Home Cooking Gourmet Blog

I made some pancakes, AJ whole wheat ones, and found a nice way to get them done in the middle and fluffy.
Normally pancakes are cooked on a griddle. Since my kitchen is sans griddle, I used a saucepan. The first pancake came out gooey in the middle.
My wife suggested covering the pan with a lid. Did that make a difference! Not only was the pancake cooked through, it came out nice and fluffy. A see-through lid is the best because you can see the bubbles forming on the pancake which means time to flip it.

Doug

Somehow, the original post was lost.
I made this noodle bowl with chicken 3 times a few weeks ago…it is that good. Once the ingredients are assembled, cooking goes quickly. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Doug

Confused at all the recommendations on cooking and storing turkey? So am I. The USDA suggests cooking the turkey at no less that 165 F. Measure the temperature at the innermost thigh and the thickest part of the breast. If using a pop-up indicator verify its accuracy by taking measurements of your own.

Do not forget that the internal temperature will rise 10 degrees or so after it is taken out of the oven. And rest the turkey 20 minutes or so (cover it with an aluminum tent) before carving. This gives the juices a chance to redistribute themselves.

DtC

I was lucky enough to break away for a few days and visit my parents. Though I never showed interest growing up, Mom is an excellent cook…I must have learned something through osmosis. Volunteered by her, I cooked up one of my favorites, chicken breasts in tomato-caper sauce. It turned out so good that Mom saved all the extra goodies in the pan. Dad thought it was excellent with the Pinot Noir he served. This was the second, and probably not the last, time I made this for them.

DtC

Brining chicken or pork can make for a moister, tastier meat. Read more about it.

DtC

Sometimes part of a recipe is so good you tend to leave out the rest! I have used this marinade in chicken fajitas countless times and with ole success. But many times, the chicken is all gone before the rest of the fajitas are ready. On the grill or in the skillet, you cannot beat it.

DtC

Ok, I’m on a roasting kick. So I decided to try pot roast sans pot or potless roast in dtc vernacular. The goal was an easy but tasteful meal with minimum of cleanup.
In a large bowl with 2 tablespoons of light olive oil (corn or peanut oil can be used) I put 6 carrots (cut 2 inches long and halved (or quartered if large)) and 3 russet potatoes (peeled and cut about 2 inches square. Not critical.). I coated all the vegetables with the oil and placed them on a 13×9 cookie sheet with 1 inch sides.
Next I put the room temperature pot roast meat (already cut up in 1 1/2 inch squares) intermingled with the veggies. The plan was to cook the meal at 500 deg. for 20 minutes then turn the pan after jostling the food so it doesn’t stick and cook an additional 20 minutes.
The meat was more than done after 20 minutes so it came out of the pan. The rest of the meal (veggies) came out great! The carrots were slightly sweet with brown streaks (caramelizing the sugars) and the potatoes were mostly golden brown. Delicious!
Next time the meat will be a 2 pound pot roast coated with a thin layer of oil flipped halfway through cooking.
The pan was deglazed with water to create a quick, cheap but tasteful topping.

DtC

Ovens are not consistent in heating. They all have hotspots in them, sometimes varying up to 50 degrees. When baking cookies or roasting a dinner, it is important that half-way through the cooking the pan is turned around in the oven. This will make for a more evenly heated meal.

DtC

A better way to tenderize a larger piece of meat is to cook it slow. A marinade would not make a big difference on a large piece of meat because it only penetrates a 1/4 inch or so. I have cooked several roasts that have come out very tender and juicy by using a rub and cooking it at a low temperature in the oven.
To illustrate, take a pork roast such as a Boston Butt (no, a butt is a large cask used in the olden days to ship meat) slather it with yellow mustard and cover with a rub.
Rub:
1/4 cup sugar, 2 TBL paprika, 1 TBL freshly ground black pepper, 2 TBL onion salt, 2 TBL garlic salt, 1 TBL kosher or sea salt, 1 tsp dried parsley, 1 tsp ground ginger, and 1 tsp cinnamon. Mix well.
Let meat sit in refrigerator for 2 hours. Take out and let come to room temperature (about an hour) to save cooking time or put it in the oven. Place butt in shallow roasting pan, put in thermometer, and cook at 250 degrees until done. After 3 hours cooking, turn the pan around half-way to account for temperature variances in the oven. Also baste it with apple juice (or water).
A 4 pound roast will take about 6 hours (but well worth it). After it is done cooking, let it sit about 30 minutes, covered, before slicing.

DtC