Is making mayonnaise at home worth it? Yes. Yes, yes, yes!
Homemade mayonnaise is one of the easiest things you can make and the taste is far superior to the stuff in the blue-topped jars.
You can't buy the fresh lightness of a homemade batch of mayo, especially one spiked with some nice herbs, a little garlic or some cayenne. Two minutes with a food processor, and you're done. Take that time and try it for yourself.
Recipe: Fresh Mayonnaise(Cookthink)
Recipe: Shallot Mayonnaise(Cookthink)
Cilantro is the parsley of the East, where it's known as "coriander leaves" or "dhani". (In Mexico, where it's also very popular, it's sometimes called "Mexican parsley".)
If you like cilantro (and some people don't at all), the herb is an easy way to add a beautifully fresh, sweet, fruity flavor to 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. (In fact, for salsas, spice pastes, curries and some longer-cooking dishes, the stems add essential, concentrated cilantro flavor.)
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 cilantro, the finer you'll want to chop it. But since cilantro is so tender it's usually okay to keep the the chop coarse.
Now that you know how to prep it, try some cilantro recipes at Cookthink.com.
What is the difference between a shrimp and a prawn?
What is the difference between a shrimp and a prawn?
In some culinary circles, the word "prawn" is used to describe a large shrimp. In other circles, "shrimp" is used exclusively to describe both shrimp and prawns. And to further complicate matters, in other circles, "prawn" is used exclusively to describe both shrimp and prawns.
So is there a difference between the two?
Yes, there is a difference. Technically, shrimp and prawns are separate species, with mildly different gill structures and tastes.
The saltwater crustacean known as a shrimp is found in warm water (like the Gulf of Mexico) or cold water (like the Atlantic). Much of the shrimp we eat is pond-raised. In general, the colder the water, the smaller the shrimp.
Marketed according to size, shrimp are named based on the rough number of them that make up a pound. "Miniature" shrimp are so small that it take roughly 100 to make a pound, while just 10 "colossal" shrimp make a pound.
A prawn is a different kind of crustacean that resembles a miniature lobster and has sweet, succulent meat. The French langoustine, Spanish langostino and Caribbean lobsterette are all prawns, as is the Italian scampi (which shouldn't be confused with the dish known in the United States as "shrimp scampi"). Freshwater prawns like the Hawaiian blue prawn look like a shrimp-and-lobster love child, with thinner bodies and longer legs than shrimp.
Since in most recipes one can be substituted for the other, at Cookthink, we prefer to say "shrimp" when referring to shrimp and prawns. Using our synoynm feature, you can search for shrimp or prawns and we'll know what you're talking about.
Recipe: For recipes using shrimp and praws, take a look at the "related recipes" box on the left
What does it mean to devein a shrimp?
What does it mean to devein a shrimp?
"Deveining" has nothing to do with veins. To devein a shrimp is to remove the black threadlike intestinal tract that runs along its back.
Deveining is a good idea when working with larger shrimp, because the digestive tract can contain grit. But whether or not to devein smaller shrimp is a matter of preference. Some people think the flavor of a dish is enhanced by leaving it in (or that it's just too much trouble to remove the harmless tract). The perfectionists among us remove it for aesthetic purposes.
We're not perfectionists here, so we rarely devein shrimp. If you're set on doing it, there are a few shrimp deveining devices on the market -- such as OXO's shrimp cleaner -- but you can just as easily make do with a knife. Peel the shrimp first, then run the tip of a sharp knife along the shrimp's back to lift out the delicate black vein, removing any pieces that break off with your fingers.
Recipe: Broiled Thai Shrimp (Cookthink)
Recipe: Spicy Linguini With Shrimp And Mint (Cookthink)
