What's the point of letting a casserole rest before cutting into it?
What's the point of letting a casserole rest before cutting into it?
If you spend time baking a casserole, be it macaroni and cheese, lasagna, meatloaf or anything else, be sure to let it rest for a few minutes before cutting into it. (Don't worry that it will get cold; it's been sizzling away in a hot oven for quite some time, and there is plenty of heat circulating in the pan to keep it warm.)
Letting a casserole rest for 10 minutes or so means that the proteins and starches will have time to set, making for a more stable mixture before you cut it into portions. If the casserole is too hot, it will be harder to manage, fall apart more easily, and won't taste as good.
Is there a proper way to load a dishwasher?
While you could just cram everything in helter-skelter, here are a few rules for getting the most out of every wash.
1) The used ends of forks and spoons should face up and benefit from the full force of the spray, while the knives (for safety reasons during the unload) should face down.
2) Utensils should be mixed in together in different silverware baskets. This prevents utensil "nestling" whereby spoons spoon and don’t get clean.
3) Though most of us tend to group plates together by size, a staggered, Manhattan-skylinish arrangement allows better circulation of the cleaning solution.
4) Bowls are often tricky. Usually we wedge them in with the plates. However, in most dishwashers the middle section of the top rack is designed for bowls.
5) With glassware, rather than putting glasses over the prongs in the top rack, they should go in between so they don't touch at all -- with all the heat, they are more prone to break if they are touching another glass.
Reference: What is a Dutch oven?
Reference: Cookthink PSA: Buy tongs!
Reference: Do I need a digital instant-read meat thermometer?
Chopping is probably the most common way to prep an onion. Chopped onions show up in anything that needs the basic, earthy pungent flavor that onions give. Chop them larger for longer-cooking dishes like stews and rustic soups, and smaller (call it a dice if you like) for anything from salsas to sauces to ragouts.
To start, cut the onion in half through the root. The root itself will help keep the onion together for chopping
Rotate the onion 90 degrees and cut off the papery end (not the root end). This will make the skin easy to peel away and discard.
Peel back the onion's papery skin. It's often easiest to peel away the first layer of the onion along with the skin.
Make a series of diagonal cuts (roughly 45 degrees) into the side of the onion. Keep more space between the slices for a large chop. Make the cuts closer together for a small chop or a dice.
Now make a series of horizontal cuts to finish shaping the chop or dice.
Finally, rotate the onion again and slice crosswise against the checkerboard pattern you made in the onion. The chopped pieces will fall away from the onion.
