Please bear with me as I update the Scratch Cooking blog. I am in the process of changing a lot of things and adding a lot of new recipes. Keep checking back!
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When you first begin to cook, if you’re completely new to the concept of cooking you may need some help with basic cooking terms. Here are some of the most commonly used terms in recipes and what they mean. After this, you will see common abbreviations. Common Cooking Terms: Simmer: Simmering means that you are heating a liquid to a temperature that is close to a boil, but not hot enough to create bubbles. You may see slow rising, small bubbles but if you find fast, big bubbles and lots of action on the top of your water, you’ve reached a boil. You simmer soups, you boil pasta. In many cases you will bring something to a boil before you simmer – as soon as you reach a boil, you reduce the heat to low or medium low to simmer the remaining time. Saute: To saute is to cook in oil over high heat. You may sauté onion slices and minced garlic quite often. Marinate: To marinate is to take food and soak it in a mixture of spices, oil and acid in the refrigerator to produce a tender, flavorful piece of meat. Marinating is a long term process usually taking a minimum of 6 hours or more often overnight. Mince: You may hear the word mince a lot with garlic. Mincing is chopping something into very tiny pieces. You can use a garlic press to mince garlic quickly. Julienne: Julienne is such a fancy word for long, thing strips. In my humble opinion, unless you are cooking for presentation, don’t beat yourself up over a perfect julienne. Just cut strips of an even size so they cook at the same temperature. Chop: This is a very basic cooking technique. To chop is to cut into small pieces. Try to keep the pieces about the same size so they cook evenly, but thing squares. A ‘rough chop’ leaves the pieces bigger, where a small chop is usually closer to a dice. Dice: A very small chop. Slice: Slicing is when you cut completely through an object. Keep the slices uniform. Think of tomato slices, bread slices, etc. Brown: To brown a meat means to cook until brown. You may brown the sides of a roast on the stovetop before cooking in a crockpot or oven, and you will commonly brown ground beef or turkey to prepare a skillet or casserole dish.
Common Abbreviations t = tsp. = teaspoon T = Tbs. = Tablespoon fl = fluid oz = ounce pkg = package pt = pint qt = quart gal = gallon lb = pound Potato Skins with Lebanese beef filling As seen in the March 2009 issue of From Scratch (www.motherhoodnaturally.com/FromScratch) This could probably be a meal on all its own, but also a side dish. I am including two recipes that use a decent amount of plain yogurt, considering this months “Make It Yourself” is about yogurt making and what to do with homemade yogurt! 3 potatoes (1/2 lb. each) Bake potatoes at 450 for 1 1/2 hrs. Dissolve cornstarch in 2 Tbs. of yogurt and in a saucepan, simmer cornstarch mixture with remaining yogurt, whisking, for 5 min. Stir in garlic paste, simmer 2 min., and keep warm, covered. Cook walnuts in oil over moderate heat for 1-2 min. Remove from oil. In oil remaining, cook onion until golden. Add chuck and brown meat. While baked potatoes are still warm, halve lengthwise, scoop out flesh and chop it coarse. Combine walnuts, chuck mixture, chopped potato, cinnamon, parsley, salt, and pepper to taste. Divide mixture among potato shells, and top with some of the sauce. Bake at 450 for 10-15 min. Serve with remaining sauce. Serves 6 Featured in the March 2009 issue of “From Scratch” 2 lbs ground beef Brown beef, and brown. Reserve 1/3 cup broth, but pour remainder in with beef. Add onion powder, salt, ketchup and garlic. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Shake together flour and reserved broth in a container with a tight-fitting lid, then pour into beef mixture. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly, and cook for an additional minute (stirring). Remove from heat, stir in yogurt, and eat. Best served over egg noodles or brown rice. *This takes at least 8 weeks to develop full flavor* Save and collect old vanilla extract containers to 2 cups/16 oz. Vodka Cut the beans in half up to about the last inch to Cover, put the container in a cool, dark place and let Sources for beans (Madagascar (grade B) are considered http://www.arizonavanilla.com/Store/madagascar_ne w.html http://vanilla-company-retailstore. kitchenproject.com/ http://www.beanilla.com/ Simmer (don’t boil) milk until it has reduced by over Single Crust Double Crust Combine flour and salt. Cut in the shortening until it Knead dough lightly and form into a flat round Remove from fridge and let warm to room temperature To place in pie pan, fold dough in half width wise, Baking Powder Mix well and store in an airtight container. 1 Tsp. of this mix equals 1 Tsp. baking powder. I actually find this to work better in my homemade tortillas than I do regular baking powder! Self-Rising Flour Combine. Multiply recipe as needed. 1 loaf of French bread Preheat oven to 350 Degrees (F) Combine softened butter and seasonings, mix well. Slit one loaf of French bread about 1 inch thick, almost to the bottom. You want the slices to still stick together a bit at the bottom (UNLESS you’re using cheese on top of the butter spread – then seperate completely). If using just the butter spread, spread butter between each slice, and on top of the bread. If using cheese, seperate each slice, spread on the butter on each slice and top with cheese. Wrap loaf in foil, or cover slices with foil (but don’t let the foil touch the bread, make a tent with it over the slices, otherwise your cheese will come off when you pull the foil off). Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil after about 15 minutes so the cheese can brown slightly on the top during the last 5 minutes. |
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