Tip Me Tuesday: Steaks

Always let your steaks come to room temperature (70 degree F.) before cooking or grilling. If your room's temperature differs from 70 degrees F., then just adjust your time accordingly. 

A cold steak will contract when it hits the heat and this wall cause it to toughen. This is possibly the first biggest mistake people make.

Remove your steaks from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before you plant to cook them - sometimes as long as 60 minutes (depending on size).

Pat the steaks dry with a paper towel. You want to have a completely dry steak before cooking. If you steak is wet, you will essentially be steaming it

Do not salt your steaks just before cooking. I know that some people do salt their steaks before cooking, but trust me and don't salt - the result will be juicy, delicious steaks to serve your family and guests! Salt after the steak is cooked to your liking, has rested the required time, and just before serving.

Salt brings moisture (water) to the surface of the steak, and the water sits on the surface as you cook the steak. Thus, you are again basically steaming the steak. Traditionally, when browning meat, chefs skip the addition of salt because the salt draws water out of the meat's surface through osmosis. If, for example, you were to season a steak just 10 minutes before grilling, beads of moisture would appear on the surface, eventually forming a shallow puddle of juices. On the grill, the steak would turn gray, not brown.

Tip me Tuesday: 13 cooking tips to save money

Tip 1: Cook and serve the right portions.

According to nutrition experts, a healthy serving of cooked meat is 3 ounces. That’s about 4 ounces raw. If you’re eating meat for dinner aim for it to take up no more than one-quarter of your plate. Fill half the plate with vegetables and the final quarter with a wholegrain. Eating less meat is better for your health and your budget.

Tip 2: Cook ’em low and slow.

Tougher cuts of beef and pork are a lot cheaper than steaks and chops (about $2 to $6 per pound for many cuts compared with $10 or more per pound for steaks), but no one wants to eat a piece of leather for dinner. The best way to cook tough cuts of meat: cook them low and slow, usually for 3 or more hours, often in liquid, to make them melt-in-your-mouth tender

Tip 3: Bring out the roast.

Roasting a big piece of meat is an easy way to feed a crowd. Of course, a crown rib roast or beef tenderloin(unless your market is running an amazing special) isn’t an economical choice. So choose cuts, such as leg of lamb, turkey breast or pork shoulder, and roast them.

Tip 4: Add pasta or rice.

Got a few vegetables or a little leftover meat? Maybe you have some fixings for a salad or a light soup, but it’s not quite dinner. Pasta and rice are cheap, healthy pantry items that let you turn a few leftovers into a meal. Try quickly sautéing peppers and onions and toss them with noodles, herbs and a little cheese, or add rice into a vegetable soup to make it more satisfying

Tip 5: Stir-fry for dinner.

Stir-frying with plenty of vegetables and just a little bit of meat is an obvious choice when you want to make a quick and healthy dinner. It’s also very forgiving, so if you have a little extra onion or half a leftover zucchini you want to use up, just throw it in your stir-fry.

Tip 6: Cook once, eat twice.

We like to double recipes so that we can get ahead on our cooking and have a dinner or lunch ready for later. The added benefit is it helps use up ingredients that we bought for that recipe (a bunch of herbs, for instance). Recipes that freeze well, like Rich Chicken Stew, Oven Barbecued Brisket and Hungarian Beef Goulash (pictured) are great ones to double. Also consider cooking an extra chicken or more meat than you need. The leftovers are great in soups, salads,quesadillas or hash later in the week.

Tip 7: Pack a lunch.

When you’re making dinner, think about what you’re going to eat for lunch tomorrow. If you’re making asalad for dinner, make a little extra and put it in a container, undressed, for lunch the next day. And what about your leftovers from dinner? Is there a little extra chicken or maybe part of a can of beans? Toss that in with your lunch salad. Packing lunch is a great way to make sure you’re not wasting any leftovers—and to help you eat healthy, save money and save time throughout the day.

Tip 8: Feed yourself (not the birds) with stale bread.

Turn stale bread into croutons for salads or soups. Just toss cubes with oil and some seasonings and bake them. Or turn stale bread into breadcrumbs 

Tip 9: Hold onto brown bananas.

Freeze overripe bananas (peeled) if you don’t have time to use them immediately. Throw them intosmoothies or defrost them when you want to make some banana bread or muffins.

Tip 10: Squeeze your lemons.

We like to keep citrus on hand because it’s a great way to perk up a sauce or a salad dressing. Keep lemons and limes in the refrigerator and if they start to get dried, shriveled or have brown spots on the skin, squeeze the juice and store it covered in the refrigerator or freezer.

Tip 11: Seal it up.

Yes, it sounds like hyperbole, but vacuum-sealing tools are truly revolutionary when it comes to preserving food in the freezer. They ensure that your food—leftovers, meats, fruits, vegetable or extra stuff you bought in bulk—stays delicious, without freezer burn, for months.

Tip 12: Keep it fresh.

Make sure you have sealable storage containers on hand to save leftovers. You can buy inexpensive clear plastic or glass ones at the supermarket. When they're clear you can tell what's in them at a glance, and may be more likely to eat the leftovers.

Tip 13: Plug in the slow cooker.

If you don't have hours to be at home tending a braise on the stove, try a slow cooker. It will give you the same effect (i.e., it gets tough, inexpensive cuts ofmeat meltingly tender), but you can plug it in, leave for the day and come home to a dinner like Rich Chicken Stew or Hungarian Beef Goulash. Look for used slow cookers at garage sales or make the investment in a new one that is programmable and will automatically switch to a "keep warm" setting when it's done cooking. They start at about $40.

Tip Me: 50 Cake Tips

Oh my!! 50 Cake tips!

Recipe Ingredients:         

1. Ingredients for cakes should be room temperature (can take out of refrigerator approximately 60-90 minutes before needed).

2. To check freshness of eggs, put in a bowl of water–if they sink, they’re fresh. If they float and stand on one end, they’re not.

3. ”Eggs” typically means Grade A, large eggs.

4. “Milk” typically means homogenized.

5. You can substitute milk with yogurt or sour cream, to experiment with different textures.

6. To create a replacement for buttermilk, add 1 teaspoon vinegar for every cup of homogenized milk and stir.

7. Weighing ingredients with a digital kitchen scale is the most accurate method of baking.

8. 1 large egg white = 37 grams, 1 large egg yolk = 20 grams. Eggs separate best when cold, but whites whip best when room temperature or warm.

9. Egg whites in carton freeze well–just pull out of freezer night before you need them.

10. For best results, use pure vanilla extract (not from grocery stores)–what a difference! Heck, don’t even be afraid to double the vanilla quantity.

11. To bring cold eggs to room temperature quickly, you can put the whole eggs into a bowl of lukewarm water (not hot) for 30 minutes.

12. To bring butter to room temperature quickly, you can cut into small cubes on a plate for about 15 minutes.

13. Semisweet Chocolate = Dark Chocolate.  Bittersweet Chocolate = Extra Dark Chocolate.

14. Semisweet & Bittersweet Chocolate are interchangeable.

15. Unless otherwise listed, use unsalted butter for cake recipes.

Mixing:

16. Incorporate dry ingredients together with whisk before adding to wet ingredients.

17. When creaming butter and sugar, get the mixture very pale yellow and fluffy–will take several minutes (around 5).

18.  Always start and end with dry ingredients when alternating with wet ingredients (3 dry additions, 2 wet).

19. Don’t overmix once dry ingredients are added. Just mix on low speed until incorporated.

20. Kitchen stand-mixers don’t need to run at full-speed. A small mixer should run no more than speed #4, for most things. A large mixer no more than speed #6. You will add years to your mixer’s life!

21. Be careful with your sugar–too much can cause a dark crust (one of several possible causes), too little can cause too light a crust or tough texture.

22. Watch your flour–too much can cause a cracked top (one of several possible causes).

23. Beat egg yolks with fork before adding to batter.

24. To retrieve stray eggshells in mixture, use the emptied half-shell–eggshell sticks to eggshell. If you don’t get them all, they will sink during baking, so you can turn baked cake over when cool and retrieve them.

25. A pinch of salt brings out the flavours in sweet baked goods.

26. When folding, you should always add the lighter of the two mixtures on top, using a gentle folding motion, to avoid deflating batter.

27. When mixing egg whites for meringue, wipe all untensils and bowl with vinegar or lemon juice on a paper towel before they come in contact with the egg whites (including the mixer whisk attachment). Any trace of grease, will likely jeopordize your meringue.

28. Keep an extra set of rubber spatulas that you use strictly for meringue.

29. Use the electric mixer’s splashguard for liquidy batters–that’s what it’s for!

30. If incorporating more than one flavour into a batter or icing, always start with the vanilla; vanilla enhances most flavours.

Baking Cakes:

31. For evenly-baked cakes, no domed tops, and no-fuss assembly, bake “layer-by-layer.”  This means if you’re baking a 3-layer cake, use 3 of the same size/shape pan, and bake 3 shorter layers at same time.

32. Use a small offset palette knife to spread batter evenly in pans. Don’t fill more than 1/2 full–2/3 at the most.

33. Get a separate oven thermometer for an accurate temperature reading–most ovens are either “hot” or “cold.”

34. Always wait for oven to reach necessary temperature before putting cakes in oven.

35. Keep cakes away from sides of oven, and if possible a few inches from each other (when more than 1 baking at once).

36. Rotate cakes after 20  minutes in oven (don’t disturb before 20 minutes).

37. Use middle rack, unless otherwise stated in recipe.

38. Typically, when in oven, cakes are nearing done when you can smell cake in the kitchen. Sounds weird, but you’ll see!

39.  Leave cakes in oven when testing for “doneness.” When a skewer comes clean from center of cake, it’s done.

40. Don’t overbake! This is one sure way to end up with a dry cake.

Cooling & Frosting:

41. Let full cakes cool in pans on wire racks for 20 minutes before removing from pans.

42. Remove cupcakes from pan immediately, placing individual cupcakes on wire rack to cool.

43. Once completely cooled, wrap cake layers in plastic wrap and place in freezer for 30 minutes before cutting and/or icing.

44. Always place cake on a thin foil-covered cake board the same size/shape as the cake for ease of icing/serving, etc.

45. Brush away any stray cake crumbs with silicone pastry brush before icing.

46. Apply even layers of filling using an 18″ pastry bag and large round tip.

47. Apply thin layer of icing to seal in crumbs, then place in refrigerator for 30 minutes before second layer of icing.

48. Use an offset palette knife/icing spatula for frosting top of cake, and straight palette knife/icing spatula for sides of cake. Use a bench scraper for super-smooth edges.

49. If you don’t have time for frosting your cake, a good sprinkling of powdered sugar does wonders! Tastes and looks great on most cakes.

50. To give your frosted cake a glossy finish, you can use a hair-dryer on medium heat over the outside of the cake (right before serving).

Tip Me Tuesday: Pasta

Here are some tips for pasta

Cook pasta 1 minute less than the package instructions and cook the rest in pan with the sauce

Use a large pot so the pasta is not crowded otherwise the pasta may stick together

Add salt to the water about 1 tablespoon

NEVER add olive oil to pasta.  It prevents the sauce from adhering

NEVER rise pasta.  You will be rinsing away most the starches and nutrients