How To Use Dairy Produce: Part 4 – Eggs (cont).

Saturday, 17. October 2009

Preparation Of Basic Foods: Dairy Produce.

Eggs: Part Two

Poaching: boil 40mm water in a frying pan; add a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of vinegar. Crack egg into cup, inspect and tip into water. Turn down the heat. Gather the white around the unbroken yolk with a spoon and simmer for 3-4 mins. Lift out with a fish slice, drain and serve on hot buttered toast.

Scrambling: beat the eggs well; add salt, pepper to taste and a dash of milk. Melt enough butter to cover the bottom of a small pan. Cook the eggs slowly, stirring continuously. Cook in a basin floating in boiling water, if preferred. Serve when almost completely set, after about 5 mins.

Fried Eggs: Melt enough butter to easily cover the base of a frying pan. Tip the egg(s) in gently and fold the whites around the yolks. When the white has solidified, baste the yolk to taste and remove whole with a fish slice.

Baked Eggs: lightly grease an oven-proof dish and slide the egg(s) gently into it. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and butter to taste. Bake in a medium oven and serve in the same bowl after the whites have set to your liking.

Omelette: buy a pan and keep it solely for omelettes! The base should be smooth and clean. Allow two eggs per person; beat lightly and add salt and pepper to taste. Heat enough butter to cover the base of the frying pan. When the butter is hot, pour in the eggs; as it sets, lift up the handle and draw the set mixture up towards the handle, allowing the liquid egg to run down onto the hot pan. When all the liquid is set, tilt the pan forward and roll the omelette over. Serve immediately on a hot plate. It can be filled with almost anything, before being rolled over.

Pouring Custard: beat 2-3 eggs for every one pint of milk lightly. Heat the milk and pour gradually over the eggs; add sugar and flavouring to taste; cook in a double pan or jug and hot water until the required thickness has been achieved. If it is not to be served immediately, pour a thin layer of water onto it to stop a skin forming.

Baked Custard: proceed as above but then transfer the custard into a lightly greased shallow dish; sprinkle sparsely with nutmeg and place the dish in water to halfway up its sides. Bake at 350 F for 35-45 minutes; you can test its solidity by inserting a knife, which should be clean on withdrawal.

Steamed Custard: proceed as for above, but cook in a steamer or a pan in boiling water. The length of cooking time is about the same too.

Custard Tarts: pour pouring custard into unbaked pastry cases and bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes. A little jam can be placed at the bottom of the pastry case first, if preferred.

If you would like to learn more about food in general or Traditional Welsh Recipes in particular, please pop along to http://welsh-recipes.the-real-way.com/

Posted in Cooking by Owen Jones - Comments Off

Kitchen Design Shouldn’t Be Overlooked

Saturday, 5. September 2009

Beautiful kitchens take time to create. Understanding kitchen design equals a great kitchen. It is important to imagine what you want from your kitchen and what uses it will have other than eating, and meal preparation. It must be a well organized space, and every area must be accounted for and used to the maximum. Every square inch of such counts.

The layout must be well thought out. Never buy anything before knowing exactly what you want the finished product to look like. To start with, the layout should incorporate the triangle, which is ensuring that the sink refrigerator and stove form the shape of a triangle. It is actually a proven design that was created to eliminate steps.

Of course, kitchen design goes further than simply finding the right area for the triangle. It means getting the traffic flowing properly to allow more than one person in the kitchen at the same time. It also means that food preparation can be accomplished with ease. But there’s so much more than that! Getting the right style and color of the kitchen cabinets is very important, as the cabinets are very huge part of any kitchen.

The floors and countertops also play a big role. They make up a lot of visual space, therefore must tie in with other elements. When considering a new floor, try to remember how much use it will get before committing to a product. Above all, durability is the most important factor in choosing a floor.

Not only is durability key in choosing the right floor, but also in choosing the countertops. These are also subjected to much use and abuse. Imagine the counter is being used by someone who rarely will chop on a chopping block. In this case, durability is imperative otherwise, the counter will be destroyed very early on.

The sink has also seen a lot of changes in the last few years. Many different models have broadened the choices that homeowners have. More and more, they are choosing the deeper sinks, to make washing dishes and pots and pans, much easier. In addition to that, the faucets and other such details are also being given a lot of consideration.

Lighting is another issue that must be addressed in order to achieve a great kitchen. This is a room that requires detail and good lighting from various sources in order to prepare and cook the meal. Under-cabinet lighting is very big in new kitchens. It enables the user to see better under the cabinets where otherwise would cast a shadow due to the overhead lighting. In addition to that, recessed lighting splashed throughout the ceiling, along with lighting over the sink and stove are absolutely necessary.

April Kerr owns website Euro Fronts which is all about really inexpensive kitchen design ideas including floor plan designs for your kitchen.

Posted in Cooking by April Kerr - No Comments


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