Kitchen Survival Recipe Guide
You open the cookbook and see a recipe title or a photo that
tempts your tastebuds. Then you start to read the recipe,
realize the preparation is more difficult than you first
thought, and put the book back on the shelf.
Sound Familiar? Well here's a simple guide to help get you
started:
1. Abbreviations for Measuring
Tsp. = teaspoon
Tbsp. = tablespoon, which equals 3 teaspoons
C = cup.
Tip: Get a set of measuring spoons. The set will usually have
1/4 tsp., 1/3 tsp., 1/2 tsp., 1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon.
Dry measure cups look like little saucepans and can be leveled
off with a knife or other straight-edged tool. They come in
sets like the measuring spoons. Liquid measuring cups have
ounce marking lines so you can measure however many ounces you
need.
Tip: Some recipes require exact measurements to turn out right
so learn to measure correctly.
2. Common Ingredients
Make sure you know what you need.
Tips:
- Baking powder and baking soda are not the same.
- Ask the produce manager at the market about fruits and
vegetables, the meat manager about cuts of meat.
- When trying something new, buy ONE. You can always go back for more if it
turns out well.
3. Common Terminology
- Bake: Dry heat in the oven. Set oven control to the desired
temperature while you're preparing the dish to be baked. Once
the light that says it's heating turns off, the oven is at the
proper temperature. Then put in the food--for best results,
center it in the oven.
- Boil: Heat a liquid until it bubbles. The faster the bubbles
rise and the more bubbles you get, the hotter the liquid. Some
recipes call for a gentle boil--barely bubbling--or a rolling
boil--just short of boiling over. Watch so it doesn't boil
over.
- Braise: A moist cooking method using a little liquid that
barely bubbles on the top of the stove or in the oven. This is
a good way to tenderize cheaper cuts of meat. The pan should be
heavy and shallow with a tight-fitting lid to keep the liquid
from boiling away. There's a lot that can be done for flavoring
in your choice of liquid and of vegetables to cook with the
meat.
- Broil: Turn the oven to its highest setting. Put the food on
broiler pan--a 2 piece pan that allows the grease to drain away
from the food. In an electric oven on the broil setting only the
upper element heats, and you can regulate how fast the food
cooks by how close to the element you place it. Watch your
cooking time--it's easy to overcook food in the broiler.
- Brown: Cook until the food gets light brown. Usually used for
frying or baking. Ground beef should usually be browned (use a
frying pan) and have the grease drained before adding it to a
casserole or meat sauce.
- Fold: A gentle mixing method that moves the spoon down to the
bottom of the bowl and then sweeps up, folding what was on the
bottom up over the top. This is used to mix delicate
ingredients such as whipped cream or beaten egg whites. These
ingredients just had air whipped into them, so you don't want
to reverse that process by mixing too vigorously.
- Simmer: Heat to just the start of a boil and keep it at that
point for as long as the recipe requires. The recipe will
usually call for either constant stirring or stirring at
certain intervals.
Now you are ready to do the shopping and prepare that recipe
that you've always wanted to try!
Happy cooking...
About The Author: You too, can manoeuvre in the unfamiliar
waters of gourmet cuisine, with just a few well-learned
techniques that are easy to master, and build a repertoire of
literally hundreds of dishes and deserts. Let Geoffrey set you
on the path today, to gastronomical delights!
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