Roast Season

Now that the weather is cooler it's time to think about roasts. These are the perfect Sunday meal.It brings about hearty food that's perfect for the chilly afternoons ahead. Yet many home chefs are sort of in the dark a botu roasting. Are they using the right pan? Do they need a meat thermometer/ How to flavor a roast? There needs to be a simple guide to follow.

The first question is what kind of roasting pan to use? The best kind is a straight sided stainless steel one with a V shaped or curved rack. This type of pan works well with  large roasts.It also works wonders to caramelize veggies and making sauce in the pan. This can easily be bought at such stores as Kohl's Target and Wal-Mart. Can you use a baking pan instead of a roasting one?Not really. Both serve different purposes and are constructed differently too. The roasting ones are generally larger and deeper with high sides.They're designed to accommodate large joints of meat and poultry.Baking pans are usually shallower and come in a variety of sizes and shapes.Their primary goal is to keep an even heat and hold in the batter or other liquid ingredients. What is the point of investing in a roasting pan?It's mainly to roast larger pieces of meat  and poultry like turkey easily.It;'s also good for racks of lambs and crown roast. Can you use something other than a roasting pan? Chicken and vegetables can use a rimmed baking sheet. You can also use a deep Dutch oven or aluminum roasting pan to do the job.

Will you need a meat thermometer for your roasts?Yes.it will result in well cooked roasts and lead to juicy chicken and turkey. You can buy them anywhere from Walmart to Target to any kitchen shop. They usually run around fifteen dollars and can also be used for hamburgers and ribs too.If you don't want to buy one there are ways to see if the meat is done. The juices will run clear.It's piping hot all the way through and the meat should be steaming.There also should be no pink meat left. Another good gadget to have is a baster. This sucks up the juices from the pan's bottom. and then you can squirt them all over the meat. This is a super cheap buy with one costing around two dollars for the cheapest and around ten dollars for the most expensive.Now what about marinades? What makes for a juicy interior and a crusty, crispy outside? Some  chefs recommend just rubbing it with olive oil and then a good sprinkling with freshly ground pepper and sea salt. As for chicken, rubbing butter or plant based butter under the skin and just a light seasoning of salt, pepper and some rosemary  should create a flavorful bird.

It's roasting season.Are you ready? With the right equipment you can create a tasty Sunday roast that's both flavorful and moist.

The Perfect Meal

Yesterday the New York Times Food section had published two recipes for the perfect Valentine's Day dinner and dessert. Upon closer inspection both could make a great weekend meal. Thanks to both David Tanis and Melissa Clark , home chefs can make and bake something not only for their sweethearts but for their sweet families.

David Tanis of A City Kitchen gives us the meal part -  simple rib eye steak and potatoes. Double it's perfect for a family of four.He recommends gettng one large steak which will have juicier results when cooked.Also skip the supermarket and head to the butcher's for a perfect cut.Prepare it simply with generous dashes of salt and pepper along with some roughly chopped rosemary and a little garlic.Cooking it is easy too, especially if  you have a cast iron skillet.Heat over a flame and then pop the entire skillet into an oven to roast. Let it stay there  until the meat's interior temp reaches 120 degrees Farenheit (have a meat thermometer on hand for this).Of course a steak this good deserve to be paired with the best of the spuds. Mr. Tanis suggests peewee ones which are even smaller than the baby ones. They're boiled in heavily salted water and then tossing them with melted butter, garlic, lemon and parsley.It doesn't get any better than this.

Actually it does. Melissa Clark's A Good Appetite is devoted to homemade chocolate cookies with white chocolate and dried cherries. The flavors are a perfect marriage of sweet and tart.It's based on a favorite cookie of hers from a Manhattan bakery. Those were saucer sized dark chocolate ones, rich with  white chocolate chunks and pecans.They reminded her of the corner brownies, gooey in the middle and crisp around the edges.Hers is a grown up version, housing dried cherries to offset the sweetness. Also to make it a bit more interesting is adding melted bittersweet chocolate chips. If that's too much, Ms. Clark then suggests reducing the amount of granulated sugar used. Unsweetened Dutch cocoa is also used in the recipe along with a pinch of sea salt and vanilla. It is a tad more labor intensive than the average homemade cookie recipe. The dark chocolate and butter are first melted together in a saucepan or even in the microwave The sugar and eggs are also beaten separately until the mixture is pale and foamy. The other ingredients are added t this until a dough forms. Sea salt is sprinkled on top to cut the sweetness and bring out the other flavors.

Put these together and it's a delicious meal for the family.The simplicity is a complex wedding of  flavors that work well. Nothing beats a steak and potatoes with a dessert of home made chocolate cookies.

Getting Gizmoed Up

With Thanksgiving a scant two weeks away and Christmas and Hanukkah close on its' heels it's time to get your kitchen ready for the feasts and frenzies ahead.What helps are the little things. those kitchen gadgets and gizmos that every cook needs for creating the perfect meal. Now is the time to try out the old and get new if you have to.

Thanksgiving calls for all sorts of tricked put equipment. One necessary is a meat thermometer. This will be your best friend on Thanksgiving Day because it will tell you exactly how hot your bird is and when you should take it out of the oven. Also save it for Christmas hams and New Year's carving boards. Another necessary must have are turkey lifters. These are fork like tongs that make hauling the bird from the pan to the platter easier. If you haven't already buy yourself a good kitchen timer. You can get these at everyplace from Target and K-Mart to Williams and Sonoma to Bed Bath and Beyond. They are important in no just timing baked goods but also vegetables and sauces.

Remember that baking also requires a fair amount of helpful gizmos. Thanks to silicon, there are also sorts of cool baking bans that give evenly baked cakes in fun holiday shapes. Also have silicon spatulas too because these are easy to work with and also to clean.I also find that the small thing s like those stones used for pie baking come in handing in creating the perfect pumpkin or pecan pie. One big gadget muss is a combo cookie press and decorator. This helps in creating beautiful spritzes , wreathes and trees along with giving cakes and cookies a professionally done frosting.

With the holidays around the corner it's time to bring out the gizmos. These are handy and important despite their small size . They make the holiday kitchen a much easier and much more fun place to be.