Cooking

From Senior Planet Resource Exchange

Cooking as defined in Webster's Dictionary is: The art or process of preparing food for eating.

A cook is the one who prepares the food.

[edit] Let's begin

One must first know what one wants to cook!

No small matter with so many things available to choose from:
DThere are a lot of recipes in Cooking Recipes

If you are interested in cookbooks:
"Joy of Cooking" has, after a decade, revised their book.
Another good reference is the New York Times Dining Out Section that comes out on Wednesday, every week.

For the Holiday Season, most people will be concentrating on Turkey and Ham. For those who do not eat poultry or meat, it will be fish or pasta.

For Thanksgiving, we will start with Turkey: Turkey can be easy or difficult to make. Easy if you know the proper temperature to cook it at and the method with which you want to cook it.

It is also difficult if it is your first venture, although I am sure most people have prepared turkey before.

One thing that seems to bother people is cleaning the inside of the bird. If this is not done, problems can arise. You will probably wonder why your stuffing will not fit into the bird. (This has happened.)

The cooking instructions are usually on the bird wrapper. But if you are a small group and prefer white meat, a whole uncooked turkey breast (about 5 lbs) would be sufficient. A rule of thumb is for every 4lbs of turkey to be cooked, you should allow a minimum cooking time of one hour.

If you need any help with the bird, Butterball has a "Turkey Hot Line".

The following are a couple of recipes to accompany your bird and for your enjoyment.

Mashed Turnips:

Peel and cut turnip into small pieces
Put in pot,cover and boil until soft.
Drain:
Add milk, butter, salt and pepper to taste.
Mash
Enjoy!

Stuffing:

One l lb. loaf of bread for every 5lbs of turkey.
Saturate bread in water
Add one egg.
Add l/4lb stick of butter.
Salt, pepper and poultry season to taste.
Stuff Bird. Juices from bird will flavor stuffing.
Any extra can be baked separately

PS: DID YOU KNOW?

You should cook green vegetables for less than seven minutes in order for them to retain their bright color as well as their nutritional value. This applies to most green vegetable. From http:Cookworks by Shirley O. Corriher

For people who like cucumbers:
Try boiled cucumbers
Peel Cucumbers
Halve them lengthwise
Scoop out and discard seeds.
Slice cucumber l/4"thick
Cook slices in rapidly boiling water with one tablespoon salt just until they turn pale green, about one minute or until tender.
Drain.
Can be used as a hot side dish OR cool in the refrigerator and use in salads.
From Cookworks by Shiley O. Corriher

No-Knead Bread
New York Times Dining Out Section
November 8, 2006

Recipe: No-Knead Bread

Published: November 8, 2006 Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

Forum: Cooking and Recipes 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting ¼ teaspoon instant yeast 1¼ teaspoons salt Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.