Master professional cooking techniques like slow-cooking a ribeye roast or pressure-cooking dried chickpeas. From ingenious hacks like making onion rings with pancake mix to reheating Chinese food, improve your kitchen efficiency.
The striped pangasius, also known as "iridescent shark," is a variety of catfish native to Southeast Asia's Mekong River. Like the American channel catfish, it is well suited to aquaculture and widely grown for both the domestic and export markets. It can't be marketed in the U.S.
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There's no substitute for cooking ribs outdoors over charcoal, but when that isn't an option, your indoor convection oven can be a viable alternative.
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Balancing a busy schedule with healthful, home-cooked meals is no easy feat. It usually requires a degree of organization and planning, and preparing foods ahead of time whenever possible. Some ingredients, such as fresh vegetables, can be partially cooked ahead of time. Others, such as chicken, can not.
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For health-conscious diners who avoid processed foods but don't have the time to work entirely from scratch, many retailers offer quality entrees that are already prepared and just need to be cooked. For example, stuffed salmon is readily available from supermarkets and seafood retailers.
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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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Beef brisket is one of many tough cuts of meat that have been turned into savory specialties by ingenious cooks. In its native state brisket is so ridiculously tough it could easily be mistaken for a dog's chew toy or a piece of an old boot.
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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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Almost anyone can manage to grill a decent steak or hamburger, but cooking chicken on the barbecue is more problematic. All too often it's overcooked and stringy, or charred on the outside but still raw at the bone.
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When major outbreaks of foodborne illness occur, news coverage tends to focus on the food's producers and manufacturers. It makes for good ratings and readership, but glosses over the fact that good food handling in the home can sharply reduce the risks.
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Shoulder cuts of pork are used for a number of preparations, from fork-tender pulled pork to ham-like smoked shoulders. One unusual form of pork shoulder is the so-called "cottage roll," common in Canada and Britain but seldom seen in American meat cases.
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Most snow crab is caught in the frigid waters of Alaska, and very little is transported south as live crab. Ordinarily the crabs are boiled or steamed right on the boat or as soon as they're landed, then blast-frozen to maintain their quality at its fresh peak.
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Cuts of beef -- from the delicate tenderloin to the flavorful but leather-tough shank -- vary widely in flavor and tenderness. Often, a tough large cut contains one or two small muscles that are unusually tender, which can be separated out by a careful meat cutter.
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Lobster tails are often sold raw and frozen in the shell, but it's less common with whole lobsters. They're ordinarily pre-cooked and then blast-frozen at the processing plant, to preserve the fresh and delicate flavor of the lobsters and make them more durable for shipping and storage.
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Working with fresh crabs can be awkward. They're highly perishable once they're killed, and require a degree of cleaning and preparation. If they're still alive they'll defend themselves vigorously, at some hazard to your fingers.
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The intense heat of a charcoal or gas grill gives foods a deeply savory flavor, but it isn't always the most practical way to cook. A ridged stovetop grill pan isn't an ideal replacement, but it's still a useful tool for preparing chicken and other meats when your outdoor grill isn't an option.
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Meats have traditionally been roasted at relatively high temperatures, ranging from a moderate 350 degrees Fahrenheit, to well over 400 F for especially small or tender cuts such as pork tenderloins. Tougher and fattier cuts, such as the shoulder, benefit from long and slower cooking at relatively low temperatures.
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Venison is a lean and well-flavored meat, much lower in saturated fats than mainstream alternatives such as beef and lamb. That makes it a fine choice for grilling or slow-cooking, but venison alone is too lean to make a decent sausage.
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