Archive for June, 2010

Delicious Suggestions on Making Desserts

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

The wide variety of flavors, textures and intensities found in different gourmet cheeses makes for an infinite number of ways to serve and enjoy them. One way – serving cheese with ice cream – is sure to get your guests talking.

Try these delicious suggestions and you’ll be sure to spark a memorable encore to your gourmet get together!

Ice cream and cheese

Gourmet cheese and ice cream makes for a luxurious treat that will surprise and impress those who’ve never enjoyed them together. The creaminess of cheeses like brie is amplified when paired with the cool, refreshing texture of iced cream. The result is a velvety, tasty and cool combination.

When you are in the mood for a rich dessert, pair some chocolate ice cream with brie cheese. For a more mild combo try pairing brie or camambert with a vanilla or coffee flavor – or one flavored with natural cheese compliments like pares, peaches, blueberries or plums.

One of a kind

Pairing cheese and ice cream creates a distinctive treat – but those who really want something new can make their own custom cheese flavor. Some flavoring suggestions include goat-cheese pear, blueberry brie and peach-camambert. Tru enthusiasts can either make their own cheese flavors from scratch with an ice cream maker or mix their favorite creamy, mild gourmet cheese together with heavy cream and add it to store-bought vanilla. Whatever preparation style you use, be sure to place the finished product in the freezer until it reaches your desired hardness level.

Back to basics

If you’re in search of a more traditional dessert with cheese to serve, we’ve got you covered with our gourmet recipes for cheesecake, pumpkin pie, and chocolate St. Andre. Browse through our whole cheese dessert recipes archive for many more recipes that feature all sorts of other great pairings and presentation styles.

Making Pasta at Your Home

Saturday, June 26th, 2010

Fresh pasta is delectable and making one’s own pasta at home is satisfying as well as relatively easy, and many individuals are deciding to make their own personal pasta due to the much better flavor as compared with shop acquired varieties. The only piece of equipment you really need is a pasta making machine (obviously, you may use a rolling pin, but unless you’re an expert the final results won’t be nearly so good). A lot of machines are meant to roll and cut the pasta dough, though there are some designs available on the market that may mix and knead the dough also. Pasta makers can be found in two basic types: manual and also automatic.

Hand powered pasta making machines are nearly always considerably less expensive than the automatic type, be prepared to spend between 30 and 120 dollars. The trade off of course is definitely the increased work you must put in. Regardless of this, many people truly find the steps involved in personally rolling the dough fulfilling. If you do not anticipate preparing pasta very often, then a manual unit may be a good choice. Look for a model with a sturdy clamp enabling you to solidly anchor it to the kitchen table top. The unit ought to come with a good variety of cutters, a flat lasagna roller and allow not less than 6 unique thickness configurations. A stainless steel product is generally the best purchase than a chrome plated one.

The majority of automatic pasta makers are basically the exact same to manual ones, with an additional motor; you simply feed the pasta to the machine and it rolls as well as cuts it on your behalf. Frequently these devices have 2 or higher speed configurations and may be used in manual mode as well. Just like manual machines, look for a stainless steel product which has a good variety of attachments.

The preceding machines tend to be effective at making numerous pasta styles, such as spaghetti, lasagna, fettuccine, etc. If you need to cook some alternative pasta types, then there are specialist machines that you can purchase. For instance, ravioli, gnocchi and cavetelle makers.

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The Country's Best Barbeque Festivals

Monday, June 21st, 2010

Pitmasters are just as competitive as they are secretive of their barbecue. So of course there are competitions to prove who is the best of the best. Every year competitions bring pitmasters and attendees from everywhere a chance to show off what they can do, share information, maybe take some classes, sample foods and usually listen to some great live music. So here are some of the country’s best Barbeque festivals.

Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue

This is the big times. Everyone who competes here has already beaten at least 50 other teams in a barbecue competition or state championship competition. This two day competition is held each fall at the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee.

But the real winners are the visitors cause they get to sample all the teams entries.

Memphis in May World Championship

One full mile of barbecue competition, vending, music, and more, now this is a long mile Id love to walk through, twice. This three days competition of takes place right on the bank of the Mississippi River and next to Beale Street.

Besides trying out the food you also have a change to judge in the People’s Choice contest and there is even a Cooker’s Caravan giving you a behind-the-scenes looks at competition cooking and a chance to talk with the pitmasters.

National BBQ Festival

In Georgia they do more than just peaches. They know BBQ. Each year the best of the best from all the counties competitions are invited to Douglas, Georgia’s Two day National BBQ Festival Best of the Best Competition, but there are more cook-offs in other categories for backyard cooks, kids, and masters of sweet potato pie. You can also visit different food vendors, antiques auctions, listen to some great music each fall.

American Royal Barbecue

Since 1980, The American Royal Barbecue brings in 500+ competitors to both the invitational and open competition. At this fair you’ll find a Texas Hold’em tournament, a rodeo event, a concerts, and of course all the BBQ goodness you can stand. So if you find yourself in Kansas City, Kansas during the fall, stop on by.

Big Pig Jig

If you like pig you need to check out the Big Pig Jig in Vienna, Georgia. Originally it was a whole-hog cooking contest, it has now expanded to include stew, ribs, sauce, etc. More than 20,000 people come and enjoy a week long festival of meats, arts-and-crafts fair, concerts, golf tournament, hog show, hog call contest, and a 5K run ( you gotta burn off those calories so you can go back and eat more!

Big Apple Barbecue Block Party

To show that the south aren’t the only ones who can BBQ, In 2003 for two summer days at New York’s Madison Square Park, some of the biggest names in Barbecue come together to show off their skills, do seminars on all things barbecue.

Making Delicious Pizzelle Cookie

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

Pizzelle is an Italian waffle cookie that is especially popular around Easter and Christmas. They are fairly large, at around five inches, and are usually made one or two at a time. It is traditionally made with a pizzelle maker, similar to a waffle iron, held by hand over a stove burner. With the creation of electric irons, they are becoming a popular snack for people who lack the time to prepare them in the old fashioned way. The irons leave a snowflake pattern on the cookies.

If you are going to make these cookies by hand, you’ll need flour, sugar, eggs, and butter, margarine, or vegetable oil. You’ll also need flavoring. Common flavorings include anise, vanilla, lemon zest, chocolate, cinnamon, and orange. If you don’t have the time or inclination to cook but still want fresh cookies, you can also buy a pizzelle mix. In some grocery stores, you can buy premade pizzelles.

There are many comparable cookies in various regions. Krumkakes from Norway are quite similar. The pizzelle is thought to be based on the crustulum, which is an ancient Roman cookie. Although pizzelle is the most common name, in the Lazio, Italy area they are called ferratelle and in Molise they might also be called cancelle.

Pizzelles can be eaten in a variety of ways. Sometimes they are had as flat cookies. They are often crunchy, but they can also be prepared in a way to make them chewy and soft. A wooden dowel can be used when they are fresh to roll the pastry into a cone shape. This pastry can then be filled with cannoli cream or another filling. A filling can also be spread on them while flat to make a sandwich cookie.

While they can be eaten year round, they are mostly known for special occasions. These include the Christmas season and Easter weekend. Italian weddings are also a common place where these are found. However, since technology makes it easier to cook fresh ones at home with little effort, they are gaining popularity as a treat that can be eaten at any time.

Though they may always be most prevalent in Italian households, they are gaining mainstream appeal. If local grocery stores don’t carry them prepackaged, they can always be purchased over the internet. Pizzelle bakers have made it simply for anyone to make up a stack of cookies on a Sunday morning. They are good both fresh and after they have cooled.

Cooking the Best Crockpot Chicken Meal

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

Chicken, is one of the most popular poultry item, consumed in every household. You can cook this in a hassle free manner by using a crockpot. The moist interior of this slow cooker lets the meat cook thoroughly and retains all its delicious flavors. Crockpot is a good appliance when you are planning to cook a leisurely meal for your family. You can start your crockpot chicken recipe overnight or early in the morning as it takes a long time (between 6 to 10 hours) to make.

However if you want to simmer that perfect crockpot dish, you have to keep in mind few techniques and tips that are very important. Every appliance has its own characteristic and you need to understand this before using it. This will help your meals turn out to be exactly how you planned it. So, let us discuss these tips for cooking the best crockpot chicken.

Firstly, you should not cook skinless portions of chicken in the crockpot. The skin will help retain the heat and juices inside the chicken while it is being cooked. If the skin is removed then the chicken will become dry and hard. Secondly, you should let the ingredients simmer in the pot for the required amount of time. Lifting off the lid time and again during the process will make the heat and moisture escape. This sets back the cooking time by about 20-30 minutes. Also, since the crockpot uses a low setting to cook, the loss in heat could spoil the dish.

The temperature that you keep the dish at is of utmost importance. The low temperature setting varies between 170 to 200 degrees F and the high setting around 300 degrees F. Whenever you are cooking a crockpot chicken make sure that the heating level goes at least up to 170 degrees, as at this point, any harmful bacteria that is there in the meat will be killed and the dish will be safe for you to eat.

It is ideal to use the leg and thigh portions for cooking a crockpot chicken recipe. These portions come cheap and are very low on any fat. It will serve best as the fat brings about an unpleasant texture in the whole thing. You also need to realize the importance of layering. The layering in a crockpot recipe is the pattern in which you add the ingredients to the pot. Since the vegetables take longer to cook than the chicken, they should be added first. This is to ensure that the vegetables are completely immersed in the liquid, which in turn helps it to cook better. So, when you are making French stew with chicken, add the vegetables first and then the meat pieces.

Green Cooking for Healthy Living

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Green cooking is a rather new term being used and its goal is to promote eco-friendly eating habits and lifestyles. People seem to be joining the organic food fan club, but some do not realize that they can actually do more to promote healthy living. The act of cooking is a little-known creator of greenhouse gases and green cooking helps individuals to reduce their carbon footprint in the kitchen.

Cooks can broil, bake, and grill their foods in ways that are more environmentally friendly. This will cut down on the amount of fossil fuels used and every reduction makes a difference. Conserving water and choosing appliances and cookware generate little carbon are other things that can be done to make the kitchen a greener place.

Ovens tend to waste almost 94 percent of the fuel that they consume while heating a meal. Doing things such as heating ingredients on the stove top and baking multiple items at once will reduce fuel consumption. Turning down the heat on the stove top once water begins to boil or cooking items in sub-boiling water whenever possible will also reduce the amount of gas or electricity used.

Low quality cookware tends to become flimsy after about a year and may wear out within five years. These pots and pans are not efficient when it comes to using fuel, so discarding them actually represents a step forward in the kitchen greening process. Those who cook should instead purchase energy efficient, affordable cookware such as nontoxic nonstick pots and pans. These products can be found online and in specialty stores.

Green cooking involves not only the cooking methods themselves, but also the cookware used and other practices within the kitchen. Taking steps to reduce the amount of wasted fuel and thus decrease carbon emissions will make the cooking process more environmentally friendly. These types of behaviors will make the world a better place for current and future generations.