Mastering the kitchen involves understanding healthy fat profiles, variety-specific grain preparation, and safe food handling techniques.
Frugal homemakers and professional chefs are equally attached to the tough, chewy unloved cuts of beef. These are the muscles that are worked the hardest during an animal's life, and they're filled with tough, dense muscle tissues and a high percentage of stringy connective tissues.
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Whether you prefer long spaghetti noodles or one of the other shapes including farfalle or macaroni, pasta can be prepared ahead of time and then refrigerated for a quick meal later.
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As the name suggests, large lima beans are a supersized version of the pale green legume. Up to an inch long, they have a mild flavor and creamy, buttery texture. Lima beans pack a nutritious punch, as well. One 1/2-cup serving provides 5 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein with no fat or cholesterol.
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Chicken wingettes are the two larger pieces you get when you snip a chicken wing into three pieces and discard the tip. Chicken wingettes are often breaded and deep fried, but you can prepare chicken wingettes in the oven if you are watching fat and calories.
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Cakes need to be completely cool before you attempt to frost them, lay on fondant or apply other decorations. Cakes can stay in the baking pan to cool overnight, but you'll need to do a little work after taking them out of the oven to ensure the cakes retain their shapes and consistency.
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Crock-Pots are synonymous with long braises and slow stewing -- cooking methods that hold meat above 210 degrees Fahrenheit for several hours -- but if you monitor the internal temperature of a roast, you can remove it when it reaches medium rare, or 130 F.
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Hotdogs are a perennial favorite for cookouts or large kids' gatherings. Having to grill large quantities of them all at once is a challenge, however, and using a large roaster pan can solve that problem. The roaster gives you two choices, boiling or steaming.
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Cooking pea pods is not necessary since they are sweet and crisp when served raw, but some recipes call for them to be served hot.
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Disaccharides play important functions in the human diet. Also called double sugars, disaccharides are a type of carbohydrate that contains two sugar molecules called monosaccharides that are linked together in a compound.
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Sweet sesame seed balls are a Chinese sweet treat usually eaten on special occasions such as Chinese New Year. Only a few ingredients are needed to make sweet sesame seed balls, including brown candy -- also known as peen tong -- glutinous rice flour, red bean paste and sesame seeds.
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Cooking frozen fish is safe, but the results don't always turn out quite as well as when you cook defrosted fillets. The exterior of frozen fish often overcooks before the inside fully thaws and cooks through, which is a particular concern with dry-heat methods like grilling or pan searing.
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Ginger, a spice obtained from the root of Zingiber officinale, is native to southeastern Asia but now grows throughout the tropical regions of the Unites States, West Indies, China and India.
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Cayenne pepper is a chili pepper that belongs to the nightshade family of plants, which includes paprika, tomato and eggplant. The peppers are dried and powdered and used to make hot sauces and add spicy heat to foods, such as Buffalo-style chicken wings.
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Thai cuisine varies widely throughout Thailand, but nearly all regions have curry dishes. When you go to a Thai restaurant, you are almost certain to encounter red, green or yellow curries with possible ingredients such as noodles, high-protein foods, vegetables, spices, peanuts and coconut sauce.
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A 12-ounce beer can range in calories from 140 to 200, and a light beer averages 100 calories or more. While it can add flavor to food, beer also increases the calories in a recipe and may add alcohol, depending on how it is prepared.
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When it's impractical to use the temperature advised in a recipe, such as an 800-degree oven used for baking pizza, home cooks can sometimes produce similar results by changing the cooking time accordingly.
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If you are a pasta lover, you likely enjoy the fresh taste of pasta that is made from scratch. Making your own pasta noodles at home requires just a few simple ingredients, such as flour, eggs and salt, or you can expand the taste by adding other flavors like garlic, spinach or onion.
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For some outdoor chefs, cooking chicken turns the grill into a hot seat and a relaxed outdoor meal into a fire drill with refreshments. Getting chicken done means getting it dry, at best, or burned, at worst.
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Using a Crock-Pot to prepare a large batch of steamed rice is the next best thing if you don't have a rice cooker. While rice is traditionally steam-cooked on the stove, it's easy to burn the rice if you're not paying close attention.
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Mackerel is one example of the fatty fish the American Heart Association recommends eating two or more times per week. It provides protein, unsaturated fats and other nutrients with fewer calories and less saturated fat and cholesterol than red meats.
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