One of the things I’m most grateful from my mom is the cooking lessons she gave me when I was young. The trick to her cooking is the proper use of spices. The spice she used more often is Hawaiian red sea salt. It tastes better than iodized salt. Iodized salt, to me, has a bitter after taste.
Using Hawaiian red sea salt has some advantages. Firstly, it doesn’t have any additives. Table salt has additives to prevent the fine salt grains from sticking together. Also, one of the additives in table salt is iodine. It is iodine that leaves a bitter after taste. Red Hawaiian sea salt tastes so much better especially with meats.
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This is different from our ordinary salt in that it is harvested from lava deposits in the Hawaiian Islands. This is the reason for its different color. Red Alaea comes from natural red clay. It is combined with the sea salt to come up with pink tinted salt. The black version comes from Black lava. This Hawaiian sea salt is fortified with minerals are used as a finishing salt. They are usually added to food as a finishing touch to add flavor and enhance the look.
Because they are not easily available, Hawaiian sea salt will make a good gift to the avid cook. They are available in 16- or 32-oz bags. If you are feeling generous they are also packaged in 1 lb. bags. They will love the crunchy texture. They will savor the exotic flavor.
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These are similar to Italian caviar. Uruguayan caviar is sourced from farmed sturgeon fish. Uruguayan caviar consists of buttery globules that are firm enough to roll over the palate. But they will dissolve with the slightest pressure into a soft cream. As for flavor, they have hints of nuts, salt and freshwater.
Whatever the kind of caviar you choose; there is a common way of serving it. You remove the caviar from the refrigerator 15 minutes before eating, removing the lid only at the last moment. The ideal presentation is to offer the whole tin on a bed of crushed ice. Allow at least 50 grams per person. It should be spooned onto a chilled plate with care taken not to break the grains, which would make it oily. It should be eaten with a fork. A small glass of iced vodka is the ideal companion. It is very important not to spoil your palate with anything but the most pure vodka. It is a matter of personal taste whether you drink champagne with caviar but many think that it is too “sweet” in itself, with too much of its own flavor and that it will distract your palate from the taste of caviar.
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Choose low sodium herbs that you can use to reduce your salt intake. Basil, bay leaf and cilantro are great with egg, fish or meat dishes. Parsley works well with stuffing, rice, egg salad, green salad, vegetable salad, baked beans, vegetables, soups, and tomato sauces. Reading food labels in what you buy is a good way to learn whether foods contain sodium and how much sodium they contain. If you find doing this too much work you can make your own seasoning mix that will add punch to your dishes with no salt seasoning.
How about gathering these ingredients together:
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
2 tsp. onion powder
2 tsp. paprika
2 tsp. celery seed
1-1/2 tsp. ground white pepper
1 Tbsp. dry mustard powder
2 tsp. dried finely chopped lemon peel
1 tsp. pepper
Mix all the ingredients together in a small mixing bowl, stirring until thoroughly combined. Keep in a tightly sealed container in a dark, cool place. Use on meats, poultry and fish, or at the table for a salt-free seasoning.
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The DNA of some organisms is rearranged by genetic engineers to make specific changes. When food is grown from these organisms they become genetically modified food. There is a big issue about the consumption of GM foods. The big question is whether breeding has a negative effect on the nutritional value of the modified food. Although relatively little direct research in this area has been done, there are scientific indications that, by favoring certain aspects of a plant’s development, other aspects may be retarded.
The advantages of using gm food are that farmers will be able to produce more from the land that they are farming. This will mean bigger income for them. It will also mean that with the population growing geometrically we are in a better position to feed everybody. However, there will be disadvantages, foremost of which is possible harm to other organisms; and the possibility of new health problems brought about by GM foods.
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Whenever I watch movies with my boyfriend I tend to bring in my favorite bar of chocolates. I sometimes get tired of the same popcorn flavor in our local movie house. Recently however I discovered gourmet popcorn. These are popcorn with so many different flavors. I stumbled upon Colorado popcorn by accident at the grocery and was surprised to see popcorn with such rich and enticing flavors.
Colorado popcorn it turns out started as a small business in Sterling, Colorado. The business which began in the late 80s only operated in Colorado in the beginning. Eventually the company known for their unconventional and delightful flavored popcorn began expanding by supplying popcorn to airlines. Colorado popcorn’s products are divided into two flavor categories: sweet and regular. The sweet flavors are: butter pecan, caramel, amaretto, cinnamon, strawberry cheesecake and blueberry cheesecake. The regular flavors are: white cheddar, yellow cheddar, jalapeno and buttered.
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Glycyrrhizin is the main ingredient of licorice. It is credited for the many benefits of licorice root. Other substances are also identified with licorice. These include compounds called flavonoids and plant estrogens or phytoestrogens. Licorice flavonoids have various physiological activities such as abdominal fat-lowering, hypoglycemic and antioxidant effects
The health benefits of licorice root has been used for thousands of years to treat a variety of ailments, including coughs, sore throats, food poisoning, as well as liver and stomach disorders. Even today, they are valued as a demulcent to soothe and coat inflamed tissues of the mouth, throat, and digestive and urinary tracts. The herb acts as an expectorant by loosening and thinning mucus and phlegm making it easier to expel from the respiratory tract. Its active ingredient glycyrrhizin also has anti-inflammatory properties. Recent studies have discovered that licorice root enhances immunity by boosting levels of interferon, nature’s most powerful antiviral agent.
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No other food says you’ve made it than beluga caviar. Basically it’s fish eggs that can sell for thousands of dollars per pound. It’s a delicacy that needs getting use to. With the advent of fast money and instant millionaires, more and more people buy caviar. Some just want to try it and some just want to have the best foods available.
If you are interested to buy caviar, you’ll need to do some research so as not to waste your money. Buying in the supermarket is not advisable because more often it is not high quality caviar. Buy only what you will consume. Caviar doesn’t have long shelf life especially when it’s opened. Also, study caviar varieties so you won’t overpay or get inferior kinds.
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Your barbecue will only be as delicious as the rub that you use on it. You can either use a dry rub or a wet rub. They are basically the same except that in addition to the blend of spices in the dry rub, you put in some liquid in the wet rub. Your barbecue rub can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make them. Barbeque dry rubs can be as simple as pepper and salt. It can also be as complicated as combining a lot of spices or cooking it first before applying on the meat.
Here is the simplest barbecue dry rub recipe that I can find:
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Popcorn has always been associated with the movie going public. A trip to the movies will never be the same without the bag of popcorn and drinks to go with it. Even when we watch a movie on DVD at home, we always make sure that a bowl of raw popcorn is popping in the microwave before we turn on the TV set. It helps that prepared popcorn is a common item in groceries. Just stick the package in the microwave and you will have a delicious warm popcorn snack already buttered, in minutes.
Popcorn has been the favorite snack food among Americans. It has been there for centuries. The difference between then and now is that there is now a wide variety of styles and flavors of cooking popcorn. They can be bought as raw kernels, pre-packed ready for the microwave; or ready to eat in bags of pre-popped, flavored corn. Caramel glaze and cheddar cheese are just examples of flavoring used in popcorn.
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