The Safe Side of Barbecuing

As much as we all love a summer barbecue we should be aware of the dangers. The one big threat is that it can be a catalyst for serious health conditions. What to do?Have a mindful cook out.

Sophie Egan wrote about the potential   risk of cancer from barbecued foods in today's New York Times Science section. It was a piece that definitely caught my eye and it needs to be put out there.Ms Egan, who writes extensively about health and eating for The Times points out there are ways to have a healthier cookout. Barbecued foods do not directly cause the disease. What happens is that compounds  called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heterocyclic amines get generated when food, especially, meat  - namely  beef - is cooked on the grill.Lab studies have shown that they alter DNA in a way that eating grilled meats could cause cancer. How are these compounds formed? The first, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are formed when any kind of organic matter- namely meat fat that drips off meat and onto the grill grates. The carbon inside gets combusted in the flames and then gets carried off in the smoke that's breathed in.The other , heterocyclic amines or HCAs is the black char that happens when high temperatures meet muscle meat such as red meat, poultry and even fish. Cooked amino acids react with another substance and creates creatine.It's not found in veggies which are the safest to grill.

You can dial down the risk. Grill fish which doesn 't take as long as red meat or chicken, along with plant based burgers.Even hot dogs are at risk. What to do if you cook out a lot? Try Beyond Burgers or Gardein's meatless ones. Both taste like the real thing and are better for you than red meat patties.
Another way is marinate.Even if you marinate for just thirty minutes you can reduce the formations of HCA. A layer of oil or sugar  creates a barrier that becomes seared instead of the meat. If you feel that a marinade may take away the flavor, then try a simple one of olive oil with lemon or lime squeezed in. Another suggestion is focus on more produce. Make kabobs that feature pepper chunks and cherry tomatoes. Try chicken with onions or for a sweet twist ,peaches and pineapples.It also reduces the surface area of meat being grilled. Cooking your steaks and burgers with spices, herbs and even tea- ingredients with phenolic compounds - antioxidants - quenches the formation of those carcinogenic compounds. Also cut down on grilling times and pull the pieces off when char starts to appear.Reduce fuel too and flip often. Another important factor is the wood. Use pine instead of hickory and maple. Definitely nix the charcoal.

You can still have a barbecue but make it a mindful one. Take the extra steps, from changing to pine chips for fuel, to marinating your steaks. It'll present less of a risk and you can enjoy your favorite grilled foods.

Marshmallows Those Sweet Summer Treats

Marshmallows are the ubiquitous summer ingredients. They 're in salads, desserts and treats, in pies and on sticks . How did these little puffs become a summer staple? Is it because they're fun  or  because they add a certain sweetness to a variety of different dishes.

Marshmallows have been with us since ancient times.They are derived from the mallow plant that grows in marshy areas - hence the name. The Egyptians used the sweet fleshy roots in both rituals and medicines. The French had the idea to whip the sap into a fluffy candy mold.The molds were filled with starch to give them shape. Then the Americans took over with a way to mass produce them. it involved an extrusion machine which gives uniform , perfectly cut puffs. As soon as marshmallows hit our shores , they were in such desserts as banana fluff, a dish you can easily make today. End a barbecue with this mix of mini marshmallows, banana pudding and Cool Whip.Marshmallows in salads may have come from cookbooks and magazines, maybe in the 1930's. It was a different salad, that could be served as a side or dessert. It was also an easy make during hot summer months spent in  stuffy  kitchens.  You could definitely make as a retro dessert with hamburgers and hot dogs.Mix Cool Whip with sour cream (???), maraschino cherries and mandarin cherries. Mini marshmallows and almonds along with vanilla extract give it flavor. Coconut flakes are added  as well.

This may be a side but what about a summery marshmallow dessert? The most obvious is s'mores. It's  a classic layering of graham crackers, toasted marshmallows and a square of Hershey's milk chocolate. Zing it up by using chocolate graham crackers and a dark rich chocolate such as Lindt's 80 % dark chocolate. It's a more adult spin on the classic kid treat. Of course just plain toasted marshmallows are a nice end to a cook out.You could make them naughty by turning them into shot glasses for different liqueurs like Bailey's Irish Cream or Kahlua.Popcorn and marshmallow are a perfect marriage, and a fun dessert at an outdoor movie party.It's melting eight or nine big marshmallows with half a cup of brown sugar and a quarter cup of butter.Cook for twenty or thirty seconds, stir to make sure everything's melted and then pour over the popcorn (which can be bought or home made. Toss in some peanuts for a Crackerjack kind of crunch.Toasted marshmallow could also top an after dinner iced coffee. Float two or three toasted marshmallows on top of the coffee.

Marshmallows are a must have summer cooking ingredient. Try them in a sweet tangy side salad or as a fluffy topper to an icy cup of java. Either way, they're a fun bite.

Natural Vs Chemical Kitchen Cleaners

Maybe more so than the bathroom, the kitchen is the dirtiest and messiest room in the house. This is the place where oil gets splattered and  mud gets scattered. It's a smelly fridge competing with a smelly sink. Kitchens need constant cleaning - and here is the dilemma - do you go for the safe all natural cleansers, versus the heavy duty super efficient industrial ones.

Everyone wants a clean and sparkling kitchen. Yet who has the time to whip up a natural cleanser when it's easier to go out and buy a bottle? The problem is that many cleaners have a whole host of bad for you chemicals.Any product that boast's it's antibacterial should be given a second glance. It's probably chock full of quarternary ammonium compounds or QUATS. Firstly they help in creating antibiotic resisting bacteria which can be lethal to the very young, very old and the immune challenged .On top of that , they are responsible  for creating asthma. What do you sub in then? Tea tree oil mixed with a tablespoon of vinegar and water can do the trick. Bleach can work too, as with hydrogen peroxide. Just wear old, ratty clothes when you're working with the last two. Bleach can get all over and there is a tendency to wipe our hands on our jeans after we clean (I know do). Even a tiny drop can ruin denim.

Bleach is my go to for cleaning the kitchen sink however I found another natural cleanser that also does the trick.Apple cider vinegar and baking soda  together has been my preference for cleaning stubbornly greasy pans . I thought , well if it works for metal, it could work for porcelain. It did. Use about a quarter of a cup of baking soda over the surface. Add about half a cup of vinegar over the baking soda. Stand back and enjoy the foamy reaction (really the best part of it) and then wipe down with a sponge.The result is the same as the bleach cleaning - a sparkling white and clean surface. Remember that baking soda is also very good at removing tea and coffee stains from cups and mugs.
As far as removing mold from underneath drying racks, I'd go with the bleach. Black mold can be very difficult  and bleach has the power to get rid of it.  You could use vinegar - white works well with an old toothbrush  to scrub it away. That is if you have the time.It can be labor intensive, however.

What's the best cleanser for your kitchen? Natural or chemical? Natural if you have the time to clean. However some of the chemical ones do come in handy when you;re pressed for time. Use whatever works for a clean , sparkling kitchen.

The Perfect Ice Cream Cake

It's summer and that means cool ways to end a meal. One of the best and most fun is ice cream cake. you can buy it at the store or your favorite ice cream parlor. A better idea is making it yourself. It's not only cheaper but can be made with a variety of flavors and fillings.

Before you even buy or  ice cream for it you should have some kind of mold. I have two. Below is a smaller mold perfect for two servings.

 This is a loaf mold used for baking breads but it's the perfect mold for ice cream loafs. Both were bought on Amazon.

As for the ice cream, you can use store bought or if you;re ambitious make it. Since it's summer , make it easy on yourself and just buy it. I usually go for the vegan and use either Soy Delicious coconut based ones or Stop & Shops. Last time I made a kind of Neopolitan loaf with a layer of strawberry  and vanilla coconut ice cream.  Crumbled chocolate wafers mixed with melted I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. served as the base and then middle. If you're using two flavors make sure they complement each other. Don't go for a strawberry / mint chocolate chip pairing. The strawberry will be good with another fruit filled ice cream or just chocolate and vanilla. The mint chocolate chip really only goes with chocolate.

 My  next cake will be chocolate with a caramel and wafer middle.As for the crunchy middle and base, you can also use  vanilla snaps for vanilla and fruit ice cream cakes, Do not use sandwich cookies. The fillings will make the middles and bases lumpy Go for  snaps , wafers or shortbread. For more of a crunch try the brand Jules Destrooper. It offers buttery crisps along with crunch almond crisps and ginger tiles. As for the "frosting", think chocolate sauce or a hard shell topping.  I usually finish mine with coconut milk whipped topping.Since I'm creating a chocolate and caramel cake, it will have the extra topping of grated dark chocolate.

Ice cream cakes are a fun summer dessert. They're easy to make and fun to decorate. Create one for that special warm weather barbecue.

Spiked Seltzers For Summer

Seltzer was always seen as the supporting player in cocktails and spritzers.It gave a fizzy kick to mix drinks and wine. Now there's a new kind of seltzer that's a star. It's the hard kind , guaranteed less calories but more of a buzz.

Joshua M. Bernstein  who has written several books about beer and plans tasting tours for  beer connoisseurs wrote about this relatively new offshoot. Hard seltzer is seltzer  with fermented sugar and barley malt to give it the shot of alcohol. It can be tough for manufacturers looking to retain the water's blank canvas. During the fermentation process yeast create aroma and character - perfect for beer  - not so great for fizzy water. One brewery, Platform Beer Company spent six month refining recipes and techniques before settling on the barley malt and  cane sugar that is run through a special filtration process. The company also uses a brewing enzyme to reduce gluten content.It worked. The founder,Paul Benner was surprised at the clarity and how much the final product looks like water. By December , the company debuted its'  sparkling Black Cherry that contained only one hundred calories and  four grams of carbohydrates. Unfortunately the FDA forbids alcohol companies to make health claims about their products. However breweries prominently display the calories and amount of carbs on the cans,

The big question is will hard seltzer make a splash in the drinks world? Most people do like it. It's a polarizing guilty pleasure and some find it more refreshing than craft beers and hard ciders. Still, there will always be skeptics. The creator of HRD WTR, Eddie Leon, has said it's a fun ride like a moped, but you don't want to be caught riding one. Yet hard seltzer could catch on with more people. There's the diet factor although most drinks, including some cocktails like mimosas and gin and tonics are very low in calories. . Another reason is that seltzer can blend with any fruit juice or even macerated fruit such as strawberries. Add a few blueberries or a lime slice to a hard seltzer and it's a fun buzzy sip ,Hard seltzers come in many flavors. One company , White Claw,  has mango, black cherry and natural  lime.Another brand,Truly Spiked and Sparkling has even more flavors , including grapefruit and pomelo pomegranate, and lemon and yuzo. Smirnoff, the vodka people,have dipped their toes in the sparkling waters and offer such diverse flavors as watermelon and raspberry rose.

Hard seltzer is an intriguing idea. Will it be as popular as hard ciders and lemonades? Probably.  People will want a light and fizzy change of pace and hard seltzer will fill that bill.

The May Facets Of Nigerian Cooking

Nigerian cuisine is as multifaceted and diverse as the nation itself. There is street food, and celebration dinners.All reflect the country's different groups and history. It is  history full of flavor and taste.

Recipe writer and Nigerian born Yewande Komolafe wrote an interesting and extensive article - really a guide - in today's New York Times Food section. It has every aspect of Nigerian cooking and it's exciting to read it. Chef Komolafe has been here since she arrived at the age of sixteen, bewildered by such American staples as fried chicken sandwiches and the classic Slushie. She has created and cooked in such prestigious restaurants as Momofuko Milk Bar as well as testing recipes for The James Beard Foundation and Bon Appetit magazine. She had been questioning whose culture was being reflected in her cooking. She realized she hadn't included her heritage. That's changed. She shows us how truly dimensional Nigerian cooking is. The country is three times the size of Italy  and has just as many different cuisines. The dishes in the north is influenced by the availability of cattle and other livestock. Coastal regions are more into seafood than their inland counterparts who prefer smoked or dried fish. Red palm oil is a staple in the south. The dishes featured are from the country's southwest  where she's from. Some of the ingredients  such as selim pepper, calabash nutmeg and uziza seeds may be hard to find but you can find  most of them on Amazon.Make it now to combat the heat.

The recipes are just plain exciting. There are so many I'd like to try. What is surprising is that she doesn't include fufu, a staple like rice in many central African cuisines.It may be because she included the recipe for jollof rice which could be made as a side or as a main. The recipe includes a Nigerian basic obe ata which is a kind of spicy tomato  - pepper sauce spiked with ginger and a
habanero pepper. Keep in mind that this sauce can also be used in the braised goat leg recipe. Braising is quite common in the cuisine. The meat usually comes bone in and skin on. Goat is the most used in stews however Nigerian home chefs also use beef pork chicken or fish when available.If you can't find goat then use lamb,beef or pork cubes. As a side you could use Chef Komolafe's Umani Rich greens recipe. This is sort of like the Caribbean and Southern callaloo recipe. Again obe ata is the base while amaranth greens or mature spinach is cooked with dried crayfish and green peppers. She also includes street food - beef suya - which is generously seasoned thin strips of meat. What gives them their kick is yaji a dry rub mix of ground ginger , cayenne and roasted peanut powder. Tomato slices and raw onion is added to it in its' newspaper wrap. Another recipe is the pepper soup, rich with fish such as mackerel , red snapper and black bass. Exotic and familiar spices are added to it for kick and heat.

Nigerian cooking is as diverse as the country itself.Try any of Chef Komolafe's recipes and experience the rich variety of flavors and textures. It is a trip into a diversity of different veggies and meats blended with an array of exciting spices.

Ant Proofing Your Kitchen

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