What's the point of resting meat before cutting it?
What's the point of resting meat before cutting it?
Letting cooked meat rest before you cut into it can be patience-trying for the hungry carnivore. But it's worth it for a number of reasons.
High heat makes muscle proteins in the meat contract, pushing juices toward the center. If you allow your meat to relax -- anywhere from 5 minutes for a steak to around 40 for a turkey -- liquid that has been pushed out of tightened meat cells is able to circulate and be reabsorbed, making the meat more tender. This also means the juice will stay in the meat, not run all over your cutting board or plate. It also helps even out the temperature of the meat.
Remove your cooked meat and place it on a wooden cutting board (or, as some chefs insist, on a wire rack above a plate to capture juices, which allows air to circulate on its underside, preventing it from becoming soggy). You can also loosely tent the meat with foil; again, be careful not to wrap it too tightly, lest you lock in the moisture and lose your crisp crust.
Note: The internal temperature of meat rises while it rests, due to the residual heat from the oven. So invest in a digital, instant-read meat thermometer and get in the habit of pulling your meat out before it's done to your liking.
Recipe: Roast Leg Of Lamb With Garlic And Rosemary (Cookthink)
Reference: Does searing meat really seal in moisture? (Cookthink)
Reference: Do I need a digital, instant-read meat thermometer? (Cookthink)
When you want a dish to have quintessential garlic flavor that permeates each bite, mince it. You can mince with a knife, or a garlic press.
Either way, you need to free the individual cloves. To do that, press down on the head with the heel of your palm. Apply firm, even pressure so the cloves don't fly all over the place.
To peel an individual clove, cut of the hard stem end where the clove attached to the bulb. Either stop the cut just short of the skin on the other side and peel the skin around to remove it, or make the cut all the way through and squeeze out the clove. The older the clove, the easier the skin releases.
You can also peel it by setting the side of your knife blade on the clove and pressing down until you feel the skin release, though not hard enough to pulverize it, or the skin will get mixed in with the garlic.
To mince with a knife, smash the peeled clove with the side of the knife. Then just run your knife back and forth across the smashed clove, chopping as you go until it's as fine as you like.
If you don't want individual little pieces of garlic and have a press, just put the whole peeled clove (or cloves, if you can fit them) in the press and squeeze. Use your knife to trim away any clinging garlic.
What's the safest way to defrost food?
What's the safest way to defrost food?
Defrosting food by running it under hot water or leaving it out on the counter is not recommended by the USDA, which advocates three safe methods.
The first way to defrost food is in the refrigerator. This requires forethought and patience, but it means that your food will defrost slowly (it usually takes about 24 hours depending on the size) and that it is safe to cook it within a few days. It also doesn't require any extra effort or energy.
Another safe defrosting method that's a bit quicker than the refrigerator method is to soak the frozen food in cold water. To defrost food in this way, make sure it's sealed in a leak-proof plastic bag. Submerge the bag in cold water and change the water every 30 minutes until defrosted. Another method is to defrost food under a stream of running cold water. Both methods obviously waste quite a bit of water.
If you have a microwave, you already know that it is a quick defrosting tool. But be sure to cook the food you've defrosted promptly since it may have partially cooked during the defrosting process and can produce unwanted bacteria if left sitting around.
In all cases, be sure to cook defrosted food thoroughly if you plan to refreeze it.
Measuring freshly ground black pepper
Measuring freshly ground black pepper
When a recipe calls for "freshly ground black pepper," it usually does so without suggesting an amount. In the instructions of the recipe, you’ll be told to "sprinkle [something] with freshly ground black pepper" or "generously season both sides with salt and freshly ground black pepper" or "add freshly ground black pepper to taste."
In general, this makes sense. Cooking with black pepper is one of those things you just get a feel for as you spend more time in the kitchen. And descriptive measurements like "sprinkle" and "generously season" are hard to screw up: a light sprinkle is not going to be drastically different from a heavy sprinkle.
Still, we've been keeping track of pepper amounts for a while now, because we want our descriptive measurements to be more or less the same from recipe to recipe. How much pepper do we mean when we write "generously season?" What is the ideal amount of a Cookthink "sprinkle?"
And of course, there are times when it helps to have an exact amount for freshly ground black pepper. For certain casseroles and papillotes -- dishes that can’t be tasted for seasoning as they cook -- it's nice to have an exact baseline amount of pepper so that you don’t have to tweak it too much at the end for taste.
The problem is that it’s near impossible to grind accurately into any measuring spoon smaller than a tablespoon, and few recipes call for that much pepper. So how do you measure freshly ground black pepper?
One easy way is to go by turns of the grinder. I’ve carved an “X” onto the side of mine, a short and simple model with three settings: coarse, medium, fine.
I set the grind to medium and made 8 full rotations into a small bowl. Using a 1/8 teaspoon, I shoveled the ground pepper into another 1/8 teaspoon. Too much. I started over and stopped at 4 full rotations. It was a little light, so I made another full turn and got an almost level 1/8 teaspoon with 5 total rotations of the grinder.
I did the same for 1/4 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon and 1 teaspoon. I got the results you’d expect:
1/8 teaspoon = 5 full rotations
1/4 teaspoon = 10 full rotations
1/2 teaspoon = 20 full rotations
1 teaspoon = 40 full rotations
I repeated this in both the fine and coarse settings, and found them close enough to the medium not to worry too much about it.
So are these measurements helpful? In writing and testing recipes, yes. In practice, probably not, though I have often wondered, while standing over a stew grinding away, just how much pepper I’m adding. Now I know. - Chip
The poke test: how to tell when your meat is done
The poke test: how to tell when your meat is done
Overcooking meat is one of the kitchen’s great tragedies. In our recipes, we estimate cooking times that will get you within range. But to really cook your meat the way you like it, you need to get a feel for meat. The poke test is a good way to gauge meat's doneness. Here's what you do:
Take the meat off the heat and press it with with your index finger. The firmer it is, the more done it is. Use your hand as a guide.
Poke the soft area of muscle between your thumb and index finger when your hand is relaxed. If the meat feels like that, it's probably too underdone (except for the tartare crowd). Stretch your fingers halfway open, and poke again. It feels firmer but still gives. That’s closer to medium rare.
Stretch your fingers halfway open, and poke again. It feels firmer but still gives. That’s closer to medium rare.
All the way open feels firm and approximates medium. Make a fist and poke again. That's well done.
Most of the juiciness in meat is actually water, but the sensation of juiciness happens on two fronts.
The first comes from actual moisture held in meat fibers that is released when the fibers are broken during chewing.
The secondary perception of juiciness is due to saliva flow that is stimulated by the presence of fat in the mouth. That is why a well-marbled meat will taste juicy even when it has been cooked relatively dry, while a bite of veal (too young to be thickly marbled) may start out moist and tender, but will dry out in the mouth before it’s swallowed.
Parsley used to be a gross-looking garnish on the side of your plate. Now, we think of it as one of the best go-to herbs to work into your cooking. It adds a bright but relatively neutral herbal flavor to almost any dish.To prep it, first rinse and shake dry the leaves. Hold the bouquet at an angle with the leaves against the cutting board. Run your knife down the side of the bouquet to slice away the leaves. It's fine to remove some of the tender stems along with the leaves.Now just run your knife back and forth across the pile of leaves, chopping them as coarsely or as finely as you need to. The closer to the end of the cooking you plan to add the parsley, the finer you'll want to chop it. But since parsley's so tender it's usually okay to keep the the chop coarse.
Does searing meat really seal in moisture?
Does searing meat really seal in moisture?
According to food science expert and author Harold McGee: no, searing meat doesn't seal in moisture.
Food Network's Alton Brown, who agrees with McGee, even conducted an experiment to see if searing helps keep meat moist. Brown measured the moisture content of both seared and un-seared meat that had been cooked to the same internal temperature. The result: seared meat actually had less moisture.
We still think that searing is the way to go. Properly searing meat gives it a brown crust, which lends two things to the finished dish: flavor and
contrast. The rich flavor and mouthfeel of a beautifully browned crust makes the interior seem juicier (even if it isn't).
So while searing may remove more moisture on balance, we think the difference is negligible, especially given the added flavor and contrast of a browned exterior.
Feta cheese is the most famous Greek invention since democracy. Traditionally made from sheep's (or goat's) milk, commercial producers now also use cow's milk to make the bright white, rindless cheese. Feta is cured and stored in a salty whey brine and has a distinct tangy taste and crumbly texture.
Feta is made by draining curdled milk in molds or cloth bags. It is then cut into slices, salted, and these days, packed in whey brine-filled barrels or plastic tubs, although the best feta is salted and aged rather than drowned in brine. The flavor and level of moisture in the cheese depends on the cheesemaker.
Feta-like cheese is now made in many parts of the world. In Europe the cheese is produced from Bulgaria to Denmark and France. But authentic Greek feta is now protected in Europe with an AOC designation of origin label, like Champagne or Bordeaux. Real feta must contain at least 70 percent sheep's milk and be made using traditional methods and in just seven regions of Greece. Feta cheese sold in the U.S. does not have to comply with these rules.
