Posts Tagged ‘COOKING’

California Style Cooking

Article by Adrien Gilleran

California cuisine is known as a stylish genre of cooking that is growing in reputation. Many people have heard the term before, but few can define just what it means. In the same way California is a mixture of many cultures, so too is its cuisine. At a simple level, California cuisine comes from local and organic food that is cooked using many different spices and techniques found all over the world.

California has a lengthy history of immigration and the food found there echos decades of cultural integration. Because of the state’s diversified background, California cuisine is actually a fusion of food from around the globe. For example, because California was a part of Mexico until 1848, its food continues to mirror Mexican and Spanish traditions. Additionally, the Gold Rush and the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad drew several Chinese immigrants to the area who have influenced the flavors found in food on the West coast. Recently, the flock of hippies to San Francisco in the 1960s localized popular food movements, such as vegetarianism, along with the philosophy of peace and love. One last and crucial component to California cuisine is the use of French cooking approaches. This is because many cooks that champion California cuisine went to culinary school in France. California cuisine remains inspired by all of these elements and the food is a mixture of ingredients and flavors.

When defining a cooking style as diverse as California cuisine, you will need to note the common thread is the preference to use fresh ingredients. Since California soil can support different types of food, one rarely has to look far for seasonal produce. This constant availability of local ingredients creates endless menu options. Furthermore, the cuisine is marked by the use of organic produce and animals raised without hormone injections or antibiotics. Finally, the popularity of vegetarianism is significantly reflected in California cuisine to satisfy its health and wellbeing aware population. At its best, California cuisine is a celebration of fresh, sustainable, and healthy food.

Core foods in California cuisine are avocadoes, citrus fruits, herbs, seafood, and tofu. Meat and Chicken are popular proteins, with lamb and pork occurring less regularly. Cooking techniques involve cooking the food fast on a grill or stove in order to maintain color and freshness. Presentation and physical appearance of the food are essential factors of the cuisine. A traditional instance of California cuisine is the California roll offered in many sushi restaurants. These rolls contain crab meat, cucumber, and avocado wrapped in nori (seaweed) and rice. Countless diners have tried California rolls before venturing out to try other, more exotic food.

Alice Waters is long thought to be the guardian of California cuisine. Her restaurant, Chez Panisse, has set a high bar for the movement since the 1970s. Another famous chef who made California cuisine more mainstream is Wolfgang Puck. These chefs and their restaurants are magnificent examples of the variety one can accomplish using local and seasonal ingredients. Due to the increasing desire to eat fresh and local ingredients, California cuisine is here to stay.

About the Author

If you enjoyed reading this article, culinary student Adrien Gilleran suggests further sources of information linked to San Francisco catering and Napa catering that you could find beneficial.

Chinese Recipes – Szechuan Cooking

Article by Matt Robinson

Many people when asked about Szechuan cuisine immediately think of hot, spicy food that has you gulping down copious amounts of water for the rest of the evening to try and cool their burning taste buds. People are then often surprised to discover that at least of one-third of the recipes that make up Szechuan cuisine are not spicy at all. That is not to say that Szechuan’s reputation for producing “mouthburners” is undeserved. But, along with fiery classics such as “Hot and Numbing Fish” and “Kung Pao Chicken,” Szechuan is the home of “Tea Smoked Duck”, which is a fascinating dish made by smoking a duck over tea leaves. It is unclear precisely how chilli peppers were introduced to Szechuan, a landlocked, mountain-ringed region in western China. The most accepted view is that Indian missionaries brought chillies with them during their travels along China’s famous Silk Route – a series of pathways originally constructed during the Han dynasty for military and strategic purposes that subsequently gained more importance as a major trade route. Another theory is that they were brought in by Chinese merchants trading with Portuguese and Spanish sailors at various seaports. In any event, today chilli peppers are an indispensable feature of Chinese regional cuisine. Dried peppers are frequently used in Szechuan dishes, while cooks favour fresh peppers in the neighbouring province of Hunan.Tip – Ever hear the expression “Oil and water don’t mix”? It’s true, which is why drinking water doesn’t help combat the effects of spicy foods. Since most spices are oily, the water just rolls over the spice. Eat rice instead – it absorbs the hot chilli oil. Beer or milk also help. Szechuan pepper is an important ingredient in Szechuan cooking, also known as pepper flower, Chinese pepper. Szechuan pepper is not a pepper at all. Instead, the reddish-brown fruit – one of the ingredients in five spice powder – is a berry that comes from the prickly ash tree. While not as hot as chilli pepper, it does have a unique flavour, and is famous for its numbing effect on the tongue. Of course, all of this begs the question: how did the Szechuanese develop their taste for fiery hot cuisine? One common explanation is that Szechuan’s muggy, humid climate encourages people to eat strongly spiced foods. There’s more to it than that, however. Szechuan dishes often contain many flavours, such as sweet, sour, bitter, hot, salty, aromatic, and fragrant. Hot foods like red chilli stimulate the palate, making it more sensitive to all these flavours. In addition, they cleanse the palate in preparation for the next dish.

Foods featured in Szechuan cooking

Chilli peppers, Szechuan pepper, garlic, salt, and dried and pickled ingredients such as Szechuan preserved vegetable. Beef, lamb, and pork, although the Szechuanese eat less pork than neighboring Hunan, which is famous for its ham. Cooking methods: Szechuan cooks employ a variety of cooking methods, from stir-frying to roasting and simmering. Twice Cooked Pork, where the pork is first boiled and then stir-fried, is a classic regional dish.

Szechuan Chicken Recipe

INGREDIENTS:* 4 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, about 7 ounces each * 2 egg whites * 2 tablespoons cornstarch Sauce: * 2 tablespoons rice wine, dry sherry or cooking wine * 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce * 2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce * 2 tablespoons sesame oil * 1 tablespoon soy sauce * 2 tablespoon brown sugar * 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper * 1/2 teaspoon crushed dried red chillies, or to taste * 2 slices ginger, minced, to form 1 tablespoon Other: * 4 carrots, cut into thin strips * 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced * 1/2 green bell pepper, sliced * 3 green onions, chopped * 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oilPREPARATION:1. Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. 2. Cut the chicken breasts into thin strips. (Partially freeze chicken breasts first to make this easier). 3. Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. 4. Whisk the cornstarch into the egg whites and coat the chicken strips with the mixture5. Heat 1 cup oil in the wok & cook the chicken strips briefly in the hot oil until they turn white.6. Remove the chicken and drain on paper towels.7. Clean out the wok and add 1 tablespoon oil.8. When the oil is hot, add the carrots & stir-fry briefly before adding the peppers.9. Make a “well” in the middle of the wok and add the sauce.10. Heat briefly then mix the sauce in with the vegetables.11. Return the chicken to the wok.12. Stir-fry 1 to 2 more minutes then stir in the green onions.13. Serve with rice.

About the Author

Matt owns Secret Chinese Recipes that helps people to cook chinese recipes

Best Culinary Schools – make your choice to become a master chef in the art of cooking

Article by George Bogdan Adonicioaie

No matter if one says Italian, French, Japanese, Chinese, or Mexican cooking, we instantly think “j’adore”. The chef is the person who treats us with the most stylish dishes. Even though it seems simple to cook, unless you have the needed experience and the magic recipe, you will not be capable to impress the audience.

Even if you can enjoy great success, you have to work hard in order to develop into a good chef. Like every famous cook, you have to start your career with one of the best culinary schools. If you desire to turn into a famous chef, you have to attend the courses of one of the best culinary schools across the country. Finding one of the best culinary schools it’s not sufficient to turn into a chef. There is a long way you need to go after in order to get the highest recognition in the industry, the “chef” title.

You might feel encouraged to start a career with one of the best culinary schools if the advantages listed below are appealing to you.

- many opportunities at your disposal

Cooking in an art and you can select anything you think suits you. For example, pastry is an area where imagination is keyword. It will be very simple to turn into a pastry cook if you concentrate to details and you permanently like to experiment with new recipes.

- work while you learn

You can be a newbie and still can dream of a career in this field. There are so many dinning establishments offering part-time or full-time jobs. Here you can get experience in the art of cooking with some of the best chefs. If you desire to be a professional in this branch, you should combine study with work. Your efficiency will develop over time.

- take a trip to gain experience

Even if each cuisine stands on well defined cultural and national approaches, you should feel free to embrace a career in any international cuisine. Once you have made your option you could take a trip and work abroad, as the cooking art turned cosmopolite. It’s very easy to have a dynamic life-style.

- popularity

If you have by now arrived to be enough trained, you want to share your experience in culinary art and to be acknowledged for that, select either a local or national cooking competition. If your education is closely linked to some of the best culinary schools, there is a main input to your success. If you want to go even further there is an international competition. The only method to enjoy success in this field is to work hard and permanently practice your skills.

You can pick from any of these culinary schools:

New England Culinary Institute French Culinary Institute Culinary Institute of America Le Cordon Bleu Paris – France Jna Institute of Culinary Arts

If you truly think that cooking is an art that always pays the tribute to tradition but supports innovation and ingenuity, your options may focus on some of the best culinary schools. There you can discover a mentor and start your career to turn into a professional cook.

About the Author

George Bogdan Adonicioaie is the editor of this article. If you are interested to learn more feel free to check Best Culinary Schools where there are additional information regarding this topic.

How They Liven Up Your Cooking

Article by Andrew Caxton

Herbs can add a lot of extra flavour to foods and they are used by most top chefs.

Plants have been used in cooking for years now, though many people are still unsure of how to use them correctly. For some they simply experiment until they find the perfect combination, but for others they just do not seem to be able to get the hang of it. Different herbs go with different foods and it is important to know all about the different herbs before you actually use them in your cooking.

How Herbs Have Been Used Over the YearsHerbs have a number of uses and they have been used for literally hundreds of years. The Chinese mainly discovered them and they were used for both cooking and healing purposes. However there is no evidence as to when the Chinese actually started using herbs in their cooking. The Egyptians were also thought to have used herb plants in their cooking well before the pyramids were even built. Herbs are as popular as ever today and people tend to experiment more and more with their cooking by adding herbs to their food in order to give it extra flavour. If you eat out at restaurants then there is a big chance that the chefs there may have used herbs in their cooking. The good thing about using herbs is that it is easy to add them to most foods, so you do not have to be a chef in order to experiment with them. If you want to use herbs in your cooking for the first time it may not work out to plan, but the best thing to do is to keep experimenting. Sometimes you may get some great results and other times you may not do as well, so you just need to persevere. Just remember not to overdo it with herbs, because by using too much it can often make the taste of the food a little overpowering. Also, another tip is to try to use fresh herbs instead of dried herbs as you will be able to tell the difference when it comes to tasting them.

Overall, herbs in our food have been used for thousands of years, although the exact dates it started are not overly clear. By adding herbs it can really add extra flavour to our food and it is also good for you at the same time; so it is definitely worth trying them out. Experiment with the different types of herbs and try them out on different foods in order to see if you can create something that is really tasty and that you will enjoy.

About the Author

Andrew Caxton is the journalist of consumer websites, who has written more articles on lawn care for http://www.lawn-mowers-and-garden-tractors.com. For additional information on landscaping lawn mower blade subjects have a look at his web.

Cooking Channel – Dish Network Channels

Article by Francis David

Dish Network Customers will now be able to enjoy The Cooking Channel. The Cooking Channel is the replacement for Fine Living Network. The network is a spinoff of Food Network, but will focus more on instructional shows rather than “reality style” and contest programming that Food Network is now geared towards. The channel has also announced it will eventually have high definition and on demand versions.

Many of the Food Network’s top stars – Emeril Lagasse, Rachael Ray and Bobby Flay – will have new programs on the channel. Lagasse’s new show, called Emeril’s Fresh Food Fast, will show viewers how fresh food can be prepared in a minimal amount of time without sacrificing taste. Flay’s new program Brunch @ Bobby’s will focus on weekend brunches, and Ray’s show Week In a Day will show viewers how to plan a week’s menu by cooking them all in a single day.

Host David Rocco, who will host the self-titled David Rocco’s Dolce Vita and Irish chef Rachel Allen with Rachel Allen : Bake!. The remaining tentative new shows are: Chuck’s Day Off, Chinese Food Made Easy, Everyday Exotic, French Food At Home, Drink Up, Foodography, Food Jammers, Spice Goddess, Indian Food Made Easy, Caribbean Food Made Easy, FoodCrafters, Unique Eats, Nigella Express, Bill’s Food, Iron Chef, Julia Child and Two Fat Ladies reruns. The channel will also carry The Next Food Network Star “post-game” show.

As A new Dish Network Customer you will be able to enjoy this Cooking Channel and benefit from many other Dish Network Promotions. Call now to find out what Dish Network Promotions dihdtvdirect offers.Many of the Food Network’s top stars – Emeril Lagasse, Rachael Ray and Bobby Flay – will have new programs on the channel. Lagasse’s new show, called Emeril’s Fresh Food Fast, will show viewers how fresh food can be prepared in a minimal amount of time without sacrificing taste.

By: Francis David

About the Author

Francis helps people learn about Dish TV Satellite TV, and how they can save money every month with popular Dish Network Packages. Dish has advanced, award winning, Dish DVR and Dish HD receivers, there is a lot of good news to share and also help people determine the right package.