Archive for October, 2009
Authentic Mexican Food
Posted by admin in Mexican Food on October 31st, 2009
It is no wonder why millions of people from around the world enjoy authentic Mexican dishes for breakfast, lunch or dinner. There are variations of traditional as well, such as TexMex, a version of found along the Mexico border and Southwestern states like Texas, Arizona and New Mexico.
How did traditional Mexican and TexMex come to be? What makes a Mexican dish authentic? To know how to create a truly authentic dish, one must first know the history of food from this fascinating North American country. Many of the recipes and foods that we now associate with Mexico were imports that were blended into preexisting diets over the course of hundreds of years.
The various meat dishes made of beef, pork, and lamb did not exist in Mexico until the 1500s, when the Spanish conquistadors arrived on Mexico’s shores. As was the case with all countries at the time and even today, what you ate depended on the region of Mexico where you lived. In general, most Mexicans thrived on diets consisting of various types of corn, beans, chiles such as jalapeno or Serrano, spices, tomatillo, salsa, and fish if they lived near the coastlines. The Spaniards brought not only these meats but also foods such as wheat, cheese, garlic, cumin, coriander, onions and more. People from other regions, most notably Asia and Africa, also infused Mexican cuisine with their native flavors. Read the rest of this entry »
Paula Deen – Famous in Her Women’s Chef Coat
Paula Deen was born and raised in Albany GA, and she was a housewife and bank teller before she exchanged women’s work clothing for a chef’s hat. Both of her parents died when she was nineteen, and her husband decided to move to Savannah, GA in 1989. Shortly after the move she divorced her husband, and she found herself broke with two teenage sons to support. Since she had always been an excellent Southern cook, she began a catering company with the name “The Bag Lady”. She confected sandwiches and other quick meals, and her sons delivered the food. She herself tried to avoid going out because she had agoraphobia – fear of public places. She thinks that this phobia began after she had been held at gunpoint by bank robbers. The Bag Lady became so successful that it quickly outgrew her home kitchen.
She took a job in the kitchen at Savannah’s Best Western Hotel, and she worked there for five years before she opened her own restaurant, The Lady & Sons, in Savannah’s downtown in 1996. The constant contact with the restaurant’s clients helped her overcome agoraphobia; and the restaurant became such a success that she moved it to a larger building located in the historic district of Savannah, where in 1999 it was named the International Meal of the Year by USA Today. The Lady & Sons’ specialty is a buffet which includes such dishes as macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, deep-fried Twinkies, and cheesy meatloaf. Every meal is served with garlic cheese biscuits and Paula’s signature hoecakes. Read the rest of this entry »
Fish ‘n’ Chips to Go
Posted by admin in Fish and Chips on October 15th, 2009
Fast food restaurant usually offer both options of dining in or takeout at the convenience of the consumer. Dining in refers to eating the food within the facilities of the restaurant. While the term ‘takeout’ mainly used in North Americans and the Philippines means ordering foods from the restaurant for consumption elsewhere. The term ‘takeout’ is referred to as ‘carry-out’ in US and Scotland. ‘Take-away’ in countries like England, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Ireland and ‘parcel’ in India or ‘tapau’ in Malaysia and Singapore.
‘Fish and Chips’ is among the most popular takeaway foods that originated from the United Kingdom. Servings of this meal consists of deep-fried fish, usually covered with batter or breadcrumbs and deep-fried potatoes chip slices.
Beef dripping or lard is utilized in traditional frying as it adds a different flavor to the dish. However, use of such oils can make the dish unsuitable for health reasons, vegetarians and adherents of certain religions. Therefore peanut oils and other vegetable oils are now predominantly used. A minority of North England and Scotland vendors and most of Northern Ireland vendors still use lard in frying. The Black County Living Museum and other Living Industrial History Museum still also make use of frying in lard. It is also important to mention that in the UK, a useful source of biodiesel is the waste fat from fish and chips shops. Read the rest of this entry »
6 Tips to Processing Food So That It’s Still Good For You
Posted by admin in Process Food on October 5th, 2009
This article explores the better ways to process food so that you still get the most nutritional value, with good flavor without getting food borne illnesses. Food processing is a way of changing the natural state of food. It includes cooking, pickling, freezing and other ways of processing food so that shelf life can be longer and the nutritional value of food can be increased.
Tip 1: As you may already know temperature is the most common way for increasing the shelf life. Stir fry, cooking over high heat for a short time, is one of the best ways to cook dishes that have vegetables.
Tip 2: When it comes to meats, it’s good to give pork a good cooking. Instead of cooking with oil try a little water when first cooking meats. This is a great way to thoroughly cook the meat and when you add your vegetables, adding the hardest, like carrots first, you can really cook in a lot of flavor.
Tip 3: One trick that I like to do. Say I’m making a curry with cauliflower and beef. Once the beef is thoroughly cooked and the curry and water has been added with all the spices flavored to your taste, then I add the cauliflower let it cook for a minute or two, turn off the heat, cover and let sit for five minutes. Perfection! The cauliflower has that crunchy vegetable texture with a nice curry flavor. Read the rest of this entry »