Mastering main dishes requires techniques for moisture retention, safe reheating of seafood, and adapting recipes for Keto or low-sodium dietary needs.
A well-prepared rack of ribs is one of the best arguments for long, slow cooking methods. Whether braised in your slow cooker, slow-roasted in your oven or smoke-roasted over low coals in traditional barbecue fashion, ribs cook to a lush, tender richness.
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Louisiana is known as one of America's great culinary capitals, and crawfish are among the most celebrated of Louisiana's cuisine. From December until June -- and especially during the spring when they're most plentiful -- crawfish are a mealtime staple.
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The brisket is one of the most challenging pieces of beef to cook well. A thick slab of muscle from the steer's chest, it's filled with dense muscle fibers and tough connective tissue. Cooked by most methods, it would be as tough as an old shoe.
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The difference between good beef and great beef is sometimes due to the qualities of the animal itself. More often, however, the difference is because of how that beef is handled after slaughter. Most modern beef is wet-aged, an economical and cost-effective process.
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When they're properly made, meatballs are moist, tender and juicy. Unfortunately, even the best of cooks occasionally produce a batch that fall well short of that ideal. If you're in the unfortunate position of making up a batch of meatballs only to find them hard and dry, take heart.
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Hams include some of the most legendary of all cured meats, from French Bayonne hams to Italian prosciutto, from Chinese Yunnan hams to the Smithfields of the American South. Whether wet-cured or dry, smoked or unsmoked, the rich flavor of a good ham always comes through.
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Steaks and chops are easy to find almost anywhere, but some less-common cuts can be a challenge. Unless you know a farmer or meat-cutter, you'll almost always have to special-order beef cheeks.
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Razor fish, often referred to as razor clams, belong to a family of shellfish found in most of the world's coastal regions. Their shells are more fragile than those of most other shellfish, so they have to be harvested by hand rather than with the big dredges used for most other clams.
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In its natural state, beef brisket is one of the toughest pieces of the steer. It's a flat, leathery cut made of unusually long and stringy muscle fibers. However, when it's cooked long and slow at a low temperature, brisket is utterly transformed.
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Fried chicken is a comfort food staple, especially in the South. When it's properly prepared, the outside is crispy and golden, and the inside is moist and juicy. Occasionally, the golden appearance can be marred by trickles of blood or other red juices from inside the meat.
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A properly baked or roasted chicken is a highly satisfying dish for the cook. It will have a beautifully crisp, golden skin, savory aroma and tender, moist flesh. The trick is to cook the chicken so that it's done all the way through without allowing any portion of the bird to become overcooked.
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Jackfish are a large family of sleek predators, native to warm and temperate waters around the world. Several varieties are found along the Eastern Seaboard as far north as Nova Scotia, though they become less common as you move away from warmer Southern waters.
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When you're grilling meat on your Weber barbecue, you're typically exposing it to intense, direct heat. This cooks the meat very quickly and browns it well, but it doesn't allow a lot of time for heat to penetrate into the interior of the meat. With a steak or a chops, direct heat isn't a problem.
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Roasting and grilling are closely related cooking methods, each using indirect dry heat to cook the food. Both methods are widely used by health-conscious diners because they render fat from foods as they cook and don't require any to be added.
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You can find countless variations on meat pies made around the world. Some are baked, some are fried, some are prepared in deep dishes and others are intended to be eaten by hand. The only thing they have in common, from empanadas to Jamaican "patties"
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A countertop electric roaster can be a great convenience for busy cooks. You can use it for extra cooking capacity during holiday meals or family get-togethers, or use it as an alternative to your regular oven for roasting chickens or other meals.
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Rabbit is one of the easiest game animals for novices to work with, because of its compact size. Rabbit is easy to cut up and doesn't require a lot of complicated preparation, and ordinary methods are usually all that's required to cook it.
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Like any shellfish, crabs are highly perishable and their quality deteriorates quickly once they're taken from the sea. In populous coastal areas it's possible to buy good quality fresh crab, but in much of the country, the best option is frozen snow crab or king crab legs.
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For busy cooks who want to put healthful meals on the table in a hurry, a freezer filled with salmon portions can be a great comfort. Its mild but rich flavor makes it a versatile ingredient. Its high levels of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids make it a virtuous option.
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Venison, even from farm-raised deer, is much leaner than conventional beef. This affects how you cook it, because fat is an insulator. The leaner, denser flesh of a deer will cook more quickly than a comparable piece of beef, and requires both a lower temperature and a shorter cooking time.
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