Friday, July 22, 2011

Chinese Cooking Methods - Providing Delicious Variety To Your Everyday Meals


Nowadays, food lovers are spoilt for choice when it comes to cooking skills and techniques, as well as cooking methods and style. These new advances provide an outlet for even more types of cuisine to be explored and shared with food lovers around the world.

With the latest methods available, cooks and chefs can discover the most perfect blend of aromas, essences, colors and food qualities especially with Chinese cooking. Even though most of the basic ingredients in Chinese cooking do not differ much, it is the style and preparation technique of foods that differ and thus make cooking all the more enjoyable.

The most common methods and styles of preparing food in the Chinese style are boiling, braising, stewing, frying, sauteing, smoking, simmering, and steaming.

Frying is a key method in Chinese cooking and plays a major role in many recipes. That is why there are even more types of frying in Chinese cooking. The quick-fry, deep fry and slippery-fry are the three common types of frying utilized in Chinese cooking.

With many methods of frying, it all boils down to the type of food that you are dealing with, as different food calls for a different method to acquire the desired results. For example, frying is the best choice if you want flavorful and juicy meat, and if you prefer your vegetables crispy. In Chinese cooking, speed also comes into play, as one of the most common method is the stir-fry where as the name suggests, all the ingredients are swiftly stirred and then fried.

Another popular method in Chinese cooking is sauteing or also known as shallow cooking. The good thing about sauteing is that it uses less oil than frying or deep frying. It also requires a lower temperature than stir-frying. How is food sauteed? Food is sauteed by slowly browning food in a little oil. It could be done on one side or on both sides. Sauteing results in softer food on the inside and crispier on the outside. Generally, sauteing would be followed by sauce making.

Other Chinese cooking methods include boiling, braising, simmering and stewing.

Parboiling is also an option. In parboiling, food ingredients are chopped, washed and put into a pot where they can float. They are then cooked over a high heat. However, it is good to remember that parboiling slowly and for long periods of time can destroy the nutritional value of the food, not to mention the flavor. So, instead of prolonged parboiling, opt for cooking on a slow simmering heat as this can help in maintaining the nutritional value of your food.

In Chinese cooking, smoking and cold mixing is also popular. These two methods involved precooked food ingredients instead of raw food. Cold mixing uses parboiled or scalded ingredients which are then mixed into salads and chilled before being served. Roasting on the other hand lets the raw ingredients marinate before being barbecued over direct heat.

And finally, another Chinese cooking method is poaching, where ingredients are cooked in liquid a little below the boiling point. This style of Chinese cooking is highly recommended especially when cooking delicate fish where you want the fish to be cooked just till the meat is tender.

These methods are just some of the more common styles of Chinese cooking. Incorporate them into your routine and you might find that they make your food more appetizing and delicious.




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Thursday, July 21, 2011

Fun Cooking Games for Girls


If you wish to maintain the enthusiasm flowing for your girls, allow them to play games as an alternative. Let them dress up in various outfits. Or you might bring them to the make believe world and allow them to bake a cake or cook the most delicious food items they could ever imagine. There are numerous exciting things you can do for your children.

Playing cooking food games is a superb method to keep your young children involved in beneficial work together with coaching them about food basics by way of a real experience. These types of games help develop your kid's curiosity about cooking. Many sites can be found on the web that offer several free online cooking games for children.

These video games will help the children to learn how they can make a number of foods like pizzas, sandwiches, salads, burgers, omelets, tea, coffee, ice creams as well as casserole recipes and barbeque recipes. Playing cooking games isn't only a favorite pastime for the children, but in addition a chance to understand the preparation of various types of foods along with the use and incredible importance of the ingredients.

Kids also gain information about the vitamins and minerals of each and every type of foods. You can spend time playing online cooking video games along with your kids. It's a perfect method to make your kids to discover how they can cook, and also spend some quality time.

The very best searches for just "cooking games" returns Cooking Mama, Cooking Dash, even Cooking Mama 2 and Cooking Mama 3. What exactly are these titles you may well ask? Game titles obviously.

Nintendo appears to have cornered the marketplace on games about cooking and also pulls in the adult crown with "Personal Trainer: Cooking".

Cooking games on the internet replicate decorating baked goods, cutting and peeling food, assembling meals and blending drinks. Games like Cooking Show teach actual cooking skills. Others like Easy Bake are as easy as clicking the mouse. Virtual games are played on computers, handheld gaming devices, gaming consoles and also some phones.

Another cooking game allows them to prepare simple meals. It is possible to split girls into groups of 3 to 4. Each team must make a food item for a meal. Give each team some simple recipes and offer all of them with the ingredients these recipes require.

Or you might provide your children with an instruction set to assist them with cooking. To assist them to learn more, provide them health and hygiene tips, and you must train them to keep the kitchen spic and span even after cooking. In this way, you're teaching your girls some self-discipline.

It is noticed that children who're fussy about eating develop liking for many kinds of foods once they start playing cooking games and acquire information regarding the nutritional significance of various fruits, vegetables and other types of foods. Thus, cooking games for the children is a superb source of entertainment; this helps them to gain information about healthy eating and valuable skills in cooking and management.




There are no better way for kids to learn to prepare food than playing cooking games and Barbie cooking games online.





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Learning New Cooking Techniques Online


The best way to learn new cooking techniques online is to use video portals like YouTube or MetaCafe which provide several episodes of recorded cooking shows. These videos can be downloaded for later viewing or can be bookmarked and viewed online as you desire. This facility allows you to schedule your cooking time, as you might see it fit, without being bound by proper classes and timely schedules.

Another very good idea to learn online recipes would be to use cookbooks shared by many users free of cost. These cookbooks often contain pictures and detailed procedure for cooking, and thus are very useful for people who have just begun learning how to cook. Most of these books are in PDF format which means that they are unedited and contain the original recipes as the author intended to publish them.

There are also many online cooking courses available on the internet which can be purchased at a very reasonable cost. These online cooking courses would be perfect for beginners as they start from the very basics and then move on advanced cooking recipes. These online cooking courses can also provide reading material as well as visual aid to help beginners learn the art of cooking.

You can choose your convenient time to take part in the online cooking classes. Whether you are a man or a woman, these courses are simply perfect for you to learn how to cook delicious recipes. They say that the route to a man's heart is through his stomach, therefore, these online cooking classes would definitely help women cook delicious meals for their men.

Most of the online videos and materials available about cooking are totally free of cost. There are even a few free cooking channels which can be viewed online without paying any fee. Thus, these channels are very useful for people who want to learn how to cook, but do not have the time or money to afford cooking classes.

If you have a laptop or netbook then you can take it along with you to the kitchen and practice cooking while watching cooking shows on your portable computer. The best way to find online cooking courses, videos or books is to search for them on the internet using popular search engines such as Google or Yahoo.

With these online tools, learning how to cook is as easy as it can be, and the best part is that you would not have to maintain a schedule. So, you can learn to cook whenever you want to and thus the need for separating special time for cooking is eliminated. Cooking is a great hobby and anyone who has interest in cooking would never get tired of learning new cooking techniques and experimenting on them.




Cooking it one of the biggest hobby of author, and probably the best recipe is Moules a la mariniere soup. You can find plenty of other very interesting and simple step-by-step recipes adopted for home cooking in author website http://supercooking.net/





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Do Want To Find A Super Cooking Vacation?


A Cooking Vacation is among the top choice of destination for kitchen enthusiasts. No matter if your plan is to have a short break from your neighborhood, or to travel for few days, culinary tours allow you to explore, experience, and learn the unique cuisine of your chosen destination.

Among the outstanding destinations for cooking holidays are Spain, Greece, Italy, Paris, and Portugal. There are many benefits you can gain from cookery holidays.

Many people who love cooking can learn a lot from cooking classes held particularly for vacationers. Each cooking class is handled by seasoned local chefs in order that you understand and differentiate the taste of native cuisine.

You can also be assured of thorough guidance from the chefs because the cooking vacation is set up for limited seats. During the cooking class, you are given activities to test your lessons from the local chefs.

This can be a great way to win a friend. As you mingle with your chef instructors and classmates, you can build rapport with them, making your culinary tours memorable as you exchange ideas relevant to your cooking lessons, travels and many more.

Moreover, it allows you to showcase your skill in cookery. You can use your existing skills in cooking the best-tasting dish. If you are a newbie, this can be an excellent way to learn from the expert. Nobody is born great, even in cooking. It can be learned, and nothing beats the idea of learning from the great local chefs.

To make your cooking vacation something worth reminiscing, you need to consider few things. After you have determined the destination for your culinary tours, you need to know the best cooking schools of your destination. You can do a search on the web to find out the curriculum.

Know the type of cuisines being taught in every school so you will have an idea on what to expect from your cooking classes. Find out the schedule of the classes so you can organize your vacation itinerary.

At most, the cooking schools are accredited throughout the world and the chefs are equipped with necessary qualifications, experience, resources and skills to make you the best chef of your own kitchen or restaurant.

Although surfing their websites can be a good source of information, it will even be rewarding if you contact them to pose your queries. This is a good way to know about their customer service.

Ask them everything you need to know about their culinary, especially the enrollment process, requirements and the opening of cooking classes. Try to request special discounts.

Equally important in planning your cooking vacation is to qualify your cooking skills. You need a class and a chef that meets your level. If you are new in cooking, you need to select the classes for the amateur. To this class belongs hobbyists and novice.

However, if you are a professional, you need to have distinct cooking classes designed for professionals. There are also cooking schools that work closely with travel agency to make your cooking vacation worthwhile.

There are cooking vacation school group tours that provide package arrangements for their clients. You can book through a firm specializing in cooking holiday arrangement for a hassle-free process. In addition, it guarantees the clients that the cookery schools are already pre-screened.




Get an exciting cooking vacation class schedule at http://www.culinaryquests.com/. We offer a full cooking program for you. We have cooking slot for different vacation destinations. Come to Culinary quests and arrange your cooking vacation class. We have new exciting recipes at our site for you to try.





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Wow Horde Guide - Wow Horde Cooking Guide


One of the most overlooked, yet surprisingly useful skills in WoW is the Cooking skill.

Cooking in WoW is not an absolute must by any means, but, especially if you've spent some time on related secondary professions like Fishing, you can actually use Cooking to bring in a reasonable amount of gold with relatively little effort. It's also a pretty fun diversion when you're looking to get away from your usual activities for a little while. Initially, Cooking was largely ignored by WoW players, mainly because there wasn't much to it. However, one of the lesser-known aspects of the Burning Crusade expansion was the attention paid to some of the secondary professions, Cooking among them, and there are now so many ways to use Cooking that it's easy and worthwhile for anyone to give it a try.

WoW Cooking - Starting Out

The first thing you'll need if you'd like to try Cooking is fire. In order to start a fire, you'll have to have the Simple Wood, Flint, and Tinder items. These are very common items, as you're probably aware. With these items on hand, go to your Spellbook. There you'll find the Basic Campfire spell, which can be cast by anyone.

The cookbook is also located in your Spellbook. Here you'll see which recipes you have available. One thing to keep in mind is that the Basic Campfire only lasts a few minutes. So, make sure that you're ready to start cooking immediately after you set up your fire. To cook, select the ingredients listed in your recipe of choice.

Every recipe requires specific ingredients. We'll use Crocolisk Steak as an example. The ingredients for Crocolisk Steak are one each of Crocolisk Meat and Mild Spices. Mild Spices are sold by many different vendors, while Crocolisk Meat is dropped by some of the various Crocolisk mobs.

By successfully completing recipes, you'll improve your Cooking skill. You can purchase any necessary items from a Cooking trainer - you can expect to have to make a moderate investment in order to really get started. As you go forward and complete quests, though, you'll find yourself coming across Cooking-related items on a regular basis.

Rising Through the Ranks

Finding the items necessary for advanced recipes can be a bit tricky at first. Here's one way you can improve your Cooking skill quickly. Start off in Ironforge. You can easily get Flour and Mild Spices here, which are the ingredients for Spiced Bread. Make 60 Spiced Breads to improve your Cooking skill to 40. Next, get yourself 30 Mild Spices, and plenty of wood. Go to Auberdine, where you can find some Moonkin. Kill enough of these to get at least 20 eggs, preferably more. You can use these ingredients in recipes which will help you quickly get your Cooking skill up to 60.

From Auberdine, head south to Ashenvale, where you'll find Crawler mobs. These will give you Clam Meat, which you can take back to Ironforge. Once you're back, cook whatever eggs you have left and sell the finished items. After that, you can go to a cooking trainer and train your skills in order to use the Clam Meat in recipes. Your Cooking should now be around 130. Buy the Expert Cookbook, which will increase your Cooking skill cap to 225.

Making Money With Cooking

Of course, there's more to the Cooking skill than just improving the skill itself. Food items can be useful in a number of ways, especially because of buffs. Buffs are what give food items their monetary value on the open market, and once you've got your Cooking skill high enough to make food with good buffs, you can start earning money by selling them.

A good Fishing skill will really help you get the most out of Cooking, but it is possible to earn decent money through Cooking even without Fishing. One popular food item is Mok'Nathal Shortribs. These will fetch about 1 gold per set. With a good source for ingredients, you can make a lot of money. Try going to the Blade's Edge Mountains, where you can find Raptors. These mobs occasionally drop the Raptor Ribs that are the only ingredient for Mok'Nathal Shortribs. Just keep farming the Ribs here. You can get upwards of 30 Ribs, and therefore 30 gold pieces, per hour this way.

Alternatively, you might want to try selling Warp Burgers, which also go for about 1 gold. The Warp Hunters in Terrokar Forest are your source. These relatively easy mobs will drop Warped Flesh, the ingredient for Warp Burgers. This racket can net you upwards of 50 gold per hour.

You can benefit further from Cooking by being aware of the in-game seasons. During the Christmas season, for example, the market for Egg Nog heats up, due to its importance to certain quests. Egg Nog can sell for at least 1 gold, and sometimes more, around Christmas. The ingredients for Egg Nog are one each of a Small Egg, Ice Cold Milk, Holiday Spirits, and Holiday Spices. These ingredients can all be purchased individually from vendors.

Making Faster Money With Cooking

Of course, you can also skip the grinding and just purchase ingredients like Warped Flesh and Raptor Ribs from vendors. This will cut into your profit margin, but it won't require as much time, so in the end it might be a better method for players who are pressed for time.

The Daily Quests for Cooking

Daily Cooking quests are one of the easiest ways to get huge quantities of things like fish and meat, which you can then cook and sell for major profits. Additionally, these quests will also occasionally reward you with powerful new recipes.




Thanks for reading, if you would like more Horde advice you can check out Horde Cooking Guide. You can also check out the other Best Horde Guides we have to offer. Visit our website today!





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My Top 10 Tips for Slow Cooking in the Fast Lane


I call this slow cooking in the fast lane, because I use my slow cooker to cope with the fast pace of my life. I frequently find myself running from work to appointment, picking up kids, wondering when I am going to have time to cook. Well here is the answer.

My crockpot cooks for me, while I run. When dinner time comes, or when I finally have time to collapse, there is a hot, tasty meal waiting for me.

These 10 tips are the essentials for successful crock pot cooking.

1. Cooking Times and Temperatures: Cooking time on high is about 1/2 the time on low. Some recipes require a specific cooking temperature and time to be successful, so follow instructions closely until you have a feel for the recipe. For recipes that give both times, I will often start the recipe on High to get it started, then turn to low after about an hour. Start large chunks of meat such as a roast or whole chicken on high for about an hour when-ever possible. This gets the food up to a safe cooking temperature quickly. An extra large roast should be cut into half, to help get the temperature up quickly.

2. You can line the crockpot with an oven cooking bag before placing the food in. This makes clean up a snap. The cooking times are not affected, but the mess stays in the bag rather than on the pot. I usually find these bags on clearance after Thanksgiving or Christmas and stock up then.

3. Whenever possible, don't lift the lid. Slow cooker temperatures are low and a lot of heat can be lost, possibly lowering the cooking temperature below the safe point. Use the lid provided with the cooker. A layer of aluminum foil will not suffice.

4. Fill the slow cooker between 1/2 to 2/3 full of food. Too full may not allow the food to heat up quickly enough. Likewise a cooker that is not full enough will not heat properly either. Use the correct size crockpot for the recipe.

5. Follow the recipe, adding ingredients in the order listed. Foods that take longer to cook usually go on the bottom. Also, for some recipes, vegetables or other foods on the bottom may act as a rack, keeping top foods out of the juices.

6. Food does not need to be swimming in liquid to be successful in the crockpot. Many people find crockpot roasts lacking in flavor because they have covered them in water to cook. For most roasts, 1 cup or less liquid is all that is needed. The meat will give up some of its own juices as it cooks.

7. Tenderness of the meat is directly related to the cooking time. A longer cooking time at low will yield a more tender roast, as long as it is cooked beyond done to the falling apart stage. The difference between a tough piece of meat and a tender one is about 1 hour. When you check your meat for doneness, if it isn't tender, let it cook for another hour and check again.

8. Do not refrigerate food in the crockery, the heat retained in the crock will delay cooling and keep food at an unsafe temperature for too long. Transfer the food to storage containers and refrigerate as soon as possible after the meal.

9. Some recipes require browning or some amount of cooking before being put into the slow cooker. Completely read through the recipe so that you know what is required while planning the meal. Look for recipes that require little to no pre-cooking for those busy mornings. Many recipes that require browning can be successful without browning, but may loose a little flavor from the caramelization of the meat.

10. You can sometimes assemble the recipe the night before, putting the food and liner into the refrigerator. Next morning, place into the cooker and plug-n-go. In this situation, you should never use recipes that require pre-cooking. Keep all ingredients cold until you are ready to plug in the pot. This works well for roasts, etc. I will often place the roast and its flavorings into the pot the night before. In the morning, I plug it in and add the liquid (although I could probably get away with adding the liquid the night before as well). This method is particularly handy when I am relying on a husband or son to start the cooking.




Do you need more easy crock pot recipe ideas? Sign up for our newsletter at Easy Crock Pot Recipes and get quick and healthy crock pot recipes delivered to your email regularly.

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Diane Watkins is a traditional southern style cook. She enjoys cooking, teaching, and writing about good food and family. For more information on southern cooking and recipes visit her website at Easy Southern Cooking





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5 Steps To Teaching Kids To Cook


Most all kids love to help and cook in the kitchen. Teaching them how to cook can be a skill that they will have for a lifetime. Cooking with your kids doesn't have to be overwhelming it can be easy when you look at it in five simple steps.


Plan meal. Sit down and plan what meal you will be working on our what recipe you will be making. Read through it making sure you have all ingredients available and the recipe is not too complicated. Plan out the steps you will be using to create the recipe or meal.

Shopping. Shop for the ingredients needed. This is a great way for kids to learn about the whole process of cooking.

Prep work. Read your recipe through again if needed. Wash your hands, a very important step in teaching your kids to cook. Prep work involves anything that needs done before the actual cooking such as chopping, peeling, and preparing ingredients that the recipe calls for.

Preparing and cooking. Now we get down to the actual cooking and preparing of the meal. This is the step where you put all your ingredients together and create, cook or bake.

Clean up. Remember to clean as you go especially utensils and dishes used with raw meats and eggs. This step can be done while something is cooking in the oven and you are waiting. Clean up involves cleaning dishes, counters and floors if needed. Remember to put dirty towels and aprons in the laundry also.

Remember the importance of praising your kids work. Even if their accomplishment may look less than perfect little by little and step by step they will become master chefs if given the opportunity and it is something they enjoy.

Now you can sit back and enjoy their cooking.




Visit http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/kids-cooking-lessons.html for kids cooking lesson plans. For recipes, tips and ideas in teaching your kids to cook sign up for our Kids Cooking Activities Newsletter, http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/kids-cooking-activities-newsletter.html





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