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Saturday 21 January 2012

BASICS OF COOKING


BASICS OF COOKING
BASIC GUIDELINES
Here's a basic guide to measuring common ingredients.
·         Flour: Stir flour in the storage container or bag. Using a large spoon, lightly spoon flour from the container into the measuring cup. Do not shake the cup and do not pack the flour. Using the back of a knife or flat blade spatula, level off the flour even with the top edge of the measuring cup. Don't use the measuring cup to scoop the flour out of the container. You can end up with 150% of the correct measurement if you do this! One cup of correctly measured flour should weigh about 112 grams.
·         Baking powder and soda: Stir in the container. Using the measuring spoon, lightly scoop out of the container. Use that knife to level off even with the top edge of the measuring spoon.
·         Brown sugar: This needs to be packed into the measuring cup. The sugar should retain the shape of the cup when it is dropped into the other ingredients.
·         Liquid ingredients: Liquids need to be measured at eye level. Using the liquid measuring cup, pour the liquid into the cup. Then bend over so you are on the same level with the measuring marks. The liquid should be right at the mark, not above or below.
·         Shortening and solid fats: Butter and margarine have measuring amounts marked on the sides of the paper wrapping. One quarter pound stick of butter or margarine equals 1/2 cup. You can also use the liquid displacement method for measuring solid fats. For instance, if you want 1/2 cup of shortening, fill a liquid measuring cup with 1/2 cup of cold water. Then add shortening until the water level reaches 1 cup when you look at it at eye level. Pour out the water and use the shortening.
·         Liquid ingredients in spoons: Make sure that you don't measure small amounts of liquid ingredients over the mixing bowl. It's just too easy to spill, and you don't want 2 teaspoons of almond extract when the recipe only calls for 1 teaspoon!
·         Chopped ingredients: Pay close attention to whether or not an ingredient is to be chopped, diced or minced, and whether they are measured before chopping or after. Then the foods are placed in the measuring cup so the top is level with the surface.
When you bake cookies, cakes, breads, pie crusts, and candies, measuring accurately is really critical to the success of the recipe. When you are cooking casseroles, soups, stir fries, and meats, you can vary amounts more and the end result will still be good.
Using these tips, you can be confident that any recipe you tackle will be a success.

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