Cast Iron Cookware – The Only Way to Cook

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When a gourmet chef steps into the kitchen to create a masterpiece, there are several elements that come into play to contribute to his ultimate work of art. One of those elements is the equipment he uses and specifically the cookware utilized to prepare his dishes. However, when one thinks of a gourmet chef, cast iron cookware does not come to mind. There is one thing that many food connoisseurs don’t realize: many of the fine dishes they have eaten have been prepared using cast iron pots and pans.

It has been used in cooking for hundreds of years. You can probably recall your grandparents using cast iron frying pans and skillets. Its ability to withstand extreme cooking temperatures makes it a fantastic choice for searing or frying, and its excellent heat distribution and retention makes it perfect for cooking stews and other dishes that require a slow, long cooking process. There are a number of different pieces of cast iron cookware, each serving a special purpose and making cooking a special experience. Types of pots and pans include Dutch ovens, frying pans, deep fryers, woks, flat top grill’s, griddles, and jambalaya plots. Each and every one of these pieces of cookware can find itself in the most elaborate of restaurants, as well as a campsite deep in the Rocky Mountains. But regardless of where it is used, it always gets the job done.

As you begin your quest with this type of cookware, keep in mind that preserving your cookware is very simple but it does require a bit more maintenance than other types of cookware. Because ordinary cookware cleaning techniques require scouring and washing, they are not recommended for a good piece of cast iron cookware. A dishwasher or scouring pad can remove the seasoning on a griddle or Dutch oven. As such, it should not be cleaned like most other cookware. Many who use cast-iron cookware suggest never cleaning cast-iron pans at all, but simply wiping them out after use or washing them with hot water and a stiff brush. Then again, other cast-iron aficionados advocate washing with mild soap and water, and then season the pan by coating it with a thin layer of fat or oil. There’s even a third approach that calls for scrubbing with coarse salt and a paper towel or clean rag. Any of these approaches will work fine as long as your cookware remains well seasoned, coated by oil or fat, and stored in a dry place.

Having and using cast iron cookware will benefit your family for generations to come. Your children and grandchildren will have an opportunity to go down to the creek and enjoy a good fish fry. At home, you most certainly will be able to wake up and enjoy the scent of cooking bacon and brewing coffee. Your life will never be the same once you invest in cast iron cookware.

How to Cook a Sweet Potato with Complete Ease

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If you are in the market to find out how you can cook a sweet potato, then you will be glad to know that you can now find the best of ways via which you can become the ultimate chef. Thankfully, there are a host of options available that are able to focus on knowing which are the best of ways via which you can cook a sweet potato for those that want it.

One of the characteristic features of a sweet potato is that it can become remotely easy to find out which are the best of ways these delicacies can be cooked with complete ease. There are a host of these available in the market, each recipe being designed to help you find out how to cook a sweet potato in the easiest fashion.

There are a number of variations via which you can find out how to cook a sweet potato and then figure out which are the right ways via which you can give your recipe the ultimate advantage. Most chefs today believe that finding out how to cook a sweet potato is one of the key advantages and features via which you can get the best results in the kitchen.

The first step that you need to do in finding out how you can cook a sweet potato is by ensuring a means via which you can get the recipe to work according to your flavors. Once you are able to do so, you will be able to ensure a means that only you will be able to ensure.

What needs to be remembered in this fashion is that when it comes to knowing how to cook a sweet potato, there are a number of recipe books around that will know which are the best ones to work to your advantage. If you are keen about learning which are the best in the series to ensure you have the upper advantage on sweet potato recipes, you will then finally be able to master the art of preparation in the kitchen for any sweet potato recipe on the planet.

While it may not be applicable to know which are the best ones around, it has become imperative that you find out which are the best ones that will work perfectly to your advantage. There are a host of potato and sweet potato preparations available to choose from and once you have mastered the art of cooking a sweet potato, you will be glad to know that you shall also become the ultimate chef of your domain. If you have any questions on cooking a sweet potato, you will be glad to know that you can now find the best of ways to get all your answers on the web at the best recipe sites online.

How to Cook Pork Shoulder Its All In The Rub

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Fall, Football and BBQ at the tail gate or on the patio; how can it get better than this?

Pork Shoulder is a great choice for a main fare feature at your next gathering and it has two great advantages. First, it is easy to prepare and second, you can feed a group for somewhere south of three dollars a pound. The pork shoulder is the front leg of the pig and comes in two different cuts. I like the butt cut, which is the top side of the leg and has less bone in it than what is called the picnic cut. The one we recently prepared was a six and a half pound roast, which served twelve people, with some left over.

Most pork shoulder recipes call for using a smoker, which is the key to cooking a pork shoulder, mainly because it is an indirect heat source and allows for a long slow cooking process. Dont have a smoker? No problem, neither do we. Just remember that the process requires indirect heat. Here are the keys to grilling a pork shoulder, using a three burner gas grill.

It starts with the rub. In a small bowl mix the following ingredients:
cup organic paprika
2 Tbs Salt
2 Tbs Pepper
2 Tbs organic cumin
2 Tbs organic garlic powder
2 Tbs. chile powder
3 Tbs brown sugar

Coat the pork shoulder with the rub. Be liberal. A 6 8 lb. roast should use the entire rub mix. By the way, dont cut off any of the fat on the roast. The butt cut usually has one side with a layer of fat and you want it. Once you have the roast well coated with the rub, put it in the refrigerator and let it set. Overnight works best, but if time does not permit, at least give it a couple of hours.

Using a three burner grill works great. You will need an aluminum pan, a raised rack and some foil. Follow these steps:
Turn the two outside burners on at low heat.
Place the pan, with the rack directly over it, on the middle burner.
Put your pork shoulder on the rack, fat side up.
Close the lid.

Dont open the lid for three hours. No peeking! At the end of three hours check the internal temperature of the roast. If its in the 130 140 range you are right on track and your roast should look like its done, but its not. Next, cover the roast with a tent of foil, reduce the heat to one burner and close the lib. In about 2 -3 more hours you should have a pork shoulder ready to serve at an internal temp of 185 degrees.

Enjoy!

Cooking With Fresh Herbs

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Herbs are fun and easy to grow. When harvested they make even the simplest meal seem like a gourmet delight. By using herbs in your cooking you can easily change the flavors of your recipes in many different ways, according to which herbs you add. Fresh herbs are great in breads, stews, soups or vegetables. Every time you add a different herb you have completely changed the taste.

If you are a beginner start slowly, add just a little at a time adjusting as you go along until you have it just right. You will see in most instances that an individual herb is associated with a particular food item. Basil is paired with tomatoes, Oregano with sauces, Rosemary with lamb and Chives with butter or cream cheese. Of course, none of them are limited to these items, but you will see them paired most often with that particular food. Use your imagination and experiment, experiment, experiment!

You can make herb vinegars for salad dressings, marinades, or soups. Herb oils are very useful in cooking whenever a recipe calls for it.

Fresh herbs as garnishes dress up any dish making it look truly spectacular. Lay individual sprigs of rosemary over broiled lamb chops. Chop fresh parsley and sprinkle it over the top of your potato salad. The combinations are endless and the outcome delicious.

Fresh herbs will keep in the refrigerator for several days but then you must freeze them. They can be frozen by laying them a paper towel and putting them in a plastic bag. Once they are frozen only use them in cooking not as garnishes. A friend of mine washes them, puts them an ice cube tray, covers them with water and then freezes them. When she needs them for soup, stews or sauces she just drops a cube in.

My favorite herbs to grow are basil, oregano, lemon balm, parsley and mint. Mint is great but is careful; mint can over run your garden. A tip here would be to bury an empty coffee can and plant the mint in it. The can prevents the mint from “creeping” all through your garden.

I love to make herb butters. Take a half of a cup of softened butter and mix in about 4 tablespoons of a fresh herb. Lay out a piece of saran wrap, place the butter in the middle roll the saran wrap up to form a “log” out of the butter. Put in the refrigerator and anytime you need a pat of butter just cut it off the “log”. (Hints for “log” butter: potatoes, bread, steaks, noodles or any kind of sauce).

A fresh herb in any salad dressing really makes it sparkle. You can use any herb or a combination, be creative.

I learned a trick a long time ago using basil, lemon and avocados to create and instant natural face mask. Put a big handful of basil in a blender and run it on high. Once the basil has been pulverized, throw in a half of an avocado and a large teaspoon of lemon juice, mix until smooth. Wash your face, pat it dry and gently rub the avocado mixture on. Leave it on as long as you like, then use warm water to it wash off.

These are just a few ways you can use fresh herbs from your garden. I am sure you will come up with many more. Happy cooking

Thai cooking survival guide by a Thai soprano-wife-mother.

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Where is the real Thai taste?

I am Thai. A Thai who grew up in a modern household; yet, I had the fortunate opportunity to witness the greatness of the Thai past. I was the last generation of my family to see the real Thai way from within my very own teakwood fence.

I remember Bangkok in a calmer way than most people now. The coolness of fresh air with the faint sweet aroma of Thai flowers – DokJumpee, DokPuth, DokMali, DokKaew, and DokPiguln- in combination with the sound of brass bells from a wooded tram on which I would ride along Rajchadahmneun Avenue, was the Bangkok that I knew. My mother was the oldest daughter in a family of five children.

Back then, she and her eldest brother were the two who were married and had their own children. We lived in one of three houses on my maternal grandparents’ large property on the west side of the Grand Chaopraya, the river so deep that it supports not only domestic traffic but is also the path for international freight ships, making it the major blood vessel of the country.

My grandparents occupied the largest house, also the first house at the front of the property, which faced a major road but sat far enough back and was disguised by many large and shady fruit trees. My eldest uncle and his family lived in the second house in the middle, and our house was set farthest back on the property. I was very happy with my never-ending activity from playing with my playmates ‘from tree-to tree,’ and waiting every afternoon for a Chinese “Olieng,” or iced coffee, iced tea and sweet snack goodies, vendor to arrive in his boat in the canal- “klong-” that marked our property line and the neighbor’s in the back.

I had many playmates, and I vaguely remember they all lived with us on our property- as to where on the property, I wasn’t sure. A few years ago, I asked my mother about them and received confirmation that those were our- or, rather, my grandparents’- hired help and their families who had been there since my maternal great-grandmother’s day. I was surprised that I could remember back that far, since my mother said that they had moved out when I was very young. She also confirmed my memory of the tram but said that it stopped running soon after I was born. I don’t know if I’m dreaming, but I have flashes of memory of this wonderful time, here and there, throughout my life.

My great-grandmother- the mother of my maternal grandmother- represented the real Thai extended family. She was a Thai-Mon. (Mon – the nation that got swallowed up by Myanmar-Burma back then. The Mons relocated to Siam since the Golden Age of Ayuthaya.) The word “Thai” means freedom, and coming to Thailand meant to open the door of opportunity among the peaceful people and under the cool shade of the Great King.

My great-grandfather was a Chinese boy who came to Bangkok with his family. He grew up to be an inventor, an author, a scholar, and a businessman who owned and operated an international trading company with his old country, China. Along with a British physician, Dr. Bradley, they started the first English language newspaper in Thailand and also invented the first Thai typeset for the typewriter. Later, my great-grandfather was granted a title from the King.