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About Beef Jerky
Setting up A Recipe File
A recipe file is a must for every new kitchen, and especially for a young lady who is setting up her kitchen for the first time.
Whether a newlywed or a young girl in her first apartment, they will appreciate this as a housewarming gift. A mother-in-law can make sure her son has all of his favorite foods prepared like at home; this may keep him out of your kitchen for a while too!
There are many ways to set up a recipe file, an index card or notebooks are two ideas. Another great idea is one of the recipe files you can purchase through the internet, the kind that sends out a new set of cards each month.
An index card file is one common way, and can be set up either alphabetically or by topic, (casseroles, desserts, breads etc.). This is up to your discretion, but a topic is usually the easiest for her if she is unfamiliar with cooking!
Be sure to provide plenty of extra index cards, they can be color coded for the favorite recipes or plain white cards; this again is up to you.
A notebook is the most common way to set up a recipe file, and leaves plenty of room to add recipes as she learns more about cooking. Pages can be added from magazines too, if she happens to find something she would like to try in a magazine.
You can include a category on meals, which could include cards with entire meals, on them, with the individual receipts listed separately.
Another category could include basic cooking facts, measurements, cooking times, kitchen tips are always helpful.
I remember one of the things that I didnt know was how long to cook a turkey, now they just have the little pop up to let you know, but in my time they didnt have those!
There are so many little hints you can give someone, to you they are standard, to her they may make the difference between a great meal, and a total disaster!
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Efficiency will save you lots of time in the kitchen, to accomplish this, learn to do more than one thing at a time. Increased preparation time before cooking is another way to become a faster cook.
Read your recipe before starting, this will save you many headaches, like getting a dish ready and finding out you need bat wings and you dont have any! Just kidding, I dont stock bat wings in my kitchen either, but you get the idea.
Get everything you will need together, follow the order they are used in the recipe, this allows you to be sure that you have everything you will need. Once you are sure you have everything, measure out the ingredients according to the recipe.
Organize all of your ingredients on one side of the work area, as you use something, move it to the other side, lessens confusion as to whether you used it or not.
Use the cutting board for all of your non-meat items first, this avoids cross contamination. If you have to prepare the meat first, wash the cutting board thoroughly before using it for any other food items.
Keeping a sink of hot soapy water will help cleanup later on, just drop used utensils in the water and allow them to soak.
Sometimes it is better to use your hands to mix something than it is to use a utensil; it also saves time washing up later. I for one loved making mud pies when I was a child, the only difference is the mud is now hamburger and the crushed leaves are now herbs.
Salads are always mixed more evenly if they are tossed with your hands. Make sure to wash your hands thoroughly, inexpensive plastic gloves will help if you didnt like playing in the mud!
Coat measuring cups, spoons and molds with non-stick spray before putting anything sticky in them, the ingredients will slide right out. To prevent having to clean a burned on, sticky mess from your boiler pan, line the pan with foil and spray the rack with non-stick spray.
Re-sealable plastic is great for marinating and coating foods with flour or cornmeal.
Planning in advance can save you a lot of time in the kitchen opening up your evenings to spend more time with your family. |
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Preparing More Than One Meal at a Time
Doubling up on a recipe is seldom a lot more work than just cooking one batch. It is also one of the best ways to get a meal on the table in a hurry is to pull it out of the freezer, let it thaw during the day, then reheat.
This provides a tasty meal in a hurry that you know your family enjoys because they have already eaten it once!
Some dishes are made to double up on and others arent, fried shrimp would not be a good choice for doubling up, but meatloaf would be.
Crock-pot meals, casseroles and chili are excellent choices for doubling up. When the second batch is cool enough, just seal in a moisture and air proof baggie and stick in the freezer.
Another hint with a casserole is to freeze it in the pan it will be cooked in, when frozen, remove and put in an air proof and moisture proof bag. When it is time to cook, return it to the pan, thaw and then reheat!
You may want to divide into single servings for storage; this provides quick meals for individuals.
Before freezing use a piece of masking tape to identify the type of food it is, the number of people it will feed and the date it was prepared.
Another method of doubling up, or cooking once to eat twice is to cook extra base foods, for instance you can brown extra hamburger, and freeze for later use in tacos, lasagna, soups or stews.
Freeze in the correct quantity for the meal you will cook with it later. Another great idea is to make soups or stews out of leftover meats, leftover roast makes excellent vegetable beef soup to freeze for a cold winter evening.
Left over barbecue ribs can be cut apart and used for an exceptional hot barbecue beef sandwich.
Left over chili can be added to macaroni and cheese to make chili-mac, a favorite of children.
Related Topics: Planning Food for a Party,
Salads Flavor Favorites, Organizing Your Pantry
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