What's the point of covering a pot of water you've set to boil?
What's the point of covering a pot of water you've set to boil?
A watched pot never boils? Well, put a cover on said pot and it will boil before you know it, even right before your very eyes. Putting a cover on a pot of water you've set to boil is one of those time- and energy-saving tricks that is so obvious that it just may take years for it to dawn on you.
Covering your pot will trap heat, prevent evaporation, build pressure, and get your water boiling faster. Just remember that once you remove the lid, it will take the water a moment to return to a full boil.
Chutney is a South Asian condiment that's popular in Europe and North America. Made from fruit, sugar, vinegar and spices, chutney is cooked until reduced to a jam-like consistency. The term chutney also applies to uncooked vegetable-based chutneys that are prepared from vegetables or herbs in various cuisines.
A popular accompaniment for Indian curries or cheese platters, chutney may be mild or hot, smooth or chunky. Sweet-sour mango chutney is one of the most well-known, although fruit-based chutneys may be made from peaches, apples, tomatoes, pomegranates and many other principal ingredients.
How to make country potato salad
How to make country potato salad
Summertime barbecues wouldn't be the same without potato salad. To learn how to make this version of an all-American favorite, watch Handmade TV's instructional video.
How to make classic vichyssoise
How to make classic vichyssoise
Vichyssoise is a creamy potato soup that can be enjoyed on the hottest of summer days. To learn how to make this chilled soup, watch Handmade TV's video for step-by-step instructions.
Cooking with dried beans requires a little forethought; before cooking, they must be soaked for at least an hour in boiling water or between four and eight hours in cold water. Then, they take at least an hour to cook.
On the other hand, they're inexpensive and can be seasoned in a multitude of ways during cooking. (Think ham hocks, fresh herbs and aromatic vegetables.) Plus, the texture of cooked dried beans is firmer and more substantial than typical canned beans.
Still, we keep our pantry stocked so that we always have ready-to-eat canned beans to add protein and texture to weeknight pastas, salads, soups, stews, chilis and burritos. Be sure to select a good brand to ensure that the beans have a firm texture, clean flavor and no added salt. (Inferior canned beans tend to be mushy and loaded with sodium.)
Bangers and mash is quintessential British comfort food. Traditional pub grub and a common everyday dish on British tables, the bangers are traditional British pork or beef sausages, and mash is slang for mashed potatoes. Bangers and mash are traditionally served by placing fried sausages on a pile of mashed potatoes and dousing them in an onion gravy.
While bangers and mash is a classic working class dish, it's also found gussied up on gastropub menus where it may be prepared with any number of fancy sausages or gravies.
The term "banger" is said to refer to the sausages' tendency to explode -- or bang around -- in the pan when cooked over high heat.
Pasta alla Puttanesca is an Italian pasta dish invented in the 1960s that was named after the whores of Naples. Whether its racy name is a result of its hot, spicy taste, pungent aroma or the fact that it was a cheap dish that working girls could down between customers is anyone's guess.
Pasta the way a whore -- not your mama -- would make it includes ingredients such as garlic, olive oil, hot dried peperoncino peppers, anchovies, tomatoes, capers and smashed up olives. The dish is garnished with parsley. Sugo alla puttanesca is usually served over spaghetti, but is a willing partner for pasta of any shape or size.
What's the difference between broccoli and broccoli raab?
What's the difference between broccoli and broccoli raab?
Along with cabbages, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, broccoli raab and broccoli are in the brassica family. They look like modified versions of one another -- broccoli with its thick, branching stems, large florets and few leaves, and broccoli raab with its long, thin, uniform stems, small florets and pronounced leaves.
Both have a similar green vegetal flavor, but broccoli raab is bitter -- surprisingly so to the uninitiated -- while broccoli raab tends more toward the sweet. Despite that main difference, each works pretty well in place of the other whether in classic Italian pastas, soups, stews, simply steamed or sautéed alone with a splash of lemon or vinegar and olive oil.
Both pair especially well with pork and sausages, raisins, pine nuts, bell peppers and just about any kind of cheese -- especially ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella.
Fermentation is a process where certain so-called "good" or "preferable" microbes living on the surface of plants flourish and feed on those plants, supressing the growth of "bad" bacteria. These microbes also produce substances like lactic acid and alcohol, preserving food's texture and nutrients and enhancing its taste and flavor.
Commonly fermented foods and drinks include wine and bread, where yeast is encouraged to consume sugar. To make olives, preserved lemons, sauerkraut and pickles, vegetables are submerged in brine to create the proper oxygen-free atmosphere for good bacteria to flourish, extending their shelf-life.
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.
Agnolotti ("priest hats") are stuffed, fresh pasta from the Piedmont region. Agnolotti are traditionally made by folding small, thinly rolled rounds of pasta dough over fillings into a half-moon (or rectangular) shape, and crimping the edges to seal.
Italian food historians say that the differences between agnolotti and its close cousin ravioli were once more marked. Agnolotti, made in the richer, carnivorous northern regions of Italy, were stuffed with meat; the poorer central and coastal regions stuffed their ravioli with cheese, fish and vegetables.
But the lines have blurred since World War II, and like ravioli, agnolotti may be filled with cheese, meat or vegetables, and spices (particularly nutmeg). In Turin, every cook has their own version, and fillings often depend on what leftover ingredients -- braised beef, roast pork, calves brains, veal -- the cook has on hand. Agnolotti can be gently poached, pan-fried in butter, added to broth to make soup, or served with a sauce.
Soba noodles are thin Japanese noodles made from buckwheat flour. They can be served in a broth or cold with various toppings and dipping sauces.
Because buckwheat is fragile when boiled, soba are usually boosted with wheat flour, but they must have at least 30 percent buckwheat to be authentic.
Soba noodles are a Japanese staple, the stuff of fast-food and New Years Eve celebration dinners. Soba are also the noodles of choice in Tokyo, where soba are eaten with chopsticks; when eating hot soba-based soup, loud slurping to suck up the hot noodles is de rigeur, not a faux pas.
