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Posts Tagged ‘gourmet’

Hanukkah Cooking Done Traditionally

February 17th, 2010

Whether you are genuinely seeking opportunities to explore new cultures or you are Jewish seeking great recipes and cooking tips, you have come to the right place to get some of the essentials. For as long as there have been family traditions, eating good food at special events and during festive times has been a part of the merriment.

Unfortunately, that appetizing food cannot be enjoyed unless someone goes to the trouble of actually preparing it. If you are looking for some tasty treats to do with the Hanukkah celebrations or just want to get a taste of what other cultures do during their religious or cultural celebrations there are lots of great foodstuffs you could be cooking for this particular holiday.

Oil is imperative in the celebration of Hanukkah and, as a consequence, many of the foods that are to do with Hanukkah traditions are cooked in oil. One well-liked favorite is Latkes, which are a type of potato pancake that is deep-fried. Another popular favorite is fried lamb chops. The lamb is breaded and then fried much the same as many Americans fry chicken. Once again oil is used in the cooking of the meal.

If you are thinking about something more like finger food or a snack, you could consider deep-fried ricotta balls, fried zucchini, fried onion rings and fried mozzarella are appetizing savory fried delights for the season of light. Of course, fried food is not the only thing that is eaten during this 8-day celebration, but it does play a vital part in the menu and in the festivities.

Even the sweet treats for this celebration include a few fried goodies. There are apple fritters and raspberry dough nuts and lots of other luscious fried foods for you to snack on. If you like something a little sinful to eat during this delightful celebration you might like to try blintzes in your favorite flavor. There are many to pick from and their recipes can be found easily online.

If you would like to provide something a little healthier in your cuisine, then you might like to include an Israeli salad, stewed white beans, and baked eggplant and peppers. These dishes provide the opportunity to have something that is not either fried or sweet to help weight watchers, who always have a problem during festive seasons no matter which religion they practice.

Other Hanukkah favorites include scrumptious dishes such as cheese gelt coins, loukoumades, vegetable kugel, and brisket. Once again the recipes for these dishes are very extensively accessible online and in books on Jewish cooking and traditions.

To make things go a little more efficiently cook as much food as possible well in advance and store items away quickly in order to stop them going off. Enlist the help of children and other family members when appropriate to move things along by taking turns preparing food.

You should also make an effort to keep the preparations as straightforward as possible to avoid delays and stress. This is a time of the year that is supposed to be dedicated to celebration not to struggling to cook tons of food. The good news is that with all that deep fried food, it is unlikely that you will find these dishes too difficult to prepare. Good luck and have fun exploring the world of cooking for Hanukkah.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with the 2 quart crock pot. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots

Chinese New Year Dishes

February 6th, 2010

There are few festivities enjoyed around the world on the identical grand scale that the Chinese New Year is celebrated. This is an occasion that affects people all around the world. The celebrations are rather exotic and a lot of fun for everyone involved. One thing that many outsiders may not realize is that the majority of the aspects of the Chinese New Year celebrations have a very specific purpose and connotation. Even the food.

Whether you are Chinese are not, I 'm certain that you could use a degree of good luck to make things run a little more smoothly in your life.

When it comes to cooking for a Chinese New Year celebration there are a few things you have to keep in mind. The dishes that are prepared each have their very own significance and a definite reason for being cooked.

Dumplings are believed to bring wealth in the New Year to those who eat them on this special day. Of course, wealth is something that most people want to have and there are many ways of doing so. Other foods that symbolize the attainment of riches on the Chinese New Year are bamboo shoots, black moss seaweed, egg rolls, and oranges. This is just the beginning of the tutorial in the symbolic nature of food for the Chinese New Year.

Longevity or long life is something else that the Chinese famously yearn for. Eternal youth some may call it. The secret, they say, to a long life is the eating of the right food as part of the New Year celebrations. Those foodstuffs include: noodles, Chinese garlic, chives, and peanuts.

Prosperity is attributed to foods such as lettuce, whole fish, and pomelo. In addition to success whole fish and pomelo are believed to bring abundance and togetherness (as in marriage or romance) during the coming year.

Chicken is the main course when happiness is the goal. In addition, chicken is linked with marriage, particularly when consumed with foods, which are considered to be dragon foods, such as lobster.

Those wanting children in the near future should add eggs, seeds (such as watermelon seeds) and pomelo - above all the last two, if you want a couple of children.

Finally, if good luck is what you most need, try to add a tangerine or some seaweed to your plate on this special day. If your run of luck has been really very bad of late, you may want to double up on your helping of both.

The Internet contains masses of wonderful recipes to help you celebrate the Chinese New Year as traditionally as you can. Recipes for foods such as Jiaozi (Chinese noodles) and egg rolls are to be found online and they will go a long way towards creating the proper atmosphere. Add a few lettuce wraps and longevity noodles and you will have a good starting point for a Chinese New Year meal.

The only other thing you require then to make your Chinese New Year celebrations go with a bang (quite literally) is fireworks. The Chinese New Year would not be the same without them, so choose your food well, either buy it or cook it (or both) and then let off your fireworks safely for a great winters evening's entertainment.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with the programmable crock pot. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots

Alcoholic Drinks

February 6th, 2010

In the West, alcoholic drinks are never far away from the scene at festive times, but do we aways know how to get the most from these costly luxuries? Too many people these days just think its a question of 'getting as much down as possible in as little time as possible'. This is the wrong approach.

After all, most people realize that a good meal does not consist of eating as many chips as possible in fifteen minutes, so why should that principle not apply to having a drink too? You will get far more pleasure from a bottle of wine, if you spend an extra dollar on it and drink it slowly with a friend and some appropriate food than if you swill down a cheap bottle of plonk on your own. It makes evident sense, but not everyone realizes it.

So, with that thought in mind, I have put together a few tips on how to get more enjoyment from your alcoholic drinks, if you are old enough and of that turn of mind.

Gin and Vodka - if these white spirits are your favourite snifter, always keep the bottle in the fridge, not the drinks cupboard. Keep the mixers in the fridge too. That way the ice will last longer and you will not be tempted to have to swig it down before the ice melts. If you are having friends around, go one step farther and put the bottle in the freezer. It will not go solid. You can even cut the top off a plastic cola bottle, put the bottle of gin or vodka in that, fill it with water and then freeze it. Remove the plastic bottle and you have an attractive "collar of ice" around your bottle.

The Last Tot - five minutes or so after finishing a bottle of spirits, tip it out one more time and the bottle that you thought was drained will deliver one more tot of contents. It is not a lot, but it is a pleasant free surprise. The same works for many alcohol based products including underarm roll-on and scent.

White Wine - white wines taste best when they have been gently chilled over a prolonged length of time, but if you get taken by surprise visitors, put the bottle of wine in a container of ice and cold water. Try not to have to put it in the deep freeze, it is too severe, but if you have to, then ten minutes is all that it takes.

Port - it is always better to decant port and older, heavier red wines, because of the sediment that may be in the bottom of the bottle, which tastes horrible and because it aids the aeration of the wine. However, it is not always easy to see when the dregs are coming. The manuals say to use a candle, but they were written a hundred years ago. The concentrated beam from a torch is far better. Try using a Durabeam because its rotateable head allows it to be directed more accurately.

Decanters - sometimes the stopper becomes stuck fast. Tap it with another glass item and it should come loose. If not, run the neck of the decanter under hot water for a few seconds and it will come out.

Labels - if you store your wine in a damp place where the labels are likely to rot or fall off, spray them with hair lacquer beforehand.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching the programmable crock pot. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots

Cooking: Five Tips On Cooking Food

January 22nd, 2010

There can not be a lot of individuals who do not like their food, but the human race, being what it is, I expect that there are a a small number of them. Nevertheless, for the rest of us, food is a source of every day pleasure and, like a beverage, it is often used to commemorate a celebration. not only that, but different foodstuffs are used for the different meals or distinct celebrations. Commemorative meals were indubitably planned around the seasonal foods available, but some foodstuffs were ferried huge distances for the consumption of those who could pay for them. For instance, my Dad deemed it a grand luxury to be given an orange in his stocking on Christmas Day sixty years ago. How the times have changed! Very few kids would deem an orange a present, special or otherwise, any day of the year these days.

Nonetheless, the preservation of food is still a daily affair and therefore, I have written a few good guidelines on preserving foodstuff below, so that you will obtain the best from that which you have bought or grown in your garden even a long while later.

Chicken Stuffed With Spoons: a great way of preparing chicken to be eaten at a cold buffet or in sandwiches, is to put as many spoons as possible into the cavity of the chicken (not silver or plated ones though). Then, place the chicken in a large saucepan or pot and bring the water to the boil slowly. Simmer for 10 minutes, cover and leave until the water is room temperature. The spoons will retain the heat and cook the chicken from the inside out. it will be one of the most succulent chickens you have ever eaten.

Roasted Crisp And Light: if you like crisp-skinned roasties, it is best to parboil them first, but that is only half the story. so, boil the potatoes for five minutes and drain thoroughly. Put the lid on the pan and shake it about violently. Bang it hard on the chopping block several times. The harder the better. Then put the parboiled potatoes in the baking tray with the meat or fowl to cook as you would normally.

Salad Soup: Do not throw away salad that has been soaked in salad dressing. Whisk it up in a food processor with a can of tomatoes of tinned soup. Add lots of garlic to taste and adjust the thickness to suit your taste. Chill it down and you will have one of the most delicious summer soups ever.

Curdling Cure: if your mayonnaise has curdled there is one sure fire way to bring it back to life. stir in a couple of tablespoons of Hellmann's mayonnaise and your problem will be over.

Simply Scrumptious Topping: a really, quick, delicious and almost infinitely variable topping for a savory pie can be made in seconds. Choose the flavour you want from the crisp rack; puncture the bag to let our the air and then crush the contents in the gag. it really adds something to a pie. The same trick can be used on the bottom of a potato pie a Texan housewife told me.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with researching the programmable crock pot. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots

Food: Five Tips On Cooking

January 22nd, 2010

There can not be a lot of people who do not enjoy their food, but the human race, being what it is, I suppose that there are a few of them. However, for the rest of us, cuisine is a font of daily delight and, like drink, it is frequently used to mark a happy event. not only that, but different foods are eaten for the various meals or distinct events.

Commemorative meals were indubitably planned around the seasonal foods available, but some foodstuffs were ferried huge distances for the benefit of those who could afford them. For example, my Dad considered it a grand treat to be given an orange in his stocking on Christmas Day 60 years ago. How the times have altered! Very few kids would think an orange a gift, special or not, any day of the year nowadays.

Nevertheless, the storage of foodstuff is still a daily affair and therefore, I have written a few good tips on storing foodstuff below, so that you will obtain the best from that which you have purchased or grown in your garden even a long time afterward.

The Quickest Quiche: a quiche is the conventional healthy fast food and this is one of the best quick ways to make one. Put one onion, four eggs four ounces/125 grammes of butter, half a pint/250 ml milk, baking powder, 2 ounces/60 grammes of grated Cheddar cheese, parsley, salt and pepper and anything else you like into a strong food mixer/blender. Whirl it all up together and pour it into an appropriate dish, lined if you have it with some pre-made, shop bought, pastry. Bake at 190C/375F/Gas Mark 6 for 40 minutes. It serves four and is delicious.

Heavenly Hamburgers: next time you make hamburgers, do not salt the meat before cooking them. Use your traditional recipe and make the patties as normal. Then, put a handful of sea salt in your favourite heavy duty frying pan and heat it up to very hot. Drop the hamburgers onto the salt and cook as usual. The outside of the hamburger will go crisp and the fat will be kept to the absolute minimum.

Salmon In The Papers: a fantastic way to cook a whole salmon is to cook it in newspaper. You ought to try it. Prepare your salmon according to your favourite recipe. Then wrap in three or four thoroughly drenched sheets of newspaper (any one). Make a nice parcel out of it; as neat as you can. Place the soaking-wet parcel on a baking tray in the centre of a moderate oven. Bake until the paper is dry on the top and then turn it over. When that side is dry the salmon is done. It'll take about an hour. If you want to eat it hot, peal the paper off straight away and dish up. If you want to eat it cold, leave the package until it is cold and then unwrap. Either way the skin will stick to the newspaper.

Off The Wall: if you are uncertain when spaghetti is fit to be eaten, through a strand at a tiled wall. If it sticks, it is done.

Cheap And Cheerful: for a quick, healthy, extraordinary summer sandwich filling, pick some fresh, young dandelion leaves; wash them thoroughly; dress if you wish and put between slices off a good loaf of bread.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with researching the Rival Versaware crock pot. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots

Preparing And Storing Food - A few Handy Tips

January 14th, 2010

In these times of superior alertness of the shortages in the world and the recent economic problems in the whole world, but especially in the wealthy Western countries, which are the powerhouses of most Third World countries' expansion, people are more aware of waste. It is a sin again to throw away food, like it was 50 years ago.

This can only be a good thing although it is a shame that it took an international financial crisis to make us remember the lesson. These days, waste of any kind is greeted with public disapproval and so it is at home too. Most people spend a very high percentage of their outgoings on food and so anyone who wants to cut back, has to first look to this quarter to make a saving.

However, saving does not inevitably mean 'not buying', it can and should mean 'not throwing away'. In other words, prepare your food and do not let your food go off. Preparation and storage are the key words. With that thought in mind, here are a few of my tips for preparing and storing food correctly.

Bread - tons of bread is thrown away every day, because it has gone stale or mouldy and yet it is completely unnecessary. Store your bread in the deep freezer and not in the bread bin. A whole loaf will slice frozen with the proper knife and sliced bread will come away slice by slice. There is no requirement to defrost as it only takes a minute or two at room temperature.

Bananas - most people know that banana skins go black if stored in the fridge, but most people do not know that bananas can be frozen solid. Yes, the skins will still turn black, but the fruit will be unharmed.

Cake - to stop cake from going stale, store it in a tin with an apple. The moisture in the apple will stop the cake from going hard.

Watercress - to keep watercress from wilting, store it upside down in water, that is stalks up.

Salt - salt often gets damp, particularly if stored in a steamy kitchen without adequate ventilation, but you do not have to fret about that if you put two or three grains of rice in the salt cellar. They will soak up the moisture before the salt.

Cereal - prevent cereal from going soft by resealing the bag with a few clothes pegs. Your cereal will last weeks more.

Jam - boiling jam produces a scum which has to be skimmed off and thrown away. This wastes jam, goodness and flavour. However, if you whisk a knob of butter into the mixture at the last minute the scum will not appear, saving time and goodness.

Funnel - you always seem to need a funnel when you do not have one. Then you vow to get a funnel for the next time. Do not bother. Just cut the top nine inches off a plastic bottle of cola. It makes an ideal throw-away funnel. Some of the larger bottles even have a handle on them which is even better.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with researching the programmable crock pot. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots

Want to Know How to Cook Gourmet Foods? Learn The Basics First

October 10th, 2009

Gourmet foods are not made easily. Even the best chefs take their time to come up with a delightful dish. It's the time, effort and passion put into cooking that makes the food sumptuous and exciting. If you want to be able to cook something similar, you can too, as long as you know the basics of cooking.

Before you master the art of cooking gourmet foods, you need to know what the basics are first. You should know how the food preparation process works. Cutting is very important. Another method, chopping, is used to have small-sized food items like onions and tomatoes. Dicing is another. This results to smaller pieces. Whatever method you prefer, you need to remember one thing: be careful with the knives you use.

After you have prepared all the ingredients, you can now proceed to sauteing. This is a process that helps make the food a lot tastier. Here, you use a small amount of oil on a heated pan. What you do is simply put garlic, onions, and other spices and the main food item. This should take a few moments, enough to let the flavors seep in.

Breading is another method used in cooking gourmet foods. Surprisingly, a lot of people still don't know how to complete this process without getting all messy. The technique here is to have one hand soaking the meat in liquid while the other is used to dip the meat into the crumbs. This technique will not get your fingers sticky and messy.

Grilling makes for a healthy gourmet cooking. Since you won't be needing to fry food using cooking oil, you avoid taking in fat.

Before you grill your food, it is better to have it marinated hours before you cook it. This is the process where you add flavors to your food. This will help make chicken, meat, and even fish more flavorful. Soak your food in a marinade solution for a period of time and put it in the refrigerator.

And how could you forget your pastas? Have you ever heard of the term al dente? Sounds Italian right? You can tell if your pasta is already al dente if you can feel a slight resistance once you bite it. If you've achieved that, it means that your pasta has just cooked perfectly- not too soggy and not too crisp.

If you want to know how to cook gourmet foods, it's a must that you first learn the basics of cooking. When you master them, that's the time you can start experimenting with different gourmet dishes. Just remember to put passion in your cooking to ensure that you end up with a good-tasting dish.

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Do You Really Need Bread Machine Mixes?

October 3rd, 2009

Do you use bread machine mixes when you want to make yeast bread in your automated bread-making machine? If you do, why do you? Because it's easier? It is so simple to make gourmet bread quickly from easy-to-follow bread recipes and so much more variable too. If you use bread machine mixes you are limited to the bread machine mixes there are in the shops " no matter how many of them there are there.

On the other hand, a good bread machine recipe book is infinitely more flexible than bread machine mixes. A good bread machine cookbook might give you 150 or so recipes originating from several countries, but it will also inspire you to adapt those recipes, encouraging you to be creative and invent your own style of bread.

Bread machine mixes are really quite restricting and you have no control over what goes into the bread machine mix either: preservatives, colouring, MSG, salt or who knows what. Yes, it says on the label, but you cant take them out, if you limit yourself to bread machine mixes.

Making bread is really quite easy. Or to put it correctly, the ingredients to making bread are really quite simple. To bake a very basic loaf of bread, you only need: flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt and fat or oil. The difficult part about making bread is the mixing. It can take four hours to mix the bread making ingredients together; to wait for it to rise; to knead it; wait for it to prove; knead it again and bake it.

But, if you have a bread making machine you can automate the hard bread mixing, proving, kneading cycle and if you have a bread-making recipe book you will be provided with numerous recipes to guide and inspire you.

What could be more simple? You consult the bread-making machine recipe book for an tasty recipe; you put the everyday ingredients into the bread mixing bowl of the bread machine and you put the yeast into a time-release box on the top of the bread machine; set the timer and just go about your daily life or even go to sleep!

The bread making machine will mix the ingredients and check the timer. My bread-making machine has a sixteen-hour timer. So, if you want your gourmet, yeast bread ready for 6:30 AM, the bread-making machine will mix the flour, water, salt oil and sugar immediately, add the yeast at say, 4 AM, knead, prove and bake the bread and ring a bell at 6:30 to announce that your gourmet food is ready.

Except that you won't need the alarm to let you know that. The aroma of freshly-baked bread will permeate your house and you will be very much aware of the fact that your bread making machine is just about ready to serve one of the best loaves of bread you've ever had in your life! And you will never ever look for bread machine mixes again. You'll be overflowing with ideas for your own bread machine mixes in no time at all and you'll be giving bread away as presents so that you can try out your next very own bread machine mixture.

Bread machine mixes: we don't need 'em?

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How To Use Dairy Produce: Part 2 - Cheese

August 17th, 2009

About The Basic Preparation Of Foodstuffs: Dairy Products.

CHEESES

Cheeses are manufactured from milk which has been naturally or artificially soured. The first method is brought about by standing the milk in a warm place and allowing natural, beneficial bacteria to convert the milk's natural sugars into lactic acid. The second method is effected by adding an agent, usually in to form of rennet.

Salt and colouring and frequently put in too. The whey is then allowed to drain away and the curds are pressed into moulds where they are kept until ripened or cured. Some cheeses, usually hard ones, are subjected to pressure; soft cheeses are not. Curds are ripened or cured by various means. The way it's done, the quality of the milk, the breed of cow, sheep or other animal and its pasture, and the type of bacteria all govern the end result.

Some local conditions are unique and those areas produce cheeses that are not successfully reproduced elsewhere: for example Gruyere and Camembert, although factories do try. They even have some success, as most of the world's Cheddar cheese now comes from the USA and Canada.

The constituents of cheese are roughly|typically|: 33% fat, 33% protein and 33% water with salt, colouring, sugar etc making up the rest. These proportions do vary from area to area as some producers use full-cream milk, others skimmed-milk and yet others add extra cream. Some add some extra sugar, although most do not. All cheeses have a high calcium content and can be considered as 'concentrated milk' and stored the same way.

Many people say that cheese most not be kept in a fridge and although storing in water, as for milk, is not a viable option, a cool larder is certainly ideal. Try the traditional method of hanging it up in muslin in a cool, airy place. If the weather is hot, moisten the muslin cloth with water to which a little vinegar has been added.

in Europe, cheese is frequently served with a salad or/and bread and is often presented after or instead of the dessert course. Hard cheese can be nigh-on impossible for children to digest and grating it first will make it more edible for them. After being grated the cheese can be scattered on vegetables or fish soups or sauces; combined with egg, pasta, rice and oatmeal dishes; put on baked potatoes or pastry; toasted on bread or put in sandwiches or salads.

How To Cook Cheese: A little known fact is that many people find cooked cheese indigestible and the reason lies in its structure. Here is why: cooked starch can be digested by the saliva in the mouth but other foods must pass to the stomach or intestines for this process. They are, however, broken up in the mouth. Digestion of protein begins in the stomach and is completed in the small intestine, while fat is not rendered soluble until it reaches the small intestine.

Cheese has a high fat and protein mixture, but in melting, the fat frequently covers the protein and prevents the digestive juices reaching it in the stomach. This results in, its digestion is delayed until the fat has been absorbed in the intestines. Cheese can be rendered more digestible by:

1] Adding to or combining with starchy foods. The starch will absorb the fat, not allowing it to cover the protein.

2] Using seasoning: Cayenne Pepper or mustard will irritate the intestinal lining, causing the release of extra digestive juices.

3] Cooking rapidly at high temperature. This stops the protein from becoming tough and stringy and so, harder to digest or you could add cheese to sauces late in the process.

4] Adding alkali. A large pinch of Bicarbonate of Soda per 75g will help neutralize the fatty acids and make the proteins more easily digestible.

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The Traditional Use Of Dairy Produce: Part 1 - Milk

August 15th, 2009

The Basic Preparation Of Foodstuffs: Dairy Products

These basic tips may seem unnecessary for most modern households with a refrigerator, but modern devices can make people lazy and it is well-worth while knowing 'why' we must do certain things. It is also worth remembering these tips when refrigerators are not at hand or are so small that they will not hold everything, such as when camping or boating or on holiday in some parts of the world.

MILK:

Milk has been called 'nature's perfect food', because no other food, consumed on its own, can support adult life. It is of the first importance for the growth and development of young people, but it must be clean as bacteria also find it very nourishing and quickly multiply in it. If your milk was not bought pasteurized, then it should be scalded and cooled quickly before consumption.

How To Scald Milk: Rinse out a clean pan with cold water, pour in the milk and heat until bubbles rise around the side of the pan. Maintain the milk at this temperature, ie, do not let it boil, for three minutes. Do not let it overheat, as milk burns very easily. Pour immediately into a clean receptacle and stand it in a basin of cold water and cover with a muslin cloth to discourage the ingress of flies and dust.

How To Keep Milk Fresh: If milk is not be kept in the containers in which it was bought, transfer it to a clean jug, which has been rinsed with cold water. A warm container will cause milk to stick to the sides and go off more quickly. Keep milk in the coolest place in the larder and always covered. it is worth remembering that draughts are often at ground-level and that hot air rises. Never keep milk in an airless cupboard and in hot weather stand the jug in a bowl of water with the cloth covering dangling in the water. The cloth will soak up water, which will evaporate, which uses up heat, ensuring that the containers remain cool. Keep milk away from strong-smelling foods, as it absorbs odours easily. Never mix new milk with old.

Sour Milk: Milk straight from the cow is slightly alkaline, but as it ages, lactic acid is formed and it becomes what we call 'sour'. Pasteurizing or scalding the milk slows down this process. Milk which is 'just on the turn' can be revived by boiling with a pinch of bicarbonate of soda to restore the alkalinity. Once the milk has gone too far and has curdled, it can be strained through (cheese) cloth, thereby separating the curds from the whey. The curds can be used as a filling for cakes, tarts, scones etc and the whey can be used as the liquid for making scones, cakes and soups etc., as it still has much goodness.

Evaporated Milk: Evaporated milk is ordinary milk, which has had some of its water evaporated by heat in some way or another before being containerised. Once reconstituted by adding water, it will last only a little longer than fresh milk does.

Condensed Milk: This is simply evaporated milk to which sugar has been added before canning. Sugar acts as a preservative and will preserve the milk for about a week. Do not keep in the tin, but decant it into a jug or bottle.

Dried Milk: Dried milk comes in a variety of forms and notice should be taken of the instructions on the label. Specialized products can be bought for babies, invalids, convalescents and dieters, all of which contain varying amounts and types of added vitamins and minerals. Usually, they are very much lower in fat content than normal milk.

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