other through the internet.

How can you benefit from a cooking network

There are a lot of benefits you can get from being a member of a cooking network. Things like, cooking advice that members share amongst each other or the many new friends you are going to find. Friends who share your great passion for preparing food. Another thing you could do with a cooking network working on a new recipe or perfecting an existing one. Or just share your experiences with the other members getting tips on how to interpret a specific recipe is another benefit.

A lot depends on the organisers, in the case of an online cooking network most of the times this is the owner or moderator (they can be both). Other then the design of the website the moderator also will be the one who is responsible for the theme of the group, this can be very restrictive and depends on the interest the moderator/owner and the other founding members of the group. But nothing tells you can’t be a member of more then one cooking network. You can become a member of several groups all with their own interest.

Themes for a cooking network website can be very different. A network can be about cooking deserts or just about light cooking. A network can be about telling each other the latest and greatest in kitchen appliances.

Other networks close to cooking

When you think about it there are networks that are close to cooking. Network with members who specialise in food or special ingredients. Cooking networks should always keep in contact with these other networks because both could benefit from the contacts between these networks.

An owner or moderator of an online cooking network should always be working on keeping the network alive. This can be done by keeping the site up to date and to do continuous maintenance. Keep it attractive for visitors to keep coming back and for people to become a member of the cooking network. If a cooking network website is not of a specific theme the owner could think about organizing special theme weeks or longer periods. Looking at a specific cooking theme and getting others involved in writing articles about them.

In the end a cooking network is all about meeting other people who get the same joy from cooking as you do. If the network is an online one then be prepared to meet people who enjoy cooking from all over the world. Don’t be shy, that one special recipe could be waiting for you.

Cooking

How to Cook Pork Shoulder Its All In The Rub

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Fall, Football and BBQ at the tail gate or on the patio; how can it get better than this?

Pork Shoulder is a great choice for a main fare feature at your next gathering and it has two great advantages. First, it is easy to prepare and second, you can feed a group for somewhere south of three dollars a pound. The pork shoulder is the front leg of the pig and comes in two different cuts. I like the butt cut, which is the top side of the leg and has less bone in it than what is called the picnic cut. The one we recently prepared was a six and a half pound roast, which served twelve people, with some left over.

Most pork shoulder recipes call for using a smoker, which is the key to cooking a pork shoulder, mainly because it is an indirect heat source and allows for a long slow cooking process. Dont have a smoker? No problem, neither do we. Just remember that the process requires indirect heat. Here are the keys to grilling a pork shoulder, using a three burner gas grill.

It starts with the rub. In a small bowl mix the following ingredients:
cup organic paprika
2 Tbs Salt
2 Tbs Pepper
2 Tbs organic cumin
2 Tbs organic garlic powder
2 Tbs. chile powder
3 Tbs brown sugar

Coat the pork shoulder with the rub. Be liberal. A 6 8 lb. roast should use the entire rub mix. By the way, dont cut off any of the fat on the roast. The butt cut usually has one side with a layer of fat and you want it. Once you have the roast well coated with the rub, put it in the refrigerator and let it set. Overnight works best, but if time does not permit, at least give it a couple of hours.

Using a three burner grill works great. You will need an aluminum pan, a raised rack and some foil. Follow these steps:
Turn the two outside burners on at low heat.
Place the pan, with the rack directly over it, on the middle burner.
Put your pork shoulder on the rack, fat side up.
Close the lid.

Dont open the lid for three hours. No peeking! At the end of three hours check the internal temperature of the roast. If its in the 130 140 range you are right on track and your roast should look like its done, but its not. Next, cover the roast with a tent of foil, reduce the heat to one burner and close the lib. In about 2 -3 more hours you should have a pork shoulder ready to serve at an internal temp of 185 degrees.

Enjoy!

Cooking

Caja China Style vs. Open Fire Pit Cooking

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When talking about a spit, most people are talking about rotisserie style cooking. Cooking a whole hog rotisserie style is something that can take between 8-10 hours or more. A pig rotisserie also usually requires someone to turn the spit regularly to make sure that the whole pig is cooking evenly. Neither of these is true when using a caja china style roasting box (or cajun microwave for our friends in Louisiana.) One of the biggest advantages of using La Caja Asadora pig roasters is that you will save 25-40% of the time you would spend cooking a hog rotisserie style. For example, a 50 lb. whole pig roast will take about 4 hours rather than 6-8. Cooking in a La Caja Asadora or La Caja China box is also more efficient, using just 2-3 bags of charcoal rather than chord of wood for in-ground rotisserie spit methods. Also, caja chinas (Cajun microwaves) are compact, self-contained units that can be used in the city, the suburbs, or out in the country just like any other barbecue pit. There is no need to dig a hole, buy bricks, or anything else required for a whole pig rotisserie.

One of the most underrated advantages of the caja china style la caja asadora roasters that there is no need to worry about bad weather! Caja china grills come with wheels and long handles for easy portability, and can easily be moved into a covered area. Now as important as all those things are, here’s the one that matters the mostthe taste. Because these pig roasters function in many respects like a huge pressure cooker, the pork (or other meat) comes out incredibly moist, juicy, and savory. The open spit rotisserie method often leaves the meat dry and tough.

In addition to the flavor of the meat inside the box, a caja china pig roaster also has accessories that will allow you to grill on top of the box while roasting inside it. The top grill accessory can be used to prepare burgers, hot dogs, chicken, skewers, or just about any other item you can fit on the grill. In my experience, the china box itself is a guaranteed conversation piece at every party and event. A group will inevitably gather around the hog cooker, usually marveling at the smell of what’s coming out of the box!

For details and information on how to order your roaster, recipe book, or any of the other accessories visit www.shoplatintouch.com. Join the grill master community at

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