From ancient times till the nineteenth century cooking was basically a survival skill. The nineteenth century marked the division of cooking into two main categories.The two branches were defined by the French, were there is 'normale cuisine' which means home cooking, and 'haute cuisine', which is cooking conceived like an artform. The major difference between the two branches is that one form should be considered as practical cooking while the other is more like cooking with a view to demonstrating skill.The boundary between ~normale cuisine~ and ~haute cuisine~ gets thinner and thinner over time. New professional kitchen equipment and more information about cooking allow people to perform like chefs at home.Haute cuisine cooking gathers different techniques and ingredients together in an artform. Haute cuisine thrives to gather as many aromas and subtle variations as possible to let our taste buds discover the variations of even the most ordinarily food. Color is also an important factor in this type of cooking.While cooking was mainly a means to survive, food cooking techniques were simple ~ roasting by the fire, or wrapping in leaves to steam. The first revolution in cooking took place twelve thousand years ago, when pottery was invented.Pottery opened the door to new cooking techniques like stewing, boiling, and frying. Actually, the heart of modern cooking is the combination of these simple techniques.Historically, the three most important cooking styles are Italian, Chinese, and French. The oldest is Chinese. Its most popular equipment is the wok, which is a special frying pan, where food is prepared fast and effectively. Food ingredients circulate permanently inside the wok. Its design also allows to fully utilize the heat.Chinese cuisine chops ingredients in small pieces. On one hand, this saves fuel, which is a scarce commodity, and on the other ~ since maximum surface of the ingredient is exposed to heat, dishes are prepared in no time at all.Chinese food is considered light and fresh. Sauces and various flavors and aromas help to fine-tune the taste of Chinese food. Chinese dishes are light and fresh and Chinese restaurants are very popular internationally.Because fuel was also a rare resource in Italy, Italian cooking, similarly to Chinese, relies on the fast and efficient exposure of ingredients to heat. The main ingredient of Italian cuisine is pasta, to which small pieces of meat, rice, corn, and tomatoes are added.In the beginning, French cuisine involved too many spices and was heavy. This was changed by Catherine de M~dici, a French Queen, born in Italy. In 1534 she came to France, together with a crowd of Florentine chefs and bakers. They introduced new equipment that revolutionized French cooking and set new standards all over Western Europe.Today it is very different. We can expect to find everything mentioned above and much more besides in most cities in the developed world. When next you find yourself spoilt for choice, think of those earlier gourmets who would be amazed at your good fortune!David Owenforth is the Operator of
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Hiking, camping, and boating are good activities for active
people and families. However, if the food isn't handled
correctly, food-borne illness can be an unwelcome souvenir.1. Choose foods that are light enough to carry in a backpack
and that can be transported safely. Keep foods either hot or
cold. Since it's difficult to keep foods hot without a heat
source, it's best to transport chilled foods. Refrigerate or
freeze the food overnight. What foods to bring? For a day
hike, just about anything will do as long as you can fit it
in your backpack and keep it cold -- sandwiches, fried
chicken, bread and cheese, and even salads -- or choose non-
perishable foods.2. Keep everything clean. Remember to bring disposable wipes
if you're taking a day trip. (Water is too heavy to bring
enough for cleaning dishes!)3. It's not a good idea to depend on fresh water from a
lake or stream for drinking, no matter how clean it appears.
Some pathogens thrive in remote mountain lakes or streams
and there's no way to know what might have fallen into the
water upstream. Bring bottled or tap water for drinking.
Always start out with a full water bottle and replenish your
supply from tested public systems when possible. On long
trips you can find water in streams, lakes, and springs, but
be sure to purify any water from the wild, no matter how
clean it appears.4. If you're backpacking for more than a day, the food
situation gets a little more complicated. You can still
bring cold foods for the first day, but you'll have to pack
shelf-stable items for the next day. Canned goods are safe,
but heavy, so plan your menu carefully. Advances in food
technology have produced relatively lightweight staples that
don't need refrigeration or careful packaging. For example:
peanut butter in plastic jars
concentrated juice boxes
canned tuna, ham, chicken, and beef
dried noodles and soups
beef jerky and other dried meats
dehydrated foods
dried fruits and nuts
powdered milk and fruit drinks
5. If you're cooking meat or poultry on a portable stove or
over a fire, you'll need a way to determine when it's done
and safe to eat. Color is not a reliable indicator of
doneness, and it can be especially tricky to tell the color
of a food if you're cooking in a wooded area in the evening.
It's critical to use a food thermometer when cooking
hamburgers. Ground beef may be contaminated with E. coli, a
particularly dangerous strain of bacteria. Illnesses have
occurred even when ground beef patties were cooked until
there was no visible pink. The only way to insure that
ground beef patties are safely cooked is to use a food
thermometer, and cook the patty until it reaches 160

When buying apricots, always look for those that are firm, plump orange fruit that gives slightly when you press with your thumb. Bruised apricots should be avoided. Like apples and potatoes, apricots contain polyphenoloxidase, an enzyme that combines with phenols in the apricots to produce brownish pigments that discolor the fruit.When apricots are bruised, cells are broken, releasing the enzyme so that brown spots form under the bruise. Avoid apricots that are hard or mushy or withered. All are less flavorsome than ripe, firm apricots, and the withered ones will decay quickly. Also avoid greenish apricots as they are low in carotenes and will never ripen satisfactorily at home.Always try to store ripe apricots in the refrigerator and use them within a few days. Apricots do not lose their vitamin A in storage, but they are very perishable and rot fairly quickly.When you peel or slice an apricot, you tear its cells walls, releasing polyphenoloxidase, an enzyme that reacts with phenols in the apricots, producing brown compounds that darken the fruit. Acids inactivate polyphenoloxidase, so you can slow down this reaction (but do not stop it completely) by dipping raw sliced and/or peeled apricots into a solution of lemon juice or vinegar and water or by mixing them with citrus fruits in a fruit salad. Polyphenoloxidase also works more slowly in the cold, but storing peeled apricots in the refrigerator is much less effective than an acid bath.To peel apricots easily, drop them into boiling water for a minute or two, then lift them out with a slotted spoon and plunge them into cold water. As with tomatoes, this works because the change in temperature damages a layer of cells under the skin so the skin slips off easily.If you are wondering what actually happened when you cook apricots, cooking dissolves pectin, the primary fiber in apricots, and softens the fruit. But it does not change the color or lower the vitamin A content because carotenes are impervious to the heat of normal cooking.Cindy is the host of http://www.asianonlinerecipes.com, a Free Asian Recipes website dedicated to all things on Asian Cooking and Culinary Guide.

A long hard day at work. You get home and need dinner. Nothing in the fridge, nothing in the cupboard. Take-out again. The wallet just won't comply much longer.Re-wind.A long hard day at work (sorry can't help with that one). You get home and mmmm, what is that aroma? Dinner! Smells delicious, your mouth is watering.And no you didn't go to the wrong home and no you are not dreaming. You arranged all this, in a few minutes this morning.What I won the lotto and hired a personal chef?Well no, not exactly ? you got a Crock Pot. A Crock Pot? Yep, it's a cooker that cooks your food over a slow heat. Put it on in the morning and dinner is ready at night.Don't think you've got time in the morning. Well you will be pleasantly surprised how quick it can be. Chuck in some veggies (frozen or pre-cut if really short on time), throw some meat on top, pour in a sauce, put on the lid and turn it on low. That's it.It truly is that easy. And the aroma of dinner when you walk in the door at night, it is sensational ? better than any take out.Happy Crock Cooking
Lisa ? "The Crock Cook"Lisa "The Crock Cook" shares her wealth of practical Crock Pot Cooking knowledge and her Easy Crock Pot Recipes with you at http://www.a-crock-cook.com.
This is not just a collection of recipes. All the recipes are cooked by Lisa and husband Neil, and if they don't work or don't taste great they don't get printed.Web Master: Please feel free to use this article (unmodified) on your website or in your ezine. Just ensure that my details and the live static link to www.a-crock-cook.com are maintained. Regards Lisa

What should you do if you are in the middle of a recipe and realize you are out of an ingredient? You could send your child to the local convenience store for cream cheese and end up having to serve your caviar with Velveeta because to a 13 year old they are both soft cheeses. This really happened when my Mother sent me for cream cheese.Instead of sending off the kids, or launching into a panic attack and reaching for the Zoloft try substituting.Here are a few quick and simple substitutions.? When using fresh herbs instead of dried, use 1 Tablespoon fresh for 1 teaspoon dry.? Vinegar for lemon juice. Use

Would you like to prepare the best Garlic Mashed Potatoes that you enjoy at your favorite restaurant, but have no idea where to start to achieve that wonderful and delightful flavor? There are a variety of ways to create the best garlic mashed potatoes that you have ever tasted but when it comes down to which way is best is according to your own taste buds.When you take a look at garlic you will see that there are various kinds of garlic that you can use for your mashed potatoes such as German red garlic, Spanish Roja garlic, Leningrad garlic, and Yugoslavian. You can find all of these garlic's in a powder form or use fresh garlic. So, the first thing you need to do is decide which garlic you would like to use. Personally, I like using fresh minced garlic cloves.There are two popular ways to prepare the best garlic mashed potatoes. With this recipe you will use garlic powder instead of fresh garlic. For the first recipe you will need enough potatoes to feed your family or guests. The rule of thumb is one medium potato per person. But, my family love potatoes, so I have to use 2 per person. Now you will need milk or cream, butter or margarine, salt and pepper and your garlic powder choice. You can either wash and peel your potatoes or you may wash your potatoes and boil them with the skins on. Cut your potatoes into chunks and boil until tender. Drain and pour into mixing bowl. Add salt, pepper garlic powder and margarine and blend with your electric mixer until the combined well. Now, add a bit of milk or cream and beat again until smooth. Add more milk until you achieve your desired consistency.In this next recipe you will use fresh minced garlic cloves to prepare the best garlic mashed potatoes. This is my favorite way. You will need all of the same ingredients as above except for garlic powder. While your potatoes are boiling, saut

What is Food Poisoning?Food poisoning results when you eat food contaminated with bacteria or other pathogens such as parasites or viruses. Your symptoms may range from upset stomach to diarrhea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps and dehydration. Most such infections go undiagnosed and unreported.But the Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that each year about 76 million people in the United States become ill from pathogens in food, and about 5,000 of them die.Over 55% of such cases are caused by improper cooking and storage of foods, and 24% by poor hygiene, such as not washing your hands while preparing food. Only 3% of cases are from unsafe food sources. Keeping your hands clean while working with food is the single most important thing you can do to prevent food poisoning.About 20 organisms can cause food poisoning. After you eat food contaminated with bacteria, they will multiply in your stomach and bowels. Some bacteria give off a toxin when they multiply. As a result, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea occur. Vomiting and diarrhea are the body's way of eliminating the toxin, and most cases of food poisoning run their course without needing medical attention.Not all invasive organisms cause vomiting as a symptom, but almost all of them cause diarrhea. Blood in your stool occurs in many types of food poisoning and is considered to be serious. Abdominal cramps are also common, and sometimes you will have a fever. Be sure to contact a physician if a fever or bloody stools are present.Common Sources of Food PoisoningCampylobacter is the leading cause of bacterial food poisoning in the USA. It causes several million cases a year, resulting in hundreds of deaths. Eating undercooked chicken or food that has been in contact with raw chicken most commonly causes campylobacter. The Center for Disease Control estimates that up to 70%-90% of chickens are infected with campylobacter.To prevent the disease, cook chicken thoroughly, with no pink remaining. Wash your hands frequently when handling raw chicken. Use paper towels to dry your hands. If you are using a sponge or dish-cloth to clean the counters, use a fresh one after working with raw chicken. Wash your cutting board with a diluted bleach solution before using again. And any utensils or dishes having contact with raw chicken need to be washed and rinsed with soap and water before using again.E. coli 0157: H7 infection causes an estimated 25,000 cases of food poisoning each year in the USA. Most of these result from undercooked, contaminated ground beef. The organism lives in the intestines of healthy cows. Meat can become contaminated during slaughter when intestinal fecal matter is mixed with beef that is ground into hamburger. Contaminated meat looks and smells normal, so it is not readily detectable. Bacteria on cow udders or milking machines can also contaminate raw milk.To prevent this form of food poisoning, cook all ground beef until no pink is showing. Make sure all of the meat juices are clear, not pink or red, and that the inside of the meat is hot. If you are served an undercooked hamburger in a restaurant, send it back. Consume only pasteurized milk products, and drink only water treated with chlorine or other disinfectants.Botulism is caused by clostridium botulinum, a spore-forming bacteria. This form of food poisoning is very rare, but can be life-threatening. It may result from eating improperly processed, low-acid foods such as green beans, mushrooms, spinach, olives and beef or fish. Improper home canning methods often account for botulism cases. Improperly processed commercial products can also cause this serious disorder.To avoid botulism, don't even taste canned food that is soft, deteriorating, fermenting or doesn't smell right. It isn't worth a life-threatening illness. When in doubt, throw it out.Infant botulism is more common in spring and summer, and is rare in winter. Infants younger than one year of age are at the highest risk. Symptoms include muscle weakness, a weak cry, difficulty in feeding, constipation, head lag, increased heart rate and a decreased gag reflex. A baby with botulism is described as a "floppy baby," as the infant will have weak muscles, especially in the arms, legs and neck.Infant botulism has been associated with eating honey. The Center for Disease Control suggests that honey should not be given to infants under six months old, and the Honey Industry Council extends the safety limit to one year. Honey is not an essential food for infants, and should never be given to them.Summary of Food PoisoningMost symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea are due to viral infections and are not true cases of food poisoning. An accurate diagnosis can be difficult because the pathogenic organisms are found in different kinds of food and have varying incubation periods. Also, eating a substance and getting sick immediately afterwards is not the typical course for food poisoning. Most people are not aware that food eaten several days previously can be the cause of food poisoning. Always be sure to consult a physician when experiencing severe gastrointestinal symptoms.Information in this article was gathered from the Safety Information website at http://wellness.ucdavis.edu/safety_info/poison_prevention/poison_book/food_poisoning.html and the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse website at http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/bacteria/index.htm.RAINBOW WRITING, INC. -- featuring Karen Peralta, copy editor, ghost writer and book author -- EXPERT FREE DOWNLOAD COMPUTER FIXER PROGRAM! We also offer inexpensive professional freelance and contracted writing, editing, copy editing and writing, rewriting, ghost writing, graphics design and CAD, Internet marketing, publishing assistance, search engine optimization, professional free services and ultra-cheap dedicated web hosting and website development services. http://www.rainbowriting.com/

Ever go home and look in the fridge only to find it sadly, echoingly empty? Well, look again my friend... there are probably a ton of condiments in there just waiting to be made into a hearty meal. Here are some tasty new recipes I discovered while living on a limited income. Dish up some dinner, liven up lunch, whatever you like! Mmmm, MMMH!Saltines and KetchupIngredients: five saltine crackers, bottle of ketchupTo Make: arrange crackers on plate. Drizzle on ketchup. Eat. Delicioso!Variations:1. Make sandwiches with the crackers (but I wouldn't reccommend this if you're low on crackers because then you can't "stretch" the eating time).2. Squirt out little drawings/messages to self with ketchup squeeze bottle (assuming you are lucky enough to have one of these). Tip: messages should be no more than 2 words due to limited space on cracker. However, you can always line up the crackers and just write one big sentence across. Fun with Food!Hot Dog Roll and Mayonnaise with Bread and Butter PicklesIngredients: hot dog roll, jar of mayonnaise, at least 2 bread and butter pickles (otherwise it would just be "Hot Dog Roll and Mayonnaise with Bread and Butter PICKLE).To Make: Find one of those rubber scraper things to scoop out dregs of mayonnaise from bottom of jar. Sniff mayonnaise to make sure good. If smells bad, decide HOW bad. Trip to bathroom, or trip to hospital? Assuming the former, go ahead with scraping of mayonnaise jar remnants onto hot dog roll. Add pickles. Eat.Variations:1. Chop up pickles and mix with mayonnaise (this is actually tartar sauce--WHO KNEW?), then spread on roll.2. Cut roll in half. Put one pickle and one smidge of mayo on each half. Bon Appetit!Condiment SurpriseThe surprise is, no one can ever remember what goes in this. Not even you! Amaze and delight your friends with your own secret blend of ingredients.Ingredients: Whatever condiments you can find in your fridge such as ketchup, mayo, salad dressing, taco sauce, A-1, Saucy Susan, etc., PretzelsTo Make: Mix all ingredients in bowl. Cook, stirring occasionally. Serve hot or chilled with pretzels on side or mixed in.Jelly In a BowlSelf-explanatory.Shrimp MocktailOkay, with a little practice this one might actually fool your friends... but it takes a skilled chef to really pull it off right!Ingredients: several pieces of stale bread, water, ketchupTo Make: Check bread for green spots; remove if necessary (remember though, that mold is a valuable source of protein, and we all know that protein builds muscle). Break bread into small chunks. Use water to form bread into sticky lumps, then roll lumps into little shrimp-shaped forms.Arrange "shrimps" in fancy circle on plate, then place bowl of ketchup in middle. Tastes just like the real thing!Salt and Pepper* SandwichFor those times when you're really "in a pinch!"Ingredients: Salt, pepper, bread.To Make: Sprinkle salt and pepper on bread.* Eat.*Omit Pepper if you don't like it.
*Omit Salt if you don't like it.For more tasty treats, buy my book "Making Lunch Out of Nothing At All".Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.Dina Giolitto is a New-Jersey based Copywriting Consultant with ten years of industry experience. Her current focus is web content and web marketing for a multitude of products and services although the bulk of her experience lies in retail for big-name companies like Toys"R"Us. Visit http://www.wordfeeder.com for rates and samples.

Soups and sauces can be thickened in a variety of ways. A sauce must the thick enough to cling to the food, but not so thick it stands up on its own. Starches are by far the most common thickening agent. Cornstarch, arrowroot, waxy maize and the ever popular, roux (roo). But what is a roux and how does it work?Roux is a cooked mixture of equal parts by weight of fat and flour. If you mix a starch with water, such as cornstarch it is called a slurryHow does it work?Starches thicken by absorbing water and swelling to many times their original size. This process is called gelatinization. In order for the starch to function at its maximum, each granule of starch must be separated before heating in order to avoid lumps. If granules are not separated the starch on the outside of a lump quickly gelatinizes into a coating that prevents the liquid from reach the rest of the starch inside. This is accomplished in two ways.1. By mixing the starch with cold water ? This is used with starches such as arrowroot and cornstarch. This method is not recommended for flour because it lacks flavor and has an undesirable texture.2. By mixing the starch with fat ? This is the principle of the roux. A roux must be cooked for a short period of time so the finished sauce or soup does not have the starchy taste of flour. If cooked for just a short period of time, it is called a blond roux. If cooked longer until it takes on a light brown color, it is called a brown roux.The most preferred roux in cooking is made by mixing melted butter and flour. Many cooks clarify the butter first because the liquid in whole butter tends to gelatinize some of the starch and make the roux hard to work with. A roux made with butter gives a nice rich flavor to sauces and is easy to work with.Margarine and oils can be used to make a roux as well, but because of there lack of flavor they are very seldom the top choice.Fat drippings from animals such as chicken and beef can make superior sauces. Animal fats enhance the flavor of sauce, but again must be clarified to eliminate any liquid that might cause lumping.Mixing it all togetherA roux can be added to the liquid or the liquid may be added to the roux. The general rules are: The liquid can be hot or cool, but not cold. A very cold liquid will solidify the fat in the roux. The roux in the same way can be warm or cold, but not hot. A hot roux could cause spattering and possibly lumps. For medium sauces and soups I use 8 ounces butter and 8 ounces flour per gallon of liquid. For home it comes out to about 1 tablespoon each per cup of liquid. Use less or more depending on how thick you like your sauce. By follow these simple steps you'll have lump free soups and sauces for the rest of your life.About The AuthorChef Richard has worked in the top fine dining restaurants in Washington State and is the author of the ebook "Chef's Special". You can find free recipes, informative articles and order the ebook at http://www.csrecipes.com

Omelet(te)sThey're easy to cook, right?We'll see.The first thing to remember is that you need the right size of frying pan. This is more important than you may think. Too large, and the omelet will dry out; too small, and it will not cook through.As a basic guide, you need a 15 centimeter pan for a two-egg omelet and a 25 centimeter pan for a four to six egg omelet. That is, 6 in. and 10 in. respectively. Which, handily enough, is pretty much the size of pans you should have in your kitchen anyway.The second most important thing is not to beat the eggs.I'll repeat that for all of those chefs out there who think they can cook omelets: do NOT beat the eggs.Instead, abandon the habits of a lifetime and stir the yolks into the whites using a knife blade. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.Warm your empty pan through on a moderate heat, add a good knob of butter, turn up the heat and swirl it round to coat the bottom and sides of the pan.When the butter is foaming pour some into the egg mixture, stir it in and then immediately pour the eggs into the pan.Shake the pan to spread the mixture evenly. Now, using a fork or thin spatula, draw the cooked egg away from the edge of the pan and let the uncooked liquid run into the space created.When the omelet is almost cooked, but the surface is still soft and liquid, flip one edge of the omelet towards the center of the pan so that it folds over. Then slide the unfolded edge onto a warmed plate, rolling the folded edge over the top of it as you do so.An omelet cooked in this way requires no filling, except perhaps some fresh, chopped, herbs added to the egg mixture about 15 minutes before cooking.What's that? Oh yes, all right; if you must you can use olive oil instead of butter.During the 1990s Michael Sheridan was head chef of the Pierre Victoire restaurant in London's West End, specializing in French cuisine. An Australian, he is a published author on cooking matters, and runs a free membership club for busy home cooks at http://thecoolcook.com