Get the most out of your grilled meats by enhancing their flavor with just a few quick and easy steps.
Tip of the Day: How to instantly add extra oomph to your grilled meats
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An easier way season your cast iron + a handy tip!
In January, Marisa alerted us to an article at Kitchn about seasoning your cast iron cookware. This is the technique I have always used -- lather pan in the oil/shortening and bake it upside down in your oven. Unfortunately, the last time I did this, I put a baking sheet underneath, rather than foil, and made a mess that ruined my pan.
But it looks like there is an easier way! Michael Ruhlman posted an ode to cast iron the other day, and listed a seasoning technique from The Elements of Cooking. It's the same idea, but easier. Just pour a half-inch layer of oil into a pan, and cook it over high heat until very hot, or just in a 300 degree oven for an hour. Considering how wonderfully shiny and seasoned his pans look, I imagine it does the job!
But there is one other thing I wished I had read before: "Turn them upside down and use them as a pizza stone." Of course, I read this two weeks after I finally buy a stone. That's always the way.
Tip of the Day: Clean stained "stainless" steel
They call it stainless steel. But your once-shiny knives, bowls and pots end up with greasy, yellowy splotches. What gives? And what to do?
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Tips for saving at the grocery store
Here are a few tips on how to save at the grocery store, straight from the grocer's mouth via the New York Times business section. Tom Heinen, owner of the Cleveland-area Heinen's Fine Foods chain, gives us the dirt. This is a recap:
1) DIY everything is not always your best bet. Sometimes it can be cheaper to buy certain pre-washed, pre-cut or otherwise pre-prepared items, because the factory that makes them probably wastes less lettuce/pepper/carrot than you would.
2) Look for local "artisan deals," like Wisconsin cheddar instead of the imported New Zealand kind, or locally grown radishes. If your grocery doesn't have good local deals, ask why not. Whole Foods does.
3) In fact, ask tons of questions of store employees. What's the best deal this week? What did you buy for your own kitchen today? I'm guessing this wouldn't work too well at your local Supervalu. Try it, and let me know!
Extreme Grilling: Grill green
In the era of "green" mink coats and "green" toenail polish, it's no surprise that there's a ton of advice out there on how to grill green this summer. Here are some of the top hints from across the wide, wide Web.
AOL Food has a whole slew of green tips. Try using a chimney starter rather than lighter fluid to get your briquettes going - it puts off way less CO2.
The Green Daily suggests buying a hybrid grill, so you can use the more efficient electric or gas element for the main source of heat and burn just a bit of wood for that charred aroma.
Char your burgers with environmentally-friendly charcoal: Nature's Grilling all-natural charcoal has no added chemicals or fillers, just pure carbonized wood. Their briquettes, they say, burn hotter and longer with less ash and no acrid aftertaste. Plus, they're made from wood harvested from region's that meet strict "resource management practices" and the company claims to plant 1,000,000 trees a year to lower their carbon footprint. Cowboy Charcoal also promises all-natural charcoal with no petroleum taste.
The Sierra Club lists their favorite environmentally-friendly grills. Consider a solar grill, like the Sport Solar Oven. At just ten pounds, you can carry it on picnics, on your boat and to the beach. On a sunny day, it can reach temperatures up to 260 degrees in the United States, up to 300 degrees in equatorial regions.
Lastly, use a non-toxic cleaner, like SoyClean BBQ Grill Cleaner, a soy-based product which is biodegradable, easy on your hands, and doesn't emit caustic fumes. Orange Plus cleanser is phosphate free and biodegradable, but promises to get the touch greasy bits off the grill.
You can even buy completely biodegradable disposable plates made of sugar cane and cornstarch, from Simply Biodegradable. Throw it all away in their compostable eco garbage bags, and Al Gore will come paste a gold star on your forehead.
Tip of the Day: Make your own Play-Doh
Stuck in the house with a couple of bored children and nothing but a few pantry basics? Time for DIY Play-Doh.
The New York Times Dining & Wine section in 60 seconds: Summer drinks special
Special summer drinks guide: blender drinks. Do you know what goes into a 'Missionary's Downfall?'
Wine critic Eric Asimov goes virgin with a root beer review.
The Minimalist talks modern mixed drinks. Kamikaze, anyone?
The Croque-Monsiur, France's answer to the ham and cheese, is the perfect bar food.
Forget the kegerator. Real brewski lovers have beer cellars.
Talk about a king sized Kit Kat bar!
Are you a fan of the Kit Kat candy bar? I must admit to enjoying one occasionally. Well, whether you do or don't like Kit Kats, I think you'll get a kick out if this.
Over at Supersized Meals, you can see, step by step, the making of a giant Kit Kat bar! I mean, seriously, this thing is awesome. If you ever wanted a candy bar that has about 45, 888 calories but still fits in the refrigerator (barely), then this one is for you. Enjoy, 'cause you're gonna need a lot of breaks for this Kit Kat bar.
Tip of the Day: How to buy the right amount of cheese
A question one often asks when buying cheeses is how much to bring home. Although it may be tempting to purchase a quarter wheel of Manchego, cheeses are best eaten when cut fresh, it's a better to buy cheeses that you'll be able to eat that week.
Continue reading Tip of the Day: How to buy the right amount of cheese
Coal smoking and corn bruschetta from Archana
If you're a sucker for veggies on bread, and love how-to's that keep you from buying extra cooking utensils and products, you've got to check out the two latest posts over at Archana's Kitchen.
First, she's shared a coal smoking method that allows you to get the tandoor taste on your gas stove. That is, if you're lucky enough to have a gas stove. She says: "You will get the feel and aroma that the food has just come out of the coal grill or a tandoor." All it takes is the gas stove, a cup to put inside the pot, one coal, and some ghee.
Secondly, there's a tasty recipe for Smoked Baby Corn Bruschetta. Being smoked it, of course, requires the coal smoking method, but I'm sure this recipe would also taste really great without the added step. It's corn, tomatoes, basil, and goat cheese.
Extreme Grilling: My pig pickin'
I've always wanted to throw my own pig pickin,' and my departure from
Pickin' (ALWAYS drop the 'g') have been a stable of church fundraisers, family reunions and political rallies in the South since long before the Civil War, as pork was always much cheaper than beef. You can't feed 100 people much more cheaply than with a nice hog and all the fixin's - baked beans, hush puppies, slaw and sweet tea.
Gallery: Pig Pickin'
Tip of the Day: Fix a broken Hollandaise
A satiny, butter-yellow Hollandaise is a beautiful thing, whether spooned over poached eggs or dribbled on lightly cooked asparagus. A 'broken' hollandaise, however, is a nasty, grainy, wet mess.
Matcha fruit smoothies
Are you an avid tea drinker looking for a different way to enjoy your tea this summer? A lot of tea drinkers go iced in the warm summer months, some even adding lemonade to their iced tea, but there is an even colder way to enjoy your tea in the summer months if you enjoy green tea: smoothies!Below you will find the recipe for my personal summer tea concoction, which will require matcha (powdered green tea). Matcha is high in caffeine content compared to regular steeped tea, so you may not want to indulge in one of these smoothies too late in the day.
INGREDIENTS
1 tsp matcha (powdered green tea)
4 oz. cup of fruit-flavored yogurt (Light 'n Fit works well, low in sugar)
frozen strawberries (or other desired fruit)
frozen peach slices (or other desired fruit)
apple juice
Teaware 101: Leaving tea bags behind
Even the more casual tea drinkers know these days that loose leaf teas provide a better quality cup of tea, lacking in that "paper bag" taste that can often be experienced when drinking bagged tea. More and more companies are providing nylon mesh tea bags that impart less of that flavor, but there is still the issue of the tea leaves having little room to unfurl.One of the most common excuses for not jumping into the realm of loose leaf tea is that most people who've been making bagged tea for the entire span of their tea-drinking existence don't know how to conveniently and easily make a cup of loose leaf tea, which is all about knowing what equipment you need.
Traditional teaware varies, depending on the type of tea, but basic teaware to start off a journey into quality tea is less complicated. Many start with a tea infuser (often called a tea ball or sometimes a tea egg), but really, the typical tea infuser is still quite small and confining, and will likely hinder the proper diffusion of the tea leaves as they try to properly expand in the hot water.
Lingering food smells? Try this
Be it fish, garlic, or cabbage, dinner is delicious - until it's all gone, but its scent remains in the air, permeating the furniture and generally grossing you out.Aside from sticking a fan in the window and setting it to 'exhaust,' Apartment Therapy has some great suggestions on how to get rid of those lingering odors:
- Leave a dish of vinegar on the counter overnight, or leave it out while you're cooking (careful of boiling it, though, because then you'll replace the fish smell with vinegar, and that's not really any better)
- Simmer a mixture of half-vinegar, half-water on the stove
- Simmer a mixture of lemon and orange rinds on the stove for about half an hour. Throw some cloves in, too, if you have them
- Before you cook fish, core and slice an apple into thin layers. Then submerge the apples and fry them in oil until they turn brown. Then, go ahead and cook your fish.
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A good trick for saving summer herbs for future use
