A pescetarian is somebody who eats fish or other creatures of the sea (excluding mammals) but otherwise does not eat meat.
Pescetarians are sometimes called pesco-vegetarians, but they are not strictly vegetarians. Some pescetarians eat eggs and dairy.
Salsa means sauce in Spanish, Italian and Arabic. But when people say salsa in America, they are generally referring to a fresh or cooked sauce used as an accompaniment to Mexican cuisine that ranges from mild to red-hot.
Salsa can be red or green and may contain tomatoes, tomatillos, onions, chiles, cilantro, lime juice and other ingredients. It can be used as a dip for tortilla chips or as a garnish for tacos, burritos, enchiladas, tostadas and other Mexican dishes. It is often paired with guacamole and sour cream.
Look for a cantaloupe that has unblemished skin with no sign of a greenish tint, which means that it isn't yet ripe.
Pick it up. It should feel heavy relative to its size.
Now put your nose to it and sniff. Cantaloupes should smell musky and sweet, but not overly perfumey, as this is a sign that they have gotten overripe.
The smoke points of an oil (or butter) is precisely what it sounds like: the temperature at which it begins to release clouds of smoke. At that point, the oil is breaking down and has a very narrow window of time left until it burns and should be tossed out.
The smoke point is different for different kinds of oils. Vegetable oils are tougher and can reach a higher temperature before smoking, making tehm good for frying. (The commonly accepted temperature for frying is somewhere between 365F-375F.) Butter burns easily, and olive oil has a pretty low smoke point, so they’re better for sautéing at relatively lower heats.
Here are a few examples of oils and their smoke points (get your thermometers ready!):
Sunflower Oil -- 440F
Canola Oil -- 400F
Butter -- 350F
Extra Virgin Olive Oil -- 320F
How to select and ripen a mango
How to select and ripen a mango
Following a post on the Cookthink blog about OXO's mango splitter, several people emailed asking how to pick a ripe mango. We asked Aliza Green, author of Field Guide to Produce, for advice. Fresh off of six weeks on the road to promote her new book, Green just emailed back with some thoughts on mangoes:
Mangoes vary greatly in size and consistency, depending on variety. My favorite at the moment is the Ataulfo (AKA champagne) mango, a small kidney-shaped mango that has rich jellyish flesh with little stringiness.
Look for mangoes that are football shaped rather than thin or flat. The flatter mangoes may be stringy. Avoid stringy looking, shriveled mangoes. The mangoes that are fuller and rounder usually have the deep color of a ripe peach instead of the yellowish green that the other varieties have.
Avoid mangos with a sour or alcoholic smell. Because of their high sugar content, mangoes will ferment naturally.
Most mangoes when you buy them in the store are hard. They must be fully ripened before eating. Leave in cool room temperature till the flesh is yielding but not mushy. Peel color does not indicate ripeness, but most varieties will turn yellow as they ripen (except the Keitt and Kent, which can be ripe while they are still green).
Check the area around the stem; if it looks plump and round, the mango is ripe. With the stem end up, smell the mango. A ripe mango will have a sweet, fruity aroma and be slightly soft to the touch, like an avocado or peach. A few brown speckles is also a normal indication of ripeness. Once you've ripened the mango, you can refrigerate it for up to 4 days.
Recipe: Mango Wontons (Cook & Eat)
Recipe: Mango Lassi (Take-Out Menu Cookbook)
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.
What are "dry-packed" scallops?
What are "dry-packed" scallops?
Dry-packed scallops are scallops that are shucked, packed up and shipped on ice without chemical additives.
They taste better than wet-packed scallops, which are soaked in water and sodium tripolyphosphate, meaning the scallop becomes bloated with water and food additives, resulting in a duller flavor.
Scallops with too much moisture are also less successful in the pan, since excess water seeps out, preventing a flavorful crust from forming on the outside of the scallop as it cooks.
Dry-packed scallops may also have a stickier texture and a slightly more pronounced smell, which is nothing to worry about. They cost more, but have a naturally sweeter taste.
