What Woods Work For Grilling

Cooking over wood is one of the nicest ways to flavor barbecues. What woods work though? Specially chopped apple or cherry woods? That handful of twigs picked up during a woodland hike? what you do eventually choose will have a big impact on your outdoor meal. It could make or break your barbecue, so be prudent with what you use.

The first question asked is what kind of wood do you want.Most home chefs use whole logs if they're cooking meat in a pit but make sure they're not full of sap or water. This could hinder the wood sparking and ruin the whole cooking process, They also take longer to heat up.An easier alternative are wood chunks, These are usually golf ball size and burn more slowly than the popular wood chip however they also retain heat much longer as well. They're also not costly,, Chips are used most often because they're easy to handle being  nothing more than scraps or shavings. They ignite pretty fast but also burn just as quickly too.One of the biggest advantages is that they're found in a variety of different places from your local grocery store to the big box DIY ones.What about twigs? Can those sticks gathered from a country walk work? Yes,Use ones that are one to two inches in diameter. You can also use the smaller ones but remember these will flame up and then turn to ash quickly.

The next step is what kind of wood should be used. Pine should never be thrown into the grill.The resin  can dampen the wood and create problems. Mild  woods like apple and cherry provide a delicate flavor with a slight fruity, sweet taste.Use this for barbecue, pork and chicken.If you're cooking pork or beef then try a cherry wood chip. Another plus is that it gives a bright red color to the meat. Cherry wood's intensity can be balanced by adding hickory , oak or pecan. Another good fruit wood is surprisingly grape vines.They are  perfect for any meat including fish. The only down side is that is does get pungent and does smoke a lot. Pecan is good too but don't cook food too long over it or its' strong flavor can overpower any meat. Most home chefs prefer oak and hickory.Oak is a heavy duty kind of wood that can work for any meat .It also imparts that smoky oaky flavor which is just right for a good grilled sirloin or rack of beef ribs.Mesquite is one of the more popular woods , used for the last twenty years, however it is powerful. The only cut that can stand up to it is brisket.If you want a versatile wood that's not going to overpower your grill then go with maple. It imparts a light , sweet  flavor, perfect for ham, pork ribs  and chicken,

Nothing beats meats cooked over a fragrant wood barbecue. Any kind of tree adds a delicious flavor to ribs,  wings or brisket. Try a variety  to create tasty mix of classic grill favorites.

Hot Weather Temptations

The hot weather brings a lot of joys, more time at the beach, nights just hanging with friends. and al fresco meals .Unfortunately with the balmy temps comes temptations, in fact  now more than during the winter holidays. As always eat and especially snack judiciously. Take advantage of  farmer's markets and produce stands cropping up right now.

Hot weather brings about thirst. We reach for bottles of anything and everything. The best choice is an icy bottle of spring water.It;s refreshing and doesn't cause any extra thirstiness. However it does have competition. Many would rather enjoy a cold soda, brimming with ice. This  is refreshing but loaded full of calories One cup of Coke is 100 . The better bet is Diet Coke if you have to have a soda. Those creamy iced coffees are downright delicious too , especially if they're loaded with ice cubes but they're also loaded with fat. Some of the Dunkin Donuts iced drinks can have as much as 600(!) calories.If you want an iced coffee, think of just get a plain iced black. This is just as refreshing than those  loaded with chocolate and caramel and topped with a pillow of whipped cream. You'll also enjoy the rich nutty flavor of the coffee too. For lower calorie drinks, definitely try Bai5 and Bai Bubbles. Both are low on calories- five each - but big on flavor.Try their blueberry  or lemon ade chilled for a respite from the heat. The BAI Bubbles has the same fizz as soda but with tropical flavors like coconut and pineapple.

Hot days bring about hot dogs - and hamburgers. Who doesn';t like hanging out at the local stand and get a dog loaded with chili and cheese.? A plain one from Stewart's is around 450 calories. Corn dogs,  always a festival fave are also high in everything from fat  to sodium. One gobble can cot you 450 calories.Burgers too  can be fat bombs. Many are between 400 and 600 calories, If you want a low calorie sandwich to bring to the beach or park then go for Subway. You can pick and choose all good low cal choices from the whole wheat bread to the meat and veggies involved. Luckily chopped salads are big right now and they 'll be a warm weather must have. Again these can be made super healthy by adding the right mix of veggies and extras.Chips are always a hot weather bring along. They're great for satisfying both hunger pangs and salt cravings however they are soaked in sodium. Instead nibble on almonds or grape tomatoes.For crunch  try low sodium pretzels.

The hot weather is here and with it comes temptations. Be prudent  with picking out drinks and snacks. Keep in mind these treats have calories - not good for the start of bathing suit and shorts season.

Bourbon The Fire Of Kentucky

Today is the annual Kentucky Derby and with it comes toasts  made with - what else- Kentucky bourbon.It is  a fiery drink that sworks in everything from cocktails, to mains dishes to desserts.Of course if's excellent straight up neat, that is if you can handle its' potent kick.

How the liquor was name is somewhat of a controversy.It could have been from the Kentucky county or from Bourbon Street in New Orleans. It's not really associated with the French dynasty of the same name although the county and the street probably are. Its' orgiins are also shrouded in a bit of mystery.Bourbon's invention is attributed to Baptist minister and distiller Elijah Craig.That honor  could also go to James C Crow who came up with the sour mash fermentation, a process where each new fermentation is conditioned with spent mash (sort of like sourdough).The brew is a mixture of rye, and malted barley.The fermented mash has to be 51  per  cent  corn in order to be considered bourbon,It is then put through a continuous still which are two stills placed side by side. However this doens't always produce the best tasting spirits so one of the most traditional methods , the alembic or pot still,a giant copper bell shaped still,  that is heated to 172 degrees Farenheit. The resulting clear spirit is then placed in newly charred American oak barrels for aging. This give bourbon its' color and flavor from the carmelized sugars in the wood. After maturing, it is then withdrawn from the barrel and usually filtered and diluted with water.it is then bottled , ready for distribution.

Bourbon is famously known for being the key ingredient in a mint julep, the official drink of the Derby. This is not only perfect to sip while watching the race , it also makes a cool summer cocktail.It is bourbon  with fresh mint leaves  that have been muddled with sugar and water. Manhattans also have the spirit as the lead ingredient.along with sweet vermouth and bitters. Bourbon can also be used in maing whiskey sours,, a grown up version of lemonade  and Old Fashioneds, a mix of bourbon with bitters.Bourbon can also be used in both savory and sweet recipes. Try a ham with a sweet bourbon glaze or a pork tenderloin with a spirit infused gravy.  Bourbon adds zing and depth to any barbecue sauce and you can also use it to glaze chicken wings .Some affectionados will even add it to chili to give the dish another dimension. It's also used in many Southern dessert recipes.It cuts the overwhelming sweetness of pecan pie when it's added to the filling.Bread  pudding takes on a smokier, earthier flavor when the liquor is mixed into it. Then there is bourbon balls and bourbon fudge. These are easy to whip up and make great gifts for birthdays and Christmas.

Bourbon is definitely the fire and lifeblood of Kentucky. Have it neat as a bracing drink at a party or in a summery mint julep. Add it to barbecue sauce for a new twist on classic ribs and wings or make traditional Southern desserts with it. Discover this fascinating brew and get creative with it.

Chopped Salad Fad Or Fixture

One of the hottest trends in food right now is something so cool, the chopped salad.It seems it's everywhere, from the Target snack bar to grocery store produce aisles. This tasty concoction comes right in time for the hot weather.It's a fun snap to make and easy to eat, especially on a hot day.

The origins of this versatile dish comes from around Cherry Hill , New Jersey and across the river , Philadelphia. John Scardapane came up with the idea.It's mostly an East Coast favorite, being gobbled up by millennials from Washington D.C. to New York. Many eatries, including the drugstore, Duane Reade even serve it. Home chefs can make it at home,.It's a simple     recipe. Start with a base .You can use romaine hearts or any kind of cabbage but you can also start with kale romaine and even ice berg lettuce. If you're having a big crowd over , then get a whole head of lettuce or cabbage because  chopped pieces mean a lot of pieces.However if you're making the salad for just the family, then use Dole's Chopped Salad Blends.Some are just plain mixes without dressings and extrashe company also sells whole salad kits that comes with dressing packets, almonds and sesame seeds along onions and carrots.My favorite are just the bags of    chopped salad.This allows freedom to add whatever into the salad bowl.

What can be put into a chopped salad? That's up to you and your tastes. You can chop up some plum tomatoes for color as well as the various peppers for color and nutrition.Broccoli is a nice addition and it chops up  nicely as does celery which is the perfect veggie for this. It also lends crispness and freshness. For more crunch and color chop some radishes and toss them in too.Avocados  can also be added in , but don't chop,instead slice wafer thin. Protein is usually added  in the form of grilled chicken,steak or shrimp. Flaked tuna or salmon can also be used, especially if you're making a Nicoise inspired salad  Chopping these require a  triple bladed mezzaluna knife however a regular one can do the trick as well.Dressings , again , are up to the home chef. A simple red wine vinaigrette works with a steak or chicken salad however you can also try anything else. Ranch is excellent with a chicken or even turkey based salad. A spicy, smoke infused dressing would be perfect for a  steak one     .Top it off with  crunchy, whether Asian noodles or any kind of nuts.Double fried croutons also would be yummy gracing any chopped salad.

Chopped salad is a fad that is fast becoming a fixture and why not. It's a snap to make and fun to create. Make a delicious version for lunch or dinner  and enjoy the perfect blends of taste  and texture, coolness and crunch.

A Well Made Loaf

A well baked loaf of bread  is a real treat. There's this lightly buttery crust wrapped around yeasty sweet goodness.Unfortuntely there are few bakeries that make such loafs and forget going to your local supermarket. What most have are those bags of cottony loaves that are better off  feeding ducks at the local pond. If you want a heavenly slice- then you're going to have to bake it yourself.

Melissa Clark discovered this as she researched the subject for her A Good Appetite column in yesterday's New York Times Food section.white bread is surprisingly easy to make, perfect for novice home bakers.The ingredients are simple, as they have been for centuries. Butter and milk are needed to insure a soft center. Sugar is required for creating a nicely browned crust .Always use white flour. This has the highest gluten content which is needed for rising. You can use a high protein flour for more of a chew,Ms Clark suggests but she also warns about using low protein pastry flour - this will not make the dough rise enough - or adding whole wheat flour to a white bread recipe. The whole wheat's strong earthiness will mask the original sweetness. Ms CLark also includes a raisin swirl recipe which has a tantalizing mix of  dry sherry ,  brown sugar and raisins.There are other recommendations using a blend of chopped nuts or even dulce de leche. With a swirled bread,it's best to use a thick jam.A runny one will ruin the dough and leave the whole loaf soggy.


.One of the most worrisome problems of bread making is leaving it to rise  Novice home bakers will  fret that it won't  reach the desired height or it's not good enough. The solution to this is to keep the dough in a warm room. Ms.Clark  does this by warming up her oven for fifteen minutes. The dough is then put on top of the stove top She has also used her down quilt to help, but in this weather, really not that necessary. A slow rise is OK too,Busy bakers can also let their dough rise overnight in the fridge. There are a lot of options once the dough has risen, It can be baked in a couple of classic loaves.The unbaked loaf can be tossed in the freezer and kept for up to three months, The dough could also be used for a swirl loaf however be wary of this.The filling has to be more jam like than syrupy other wise the bread will separate from the filling and create cracks.This can screw up the slicing, as slices will split into pieces.Another idea not listed is adding a cup of raisins to the dough for an even sprinkling of fruit.

Nothing beats a homemade loaf of bread.It's just pure heaven to bite into a warm chewy slice. Get baking to experience this fresh baked nirvana,

Northern Cuisine

There 's a new regional cuisine that's making itself known - it's the Northern style.This is a reflection and blend of Canadian and New England recipes and flavors. Unlike Southern cooking, there is a crispness and sharpness to it; ,a more primal feel like the rugged Northern landscape itself

Jeff Gordonier wrote about it in today's New York Times Food section.He interviewed the innovators of this interesting and varied  as well as trying the different dishes that make up the foods served from Canada and the New England corridor.It is not what people think, especially when it comes to  Bostonian cuisine. This is usually misrepresented, according to Boston chef , Matt Jennings, who is also with the group Northern Chefs Alliance.It's not just creamy chowders and the standard baked beans, He does put chowder on his menu but its' perked up with black Squid ink crackers. Even Boston brown bread which is served at every table is punched up with maple butter and the Korean soybean paste doenjang The wildness of the Great North is also represented throughout this vast region. Foods that the indigenous people first caught , through crude hinting and fishing, are turned into haute cuisine fancies.These are deer kidneys and cod collars- fish throats.along with   Canadian dwarf cornel berries-  a kind of cross between a lingonberries and cherries, and Labrador tea jelly made from a kind of  mountain rhododendron. These come from  nature and not a downtown  farmer's market. Foods are cooked over fires kindled from wood found on beaches or in forests.

 Many recipes reflect the micro local bounty.This is true at Boralia a Toronto restaurant, owned by husband and wife team Wayne Morris and Evelyn Wu who go foraging locally for their restaurant's ingredients.They even use variations of recipes that the French explorers brought with them back in t the early 1600's such as eclade , mussels blanketed in dried pine needles. Their updated version involves a pine  ash infused butter. Some restaurants will serve freshly shot moose, arctic hare and partridge at one restaurant Raymond's. This is not regulated meat, in fact some dishes come with a warning as to watch out for the buckshor or you'll wind up with chipped. teeth.Local seaweeds are  such as dulse, lavar kombu and sea lettuce are incorporated in both  main and side dishes.Some of the traditional European recipes like the ones served at the Montreal eatery Maison Publique rely on these wild ingredients to fuse the new world with the old.Their Spanish dish  boquerones usually made with anchovies is now made with capelin, a North Atlantic bait fish.it gives the dish a rawer , taste that reflects the roughness of this untamed country.

Northern cuisine is a cuisine of wind, rock and wood as some chefs have deemed it.It is a rugged blend of sean and leand ,Old world and New.It is the food of wildness but also the food of great sophistication..

Nepali Cuisine Spice And Mountains

Many only know Nepal for Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain top, yet it's also a fascinating, ancient country/It lies between China and India, and there's no doubt of their influence on the cuisine. It is tradition mixed with the exotic, two cultures fused as one in an interesting blend of spices.

Nepal sits on the top of India so it's no surprise to see certain Indian dishes in the cuisine..Dal, a staple of New Dehli and Bombay is made here as well.It's a spicy but easily replicable soup of lentils and spices.It's served with bhat or cooked grains along with rice. Sometimes vegetable curry is also served with it for a more  satisfying meal. A more Nepalese dish is dhindo.This is a kind of polenta being cooking with clarified butter or ghee and water. Buckwheat can also be added to the mix for more nutrition, Aachar or a tomato pickle is often served . This is a  kind of ketchup , but with zesty zing of cumin and mustard. Timur, or Szechuan pepper is also added to give the sauce more kick. There is  the chutney, made super hot by adding chili peppers and ginger to a sweet mango and tamarind mix. Most of the people are vegetarian , due to Hinduism and Buddhaism so most meals have yogurt as the main dish.Those of Pahari background enjoy yak meat.

The Chinese influence is felt very strongly here. There are momo, Tibetan style dumplings with Nepali spices. They were originally filled with buffalo meat but now have chicken and vegetarian fillings.Fermented soy and bamboo shots are also used.The janajati or indigenous people are big on buffalo and pork while another group, the Magars eat nothing but pork. Along with different ethnic groups different locations have different dishes Thakali cuisine, located between the Himalayas and the lowlands are big on sheep. Their meat is air dried and then eaten. The Thakali also make a kind of blood sausage rhat is also dried. These are added to curries  or sautéed in ghee and sometimes dipped into timur-ko-chop, Szechuan pepper, salt and local herbs.Newars, the urbanized people of Katmandu have huge feasts  that feature fried tofu or even cottage cheese. Their festival foods would not be out of place in a restaurant featuring nose to tail cuisine either. They are big on fried liver and tongue as well as stuffed lungs. Tea and beer usually round out any Nepali lunch or dinner.

Nepal is known for beautiful and exotic scenery.It is also know for interesting foods that reflects the cultures around it. It is full of variety and spice as it has been for centruies.