thegoodfood

Archive for July 9th, 2010

Indian cuisine is known all over the globe for its distinctive flavour and aroma and due to this immense popularity there are many Indian restaurants London which claim to serve you with Indian cuisine. But when you are opting for dining out you should land up in the best Indian restaurant London where you can have a gala time with your friends and family and at the same time enjoy delectable food. Londoners love to savour mouth-watering Indian cuisine hence there are many Indian restaurants London.

It is important that you select the best amongst all the restaurants in London as you want to spend your valuable time in a more worthwhile way. Indian cuisine has a huge variety in terms of food and only an authentic Indian restaurant London would be able to provide you with such a wide array of choices of food. It is vital that you select the correct Indian restaurant London as you would not want to waste both your money and time. It is fairly simple to select the right restaurant if you make little efforts.

While you decide to dine out it is advisable that before you do so you should ask your friends and family for the names of various restaurants which has the expertise to sere you with authentic Indian cuisine. As your acquaintance might have visited many restaurants they would be in a good position to advise you. You can also read for various Indian restaurants review in various magazines and internet. There are many well-known food critics who constantly review some of the best Indian restaurants London and most of these reviews are very honest opinion and trustworthy.

If you want to do some more searches before you finally select a restaurant then you should scout the internet for various Indian restaurants London . You should check the websites of these restaurants very thoroughly as the websites would give you an idea very clearly about the kind of food they serve you. If it is an authentic Indian restaurant London then the website would also clearly mention in details about the menu and you would know what kind of Indian food the restaurant serves.

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About the Author:
The author has visited many Indian restaurant London and loves to savour Indian food tandoori . For more information visit Tiffinbites.com.
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Wood-burning ovens in Italy

I try to get back to the old country as often as possible, and the first thing I do after I arrive is weigh into a Napoli pizza. I will get into explaining how to duplicate a Napoli pizza crust and sauce in later articles, but let’s first discuss a crucial ingredient in the making of this pizza – smoke and high heat. Wood-burning ovens are common sites behind country homes all through Italy. If you have had the experience, you probably agree that something cooked in a wood oven tastes like nothing else. In fact, Italians scoff at the idea of calling something a pizza if it is not made in a wood-burning oven. The typical oven in Italy contains tons of bricks, mortar, concrete, and let’s not forget the tile and clay on the inside and outside. It is also very important to get the vault in the correct proportions to ensure that enough air comes in and smoke goes out.

Building or buying your own stove

Now my wife loves pizza made in the traditional Napoli way in a wood-burning oven but even if I were inclined to build a stove (I am the world’s worst handyman), I am not sure she could tolerate the aesthetics (nor would our neighbors even though we live in the country). Then there is the problem of stoking the fire. Traditionalists insist that you keep the coals going to impart a special flavor the next time you whip something up. I can just imagine the pot belly I would have from making rich breads, pizzas, and even stews and cooked vegetables via the oven. I mean, what’s the use of having it if you don’t use it. So to avoid the hassles of building my own (and the grief from the neighborhood), I checked into buying an in-house (residential) wood-burning stove. Forget it (at least until I win the lotto). Low-end residential stoves start at about $17,000 and go up to about $25,000.

Getting Crazy

What to do? Those wonderful Italian pizzas seemed just out of my reach. The thin crust is crunchy and the top puffs up and is crispy. And don’t forget the superb smoky taste. This is due to the high heat from the floor of the oven, the high heat trapped in the vault along with the smoke, and the circulation caused by the fire. Temperatures reach 650 degrees F or more. I was desperate. I had to have my pizza fix. I turned to improvising. But let me state for the record that although I think I have come close, I will never achieve the perfection of the wood-burning oven.

Using your Grill

How to turn your grill into a semi tolerable wood-burning oven? It is quite simple actually. I have a jenn-air gas grill (see photo) that seems to be able to handle my concoction. You pull one grill out and replace it with a log of oak. I crank up the left grill and put the other three on low. Once the grill reaches 700 degrees F (or more) with the cover closed and the wood is actually aflame, I lay the pizza next to the wood. In just a few minutes if the temperature is kept high, you can turn out a pizza (make sure you keep rotating it so the part toward the wood does not burn). Try it but I make no guarantees about damage to your grill. However, I have been doing this for a while with no problems.

Talk of the neighborhood

The pizza is as close to authentic as I can get without the intensive labor and cost of a wood-burning stove. And I am a huge hit with family and friends. Our social gatherings always include my Napoli pizza and a fine Chianti.

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About the Author:
Jack Botticelli
 
You can read more Italian recipes here
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With the 4th of July upon us, everyone will sure to be outdoors grilling up their favorite foods, celebrating amongst friends and family, enjoying the sunshine and great food. If you are new to the grill and haven’t quite mastered the art of a great burger yet, or find that the meat never comes out juicy enough, log onto your 4G wireless connection for some great tips and tricks as to how to grill like a pro and wow everyone at your 4th of July festivities. Be sure you enjoy standing by the grill however, as you will probably be appointed to do so from now on.

For starters, it is important that you have some unique recipes for sauces and sides as it is the one day in the year where everybody will be barbecuing so you want to do something that sets you apart and puts an impressive twist on standard classics. Use your imagination and try and pair flavor combinations that go well with a variety of ingredients such as meat, vegetables etc… If you aren’t feeling very imaginative you can always log onto the food network’s website for some simple and creative twists on the recipes that everybody loves.

Bear in mind that the grill is not just for meat, and you should take full advantage of it by grilling up all of your favorite foods to give them a nice smoky flavor and a bit of a different texture than usual. Make a healthy, delicious dessert by grilling your favorite fruits and drizzling them with a bit of brown sugar and amaretto or make a hearty, healthy side dish by grilling several vegetables and arranging them on top of lettuce leaves for a warm salad. Use your 4G wireless internet connection to find a wide array of recipes for vinaigrettes and accents that will really make your dishes pop.

For the vegetarian guests make a delicious grilled pizza by assembling tomato sauce, fresh basil, eggplant, zucchini and sundried tomatoes on top of store bought pizza dough and set it on the grill for about 15 minutes. Once the dough has baked through, remove it from the grill and crumble some feta cheese on top for a delicious and healthy vegetarian option at a barbecue. You can use your mobile internet connection to find more interesting and creative ways to satisfy the vegetarians at your soiree.

There are a whole slew of options in terms of utilizing your grill for reasons beyond just a hamburger. You can even grill peppers to blend with some garbanzo beans for a great smoky hummus as a snack for your guests while they wait for the meal to be ready. Utilize your mobile internet connection to get creative with the ways that you can use your grill as it adds a distinct, robust flavor that is so reminiscent of summer. Make sure that you take advantage of it while it is lit, as you can even refrigerate grilled items for a later date.

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About the Author:
For more information on how your 4G wireless internet connection can give you great grilling tips check out Clear Wireless Internet. Also, look into Internet service for great deals and unbelievable service.
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Smoking of food is a method of exposing foods to smoke, usually from wood, in order to give the food more flavour and a memorable taste. It’s a simple method, but allows for extra flavours to be put into a meal, and to make things more interesting on the palette.

You often see smoked food with meats, cheeses and fish, and you might think it’s something only a professional cook can do, or something you might only find in an expensive restaurant. You might think it’s time consuming and expensive too, but these are all myths.

There are two types of food smoking; hot smoking and cold smoking. Hot smoking allows the food to be cooked at the same time, and exposes them to smoke and heat. At high temperatures, you still get the smoky flavours put into the meal, but you cook it at the same time. Flavours aren’t quite as strong as cold smoking. Cold smoking is done at much lower temperatures and just covers the food in a rich, smoky flavour. The food maintains its moistness and gains a mahogany colour – it won’t be cooked however, so this is a much longer process.

However, as complicated as it all might sound, it’s all very easy to replicate from the kitchen of your own home. These days there are many companies who produce Food Smokers which can be used by anyone. They do all the work for you and are completely simple and safe to use.

Companies like Bradley Smokers have created Food Smokers which only require you to follow simple instructions, and then food can be smoked for up to eight hours without you having to intervene. You might also think that smoking food might cause food to be unsafe to eat, or for smoke to be produced from the machine and go throughout your home. Again, new companies have created food smokers entirely with the home in mind. Smoke is completely maintained within the machine, meaning you don’t have to worry about ventilation or smoke being carried through the house. The smoke applied on the food is minimal too, so is completely safe for consumption with just the extra great smoked taste having been applied.

Being aimed for use in the home, these food smokers are compact and affordable, able to fit snugly in the kitchen, and not hit you hard in the pocket. As well as Bradley, there are many companies which produce food smokers, so it’s worth a look around at alternative products before deciding on which product to buy.

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About the Author:
Thames Valley Catering provides <a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.thamesvalleycatering.co.uk”>Bradley Smokers</a> for use in the kitchen, producing smoked foods of the highest quality without needing to be a professional.
 
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Online cooking games are a lot of fun offering entertainment and relaxation both to kids and “big kids”. The vast majority of online cooking games are free and very easy to play including those in foreign languages such as Japanese because the rules are easy to understand even to kids who barely notice they play a Japanese cooking game. There are countless different online cooking games many of which are also educational both for children and adults.

Online cooking games include all the utensils and appliances used in a real kitchen requiring baking, grilling, frying, etc. as well as to mix the ingredients that are necessary to prepare a real meal. Playing online cooking games can help the kids learn the basics about cooking and get useful information’s about foods they like to eat. Like children, the adults can benefit from playing online cooking games as well. Experimenting with virtual ingredients can show you the way to improve your favorite dishes and give you new ideas how to decorate cakes, while foreign cooking games are a great way to learn about other countries’ cuisine without any spilling and burning. And the most important of all there is washing the dishes.

Websites offering online cooking games typically feature a wide selection of games from baking pancakes, making bread, preparing fast food, creating different kind of pizzas, making cookies, ice cream and other most popular dishes. Most cooking games feature racing with the time making the game more exciting and fun to play. There are many websites offering free cooking games and finding a cooking game which is fun and exciting therefore should not be a problem. Some websites offer exclusively cooking games which is very convenient if being interested in games related to cooking and food alone because you can find a wide range of fun Girls Games at one place. If having a lots of fun cooking games to play at one place your kid will not feel the need to search for more games elsewhere when getting bored with a particular game (which he/she eventually will) and accidentally come across content which is not appropriate for children.

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About the Author:
Play Cooking Games, Girls Games without downloading them; play them online without downloading them. Play free  Cooking Games online at Onlycookinggames.net
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One of the secrets of making great pancakes is learning the secret of starting with the proper temperature of your pancake griddle and maintaining that temperature while cooking the pancakes.

It’s important of course to start with a good pancake recipe or mix. Search the Web and you will find many excellent pancake recipes and making pancake batter from scratch will give you wonderful results. And while many scoff at premixed options, these are also an excellent alternative and a great time saver.

When the kids are begging for pancakes on a weekend morning, and time is of the essence, a good premade mix and a little water will have pancakes on the table in record time. Poor preparation rather than the poor quality of pancake mix is usually the reason box mixes are looked down upon.

Use a cast iron pancake griddle:

If you want to make excellent tasting pancakes consistently with the least amount of mess and cleanup time, the perfect answer is a cast iron pancake griddle. Using this properly on an electric or gas stove converts your kitchen into a grill just like the ones in a commercial restaurant. A cast iron griddle heats evenly and because of its weight and mass it maintains its temperature much more evenly as you cook.

Other types of cookware such as lightweight Teflon coated frying pans or electric fry pans or griddles are notorious for having rapidly fluctuating temperature control and uneven heating. The tried and true cast iron griddle is a time tested answer to solve these problems.

The main reason people have trouble making good pancakes is that they do not have a good method of determining the proper heat of the griddle before they start cooking. If pancakes are cooked at too low a heat they turn out tough and chewy. If cooked at too high a heat, the outside become crisp and burnt while the insides are raw and doughy.

The next time you make pancakes, take a few minutes to determine the proper settings for heating your pancake griddle with the following method. The trick to this method is known by many cooks but most probably don’t know the science behind it.

The Leidenfrost effect:

When you let a drop of water fall onto a hot pancake griddle, the water drop will dance around and stay in its droplet shape while it skitters across the surface. The scientific name for this is the Leidenfrost effect. When the drop hits the hot surface the water that comes in contact is immediately vaporized and the steam created pushes the remaining water in the drop up and away from the heated griddle.

This will not happen on a surface that is merely warm. In normal cooking situations it is agreed that the Leidenfrost effect occurs when the temperature of the griddle is at approximately 325 degrees F.

Find and record the best setting for your stove:

Since the ‘dancing water’ or Leidenfrost effect occurs at 325 degrees F, and the best accepted temperature for cooking pancakes that turn out perfectly is 375 degrees F, you can use a simple method to determine the setting for the burners on your stove. Start by warming up your pancake griddle to a very warm, but not hot temperature. Make sure it is preheated well but it is not hot enough to exhibit the Leidenfrost effect.

Then slowly increase the settings on your burners until you determine the point where a drop of water landing on the griddle will ‘dance’. Work your way up slowly and give the griddle time to heat between each change in your burner controls. You will want to make sure that the pancake griddle has reached the maximum temperature of your current settings before you test with a few drops of water.

Once you have determined the exact settings where the Leidenfrost effect takes place, make a note of the position of your burner controls for future reference. By knowing these settings you will always be able to reheat your griddle knowing that you have an exact point of reference.

According to some cooking guides, the temperature of 325F or 160C correlates to the ‘medium-low’ setting on your stove or range. The pancake cooking temperature of 375F (190C) is closer to ‘medium-high’.

Record the settings that work best for your stove:

So you will now want to bring the temperature up just a little before you start frying your pancakes. Try a small increase at first for one or two test pancakes and if you feel that it takes too long for them to finish increase the setting and give the pancake griddle time to adjust to the new heat setting before trying again.

Once you have determined the best pancake setting for your equipment make a note of it. You will now find that it is extremely easy and fast to make pancakes in the future. All you will need to do is put your pancake griddle on the stove, turn the burner settings to these predetermined marks and give the griddle a little time to heat up.

Just by using a few drops of water and with knowing how the Leidenfrost effect works, you will easily be able to tell if your pancake griddle is ready and at the right temperature. You’ll be able to turn out great tasting and most importantly properly cooked pancakes in less time than it will take you to finish your first cup of morning coffee.

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About the Author:
If you would like more information about using a cast iron griddle to make perfect pancakes just click on these links and visit our site. The pancake griddle you use can be the secret to pancake perfection!
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