Mastering the kitchen involves understanding healthy fat profiles, variety-specific grain preparation, and safe food handling techniques.
Air-popped popcorn is a healthy snack. A 1-cup serving has only a trace amount of fat and no cholesterol, and is a source of dietary fiber and nutrients, such as manganese, iron and magnesium.
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Ground bison is a good alternative to regular ground beef, says The Kitchn food writer Regina Yunghans. While a 3-ounce patty prepared from 70-percent lean ground beef has 183 total calories, 12 grams of fat and 4.
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Several things can go wrong when you are baking a cake; one of the most common problems is when the outside burns. Often, even though the exterior of the cake has burnt, the batter on the inside is still not cooked. Keep the exterior of the cake from heating too quickly and ensure the interior cooks evenly.
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Beef roast doesn't have to be expensive. Rump roast, a cut taken from the bottom round or rear leg, is lean, full of flavor and economical. Handled incorrectly, however, rump roast can end up tough and dry. The trick, says CourierPress.com writer Aimee Blume, is to cook it slowly over low heat.
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Sea scallops are high in protein, low in both saturated fat and cholesterol and rich in nutrients like vitamin B-12 and selenium. They are also a good source of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids while containing little mercury contamination. According to "How to Cook Everything"
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Although lamb is pricey in most parts of the country, a few overlooked cuts still offer good value. One is lamb flaps, known more formally as breast of lamb. It's the portion of the animal's chest that contains the gristly ends of the ribs, trimmed away when the butcher cuts racks and rib chops.
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You won't find a more effective sweetener than stevia -- it has 30 times the sweetening power of sugar -- but when you cook with it, you have to substitute for more than sweetness.
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Ginger has been used for centuries to treat a variety of ailments, from gastrointestinal upset to sinus problems. Sinus problems often occur with the common cold and can leave you with a stuffed up nose, swelling around your eyes and pain in your face and head.
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Baking square cakes is just a little bit trickier than baking round cakes. Square cake pans distribute the heat a little differently, letting the center of the cake rise faster than the corners.
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How to make a tough cut of beef more palatable is an age-old culinary conundrum. Round, chuck and other tough steaks are often tenderized via pounding with a mallet or cubing machine. Pounding the meat into a thin cutlet tenderizes it and leaves square imprints on the surface -- hence the name "cube steak."
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Fannie Merritt Farmer edited the first brownie recipe in the 1906 edition of "The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book," according to βThe Nibble,β a magazine devoted to specialty foods. Household chefs quickly improvised recipes and techniques to make rich, delicious brownies with a consistent texture from edge to center.
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Sherry is a brandy-fortified wine used in cooking to add acidity and depth of flavor. While an appropriate replacement for sherry in cooking depends upon the specific recipe, chicken broth or plain water are often acceptable substitutes.
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A Chicago-style steak is charred on the surface and cooked to your desired doneness on the inside, according to The BBQ Experiment. Any type of steak can be prepared Chicago-style, though it's best to choose lean cuts such as strip steak or T-bone steak.
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While many may associate ravioli as something that comes from a can, drips with tomato sauce and makes a quick lunch on the fly, ravioli is so much more than that. The tiny pillows of pasta are filled with cheeses, meats and herbs and are often boiled before being served under a layer of sauce.
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A slightly healthier alternative to deep fried chicken is baked, pan-seared chicken. Searing or pan frying the chicken gives a nice flavor, while finishing off the chicken in the oven cuts back on the amount of fat used in the process.
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White rice is a perfectly healthy food, especially when it is enriched with vitamins, which is commonly done in the 21st century. It is low in calories, low in fats, high in carbohydrates and supplies a good amount of protein. White rice gets a bad rap, and perhaps deservedly so.
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You can still bake a light, flavorful cake while reducing the fat and calories from your recipe. Butter, which is high is fat and calories, works together with leaveners such as baking powder, to give cake a delicate, light consistency while also giving it a rich, delicious flavor and a tender crumb.
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Buttermilk is available in almost every dairy case in every supermarket, but it remains tragically unappreciated. Too sour for use on cereal or in your morning coffee, buttermilk can take your baked goods from "good" to "great" or from "great" to "extraordinary," adding not just flavor but improving texture and color.
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There are several different low and slow cooking methods for a beef brisket. You can use a smoker, grill, oven or even a slow cooker large enough to hold the entire beef cut. The goal of low and slow cooking is to use low temperatures for longer periods of time to evenly cook the meat inside without drying it out.
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Home-fried foods offer the crisp and gorgeous golden crust so appealing in commercially fried products -- but often without unnecessary salt, sugar and additives added in industrial kitchens.
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