Traditional Food

Posts Tagged ‘Utensils’

Being in the kitchen is a fun part of our daily lives. Who doesn’t love cooking or eating? But even though a kitchen may seem to be perfectly fine, it can still have a serious problem that needs serious attention. What else could that problem be but rust.

Rust can take those smiles from your faces. Why? It can destroy your favorite kitchen utensils and may lead to some serious diseases like arthritis, loss of energy, and liver cancer and heart diseases.

Of course you don’t want rust to get in to your food. And to avoid that, here are some ways of taking rust out of your utensils.

First is to make sure that you are using natural rust removers. Commercial rust removers may have chemicals that may be harmful to peoples through accidental ingestion or inhalation. We all make food preparations in the kitchen so make sure that we are doing all the necessary precautions to make our food safe to eat.

For cast iron cookware, you can take the rust off with just simple scrubbing with the use of any course material like fine grade-steel wool. After that make sure to rinse it properly and dry. Remember that moisture can cause your pans to rust. You can use paper towels for covering your skillet if you want to stack them.

We always use our knives when preparing food so make sure its free from rust. Prevent rust from coming by rinsing off food particles using warm water. Do this every time you use your knives. Then thoroughly clean your knives with dry towel or clean cloth to ensure that its free from moisture.

Make sure that you are doing regular maintenance with your kitchen utensils. This way you can see whether some of your stocked utensils are affected, so you can quickly act on the situation and give your utensils a proper treatment against rust.

Now, let me tell you the possible outcome and inconveniences of not treating the rust in your kitchen.

Rust can cause additional financial problems. Of course you need to replace severe rusted kitchen utensils with a new one, or buy another commercial rust remover again and again. Both rust and chemicals from your commercial rust removers may leads to diseases. (This will really hurt you pockets)

Rusting will make your utensils dull, specially knives. This will affect your preparations of food. Also, rusted dull knives make us more vulnerable to cuts. Knives may slip and cut you accidentally. Skin cuts may lead to bigger problems like tetanus and if not treated properly may lead to poor health and worse, death.

Another inconvenience is when you made a wrong choice of rust remover. These chemicals are dangerous especially to our kids. When chemicals of these products are accidentally swallowed or inhaled, this may lead to some light and major health problems like serious dermatological illnesses and respiratory problems.

There are lots of cooking inconveniences that can be caused by rust. Not only in your cooking method, it can also affect people’s impression of your cooking practices. Take the rust out of your kitchen, find the most suitable rust remover by making sure that it is not harmful!

All basic Asian cooking equipment list begins with the wok. It stands at the top of the hierarchy and is the primary utensil used. In any Chinese kitchens, the wok is usually manufactured from either steel or heavy-duty iron material. In addition, it is normally attached with two concave shaped handles at the edge of the wok. This wonderful utensil has a long list of benefits. It can be used to apply a multiple types of frying techniques like pan, stir, deep and also steaming food. Hence, it plays an important role in Asian cooking. It serves well when properly maintained. The wok needs to be coated with a thin layer of oil to prevent impacts of low humidity and rust. This is an essential lesson for all budding Asian cuisine chefs.

Another very common utensil is the claypot. It is also quite fundamental in many Asian homes. It is basically the Asian copy of the stew pot originated from England. But it is obviously different from each other as the claypot is used for stove top cooking while the stew pot is usually placed in the oven. The purpose of the common claypot is to keep its content piping hot after cooking well past meal time.

Next on the list of good Asian cooking utensil is the steamer. It comes in different sizes notably in the range of six inches in diameter to twelve inches. The steamer is usually constructed from bamboo. This is very useful as it is sufficiently aesthetic to be used as a serving utensil. It is also layered. Therefore, it allows many types of dishes to be served or cooked by stacking one layer on top of another.

The Asian cooking set is not complete without the cleaver. It is a very flexible tool used for preparing a wide range of dishes. Being manufactured with heavy duty steel, the cleaver can slice bone parts effortlessly. This multi-purpose equipment can be tasked from cutting duck bones to intricate services like slicing vegetables or carving them into beautiful artwork prior serving.

Perhaps you have eaten Mexican food in a top quality Mexican restaurant or even in a Mexican home. If you have, maybe some authentic Mexican cookware or utensils were used to make the dishes. Mexicans use a range of different cooking methods, including baking, slow roasting and deep-frying and they have unique pots and pans for these methods. Mexicans like to use plenty of fresh produce in their cuisine, including spices and herbs, so you will find sharp knives and a mortar and pestle in any Mexican kitchen.

Some Common Mexican Cooking Pots

Ollas, also known as Barros, are deep clay cooking pots. They are perfect for simmering beans, stew or soup and clay is a great medium for cookware because it distributes the heat evenly to avoid burnt spots. Barro means clay or mud and olla means pot. These cooking pots are fine to put over a direct flame all day long.

Clay can be sensitive to temperature changes so you need to warm it gently before using it to prevent it from cracking. One excellent reason for cooking in clay pots is that it gives the food a slightly earthy flavor.

Comals are used in Mexican cookery and these are big, round griddles made from cast iron, clay, or aluminum. Modern ones normally have a non-stick finish and they are used to roast chilies and warm tortillas.

A cazuela is used for simmering mole and other sauces. This is a large, round clay dish, which is between five and seven inches deep. The outside might be painted in bright colors and the inside is glazed. A cazuela has handles so you can put it over an open fire.

A tortillero is a Mexican tortilla press with two wooden discs or round plates. You put a ball of masa between the plates and press down to make a tortilla. These machines used to be wooden but are normally cast iron now. You can get cheap aluminum ones too but these break easily.

Popular Mexican Cooking Utensils

You will find a metate y mano in most Mexican kitchens. This concave dish is the size of a platter and made of stone or rock. It will have three short legs and sit on the table or three long legs so you can sit up to it on a chair. There is a big, round stone, which you roll on the surface to mix together or grind the ingredients.

A molcajete y tejolote is a mortar and pestle, which consists of a small stone, clay, or wooden bowl with an elongated cylinder or the same material, rounded on both ends. The end of the cylinder is used in a circular motion to grind the item in the bowl, to pulverize it.

The Mexicans love hot chocolate and they use a wooden whisk called a molinillo to make the top frothy. The molinillo is spun between the hands and some are plain but others are highly decorated. The molinillo is a small yet fascinating part of Mexican food culture. You can make Mexican food without having the equipment but using it can be fun and it looks good displayed in the kitchen.

Cooking Chinese food is simple when you have the right cooking utensils. For most Chinese food recipes, you will need at least two basic utensils, the wok and a slatted spoon that is designed specifically for using with a wok. You may also add a bamboo steamer to your utensil for a complete set of Chinese cooking utensils.

A wok looks much like a basic pot, or a large bowl. The shape of the wok allows foods to cook quickly, so make sure that you pay close attention to your foods while they are cooking. Unlike a frying pan or a pot, foods can overcook in a matter of minutes in a wok.

Although the Chinese cooking recipes do give approximate cooking times, you should be careful the first few times that you use your wok. These cooking times are not always accurate, since each heat source can be slightly different than the next. Woks are best used on gas stoves, since the heat is easily adjusted, but you can also used woks on an electric stove if you are know how to adjust the temperature quickly.

Woks can be used for steaming, deep frying or stir frying your foods. For deep frying, it is best to use an oil that can take high heats without burning. Most Chinese recipes will tell you which kind of oil you need for best results.

Bamboo steamers are also a staple in Chinese cooking. Bamboo steamers are excellent for steaming foods, including vegetable and Chinese dumplings. To use the steamer, you need to fill your wok with enough water for the entire cooking process and then allow the water to boil. Once the water is steaming, you add the bamboo steamer, with the food already arranged on the tray, to the wok.

Obviously, the steamer needs to sit above the water while you cook. If you have added too much water, then you will need to remove some of it before you begin using the steamer. Also, you can line the tray of the steamer with cabbage or lettuce leaves to prevent the Chinese food from sticking to the tray.

The type of recipe that you are making can help you decide whether you use cabbage or lettuce leaves. If the taste of cabbage or lettuce is not something that you like, you can also use foil with small holes placed throughout the material.