Family Cooking Tips

Archive for the ‘Cooking Info’ Category

Whether you are young or old, male or female, knowing a thing or two about cooking can come in handy. Knowing how to cook can be a great asset to you if you are someone who lives by yourself and doesn?t want to spend that much on your meals, and especially if you are a college student or someone with similar circumstances. If you are someone who is interested in cooking delicious meals that will save you money, then you could learn a thing or two from this article which is about how to cook rice.

Rice is a staple food in most Asian countries, and can be cooked in a variety of ways. Therefore there is no one single answer to the question how to cook rice. When talking about how to cook rice, we must emphasize on the fact that there are several kinds or rice, with different textures, colors, and flavors, and the method of cooking them sometimes varies slightly according to the type of rice you are using.

If one is to describe the procedure of how to cook rice, there are mainly two methods. The first method is to steam the rice until it is soft and moist to your preference. The process of how to cook rice according to the first method is the following: get the desired amount of rice grains; normally one can get one and half times the quantity of rice after it is cooked. Rinse the rice grains in water, then add rice to the rice cooker, and add water. The amount of water you adds differs from the type of rice you are using, and the desired moisture of the rice. Almost all of the rice cookers have indicators to provide the user with the information about how much water to you should use for a certain amount of rice.

The second method when it comes to how to cook rice is to steam the rice as mentioned above, and then to mix vegetables and meat to it and fry them together. With this method the rice can be eaten by itself, whereas the rice cooked according to the first method needs to have at least one accompanying dish to be eaten without any discomfort. But on the other hand there can be more variety with the first method as one can have many other dishes with it, while the second method has the possibility to get monotonous. Therefore the answer to how to cook rice depends on your needs.

Usually once you carve a pumpkin the seeds are the first thing you toss out. But you do not have to do that. What if you knew how to cook pumpkin seeds? Pumpkin seeds are actually quite delicious once you learn how to cook pumpkin seeds and they are really healthy for you as well. Many people do not even ask how to cook pumpkin seeds because they never knew that pumpkin seeds could be cooked. But as mentioned earlier once you learn how to cook pumpkin seeds and start using your knowledge you will find a very tasty treat waiting for you.
The first thing you need to know about how to cook pumpkin seeds is how to clean them. If you want to clean pumpkin seeds first put them in a strainer and rinse them under running water. You have to completely remove all of the pumpkin strings. Once they are well cleaned you need to blot them dry. That?s how you clean pumpkin seeds once you know how to cook pumpkin seeds. Once you dry the seeds it is time to season them. You can use the regular salt and pepper or go for more extravagant ones like cinnamon, herbs or cayenne powder.
Once this is done you can bake them. If that is how to cook pumpkin seeds the way you want to then preheat the oven to two hundred and fifty degrees. Toss the seeds with a little drop of oil. Then spread the seeds on a baking sheet and bake till crispy. It will take about forty minutes to an hour for the seeds to be ready.
If oven baked is not how to cook pumpkin seeds the way you like, then you can do it on the stove top. Take a skillet and heat two tablespoons of butter in it. Once it is melted add two cups of pumpkin seeds into it and toss them so that the butter is evenly coated on all the seeds. Now you can add any seasonings that you like. When that is done cook the seeds for around five to ten minutes while stirring all the time. Continue till the seeds are nice and crisp. Make sure you cool them before you eat.
You can also use a microwave if that is your preferred method on how to cook pumpkin seeds. But this will not roast the seeds. Melt butter in a dish and add half a cup of seeds. Season and microwave for eight minutes.

Seafood dishes made in any country is sure to be very delicious. Although in some countries scallops are not a specialty, there are many people who enjoy the taste of it. There are all sorts of recipes that can be easily found over the Internet. All you need to do is simply search for it. For those of you who like to try out some new recipes, it is necessary that you first know how to cook scallops, as the method can be different from cooking other seafood types.

Before you learn on how to cook scallops, you need to know how to identify the good scallops from the bad ones. The smell and color can be taken as clear indicators if the scallops are good to be eaten or not. If you smell the scallops and get a strong odor, chances are those scallops are old. Fresh ones will usually have a sea smell in them and not smell so strong. The ideal color should be either white or have a slight pink or peach color. Scallops come in different sizes; therefore prior to learning on how to cook scallops, you need to leaf through the recipes and find out what sort of scallops are needed.

If you are wondering about how to cook scallops, you must know that scallops can be cooked in different ways depending on the recipe. For example, some people would prefer scallops to remain in the shell itself when they are served with it. The rest would prefer the white meat inside the shell. Books on how to cook scallops will generally have tips on how to clean the scallops before cooking them. Most shops will provide scallops that are already cleaned. But if you have caught them by yourself, you need to learn to clean it by yourself. A good book on how to cook scallops will usually tell you that scallops must be soaked in ice water. This makes them open up and becomes easier for you to clean it.

Now that you know how to choose and clean the scallops, it is time to learn how to cook scallops. There are different ways of doing this. Do you like baked scallops? Or do you prefer fried ones? The choice can vary as well as the cooking time. How to cook scallops if the recipe is all about baking it? Under the usual temperatures, scallops can take around 15 to 20 minutes to completely bake. It can also be broiled or seared.

You should remember that when it comes to discovering how to cook crab legs that there are many methods which are out there. It would be prudent at some point to check out for instance the classy recipes that are out there which offer you a tantalizing spread of how to cook crab legs. However, it would be good to make note of the fact that there are many aspects with regard to cooking crab legs which you need to make a note of, before you rush off to the kitchen hoping to make a gourmet dish.

What you need to do is to make a note of the basics when it comes to knowing how to cook crab legs. You see there are many ways in which you can cook this delicacy. A few of these methods include steaming, baking, boiling and even microwaving. Of course depending on the cuisine you want to try out you should note that you can in fact even curry the crab legs. To be frank it all depends on how to cook crab legs the way you want. Finally, make sure you realize how to first defrost them.

One factor that you need to remember is that usually when crabs are caught, they are cooked on the boat itself before being flash frozen. This makes sure that the freshness and taste of the meat is preserved. With this in mind you should note that buying crab meat that has been thawed is not a good idea. The reason for this is that the meat can go bad quite rapidly and also the meat will not have the fresh taste. This is primarily the first thing you need to be sure of before you think of discovering how to cook crab legs.

Remember that when considering how to cook crab legs you get to choose from steaming, baking, broiling, boiling and microwaving. While crab meat in essence would offer you a natural taste of sorts, there are many condiments that can add flavor and complement the whole crab dish you are thinking of making. Besides the fact that you can serve the crab legs steaming with hot butter sauce, cocktail sauce or lemon wedges remember that you need to consider making your own kind of sauce. Finally, a word of advice; crab meat should be enjoyed for its natural taste. So it is not advisable that you use a sauce to ?cover up? the whole taste since this would be sacrilege!