Southern Cooking in a Realm of Its Own

A fine distinction exists when you are talking about different cuisines, particularly when the term southern cooking comes into play. The cuisine found in the South is quite distinct as it heralds from many different backgrounds and histories throughout the years. Southern cooking can be applied to a general type of food made in the kitchens south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

A Brief History

Southern cooking is a basic food genre that gets its influences from a variety of traditions carried over from the settlers, native people and even slaves who inhabited the area for many years. In essence, you can tell the history of an area based on the food that is traditionally served. For instance, wheat was not a common crop of the southern United States because it was the wrong climate and therefore corn was grown instead and used in a variety of applications from liquor to breads.

Easy and Versatile Pasta Cooking

Pasta cooking is one of the all time most favorite types of cooking in the world. There are many reasons for this, but one of the most major is that there are so many different options. There are so many different varieties of pasta and pasta cooking recipes that everyone will be able to find at least one that they enjoy.

Simple Tips to Remember

There are many helpful tips and techniques that can be used in pasta cooking, and one is to salt the water. Most of us have heard about this before but many do not realize the importance of it. Salting the water not only helps to bring out the natural flavor of the pasta but also keeps the pasta from sticking to the pot.

What’s for Dinner? Tips for Cooking a Turkey

Cooking a turkey is actually pretty easy once you know what you’re doing. These tips for cooking a turkey will make everything go smoothly.

Tip #1 for Cooking A Turkey – Plan Ahead.

The truth is, it can be difficult to cook a turkey on short notice. In the United States, anyway, you need to plan ahead if you want to cook a whole turkey. Frozen turkeys are available year-round, but frozen turkey take a couple days to thaw, depending on how much they weigh.

What’s for Dinner? Cooking Prime Rib

Prime rib is a treat that most of us enjoy when we go out to dinner at a nice steak house or fine dining restaurant. But did you know that prime rib is easy to cook yourself at home?

There is no reason you should deprive yourself of prime rib except on those occasions when you go out to dinner. Surprise your family by cooking your own prime rib dinner, just like you get in the restaurant.

Cooking Measurements and the Inexperienced Cook

Do cooking measurements matter? When a recipe calls for a pinch of this and a dash of that, does it really matter how much you put in? What will happen if you leave an ingredient out?

If you’re an inexperienced cook, you wonder about the answers to these and other questions. Let’s take the mystery out of cooking measurements once and for all.

Outdoor Cooking Accessories: The Essentials

Outdoor cooking can be a lot of fun, as long as you have the right tools and ingredients. This includes outdoor cooking accessories, and there are a few in particular which are considered as being essentials.

Charcoal Chimney Starter

This is one of the best outdoor cooking accessories you can purchase because it makes lighting the charcoal quick and easy. Chimney starters are usually steel cylinders that are about 8 inches in diameter and 12 to 18 inches in height. They are used to light the charcoal by having newspapers placed underneath the grate of the device and lit on fire with a match or lighter through the holes in the bottom of the chimney’s sides.

Taking the Mystery Out of Cooking Ham

For many families, a nice juicy ham is the centerpiece and star of every holiday meal. Even non-holiday meals are made more special with the serving of a delicious ham. The only problem is that cooking ham can be an intimidating prospect for some cooks. With so many cooking methods to choose from and so many conflicting sets of instructions, making the family ham can be a daunting task.

Grandma’s Well Loved Method

One of the classic methods of cooking ham involves boiling the ham in water prior to baking it. This method for cooking ham is healthy for a couple of reasons: first, if you change the water halfway through the boiling part of the process you can remove much of the salt and nitrates present in the meat. Secondly, this method lets you cook the meat without the addition of any fats or sweeteners, and the longer cooking time makes the ham more flavorful and moist.

Figuring Out the Right Turkey Cooking Time

Whether it is the famous thanksgiving holiday or any other time that you are considering making turkey, the turkey cooking time is very important. This is because you wouldn’t want the turkey to be overcooked and dried out. Similarly an undercooked turkey is not a great idea as while steak can be consumed rare, poultry should never be eaten until it is well done to prevent the spread of disease.

Variables

Turkey cooking time varies as it depends on a lot of factors. The biggest thing is the size of the turkey and then whether it was frozen or fresh, the method of cooking (such as roasting or frying) and the dish unused to cook it in and other such considerations.

Useful Tips for Dutch Oven Cooking

If you want to make some tasty meals for your family with Dutch oven cooking, perhaps while camping, there are some useful tips that can increase the chances that your family will enjoy the meal.

Typically, Dutch ovens are made from cast iron or aluminum. The aluminum Dutch ovens have the advantage of being significantly lighter in weight. The aluminum version doesn’t need any curing and just like the cast iron types they have been designed for cooking on open fires and can be heated with coals.

Shopping for a Cooking Wok

There are a few staples that every kitchen should have, and this includes a cooking wok. You should never just rush out and buy any wok, and there are a few things that you should consider beforehand. The wok is a bowl shaped pan that was traditionally used in Chinese cooking but which is now used in kitchens all around the world.

What Type to Buy

Most people would be surprised to learn that there are actually quite a few different types of the cooking wok available. The carbon steel wok is the best, because it is so durable and able to stand up to years of wear and tear. There is also the option of a flat or round bottom for a cooking wok, and if you are cooking with a western electric range then your best option is going to be a flat bottom.