This letter was recently posted to our general question and answer forum.
"Ok ladies you are experienced cooks so some of the questions I might ask will make you laugh and also make you wonder how I have made it this far in life without knowing the basics but here goes. When making recipes it is not the ingedients that confuse me(only sometimes) it's the simple terms such as mix together, now is that by hand or with a electric mixer? Crush or chop is that by using a food processer if so what setting and for how long? Melting butter in the microwave or on the stove top or doesn't it matter? How about when a recipe states mix these four items together and add, do you really need a separate dish or can you just add to the top and then mix? I hope everyone can now understand why they always have me do the dishes instead of cooking, but I want to change that.
Thanks all!
Kay"
Friday, October 16, 2009
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Your questions really make me smile. I love your candid humility in admitting how silly you feel in the kitchen, and I can remember a time when I felt the same! Sometimes (especially when I watch those cooking shows on TV), I still feel that way!
ReplyDeleteI would highly recommend Betty Crocker's cookbook. I got one of those when my husband and I got married and have used it on a very regular basis since... and mostly for tips like this, not recipes. She has an awesome Hints and Tips section in the front with pictures and definitions and instructions. I would be where you are without that, too! And within the book she has several charts with cooking times and temps in detailed instructions for meats, vegetables, etc. The Joy of Cooking is also a very thorough cookbook that answers EVERY SINGLE question you could come up with. However, the pictures are small and black and white, the print is very small, and the book itself is well over 1000 pages. I find it to be too overwhelming at times, but glad for it when Betty Crocker doesn't answer my questions.
I'll try to field a few of your questions here and post more on the subjects later.
Mix usually means hand or stand mixer. Stir together means you can just mix with a spoon. Blend probably means hand or stand mixer also, unless they specify "with a blender." Whip probably means using a mixer at a high speed until the ingredients are fluffy. And Whisk would just use a wire whisk to stir, probably for a shorter amount of time since they are helping you avoid getting out the mixer.
Although you can chop and crush with a food processor, it's usually easier to do it by hand unless you are making large quantities.
Slice is flat pieces of the same size (like carrot or cucumber).
ReplyDeleteCube is 1/2 inch or wider symmetrical pieces.
Dice is 1/2 inch or narrower symmetrical pieces.
Chop is cut all up into irregular sizes.
Crush (usually garlic) is to press with the side of the knife, mallet or rolling pin to break into small pieces.
Mince is cutting food into very fine pieces, which is smaller than just chopped.
Puree generally means to make the food so small that it basically liquifies it--usually with a blender.
I prefer to melt my butter and margarine in the microwave because I think it browns on the stove top. I just do it for 30 or 45 second intervals at power level 3. I also usually melt it in a tall thick drinking glass (made of glass) so it has less chance of squirting all over the microwave. If it just calls for "softened" in the recipe then I only put the butter or margarine in the microwave for about 20 seconds on power level 3 to get it to room temperature. Not melted.
If a recipe says to mix four items then add... I would assume that means to put the four items in the bowl, mix them up, and after they are mixed you can dump the next ingredients on top and proceed to mix as directed.
Keep the questions coming. Like I said, I'll try to post more tips and tricks in the next few weeks that have been the most helpful hints for myself through the years.
Just a note about combining a set of ingredients together before mixing them with other ingredients: The reason why you need to do this is for proper distribution of the ingredients throughout the finished dish. For example, one time I was making pancakes, and I added the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients without mixing the dry ingredients together first. The flour - of which there was a fair amount - ended up pretty evenly distributed throughout the batter. On the other hand, the salt - of which there was a small amount - ended up concentrated in a couple of pancakes. Maple syrup with salt was not a good combination. :-)
ReplyDeleteIf you are like me and want to know the "why" of cooking things, Alton Brown is an excellent resource. He has a show on Food Network called "Good Eats." He also has a couple of books that hold a wealth of information - "I'm Just Here for the Food" and "I'm Just Here for More Food."