Cookthink

What is the difference between stock and broth?

The two terms are often used interchangeably but retain an aura of cloudiness like the unskimmed foam on a simmering pot of stock or broth. Stock is the strained liquid that you get once you've cooked various meat, poultry, fish or seafood, vegetables, herbs and seasonings in water. Brown stock is made by browning bones and vegetables first in oil before adding water and/or wine to the pot. Stock is the basis for many a soup, stew and features in many sauces, often reduced. White sauce is made from white stock made with chicken, veal or other poultry; brown sauces incorporate brown stock made from veal, beef or poultry meat and bones. A court-bouillon is also a stock. Vegetable stock is made with vegetables which may or may not have been first sautéed in oil or butter. Broth is also the strained liquid that's left after you've cooked meat, poultry, fish or seafood, vegetables, herbs or seasonings in water. Broth is also called bouillon. Nevertheless, cubes of instant stock that is reconstituted with water as a cooking shortcut are called bouillon cubes. The liquid in a pot-au-feu is also called bouillon.

What's the difference between a chile and a chili?

Nothing. The small hot pepper known as the chili, chilli or chile pepper is essentially the same thing, spelled differently depending on where you live. Chile sauce, chili powder, chilli oil or paste are used to give food throughout the world a fiery kick as they have for thousands of years.

How to cut up a chicken

Cutting up a whole chicken for the first time may seem baffling, but there's no need to worry. If you watch this video by Handmade TV, you'll be all set. Just make sure to sharpen your knife!

Root Source: Turnip

what you should know "Root vegetables! Get yer squircle root vegetables here!" That's what it might sound like if there was a guy walking around this weekend's Super Bowl selling turnips with the stadium dogs and the cups of beer. But that scenario is as unlikely as a victory by the Giants, who know as well as anyone that you can't squeeze blood out of a turnip. sweet little turnip What you can squeeze out of a turnip is a clean, slightly sweet, peppery flavor -- at times almost a nutty horseradish bite. (Like the parsnip, the turnip sweetens when exposed to frost.) Look for smaller turnips with smooth skin that are firm to the touch. Larger turnips tend to be woody and rough-tasting. turnip green bottoms If you can, buy turnips that still have their bright green tops and use them in the same way you use mustard greens. In the South, where cooking greens are popular, turnips are sometimes even called "turnip green bottoms." turnip day Public opinion polls show that this Congress is one of the least popular in modern history. Maybe it needs another "Turnip Day" address. when in mass The Macomber turnip is a local legend in Massachusetts. what you need We're finally getting around to exploring two turnip-featuring cookbooks that came out around the holidays: Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and Alice Waters' elegant new book, The Art of Simple Food. We talk about peelers so often that we may have to run an OXO peeler PSA to run alongside our service announcement about tongs. what you do For a dish with so few ingredients, these glazed turnips taste surprisingly complex. The richness of the butter and the light sprinkle of sugar draw out the turnip's inherent sweetness. Simplicity again: grated raw turnips and carrots with a deeply flavorful Asian dressing. A sweet and sour salad to play off a rich roasted meat dish. Tossing in turnips adds some texture to the classic dish of bangers and cabbage and makes it a more complete meal. Turnips have a lot of water in them, so even dry-roasted turnips come out of the oven moist and steaming.

What is Italian sausage?

So-called Italian sausage is a style of plump, uncured pork sausage that comes in hot and sweet varieties -- essentially, with or without hot red peppers. Sold in links and flavor-enhanced with garlic and fennel and/or anise seeds, it can be cooked like any old sausage and is especially popular in sausage-based pasta sauces or eaten in a sandwich with fried onions and bell peppers. Go to Italy and ask for "Italian sausage," and you will receive either a blank stare or a multitude of options; what we think of as Italian sausage is a generic label specific to the U.S. Recipe: Pappardelle With Sausage And Yellow Squash (Cookthink) Recipe: White Bean Soup With Spicy Sausage (Cook & Eat) Reference: What is chorizo? (Cookthink)

What is boiling water?

Poaching, simmering and boiling are at heart identical cooking methods that in practice yield a variety of results. All that distinguishes one from the other is that each marks a different temperature stage in the process of bringing water to a boil. As a pot of water heats, the water molecules near the bottom of the pot warm up first. As they get hotter, they move faster. Eventually, they move fast enough to rise toward the surface of the water, where they displace the cooler molecules up above, forcing them to fall to the bottom of the pot, where they in turn are heated and begin to rise. Ultimately, the water gets hot enough to vaporize the molecules at the bottom of the pot into steam. Because steam is less dense than water, it rises, causing the surface of the water to swirl. This slight movement on the surface of the water is the visual sign that the water is ready for poaching (between 170 and 180F). When enough steam forms, bubbles at the edge of the pot begin to break through the surface into a simmer (180 to 190F). When bubbles undulate across the entire surface of the water, it is said to be at a gentle boil (210F). And in just 2 more degrees, the surface of the water will break turbulently, cascading with large vigorous bubbles. This stage is called a rolling boil. It is possible to stop the progression to a rolling boil by reducing the heat as the visual signs for poaching or simmering approach. You know you've got the burner just right when the water maintains the signs of any stage for a full minute. When you add food, the water temperature will drop, but don't turn up the heat. The water should return to the proper temperature within a minute. If it does not, you may have overcrowded the pot with too much food.

How to boil water at high (and low) altitudes

We tend to think of the boiling point of water as a constant 212F (100C), but that temperature is only the amount of energy it takes to boil water at sea level. As elevation rises, the amount of air pressing down on the surface of the water decreases, and the less energy it takes to make the water boil, with the result that the water boils at a lower temperature. The lower temperature of boiling water at high altitudes causes several changes in how food cooks: • Boiling pasta, potatoes, beans, and other starchy foods takes about 10 percent longer for every 1,000 feet (305 m) of elevation. • Braised meats are more succulent, because less moisture is squeezed from the coagulating proteins at a lower simmering temperature, but they may need slightly more time to cook. For every thousand feet (305 m) of elevation, the boiling point reduces by about 2F (1C). Even a low-pressure weather front can lower the boiling point, or a high-pressure front could raise the boiling point by a degree or two. The following chart shows how a change in altitude affects the boiling point of water and the cooking of common ingredients: Altitude Above Sea Level Boiling Point Vegetables (increase cooking time by) Stewing and Braising (increase cooking time by) Roasting (increase cooking temperature by) 3,000 ft 206°F 20 to 30% 30 minutes 10 to 25°F 5,000 ft 202°F 40 to 50% 1 hour 20 to 30°F 7,000 ft+ 198°F 60 to 70% 2 to 3 hours 30 to 50°F If you go in the opposite direction, below sea level, there is more air sitting on the surface of the water and the boiling point goes up. Since there is not much dry land that lies below sea level, increasing the boiling point of water by increasing atmospheric pressure most often happens artificially in a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers speed up cooking by trapping the steam escaping from boiling water, thereby building up pressure on the surface, and raising the boiling point. In a pressure cooker, the combination of the increased temperature and air pressure forces heat into ingredients faster, thereby reducing cooking times by as much as 70 percent. Soaked dried beans can take as little as 10 minutes to cook through in a pressure cooker. A pot roast that would braise for 3 hours using conventional cooking methods will take less than an hour in a pressure cooker. Because there is less evaporation in pressure cooking, the amount of liquid used for a soup, stews, or braised meat should be reduced by about 60 percent.

What is a waxy potato?

Waxy white and red potatoes have less starch and more moisture than russets and other high-starch potatoes. This low moisture content makes them ideal for boiling, mashing, roasting or frying. New potatoes have a waxy texture and thin skins, meaning they keep their shape in potato salads and can be pan roasted. Store potatoes in a cool, dark place. Putting them in the refrigerator will turn their starch to unwanted sugar, making them grow unpleasantly dark when cooked. Recipe: Potato Salad With Capers And Parsley (Cookthink) Recipe: Roasted Fennel And Potatoes With Fennel Seed (Cookthink)