The more salt you eat, the more water you retain to dilute it. You don’t want the extra water weight, of course, and it may also hide a loss of body fat. Also, research has linked excessive salt intake to hypertension and heart and kidney disease. Using herbs and spices is a way to get the full flavors from food without adding a lot of salt.
Making and Storing a Veal Broth
To make a good broth, choose veal shoulder, breast and leg cuts with plenty of meat on the bones, add shank for high gelatin content. Veal stock is cooked slowly and gently to draw all the flavors into the stock. Start the meat and the bones in cold water and bring to boiling over low heat-it can take up to one hour.
Poultry
Usually we use skinless, boneless chicken breasts but forget about wonderful taste of chicken thighs, turkey cutlets, and duck breast.
Turkey legs may not be as lean as white meat breasts, but they are much tastier and has just a small amount of fat, making legs a good source of protein, vitamins B, zinc, and antioxidant selenium. When we think of cooking turkey, roasting is the first method that comes to mind, but it is better to braise turkey legs, because they need long cooking to make the legs tender. If you buy a whole turkey – they are sold by the sex of the bird and don’t have any flavor difference except that toms weight more.
Fresh and Dried Pasta
There’s a noticeable difference between fresh and dried pasta. Fresh pasta has a melt-in-your-mouth texture and flavor. Supermarkets offer a wide variety of packaged fresh pastas-from bright green spinach fettuccine to pale artichoke spaghetti. Flavored pastas are made by adding a small amount of dried or powdered vegetables to the dough while the dough is being mixed.
Rice
There are hundreds of varieties of rice. It is important to know what kind of rice to use in various dishes in order to get the best result.
Short-grain rice suits for steaming Chinese style, or for Chinese fried rice. It is also good for puddings,risotto, or any dish where a creamy result is important.
Long-grain rice is required for Indian or Middle Eastern rice dishes such as pilaf.
Brown rice has a lot of nutritive value and vitamin B content but requires longer cooking and more liquid. It has a firmer, more chewy texture than polished.
Basmati rice has longer grains and is one of the world’s finest varieties of rice. Basmati rice is the easiest rice to cook and it comes up fluffy and separate.
Its unique fragrance and flavor makes the addition of other ingredients unnecessary.
There two different methods of cooking rice.
Absorption method: Add 1 cup washed, drained rice to 2 cups boiling water with 1 teaspoon each of salt and butter. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover tightly, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow to stand for 5 minutes before serving. Most kinds of rice cook perfectly by this method; i.e., 2 cups water for the first cup of rice and 1 cups water for each extra cup of rice. The only exception is brown or natural rice, which needs more than twice the quantity of water. One cup brown rice requires approximately 4 1/2 cups water and takes 1 to 1,5 hours to cook.
Water bath method: This method requires a large pan and 8 cups water to each cup of rice. Bring 8 cups water to the boil with 1 level tablespoon salt. Add 1 cup rice and cook for 12 to 14 minutes, when rice grain pressed between the fingers will feel soft. Drain into a colander and pour hot water through to separate the grains and wash away excess starch.