Mastering main dishes requires techniques for moisture retention, safe reheating of seafood, and adapting recipes for Keto or low-sodium dietary needs.
In the U.S., filet mignon is a beef cut taken from the larger end of the cow's tapered tenderloin muscle. The cut is boneless, relatively lean and typically 1 to 2 inches thick. Its tender texture makes it ideal for broiling.
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Freeze an uncooked beef roast within three to five days of purchase if you aren't preparing it. Keep it frozen in its unopened packaging for up to a year.
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The center cut half-boneless loin is considered one of the prime pork roast cuts. This cut includes part of the backbone. The bone adds flavor to the meat and accelerates cooking a bit.
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Early white bush scallop squash is a variety of summer squash more familiarly known as pattypan squash. Taking their nickname from their scalloped edges, pattypan squash are white, yellow or light or dark green.
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Filet mignon is the most tender cut of beef, and you pay for the privilege of it gracing your plate. It's not a particularly flavorful cut, though, due to its lack of fat marbling. Of course, that translates to less saturated fat, cholesterol and calories, which is a good thing.
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Sirloin tip steak -- more widely known as flap meat -- is surprisingly flavorful and tender given its relatively low cost. This cheap cut does well with fast cooking methods like pan searing and grilling, but with a little tenderizing marination, you can turn out a great baked sirloin tip steak, too.
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The giant, melt-in-your-mouth tender porterhouse steak is undoubtedly the king of steaks, containing both a New York strip and a filet mignon all in one. It's more common to pan-sear a porterhouse to develop its crust then finish cooking it in the oven, but you can also pan-fry the steak all the way.
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Cooking a beef roast well-done makes the meat less tender and juicy, and considerably more chewy, than beef cooked to a lower temperature. For this reason, it's important to pick the best beef cuts for roasting. Loin, chuck and rib meat are optimal, being the most tender and juicy cuts.
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Baking a ham roast is a fairly simple process. If your ham is frozen, you'll get the best results by defrosting it in the refrigerator before cooking. Give the ham at least seven hours per pound to thaw in the refrigerator. You can also bake a frozen ham, but it will take about 1.
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Broiling is a healthy cooking method, letting you prepare pork loin without added fat and calories from oil or butter. It's also quick and relatively hand-off, so even novice cooks can pull it off successfully with little opportunity for error.
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A boneless veal roast is an elegant alternative to more common homemade roasts. Top round and leg cuts of veal are optimal for roasting, as they're resilient, juicy and flavorful. Veal is usually more expensive than other roasting meats and poultry.
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Rib-eye is a high-quality cut with nice fat marbling in tender, flavorful meat. Its saturated fat, cholesterol and calorie content make it a delicious dish best enjoyed in moderation, but you can make it a bit healthier by baking it rather than cooking it in oil on the stove top.
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Tilapia is a low-cost lean protein, making it a satisfying, health-conscious entree choice. However, while fish is touted for health benefits from omega-3 fatty acids, tilapia is relatively low in them. It also contains more omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3s, which may be detrimental.
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A ham steak is a cut of ham purchased uncooked or smoked. They're generally between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick. Ham steaks make a convenient meal, especially for one or two people, being smaller, quicker and less complicated to prepare than an entire ham roast or other pork dish.
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Shrimp is a low-fat, low-calorie food that can easily be sauteed in minutes on the stove top. Shrimp is rich in high-quality protein, and it's a good source of potassium, phosphorous, magnesium and vitamin A. It's worth noting, though, that shrimp is high in cholesterol and sodium.
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There is nothing wrong with baking frozen hamburger patties in the oven. Although putting frozen hamburger meat in the oven increases the cooking time, it is still a quicker option than properly defrosting the patties first.
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A flounder fillet is a healthy, high-protein, low-calorie, fast-cooking, light, delicately flavored piece of fish to which you can do just about anything your palate desires. These particularly thin fillets are tricky to cook on the grill or on the stove, but they're entirely manageable in the oven.
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Technically, a picnic ham isn't ham; it's pork. Ham is defined as a cut of meat taken from the top of the hind legs of a pig. A picnic ham, on the other hand, is a cut of pork taken from the pig's front legs, and it includes part of the shoulder.
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Though technically a dark meat, chicken thighs are an agreeable middle ground for lovers of dark or white meat. They're more tender, flavorful and juicy than white meat, without a pronounced dark-meat taste.
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Baked salmon is a healthy entree that's simple to cook and versatile enough that you can find plenty of recipes to prepare without ever tiring of this fish. When cooking salmon, the size factor most directly affecting cooking times is its thickness; the thicker the cut, the longer it takes to cook through.
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