The word "canola" is a derivative of the phrase "Canadian oil, low acid."
Let's break that down a little further. Canola oil was first developed in Canada (in the 1970s), so that takes care of the "cano-" part of the word.
What about the "-la" or "low acid" part? Canola oil is made from varieties of rapeseed that contain very little amounts of something called erucic acid. Rapeseed naturally contains high levels of erucic acid, which has been suspected of being toxic to some animals in high levels.
People have been cooking with rapeseed oil for centuries. However, given the suspicions about its cumulative negative health effects, breeders began developing rapeseed that contained only small traces of erucic acid. And that's how "cano-" got its "-la".
Once a prize kept under lock and key in wealthy households, sugar is now ubiquitous and comes in many forms. Most commercial sugar is made from cane or beet root. Here's a look at the most common types of sugar used in the kitchen.
Granulated white sugar: White sugar is highly refined and made from sugarcane or beets. This all-purpose refined white sugar has small but fairly coarse crystals and is used to sprinkle on food, sweeten beverages, or add to dishes during cooking. Golden granulated sugar is a brown sugar made from sugar cane molasses that is similar but has a light brown color.
Castor (caster) or superfine sugar: This refined white sugar has fine crystals that dissolve more quickly than regular granulated sugar, making it a good choice for baking meringues. Golden castor sugar is made from unrefined cane sugar.
Brown sugar: Brown sugar is nothing more than white sugar that has been mixed with molasses to color it and give it a moist texture. Light brown sugar has less molasses than dark brown sugar. Brown sugar should not be confused with raw sugar, which has a similar color and taste but is actually the residue from processed sugarcane.
Turbinado sugar: A sugar cane extract that is made by steaming unrefined raw sugar. It has large crystals and a slight molasses flavor. It's a shade paler than brown sugar and can be substituted for brown sugar in recipes. We like to use turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top of muffins, cookies and scones. It holds its texture well and, when cooked, has a nice sweet crunch.
Demerara Sugar: True Demerara sugar is raw or partly refined sugar with large crystals, but some impostors are nothing more than white sugar stained with molasses.
Muscovado Sugar: This raw cane sugar comes in light and dark varieties and is used to make cakes and desserts.
Powdered, icing or confectioner's sugar: This sugar is made by reducing granulated sugar to a powder and mixing it with starch to prevent it from lumping up. It's used to decorate cakes and can also be used in making sweet dishes and baked goods.
Glazing is a cooking term that means to create a glazed surface on food.
A fruit tart can be glazed by brushing it with warm, strained jam or jelly. Vegetables can be glazed by cooking them with a small amount of water, butter and sugar, which coats them in a thick, glossy sauce; or simply by brushing them with melted butter once they're cooked to give them a shiny surface.
A stock glaze is a syrupy meat, poultry or fish stock that's reduced to concentrate the flavor; glazes are then added to sauces or used to baste dishes browning in the oven.
what you should know
Unsalted butter is always equally unsalted, but salted butter is never quite salted the same.
The NaCl uncertainty is the main reason we prefer to use unsalted butter when we cook. Often that salt can subdue the sweet flavor of butter. (Unsalted butter is often labeled as "sweet butter.")
salt conversion In most recipes, the little extra salt will go unnoticed. Still, as a general rule if a recipe calls for unsalted butter but all you've got is salted butter, cut 1/4 teaspoon of salt per stick of butter (1/2 cup) you use.
stick it up Salt acts as a preservative for butter. Tightly wrapped in foil and stored in the fridge, salted butter can last for five months, while unsalted butter lasts about three before going stale. (Spot stale butter by slicing into the stick; the outside will be darker than the inside.) Then again, many people don't store butter in the fridge to begin with.
cooking with butter Sometimes, when you want a nuttier flavor, you'll want to let the butter's foam subside. But butter has a low smoke point, so be careful using it as your cooking fat. It'll burn easily. Clarified butter, or ghee, has a higher smoke point (and also makes a tasty dipping sauce for crab, lobster and anything else).
roux-dimentary Butter forms the foundation for countless classic sauces and thickeners, including béchamel, beurre manié and roux.
what you need
Have you ever wanted to make fresh butter at home? This traditional butter churn is based on the famous Dazey churn from the early 20th century.
You can also make a small batch of butter by putting cream in a jar and shaking it for a long, long time until you've shaken it solid.
The water-cooled crock owners we know swear by the constant supply of creamy, spreadable butter they keep on their tables.
Other butter lovers who shun the refrigerator prefer the classic rectangular butter dish.
what you do
Sage and butter are absolutely delicious together. How delicious? Try this rich and pillowy tortellini with sage brown butter and parmesan to find out.
Steamy Kitchen likes to top her slow butter- braised asparagus with parmesan and sea salt. With that savory finale, you definitely don't need salted butter.
Drizzling roasted sweet potatoes with cilantro-lime butter gives them a burst of tart richness.
Salted butter might interfere with the complex sugar-spice interaction in these orange-scented popovers with cinnamon-orange honey.
These better-for-you whole-grain flapjacks from hogwash are made with quinoa, millet and flaxseed. After using butter to grease the pan, you can afford to use a little extra on the cakes themselves.
Coconut & Lime's worked out one of the fastest and tastiest cinnamon bun recipes out there.
Crisp, earthy radishes grow underground before being dug up by their (also edible) leaves.
Raw, this root vegetable is pungent and peppery. To temper radishes, simply sauté, steam or braise them.
Dainty fairweather radishes like the Cherry Belle or French Breakfast come in shades of pink, red, purple and white. (Some even come inside-out: white-skinned and pink-hearted.)
Common is Eastern Europe, the black radish has rough, dark skin, bright, white flesh and a bite almost as sharp as horseradish. Another cool-weather radish, daikon, is carrot-shaped and parsnip-colored, but tastes like a summer radish.
Skip the O.J. and load up on radishes -- a great source of vitamin C.
Prepping pearl onions requires a bit of effort, but will make a difference in soups and stews or as a side dish when roasted, braised or glazed.
Start by bringing a saucepan of water to a boil (for blanching the onions). Next, prepare an ice bath -- just a large bowl with a quart of water and 1 cup of ice cubes -- that you will use to cool down the onions after blanching.
Cut off the root end of each pearl onion -- don't cut too much off, maybe 1/16 of an inch. Blanching will loosen the skins and they'll slip off easily.
Blanch the pearl onions by boiling them in water for 1 to 2 minutes until their skins look bubbly and translucent.
With a slotted spoon, remove them to the ice bath so that they stop cooking and become cool enough to peel.
Let them cool for 5 minutes in the ice bath, or until they're cool enough to handle.
Now just slip their skins off.
Since you've already removed the root, the skins will be loose and easy to peel off.
what you should know
Crisp, earthy radishes grow underground before being dug up by their (also edible) leaves.
Raw, this root vegetable is pungent and peppery. To temper radishes, simply sauté, steam or braise them.
spring and summer Dainty fairweather radishes like the Cherry Belle or French Breakfast come in shades of pink, red, purple and white. (Some even come inside-out: white-skinned and pink-hearted.)
fall and winter Common is Eastern Europe, the black radish has rough, dark skin, bright, white flesh and a bite almost as sharp as horseradish. Another cool-weather radish, daikon, is carrot-shaped and parsnip-colored, but tastes like a summer radish.
morning cup Skip the O.J. and load up on radishes -- a great source of vitamin C.
divine Radishes were so prized in ancient Greece that worshipers left tiny gold models of the root as offerings to Apollo.
root vs. beer While true radish-lovers may have been lured to this 19th-century radish feast by the roots themselves, we suspect that most people were there for the beer.
what you need
Jane Grigson will provide you with answers to all your lingering questions about radishes (and any other salad ingredient) in her Vegetable Book.
What can a radish teach you about life and living it? Find out in this enlightening book by a Zen monk.
Have you noticed a crop of radish earrings? You can thank Harry Potter for that.
what you do
Give radishes an Italian twist by wrapping them in prosciutto.
A pickled radish salad is mighty refreshing alongside a rich, meaty skirt steak.
Creamy avocado balances the peppery bite of the radish in this colorful salad.
Glazed red pearl onions and pink-and-white radishes make a nice companion for a roasted bird.
Juicy beef, crisp romaine, crumbly cheese and crunchy radishes -- it's the perfect taco.
Roast veal next to radishes for a hearty dinner of tender meat and juicy vegetables.
Featured: The classic French combination of radishes and butter may strike you as odd, but after a bite you'll see why its balance of crunchy, sharp, salty and buttery flavors works so well.
Find more radish recipes at Cookthink.com. And if you haven't yet signed up for a free account at Cookthink, do it now!
What does it mean to caramelize?
What does it mean to caramelize?
Well, two things, actually.
When it comes to dessert, caramelizing means to heat sugar until it liquifies and turns gold to dark brown depending on its temperature (around 320 to 350F on a candy thermometer). Custards such as crème brûlée are caramelized by sprinkling them with sugar and placing them either under a broiler or salamander or by torching the sugar until it forms a brittle burnt crust. Caramelizing can also technically mean to coat a mold with caramel so that it acts as a glaze when a custard or other dessert is turned out (as in crème caramel or flan).
We also use the word caramelize to describe what happens when we brown meat over high heat to draw out its natural sugars and create a flavorful crust. Vegetables with a high natural sugar content, such as onions, carrots or turnips, can also be caramelized by sautéing them in butter and a bit of water to prevent burning. Fruit such as apples or figs can also be caramelized by sautéing them in butter before sprinkling them with sugar, which gives them a lightly caramelized glaze.
