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THINGS FOOD PROCESSORS ARE GOOD AT

brilliant for making fresh bread crumbs;

you can toss everything you might need for a simple poultry stuffing — bread, onion, herbs, even peeled apple, and just whiz it altogether, all at once;

good for making purées of root vegetables such as swede, turnip, sweet potato, squash or carrot;

good for pastry (add water only at the end, a little at a time);

good for shredding fresh coconut, parmesan cheese.

THINGS FOOD PROCESSORS ARE NOT GOOD AT

never use a food processor to make mashed potatoes with. What happens is that no matter what kind of potato you start with, waxy or floury, the blade shreds the cells, releasing way too much starch, and you end up with gloop;

not good for whipped cream or whipped egg whites. They don’t have the same speed as a hand mixer can and so won’t get as much air in;

won’t blend as smoothly as a blender can, and won’t grind spices or nuts as finely as a blender or mill can;

not good for mixing drinks. A blender is better;

some people don’t like them for making cake batter. They feel that not as much air gets into the batter as would with a proper mixer;

fine for chopping herbs that are going into something else, or that are being processed along with other things (pesto is a good example here), but when you want a chopped herb to use on its own, as a garnish for instance, it may be better to use a knife, as often the herbs can come out soggy or semi-puréed, no matter how careful you are;

soups can be done only if you want the soup to have a texture coarser than what you would get in a blender, and only if you process it a little at a time (if you process too much at a time, the soup will come out from the joint between

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Easy One-Pot Chicken Tinga (Spicy Mexican Shredded Chicken) Recipe

Though tinga is traditionally flavored with chorizo, this quick and easy version still packs in the flavor, without forcing you to seek out special ingredients. The chicken is gently poached in broth, then shredded and tossed with a puréed sauce for extra-juicy texture and flavor.

Ingredients 2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breast halves (about 1 1/4 pounds; 550g) Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons (30ml) lard or vegetable oil 6 ounces tomatillos, peeled (170g; about 2 medium) 6 ounces ripe plum tomatoes (170g; about 2 medium) 4 medium garlic cloves 1 small white onion, finely chopped 2 teaspoons dried oregano (preferably Mexican) 2 bay leaves 2 tablespoons (30ml) cider vinegar 2 cups (475ml) homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock (or water) 2 to 3 canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, plus 1 tablespoon (15ml) sauce from can 2 teaspoons (10ml) Asian fish sauce Directions 1. Season chicken generously with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over high heat until shimmering. Add chicken skin side down and cook, without moving, until well browned, 6 to 8 minutes. (Lower heat if pot is smoking excessively or chicken starts to burn.) Flip chicken and cook on second side for 2 minutes. Transfer to a large plate and immediately add tomatillos, tomatoes, and garlic to pot. Cook, flipping occasionally, until blistered and browned in spots, about 5 minutes.

2. Add onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add oregano and bay leaves and cook, stirring, until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add vinegar and stock. Return chicken to pot, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a bare simmer. Cover the pot and cook, turning chicken occasionally, until chicken registers 145°F when an instant-read thermometer is inserted into the center of the thickest part, 20 to 30 minutes. Transfer chicken to a bowl and set aside. Continue cooking the sauce at a hard simmer, stirring, until reduced to about half its original volume, about 5 minutes longer.

3. Add chipotle chilies and adobo, remove and discard bay leaves, and blend the sauce using an immersion blender or by transferring to a countertop blender. Sauce should be relatively smooth, with a few small chunks. When chicken is cool enough to handle, discard the skin and bones and finely shred the meat. Return it to the sauce. Add fish sauce and stir to combine.

4. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until sauce thickens and coats chicken. It should be very moist but not soupy. Season to taste with salt and pepper (if necessary). Chicken tinga can be served in tacos; stuffed into enchiladas or burritos; on top of nachos, tostadas, and sopes; or on its own.

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Tempered Glass Cookware

Available as flameproof and ovenproof glassware. Both types of glassware hold heat well but are not heat responsive. The flameproof glassware, which is fairly expensive, can be used in the microwave, on the stovetop and in the oven. It heats unevenly, resulting in hot spots that cause food to stick. Ovenproof glassware can be used in the microwave and in the oven, but if used on the stovetop, it must be used with a diffuser.

Pan Care: To care for tempered glass, wash in hot soapy water and soak to loosen stuck on food. Do not use metal scrapers or abrasive powders to remove stuck on food. Tempered glass cookware is dishwasher safe.

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HEALTHY PASTA RECIPES - Easy Vegetarian Meal Ideas

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Healthier Pasta 4 Ways

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The Best Pasta Bowls

What makes a good pasta bowl is just as much a matter of aesthetics (the bowl itself, the way pasta looks inside it) as it is about utility. A good pasta bowl should be easy to eat out of, but it also has to help make your pasta look beautiful. As Sasha pointed out to me, the goal of pasta presentation is a kind of effortless beauty, and a good pasta bowl will make it unnecessary to fuss a lot with your pasta; you can just gently place the pasta in the center of it, garnish it as necessary, and be done.

To that end, a good pasta bowl should have a wide bottom that's flat in the center and slopes gently upward along the sides, a perfect platform for noodles with space for sauce to pool around the edges. The guiding principles here are that pasta needs an ample amount of space—to look nice, sure, but also to give the person eating it enough room to comfortably maneuver their utensils—but it also needs to be contained (anyone who's stabbed at rigatoni knows they can go everywhere, if given the space).

Finally, a well-made pasta bowls will be relatively thick, which helps with heat retention; a beautifully prepared sauce can seize up if the bowl it's been spooned into cools down very rapidly, in much the same way as a sauce spooned onto a cold plate.

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Basting Brushes

Basting brushes are brushes uniquely designed for basting liquids such as oils, marinades, sauces, glazes, meat juices, etc.. onto items while they are cooking. As such, the design of basting brushes tries to meet two challenges: holding enough of the liquid item per trip from the sauce bowl to the item that is being basted, and, keeping the cook’s hand far enough from the heat source to protect the hand, while still close enough to have fine control over the basting.

Most modern basting brushes can be assumed to be dishwasher safe; check packaging before purchasing to be sure.

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THE CHALLENGE OF STORING BREAD 

There is no perfect way of storing fresh bread (as opposed to preserving it by freezing or drying.)

If you leave it out unwrapped, it will dry into a giant crispy crouton, or the mice will nibble it;

If you put it in the fridge, it dries out and gets that “fridge” taste;

If you put it in a plastic bag, it gets that “plastic” taste, goes soggy and then goes mouldy;

If you put it in a paper bag, it dries out.

Bread has a short life span — that’s its nature. It either gets eaten up, dries up or goes mouldy, and nothing can stop one of those three things from happening (aside from volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius turning it into a fossil.)

Tips: Store bread in bread bins unsliced. Put the bread or baked goods in the bread bin with no wrapping around them — that will impede the natural functioning of the bin. Freshly-baked bread should be cooled before placing in a bread bin.

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Cuban-Style Roast Pork Shoulder With Mojo Recipe

A dual covered/uncovered cooking method gives you results relatively fast, with less moisture loss and a crisp crust. Combining the pork drippings with reserved mojo marinade and fresh mint makes a delicious sauce and allows the marinade to perform double duty. Pork shoulder is inexpensive and always comes out juicy.

Ingredients For the Mojo: 8 medium cloves garlic, minced 2 teaspoons (8g) ground cumin 2 teaspoons (8g) freshly ground black pepper 1/4 cup (about 1 small handful) minced fresh oregano leaves 1/2 cup (120ml) fresh juice from 1 to 2 oranges (see note) 1/4 cup (60ml) fresh juice from 3 to 4 limes (see note) 1/4 cup (60ml) extra-virgin olive oil Kosher salt For the Pork and to Finish: 1 (6- to 8-pound; 3 to 3.5kg) boneless pork shoulder roast, rind removed 1/4 cup (about 1 small handful) finely chopped fresh mint leaves 3 tablespoons (about 3 very large pinches) finely chopped fresh oregano leaves Lime wedges, for serving Steamed rice, black beans, and maduros, for serving Directions 1. For the Mojo: Combine garlic, cumin, pepper, oregano, orange juice, lime juice, and olive oil in a large bowl and whisk. Season to taste generously with salt. Transfer half of mojo to a sealed container and reserve in the refrigerator. Add pork to remaining mojo and turn to coat. If desired, transfer pork and marinade to a gallon-sized zipper-lock bag and refrigerate 2 hours or up to overnight before continuing.

2. For the Pork and to Finish: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 275°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with a double layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Place pork and juices on top and fold up foil, crimping to seal loosely but making sure that there is room for air to circulate inside. Place in oven and roast for 3 hours. Fold back foil, increase oven temperature to 325°F, and continue roasting, basting pork with pan juices occasionally, until pork shows almost no resistance when a metal skewer or knife is inserted into it and the surface is crackly and brown, 2 to 3 hours longer. Remove pork from oven and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Pour accumulated pork juices into a bowl and discard all except 1 cup. Add reserved mojo to pork drippings, along with fresh chopped mint and oregano. Whisk together and season to taste with salt.

4. Serve pork by slicing or shredding, passing mint mojo and lime wedges on the side. Serve rice and plantains on the side. Reserve any leftovers for sandwiches.

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Cast Iron Coated with Porcelain Enamel

Porcelain enamel is applied as a coating only on pots and pans made of other material, such as cast iron or aluminum. It prevents them from corroding or reacting with the food being cooked. A pan coated with porcelain on the inside cannot be used for sautéing or frying but will work as a saucepan and can be used in the oven.

Pan Care: To care for porcelain enamel cookware, wash with hot soapy water. For stuck on food, soak in hot water to loosen. A nylon scouring pad, nylon scraper, or nonabrasive cleaner can also be used to help remove stuck on food. Porcelain enamel can be cleaned occasionally in the dishwasher unless it has a non-stick interior surface. Limit the use of a dishwasher to avoid the strong detergent dulling the enamel surface.

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Electric Frying Pan

An electric frying pan or electric skillet incorporates an electric heating element into the frying pan itself and so can function independently off of a cooking stove. Accordingly, it has heat-insulated legs for standing on a countertop. (The legs usually attach to handles.) Electric frying pans are common in shapes that are unusual for 'unpowered' frying pans, notably square and rectangular. Most are designed with straighter sides than their stovetop cousins and include a lid. In this way they are a cross between a frying pan and a sauté pan.

A modern electric skillet has an additional advantage over the stovetop version: heat regulation. The detachable power cord incorporates a thermostatic control for maintaining the desired temperature.

With the perfection of the thermostatic control, the electric skillet became a popular kitchen appliance. Although it largely has been supplanted by the microwave oven, it is still in use in many kitchens.