Georgi's Blog » Cooking no

Frying tomatoes

TeraHz — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:51:02 +0000

There is one problem when frying tomatoes. Usually they are cooked in a pan and after the are done, everything around it is covered in tomatoes. And because the idea is for the water to evaporate it is not convenient to cover the pan. That’s why I decided to make myself an enhanced version of my pan which resulted in clean kitchen. All I needed was a piece of thick aluminum foil (the thicker the better so that the tomatoes don’t dissolve it) long enough to go around the pan. Just take the foil and build a high wall around the pan. It should look something like that::

It works wonders.

This is the recipe btw:
2 big cans of petite diced tomatoes (or shredded tomatoes, or tomato juice)
5-6 eggs
3 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp oil

Add the oil in the pan and before it gets too hot just add the tomatoes so that you don’t get an eruption of burning oil and water later. If the tomatoes are in big chunks use the hand blender, but keep some chunks of tomatoes for texture. Cook the tomatoes until all the water is gone and they are well cooked. After that just add the eggs, stir well to incorporate the eggs and cook them. That’s it. Remove from the heat and add the mashed garlic. If the tomatoes are too sour, just add a little bit of sugar (1/2 tsp). At first the garlic will be strong, but the high temperature of the tomatoes will reduce the strength.

Rice

TeraHz — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:32:38 +0000

The easiest way to cook it is in a rice cooker, because it can monitor the temperature when the water is absorbed.
Water needed for cooling long white rice: 1cup rice in 1.5cup water; 2c. rice in 2.75c. water, 3c. rice in 3.5c. water.
Brown rice needs a little bit more water for cooking; short rice needs less
Short rice releases more starch and becomes more sticky
Long rice almost does not release starch and is more fluffy
White rice cooks faster than brown rice

P.S. Saffron is the most expensive spice on earth (about $1000 per lb.)

Cast Iron skillet

TeraHz — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:43:27 +0000

Cast iron skillets are very durable, very heavy and disperses the heat very well. With it you can cook on high heat, in the oven, on the stove top, in the grill or basically anything that emits heat. When you buy a new cast iron cookware it has to be seasoned well. The standard procedure is to clean it very well, dry it very well, coat it with some vegetable oil and bake it in a 300 degree F. oven for about an hour. After that, just wipe the excess oil, if any, and the skillet is ready. The best part is, that you don’t have to clean it. Just put some salt in it, scrub it a little bit, wipe it and store it. After a few uses an excellent nonstick layer will form and you can even cook eggs in it.

TeraHz — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:27:04 +0000

While choosing look for: moisture, bright color, even cut (for even cooking) and NO ODOR!
The best cut is around the spine of the animal. The further from the legs and the head, the more tender. Ribeye or prime rib cuts are very good
Store at the bottom of the fridge never above 40 degrees F.
Best cooked in cast iron skillet.
Season with plenty of salt, some pepper and rub with canola oil(or other oil with high burning point).
Cook for 30 secs on each side in the hot skillet on high heat, than put in a 500 degree oven for about 4 minutes for MR
Do not cut the stake for at least 4 minutes after it is out of the oven

New Category

TeraHz — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:05:13 +0000

For quite some time now I’ve been watching various food and cooking shows on the food network and other channels and they do teach quite a lot. However without practice I forget many things, so I decided to start writing them down. And using my blog, they could be useful to someone else too. The new category for that is called “Cooking notes“.