Family Cooking Tips

Archive for January, 2010

We have our different sets of preferences for how we want our food to be served. True enough, not every one of us has the same preferences as the next person. The same things go with the choices for meat. As we all know, some people have a preference for London Broil. Although many people refer to London Broil as a particular cut of meat, it actually is a form of preparation. Flank steak or round roast is the normal cut used to make London Broil.

How do we go about in the preparation of London Broil? Preparing London broil is actually a very relatively easy task to bask on. Here’s how we can start: First of all, London Broil preparation is very tricky even if it is relatively easy to accomplish. London Broil is prepared by taking a cut of flank steak or round roast and carefully tenderizing it by pounding or massaging the meat. This is necessary because the muscle fibers of these cuts tend to run the entire length of the meat and will make the finished dish rather tough if not properly tenderized. It is important not to stab or score or otherwise mutilate the meat when attempting the preliminary tenderizing because this will tend to release the juices that are so necessary for proper cooking. In fact, it is recommended that you let the meat sit outside the oven for about five minutes before cutting. This gives the juices a chance to thicken a bit and keeps them from running out on the plate.

For those who want to marinade the London Broil cut for a while, this is acceptable. In fact, it would be a good idea to marinade the meat cut for a couple of hours or so prior to cooking the said meat. The meat is placed about 3 inches from the direct heat source. The cut should be turned several times during the cooking process to insure even cooking and to prevent charring or burning. Once cooking is complete the meat is usually cut into thin slices by cutting against the grain.

At this point, we also want to share some important pointers to those who are really interested in pursuing this kind of preparation for meat. From our end, we can say that it is of utmost importance to use a good marinade for the meat cut so as to bring out its flavor well. However, it is also important to make some distinctions. What, really, is London broil? As mentioned, London Broil is a meat preparation technique; it not a means or a type of cut for a particular meat. Some groceries will label a cut of meat as London Broil which can be misleading. Remember to a cooking purist, London Broil is not a cut of meat, but a method of preparation. The problem with meats labeled London Broil is that it can be any number of different cuts of meat. Some groceries even use sirloin tip. It is usually better to select a flank steak cut or round roast.

Alonzo Bolton is a food and nutrition researcher for http://dietrecipe.org/. He writes and researches actively on Diet Recipe and shares his knowledge at http://dietrecipe.org/ where he works as a staff writer.

I don’t know about you, but speaking for myself, I never even realized that there could be a profession such as a cake designer! I mean, sure I’ve noticed that some of the bakeries have absolutely ravishing cake designs. But I thought it was just the baker not a professional designer. But a recent encounter with a culinary artist exposed me to the fact. Even sweet products and cakes that are mass produced by food service companies have been designed by a professional.

The culinary master who told me about cake design actually said that it is the most popular course you can take when it comes to food. In fact, cake designs are as old as cakes themselves. The first cake designer was the first to lay a layer of icing on a cake. Ever since, there have been a number of improvements in the field, and not all of them have been widely accepted or used.

Even though there are hundreds of flavourings to choose from, the two most popular remain chocolate and vanilla. There are many materials to use also. However most people will choose to use icing sugar above anything else. Keeping the health consciousness of aging and fitness obsessed people in mind, one prominent company even tried to introduce a sugar free icing sugar. Needless to mention, everyone preferred the real thing and passed up the fake ingredients.

However no matter what materials and ingredients you use, the look of the cake will ultimately depend on the skill level of the designer. You can make a masterpiece out of a molehill with even the plainest of cakes. And it does not have to cost a lot. With a good icing cone, food colouring and icing you can make a host of decorations. But don’t under estimate these items. It will prove a sight for sore eyes when you have a well designed cake and have not spent a lot.

Chilies are popular in many countries, but Mexico enjoys them the most.  Mexican peppers have been used for thousands of years as an ingredient in Mexican dishes. There are about 140 different types of chilies grown in Mexico. People tend to shy away from chilies because of their powerful heat when eaten, but not all chilies are unbearable to many.

Mexican peppers are known as being a vegetable, but they are actually a fruit. They contain high amounts of vitamins as well as iron and fiber. There are many types of flavors available. Since regions in Mexico vary, so does popular Mexican chilies and food dishes. Popular Mexican chiles peppers come in many different colors, shapes, and sizes. They also come in different amounts of hotness. A good way to tell the strength of the heat is by the size of the chile pepper. The smaller the pepper, the more it will pack a punch of heat. Mexican Peppers are the main ingredients for salsa. The salsa will vary in hotness depending on which peppers are used. Chile peppers also can be used as a meat rub to add flavor.

Some Mexican spices used in cooking are Cumin, and Oregano. Mexican dishes that include tomatoes are perfect with oregano. It gives the dish an earthy flavor. Cumin gives Mexican dishes a taste that cannot be matched. Cumin takes three to four months of a long summer to grow. Cumin is a dry seed from the herb Cuminum Cyminum which is a member of the parsley family. This spice is the key component in curry power and chili powder. Cumin can also be boiled and served as a tea which is called “cumin cider”. Cumin is a spice that has been used for many centuries and will continue to be used by the people of Mexico.

Recado rojo is a special blend of Mexican spices that are found in healthy mexican food. It was used as long ago as the Mayans. It the spice mixture is red because of the added annatto seeds, which give food a red look to them when added. This Mexican spice blend contains Mexican spices such as cinnamon, clove, cumin, oregano garlic, and more. This blend is associated Mexican foods found in the Yucatan. It would be very easy to make this from your own home.

You can find dishes using different popular Mexican chiles such as chilate. Chilate is a drink that includes chile peppers, chocolate, and toasted ground corn with water. Another food is Chilis en nogada. It consists of green peppers that are stuffed and fried and covered with cream and pomegranate seeds.

You will be able to find many recipes which include popular Mexican chilies. Remember that when handling and cutting the peppers, use gloves because the heat of the pepper can bother your skin and throat. Also try all you can to not rub your eyes. Enjoy experimenting with different Mexican cuisine and have fun while doing it!

Drinking green tea made several discoveries regarding health benefits. Aside from green tea becoming an antioxidant, it is also claimed that it can help with cancer prevention, heart protection, arthritis prevention and liver protection. The Chinese people believe in the health benefits of green tea so this wonderful drink has been part of the diet in China for centuries.

Antioxidants in green tea are one of the main reasons why people are being enticed by it. By reducing incidences of increased cholesterol level in out body, it therefore reduces the body to experience hypertension and cardiac diseases. Studies also show that green tea can help minimize thrombosis formation which is also an associated factor to heart disease. When thrombosis goes into blood circulation, there will come a time when the thrombus will block the way of the blood that is supposed to go to the heart and this will compromise the heart with blood supply. Preventing thrombus formation is one very important effect of green tea.

Some say it’s impossible for green tea to affect bone diseases but the tea have proved them wrong because reports have it that green tea can prevent arthritis. Not only can green tea prevent arthritis from occurring but also eliminate the painful symptoms being contributed by the problem too. According to research on the
health benefits of green tea, it has a component that has the ability to reduce inflammation. Research also suggests that antioxidants have the capacity to delay any arthritic process that might occur and minimizing irritable symptoms as well.

There is some evidence that a regular consumption of green tea could alleviate the pain and suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. Many people are affected by high cholesterol, and there is some evidence that the regular use of green tea could help to lower bad cholesterol and increase the good cholesterol. Some people claim that green tea consumption could help people ward off infections while others believe that green tea has beneficial effects for protecting people from heart disease. These claims are based on the presence of certain substances in green tea including catechin polyphenols.