Food Guide and Recipes

If there is one true fact about this time of year it is that we all eat a lot of food! Christmas dinner is something special with days if not weeks of preparation that includes finding the right sized turkey that will feed everyone and getting all the necessary trimmings to go with it.

The fact that the majority of us will eat early afternoon means that all the preparation needs to be carried out the night before. We wake up on Christmas morning looking forward to the day ahead and there is one thing you can guarantee in many households, that there will be plenty of food around. If your house is like many others, you will have people coming in to wish you a merry Christmas throughout the day so you need to have plenty of snacks and drinks available. Continue reading ‘The Christmas Feast’ »

Many of us will be starting to think of the Christmas meal and how to make it the best Christmas ever. So much preparation goes into the whole process so it is important not to leave it until the last minute to get everything sorted because by doing so you are bound to forget something.

One good thing to do is to start the baking a bit earlier. There is nothing like homemade mince pies but baking so close to the festive period is not always possible. As a result, why not bake them now with all the fresh ingredients and freeze them, this means you will have fresh mince pies that are homemade ready to be eaten and all you will have to do is defrost them and place them in the oven to heat up (as you would have to do with premade mince pies). Continue reading ‘Top Christmas Tips’ »

The secret to juicy poultry is simple – brine your poultry (chicken or turkey) before grilling or baking!

This is the secret that chefs never tell you about. It’s very easy and economical, and requires no special cookware. Continue reading ‘How To Make Brine for Poultry’ »

The main logistical problem with brining is that you need a container that’s large enough to submerge your turkey in the brine, but will fit in your refrigerator or cooler.

The meat and brine solution must be kept below 40 degrees F. at all times. Since brining does not preserve meat, the turkey and brine must be kept refrigerated at all times. Continue reading ‘How To Refrigerate Turkey While Brining’ »

Hog casings are by far the most popular variety for the commercial and home sausage maker alike. They have clean bite, a satisfying snap, a pleasing color that cannot be matched by any other variety. For those who are new to sausage making or have never had experience natural casings, the thought of buying and handling hog casings can be intimidating. Fear not. This quick primer will make you wonder why you were worried in the first place.

What are hog casings?

Hog casings are the intestines, bladders, or caecums of pigs.

What can I expect when using hog casings?

Natural hog casing is slippery and delicate, thus requiring a little more skill to handle than their collagen counterparts. But with some patience even the beginner can produce amazing results. Fresh hog casings usually have a slightly unpleasant odor, but this is natural; they are still good to use. Continue reading ‘Hog Tied – Unraveling the Mystery of Hog Casings For the Home Sausage Maker’ »

A commercial food processor is an electric kitchen appliance that chops, shreds, slices and blends different kinds of food. Nowadays it is considered a basic requisite for every home and restaurant. A commercial processor can be used to prepare a number of recipes. They also make the preparation of meals simpler and faster. It was invented by Pierre Verdan who was a catering company salesman. The device involved a bowl with a rotating blade at the bottom. It evolved into a motor driven food processor used by the commercial catering industry in the late 1960′s. The first one was designed by the Robot Coupe Company. From then on it is been widely used in almost all restaurants, shops and catering establishments for commercial purposes.

It is like the blender performs several cooking tasks. Its uses however are restricted due to it having a single fixed blade. A commercial food processor in contrast has a mixture of exchangeable blades that are driven by an electric motor. They have varying attachments like a dough blade, an egg whip, julienne disc, citrus juicer and a French fry disc. It can perform tasks like chopping, shredding and grating, mixing, kneading and slicing which are very crucial in a commercial setting like a restaurant. Continue reading ‘indian curry, indian take away, indian restaurants, authentic indian food, traditional indian food, indian food uk’ »

When people think of healthy gourmet cookware the first thing that comes to mine is it has to be nonstick, which does drastically cut down on the amount of oil and fat that you need to use when cooking.

But how the food is being cooked is only one aspect of what is classified as healthy cookware. Other factors that need to be considered that are also within your control is the quality of the pots and pans you choose. Continue reading ‘Healthy Gourmet Cookware – Healthy Cookware For Your Kitchen’ »

Induction cookware is the cookware of the future. These pots and pans are reactive to magnetic fields so that they will heat up from the electro magnetic field that is generated by the induction cooktop. This type of cooktop has been used in Europe for quite some time and is becoming very popular now in the US.

Many restaurants and home kitchens are turning toward this type of cooking technology because it is a more efficient form of cooking and can be extremely safe and can cost significantly less than the traditional electric or gas stoves or ovens. Also these cooking surfaces do not have heating elements to get burned on and they are easier to clean. Continue reading ‘Induction Cookware Sets For Induction Cooktop Stoves’ »

In today’s environment almost every kitchen has a microwave oven and when looking for microwave cookware there is a ton to choose from. When looking for cookware I think the best microwave cookware is the kind that can be used in your conventional oven as well as in your microwave. However depending on the preferred cooking process there might be certain types of microwave cookware that are only used for microwave cooking.

I usually use the microwave oven in one of two ways. I either use it as a tool during the cooking process or use it solely as the main cooking process. An example of using it as a tool would be to thaw something and then finish the cooking process either on the stove top or in a conventional oven. That’s one reason why looking for cookware that can be used both in a regular oven and a microwave is a good idea. Continue reading ‘The Best Microwave Cookware For Your Microwave Oven’ »

Does titanium cookware have enough advantages to really justify the big price tag that comes with it? Well one of the biggest advantages of titanium pots and pans is their durability.

Titanium is an extremely strong material and it won’t dent, warp or scratch similar to what you would expect from cast iron or stainless steel but very light weight. With this kind of toughness and durability you most likely will never buy another cookware set again because they will last you a lifetime. Continue reading ‘Titanium Cookware Sets – Is Titanium Cookware Really Worth The Money’ »