Talk about a popular fish these days, branzino (sometimes spelled bronzino) can be found on more and more restaurant menus and is showing up in many of my favorite fish markets and supermarkets. We find it served as a whole fish with head on or as fillets in restaurants but sold mostly as a whole […]
Steamed Potatoes With Lemon Juice and Herbs Recipe One of the downsides of boiling potatoes is that quite a bit of their nutritional value goes down the drain along with the cooking water. You can bake the potatoes, but even using a microwave this can take a long time. Steaming is one fast way of […]
More Steaming Mistakes and How to Avoid Them This is Part 2 of How NOT to Steam Foods. If you want to read Part 1, click here. Mistake #5 Covering the Pan Loosely If you think that you are steaming in a vessel without a lid, or just loosely covered with a piece of parchment, […]
How NOT to Steam Foods Steaming is arguably one of the healthiest ways to cook because no added fat is needed. It is also a very gentle method as foods aren’t knocked around by boiling water or stirred over high heat. Rather, the steam gently penetrates and cooks all foods at around 212ºF, the boiling […]
The Importance of Good Kitchen Equipment Before You Start a Recipe Mistake #6 – Not Having the Right Equipment As part of reading the recipe and getting your mise en place together, you should also have inventoried your cooking equipment. While it is acceptable to make some substitutions with equipment – using a sauté pan […]
More Mistakes Home Cooks Make When Starting a Recipe Mistake #4 – Not Prepping Your Ingredients Almost as important as making sure you have all your ingredients is making sure that your ingredients are cooking ready. How many times have you started a recipe only to realize you need a chopped onion or diced carrot […]
Before You Even Think of Starting a New Recipe, Read This Mistake #2 Not Giving Yourself Enough Time I cannot stress this enough: just because recipes say that they can be made from start to finish in thirty or forty-five minutes does not mean that a person who is unfamiliar with the recipe or the […]
What A Recipe Is Before I talk about how not to start a recipe, I want to take some time to talk about what a recipe is. According to Miriam Webster, a recipe is “a set of instructions for making something from various ingredients.” The second definition is “a formula or procedure for doing or […]
Common Mistakes When Seasoning With Salt Salt is critical for bringing out flavors in the foods we cook. One of my problems with eating out, especially at good restaurants, I find chefs often over salt their dishes. I’m not sure why and this would be a great topic for another article but I find it […]
A Simple Chart Describing Herbs & Spices & How to Use Them Let’s take a look at some of the more commonly available herbs and spices. These listings are by no means exhaustive. Many of the spice plants are not native to the United States; in these cases, I provide the USDA hardiness zone information […]
I'm a work-at-home dad who enjoys cooking, learning everything I can about the culinary world and sharing it with you. To learn more about me... Read More
How to Make the Best Beef Wellington This Beef Wellington recipe has become a tradition in our house. We prepare it every couple of years for Christmas and made it again this year. If I’m lucky, we will have it next year and the year after that. My wife originally found a recipe in Fine […]
Christmas Standing Rib Roast Thanksgiving is a holiday in which turkey really shines. Many of you would rather not deal with another turkey just four weeks after Thanksgiving. Some of you might still have some frozen leftovers. The Christmas meal is a celebratory meal, and as such, celebration food is a natural at the Christmas […]
How to Bake A Ham For Christmas
Baked Christmas Ham Recipe Would you like to serve a wonderfully flavorful and juicy ham for the holidays? Here’s a can’t-go-wrong recipe that will have your guests asking for seconds, and for a plate of leftovers, as well. Be sure to read about the history of serving ham on Christmas and the various types of […]
