Cookthink tip of the day

Are fries really French?

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 04:14:05 -0400

We eat them with hamburgers, the French serve them with steak, the Belgians like them with mussels.

What Americans call French fries (in Britain, Australia and New Zealand, often thick-cut deep- or "French-fried" potatoes are referred to as chips) are called pommes frites -- or just frites -- in France. So why do we call them French?

Some say it's because of the "French" cut of the potatoes; others, the "French-fried" cooking method; or that the name caught on after English-speaking World War I soldiers ate fries in Belgium, naming them "French" because that was the official language of the Belgian army. The Belgians are generally considered the originators of the French fry, although at least one historian argues that fries were first introduced in Spain.

Tomato paste vs. tomato purée vs. tomato sauce

Wed, 30 May 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Do you sometimes get these confused?

Tomato paste is made from tomatoes that have been cooked for a few hours, strained and reduced into a rich, sweet paste. Tomato paste is most commonly used in pizza sauce. A dollop of tomato paste adds a dark, savory flavor to soups and stews.

Tomato purée consists of tomatoes that have been cooked briefly and strained to produce a thick, tangy liquid. Tomato purée is used in soups, stews and sauces to add the tomato flavoring without the texture. We use it as the flavor base in certain recipes, this Indian chicken stew, for example.

Tomato sauce refers to any sauce made out of tomatoes. That includes the ubiquitous Italian tomato sauce with all its variations, as well as Indian and Thai curries that have a tomato base. Tomato sauce can be canned, jarred or fresh. Time-willing, we prefer to make our own. Try this lasagna with homemade Italian tomato sauce.

What are ajowan seeds?

Mon, 18 May 2009 08:14:27 -0400

Ajowan (or ajwain) seeds are a spice related to cumin and caraway that originates from the Middle East and is now mostly found in southern India. Ajowan seeds look like purplish-red celery seeds and taste like astringent thyme. Also called carom or bishop's weed, ajowan is available in seed or ground form.

Sometimes added to a curry powder mix, or to breads, legumes and chutneys, ajowan is powerful and should be used sparingly. Ajowan is also said to reduce the unwanted effects caused by beans when added to bean-based preparations.

Cannellini beans vs. Great Northern beans vs. Navy beans

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Cannellini, Great Northern and Navy are three popular types of white beans. What's the difference between them?

Cannellini beans are large and have that traditional kidney shape. With a slightly nutty taste and mild earthiness, they have a relatively thin skin and tender, creamy flesh. They hold their shape well and are one of the best white beans for salads and ragouts.

Great Northern beans are smaller than cannellinis and and suitable for any number of uses: salads, soups, stews, ragouts, purees. Their texture is slightly grainy, with a nutty, dense flavor. Popular in North America, Great Northerns look like white baby lima beans.

Navy beans are small and oval and cook relatively quickly (which, as Aliza Green notes in The Bean Bible, has made them popular with commercial baked bean manufacturers). Known as Boston beans, the white coco, pea beans or alubias chicas, Navy beans are perfect for dishes that don't need the full bean shape to shine: purees, soups, stews and baked beans.

It's great to know the differences between the three and it's worth paying more attention to them when you're using dried beans. Truthfully though, when we use canned white beans, we use these three almost interchangeably.

Recipe: Italian Cabbage And White Bean Soup
Recipe: Squid, White Bean And Arugula Salad
Recipe: Tuscan White Bean Stew (VeganYumYum)

Flat-leaf parsley vs. curly-leaf parsley

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Italian, or flat leaf, parsley has flat leaves as its name suggests, and many cooks prefer it for its more pronounced flavor, as it contains more essential oils than the curly leaf variety.

Curly leaf parsley is most often used as a garnish to add color to plates of monochromatic food or to dress up seafood displays.

While parsley is generally used for its leaves, parsley stems actually contain more flavor. Finely dice them and add to stocks, sauces, sautés and other preparations for added taste and vitamins.

Recipe: Barbara Kafka's Parsley Soup (Cookthink)
Recipe: Tortellini With Tarragon, Chives And Parsley (Cookthink)

Marjoram vs. oregano

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Marjoram is oregano's calmer, sweeter fraternal twin. Oregano = zesty + peppery + lemony. Marjoram = delicate + floral + round. The two are often used interchangeably but if you get up in their mix you'll see some big differences.

Want to test the difference? Get a fresh sprig of marjoram and a fresh sprig of oregano. Tear an oregano leaf in half. Hold it up to your nose. Smell that piney resin? That jolt? It's sharp, isn't it? Almost one note.

Okay, wait a few minutes, then do the same thing with the marjoram. Smell the complexity? The spice is still there but it's perfumed, heady. Almost soapy. (If you use too much of it, that soapiness can take over a soup or sauce.)

So, can you use one in place of the other? Sure. If you use oregano when a recipe calls for marjoram (or vice versa), the flavors of the dish won't be wildly different. Still, we like to honor and explore the subtle character differences between the two.

Try some of our marjoram recipes or oregano recipes on Cookthink.

Precooking lasagna noodles

Tue, 08 May 2007 00:00:00 -0400

When no-cook lasagna noodles came on the market a few years back, it seemed like a wonderful development. No longer would we have wrestle with sticky, fragile noodles during the layering process. No-cook noodles do work great in lasagnas with plenty of liquid or sauce -- tomato-based lasagnas, for example -- that can completely cover the noodles during the baking.

But for dryer lasagnas, parboiling regular lasagna noodles is still a good idea. With the right tools, pre-cooking lasagna noodles isn't very hard.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the noodles to the pot, using a pair of tongs to keep them from sticking together as they simmer. Meanwhile, spread out a couple of large clean kitchen towels. Pull the noodles from the boiling water when they're barely pliable but still very firm. As you take them out of the water, line them up on the towel. Layer more towels on top as needed. Let the noodles cool a little before starting to assemble the lasagna.

What are fajitas?

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:13:01 -0400

A staple of Tex-Mex cuisine, fajitas consist of piling ingredients into a flour or corn tortilla, rolling it up and eating it (usually with just your hands).

Marinated skirt steak is the classic base for fajitas. The meat is cut into strips and cooked over a hot grill (or grill pan). At restaurants, the beef and accompanying vegetables are often brought to the table on a sizzling hot platter for dramatic effect. Guacamole, sour cream and salsa are classic garnishes. Some restaurants serve "fajitas" with beans and rice, but this technically tips them into burrito territory.

The word fajita is a diminutive of the Spanish word for belt and was used to refer to the long, flat (belt-like) diaphragm muscle of a cow (ie, the skirt steak.)

It's said that grilled skirt steak eaten with condiments was first popular with ranch hands along the Texas-Mexican border in the 1930s. Sonny "The Falafel King" Falcon first made fajitas famous in the Southwest starting in 1969. Their popularity has spread in the years since then. Despite the sniffs of purists, fajitas are also made with grilled chicken, shrimp, pork or vegetables.

Reference: What is skirt steak? (Cookthink)
Reference: What is carne asada? (Cookthink)

Do I need to salt eggplant before cooking it?

Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Sprinkling salt over eggplant slices before cooking them draws out the vegetable's moisture. It's a process known as "degorging".

Larger, older eggplants have brown seeds that contain a bitter liquid. Salting eggplants removes some of this liquid and improves their flavor. In general, it's not necessary to salt smaller eggplants since they have fewer seeds than larger eggplants.

Larger eggplants also tend to become soft and "melty" when cooked, so salting them before cooking leads to firmer, more leathery cooked texture. (Leathery in a good way, we think.)

To salt an eggplant, slice it and generously season the slices with kosher salt. Let them sit until you can see the liquid coming to the surface, 20-30 minutes. Rinse the slices well and pat them dry. It's also a good idea to use half as much salt as the recipe calls for (unless the recipe takes into account the fact that the eggplant has been salted).

Related Tip: How to cut an eggplant into slices (Cookthink)
Related Tip: How to cube an eggplant (Cookthink)

Are seedless watermelons really seedless?

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:16:41 -0400

Are seedless watermelons really seedless? Yes and no.

Seedless watermelons were developed more than a half century ago by plant breeders. They have become more widespread in recent years due to heavy marketing and consumer demand. Seedless watermelons generally have a longer shelf-life than the traditional variety.

While seedless varieties lack the large black seeds characteristic of seeded watermelon, they do contain soft, pale seeds -- similar to those in a cucumber -- that can be ingested easily.

Knox City, Texas is the self-titled “Seedless Watermelon Capitol of the World” and it hosts an annual seedless watermelon festival in July with free seedless watermelon for one and all.