Cooking Articles Article:
Season Your Pans for Non Stick Cooking
Nothing is more frustrating than trying to cook a delicious meal and having it stick to the bottom of the pan. A well season or cured pan will make cooking more fun, easier to clean and create better tasting food. There is a saying in the restaurant business; Hot pan - Cold oil. Meaning never put the oil in a cold pan and then heat it up. By heating the pan first and then adding the oil, then immediately the food, you'll have much less sticking. Furthermore if you season the pan when you first purchase it, you will have even better results.
Curing by metal types
Stainless Steel - Unfortunately stainless steel cannot be seasoned because of the hardness of the metal. A matter of fact I don't know of a single restaurant which uses stainless steel pan. They are great for storing food because the food won't react with the metal, but horrible for cooking. My advice is just stay away from them altogether.
Aluminum - First wash the pan with soup and water using a sponge or cloth (no steel sponge). Rinse and dry thoroughly. Heat the pan until hot then add two ounces of oil to the pan. Carefully swirl the pan so the oil coats every part of the pan. Let the pan cool. Remove the oil and repeat the process one more time. From this point on, never use soap again. Wash with warm water and dry with a paper towel. If some food does stick us a little salt with oil and a paper towel to remove it.
Teflon and other non stick surfaces - Non stick technology has come a long way over the years and there are dozens of infomercials to prove it. But the truth is even non stick pans will eventually stick. Follow the steps for seasoning aluminum pans and your non stick pans will last longer and perform better. Remember after the first time, never wash with soup again.
Cast iron and wok's - For cast iron and wok's the process is similar, but because of the nature of the metal you'll heat the pans to a much higher temperature. Fist wash the pan with soup and water then dry thoroughly. Heat the pan up until it is very hot. Add two ounces of oil and swirl to coat all sides. Let cool and remove excess oil. Heat the pan up again until it begins to smoke. Add more oil and repeat the process until you've done this three times. Never wash again and always store you pans at any angle or by hanging so they won't rust.
By taking the time to properly season you pans, you will enjoy cooking much more and increase the life of your investment. I recommend spending a little extra money and buying good quality pans and take care of them, in the long run you'll be much happier. Another tip is to never buy pans with plastic or wooden handles because you can't place them in the oven. As you increase you cooking skills you'll find many recipes start on the burner then move to the oven. By having an all metal pan this transition is flawless.
About The Author
Chef Richard has worked for some of 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
Related Perfect Cooking News and Articles From ezinearticles.com
Learn how to make your own cake flour for tasty, fluffy cakes each time. "How do I make cake flower at home?" is a question that can be answered very easily. There is a 6% to 8% content of protein in Cake Flour and is made from a soft wheat flour.
A sharp knife is a chefs best friend, so it's helpful to know not only how to sharpen knives, but also how to keep them sharp. By practicing these basic methods you should be able not only save money on professional sharpening, but also prevent a nasty cut because of a blunt knife.
Cooking on planks of wood is certainly no new idea, but it has been relatively unheard of throughout the entire country up until recently. As a traditional manner of food preparation used by Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest, you can guess where they got their planks of wood. Today, however, you don't need to go chop down a tree because you can now find planks of varying types of wood in most grocery stores.
One of the biggest recent trends in American cooking is, well, cooking itself! Individual Americans are slowly moving away from the style of eating in the 1970s and beyond which involved a lot of processed, pre-prepared foods and "low fat" refined carbohydrates.
This article is written as a review of the George foreman contact roasting machine, which is very popular right now. The product is getting very good reviews and here I want to give you my hands on experience with this baby.
A kitchen would just not be a kitchen without a cutting board. In fact, the cutting board has become a main tool of our kitchen as it provides us a safe place for food preparation and cutting.
In previous articles, Throovest traced the history and the making of the outside barbeque, going back to the original Portuguese design which provides for foolproof outside cooking. This time he divulges the secret of cooking the perfect lamb chop on this most accommodating of cooking devices. Once you've sampled barbequed lamb chops like these, you may never settle for any other method.
A popular variety of shellfish, mussels have always been a favourite seafood dish. But like in the preparation of any scrumptious dish, the selection of good ingredients is always the secret to happy dining.
Cooker Hoods are great little helpers in kitchen. These little devices do not come as standard in most kitchens, but having then around or having been to a kitchen which has one can help concentrate the mind to how great they are. These devices help to to get rid of smells...
Although breakfast is considered the most important meal of the day, lunch also assumes equal importance as it provides energy for activities done in the remaining part of day. It plays an important role in our overall health factor. Hence, it is important that you have a healthy lunch. The two important aspects of a healthy lunch would be the ingredients used to prepare the lunch and healthy cooking method to complement it.
