Monday, March 26, 2012

How to Smoke a Turkey Breast Using an Electric Smoker

Turkey is a traditional dish during Thanksgiving and other family gatherings. You may stuff it or may not. You may bake it in the over through reading the package guidelines. For something special, you may want to learn how to smoke a turkey breast with the use of an electric smoker. You simply need a bit of time and energy; you may deliver a special delicious sensation.

Price a smoked turkey at your favorite ham store, as well as the label will have you reconsidering your own menu instantly. Therefore, a smoked turkey at home is an excellent option. You can smoke it immediately compared to several meat cuts, and an electric smoker creates them secure and easy to ready.

Stainless Skillet

However, remember that a turkey and other sorts of poultry are specifically kind to free radicals that can trigger food-born ailments. Smokers prepare and cook at lower gentle heat and a common sized Thanksgiving turkey of about 20 pounds or more may stay in the risky temperature range about 40-120 degrees lengthy enough to stimulate risky bacteria. With this, countless grill experts suggest smoking a turkey below 12 pounds. This particular size of turkey cooks fast and is secure as opposed to bigger turkeys.

How to Smoke a Turkey Breast Using an Electric Smoker

When smoking it, place the turkey in the smoker to notice the meat thermometer when you open the door. Remember, turkeys take approximately half an hour each pound in 225-degree temperature. A turkey that weighs 10 pounds, it may take approximately five hours to reach the inner temperature of 165 degrees.

Put enough hickory chips to soak and check the smoker from time to time and refill the chips and water pan if necessary. Still, the more frequent you observe the more heat it will lose and the longer the meat will be cooked. Make sure to follow the directions as well as recommendations properly.

Cautiously remove the turkey inside the electric smoker when it reached the internal temperature of about 165 degrees. Using the foil, cover the turkey and let it rest inside a room temperature for about 15 minutes prior to carving it. Serve with your preferred side dishes along with the remaining flavorful sauce.

How to smoke a turkey breast is a bit easy, and it allows your kitchen for any other obligations. Feel free to try it yourself at home. You may brine the turkey, inject it using different flavorful seasonings, and rub it with your preferred spices and any added option. Of course, another brilliant idea is putting beer, wine, or juices to the drip pan to moisten and enjoy the fun of smoking a turkey.

How to Smoke a Turkey Breast Using an Electric Smoker


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

What You Need to Know About Oil Fondue

Let's talk about meat fondue recipes and what you need to know first. Meat fondue also known as oil fondue is a method of cooking all kinds of meats, poultry, and seafood in a pot of heated oil.

Each person participating in a fondue experience, cooks his/her meat by placing a small portion or chunk on the end of a long fondue fork and placing it inside the pot of oil to cook. When the meat has finished cooking in the oil, it's then placed on a small plate where you can then dip each piece of cooked meat into previously prepared sauces. Meat fondue recipes can also be prepared as a broth fondue, replacing the oil with your favorite broth - chicken, vegetable, or beef - to name a few.

Stainless Skillet

Below, I've provided a pretty organized way of preparing and eating meat fondue recipes. Hope you find this helpful!

What You Need to Know About Oil Fondue

First, it's great fun and an easy way to entertain a good group of friends or family. With fondue cooking, everything can be done ahead of time and your guests cook their own food! How easy is that?

Oil fondue is used for cooking meats such as beef, lamb, chicken, fish, and seafood. The great thing is, you can do oil fondue as either an appetizer or as a main entree.

Second, you need a good and reliable cooking unit. With meat fondue recipes, the pot needs to be one that keeps the oil hot and is safe to use at your table. There are a wide range of fondue pots in a variety of styles. Some are complete sets including fondue condiment sets and special fondue plates and forks, as well as burner, stand, metal pot, and a tray to protect the table and catch spatters.

Other types, you'll need to buy each item separately. But that has its advantages in that you get to create your own customized fondue set in the colors you want and the accessories that you want to use.

Fondue pots are made specifically for a range of different purposes. Stainless steel, aluminum, copper and silver plate or sterling silver pots are generally used for oil and meat fondue recipes where enamel-coated cast iron or ceramic pots are used for cheese or chocolate fondues. In today's market, you can also find non-stick coated fondue pots that make cleaning not such a chore.

With the wide variety of pots and cooking units also comes with a wide variety of price ranges - from very inexpensive to costly. The thing to look for, in my opinion, is the sturdiness in the construction of the pot. If you are looking for and all-purpose container that can be used for more than oil fondue, make sure the unit has the capability of being able to adjust the heat source.

Fondue Bourguignonne is a traditional meat fondue recipe. The pan used for this is wider at the base and curves in at the top. Why? Because it eliminates some of the spattering that occurs when raw meat hits the hot oil and the shape helps to hold the heat. Most bourguignonne pots are are 1 1/2 to 2-quart capacity.

What if you don't have a fondue pot or don't want to spend the money on one? You can always improvise with any good heating unit that burns denatured alcohol, canned heat, or butane. The container for the oil could be any saucepan or chaffing dish. It must be one that is at least 3 1/2 inches deep and not more than about 8 inches in diameter. If it has straight sides and possibly curves inward at the top, even better. Like the bourguignonne pan, it reduces splatters and keeps the heat.

Some other items used with fondue pots:

  • Fondue forks and plates are designed for cooking and serving meat fondue recipes and are available in a wide range of materials, sizes, shapes, colors, and of course, price ranges.
  • Long bamboo skewers can be used instead of forks. The disadvantage is, it's sometimes harder to keep the meat or bread on the skewer while it is cooking and the oil can be so hot that you risk getting too close to it and burning yourself.
  • Fondue forks are long - at least 10 inches long - and have insulated tips for safety from burning when using oil or broth fondues. The tines on the forks should be generous in length and not made of flimsy materials. Many places that sell fondue pots and their accessories will provide a set of forks with different colored handles for each. This works similarly to the little doo-dads we attach to wine glasses for identification purposes. There's also a fun fondue game you can play to get the party started.
  • Fondue plates are special because they have little sections built into them in the form of small indentations for sauces and a larger section for the meat. They are convenient and nice to have, but not necessary. These plates are usually available in ceramic, china, pottery, plastic or metal.
  • Fondue sauce bowls are often used and are particularly festive when the colors or designs of the bowls complement the rest of the fondue set. They are passed around with the different fondue sauces to each of the guests.

Below is the recipe for Fondue Bourguignonne:

What you'll need:

- 3 pound piece boneless beef sirloin or tenderloin

- 2 cups cooking oil (canola or other vegetable oil)

OR

- 1 cup oil + 1 cup Clarified Butter

- Salt and Pepper to taste

- Dipping sauces (go to http://www.easy-appetizer-recipes.com/fondue-dipping-sauces.html for recipes)

Trim the fat from the meat and cut into bite-size cubes. Keep refrigerated until about 20 minutes before serving. This recipe lends itself to doing everything in advance of your party, makeing it an easy recipe.

For a variation, try marinating your beef using a Sesame Soy Marinade. Enjoy!

Important: Feel free to republish this article on your website. However, you are not allowed to modify any part of its content and all links should be kept active.

For more great info on Fondue and other types of appetizers and appetizer meals, visit http://www.easy-appetizer-recipes.com

What You Need to Know About Oil Fondue


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

How to Cook Tenderloin Steaks

Tenderloin is the most tender part of the cow. Filet mignon is another name for this cut and if you like succulent, lean, and boneless steaks, you will love it. Tenderloin is not a cheap cut of beef so if you are investing in this fine cut, you will want to know how to cook it to perfection, maintaining its fine texture, compact shape and subtle meaty flavor.

This cut of the cow is waste-free, versatile, and quick to cook. You can cut it into strips for a stir fry or pasta dish, cubes for kabobs or simple broil, grill or pan fry the filet mignon. Marinated steak recipes are also useful for giving extra flavor to this tender ingredient.

Stainless Skillet

How to Grill It

How to Cook Tenderloin Steaks

Grilling is the cooking method of choice for most filet mignon connoisseurs because the flavor is so good. One inch thick tenderloin should be grilled uncovered over moderately hot coals for about fourteen minutes for medium rare to medium. Turn the meat occasionally.

If you want to grill extra thick cuts of filet mignon, an inch and a half thick for example, it is best to cover the grill and cook them for about fifteen minutes for a medium rare to medium doneness, turning the meat once or twice.

How to Broil It

Broiling is just as easy as grilling and if you have one inch thick steaks, put them in a broiler pan so the beef surface is two or three inches from the heat source. Cook the beef for fourteen or fifteen minutes for medium rare to medium.

For thicker cuts, have the filet mignon three or four inches from the heat and broil it for about twenty minutes. If you are using the broiler, just turn it once, halfway through the cooking time.

How to Pan Fry Your Beef

Heat a heavy nonstick skillet over a moderately high heat and then add your half inch thick beef tenderloin without crowding the pan. Let it cook for about four minutes uncovered, turning the meat over once.

If the beef is three quarters of an inch or a whole inch thick, they will take between eight and thirteen minutes to cook in a skillet. Turn the meat occasionally as it cooks.

Tips for Tasty Tenderloin

Browning your steak makes it look extra appealing. Make sure you blot the raw meat on paper towels before you cook it, to encourage browning. You can marinate the meat briefly before cooking it to give it extra flavor.

Easy steak marinades can break down tough cuts of steak but because tenderloin is already tender, it should only be left in the marinade for about twenty minutes. Over-marinating already tender cuts of steak can turn them to mush.

Cook the beef over a moderate heat. If the heat is too high, the outside of the meat might burn before the inside is cooked. A thin steak can be cooked at a higher temperature because the overall cooking time will be less. Turn the meat with a spatula or tongs because piercing the meat can let the tasty juices escape.

How to Cook Tenderloin Steaks


Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Cast Iron Skillet - The Only Pan You'll Ever Need

A cast iron skillet may not be the only pan you need in your kitchen, but I will make a case for a 12" cast iron skillet being the most useful piece of cookware you can own.

Once you get past the common stereotype that a cast iron skillet is just for cooking over a campfire, you realize what an amazingly versatile tool it is.

Stainless Skillet

The obvious use of a cast fry pan is for frying stuff. A cast iron frying pan does an excellent job of preparing steaks, pork chops, fried chicken, and anything else that you would use a stainless steel or aluminum skillet for. Properly seasoned, a cast iron frying pan can also cook eggs and other sticky dishes that you might think you need a non-stick pan for.

Cast Iron Skillet - The Only Pan You'll Ever Need

This brings up the point that cooking with non-stick pans may have health risks, and your non-stick cookware will require replacing every few years. By comparison, a cast iron skillet does not introduce toxic chemicals into your food and can last many generations.

A cast iron skillet has many other uses besides frying if you exercise some culinary creativity.

You can bake with it in the oven, or in a BBQ. (I've made pie in a BBQ. It was entertaining and turned out amazing.)

Here are the sizes of some common baking dishes:

* 9" round pie plate - 63 sq. inches
* 8 x 8 cake pan - 64 sq. inches
* 9 x 13 cake pan - 117 sq. inches

Lodge 12" cast iron skillet - 113 sq. inches

You can see, a 12" skillet can be substituted for a 9x13 cake pan, two 8x8 cake pans or two 9" round pie plates. This means, pies, cakes, and baked casseroles can be made in your skillet.

A cast iron skillet can also be used for most things that you would use a baking stone for. The main purpose of a baking stone is to even out the hotspots and temperature fluctuations in your oven. A cast iron skillet has similar enough thermal retention and thermal mass that you can substitute it for a baking stone in many recipes. In other words, pizza, cookies, and bread can all be cooked in a cast iron skillet.

Because of its excellent heat retention, a cast iron skillet is a good choice for deep frying. You can make fish and chips, latkes, donuts, corn dogs, and more in your skillet.

A large skillet makes a great roasting pan. Chicken, ham, and prime rib all come out great.

A cast iron skillet can also be used for soups and stews. A Lodge 12" Skillet has a capacity of 3.9 quarts so it can do pretty much anything you would use a 4 qt. pot for. For example, my wife makes french onion soup in ours. She caramelizes the onions on the stove top, adds the rest of the ingredients to make the soup and simmers it, then puts bread and cheese on top and puts the whole thing in the oven to finish.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Baked mac and cheese, pancakes, omelets, calamari, pannini's, pies, cobblers, bread, pizza, steaks, cookies, cornbread, soups, stews, biscuits, roasts, stir-fry's, hamburgers and more, all from the same pan!

Some people may consider a 12" skillet to be too large to be their main cook pot. Rarely is "too large" a problem. There are few situations where a pot that is small can perform a task better than one that is large. However a pot that is too small for the dish you are preparing is completely useless. There is very little you can do with an 8" or 10" skillet that you can't do with a 12", but there are plenty of dishes you can prepare in a 12" fry pan that won't fit into an 8" or 10".

I have nothing against smaller skillets, but after much experimentation have decided that if I could have only one it would have to be a 12".

Cast iron cookware is inexpensive, environmentally friendly, incredibly versatile, and lasts almost forever. Most importantly, it makes great food.

Whether you are heading out on your own for the first time or are an experienced cook looking to rediscover a better way of cooking, get yourself a cast iron skillet and discover for yourself why it may be the only pan you really need.

Cast Iron Skillet - The Only Pan You'll Ever Need