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10 Tips for Making the Most Delicious Steak of Your Life

A properly cooked steak is a piece of incredibly juicy meat that just melts in your mouth. To prevent it from turning into a rubber sole, you need to know 10 secrets that will completely change the idea of cooking.

  1. There is no need to take meat out of the refrigerator and leave it for half an hour or an hour to warm it up to room temperature. This is a completely useless procedure. We take a piece of meat from the refrigerator and cook immediately.
  2. Yes, the meat should be marinated in natural yogurt, which will make the steaks tender and flavorful.
  3. When frying in a pan, the pepper will simply burn out, so you need to pepper the meat when it has been removed from the stove or grill. It is enough just to salt it, if desired, you can lightly sprinkle it with cornstarch, which will help form a beautiful golden crust.
  4. The butter often burns while the steak is fried. Therefore, it is recommended to cook meat with animal fat or ghee. But thanks to bacon, the steak will have a more pronounced meat flavor.
  5. Gordon Ramsay suggests using the easiest way to determine the degree of doneness of a steak. This is its own face. The bloody steak feels like our cheeks, the medium-rare steak matches the chin, and the well-done can be compared to the forehead.
  6. Everyone loves the grill marks on the meat. And in vain, because they are nothing more than burnt meat. A properly cooked steak is a completely caramelized piece.
  7. Another myth is that a steak is flipped only once. Chefs recommend doing this at least six times, frying for a total of 3-4 minutes on each side.
  8. This is the most difficult task when preparing steak. The meat should rest for 10 minutes so that all the juices are distributed over the piece. To keep it warm, you need to cover it with foil.
  9. It is customary to first fry the steak in a pan, and then bring it to readiness in the oven. We suggest doing the opposite. We bake the steak in the oven at a low temperature, and then fry it in a pan and get a piece of fragrant and juicy meat with a beautiful crust.
  10. It is possible to marinate meat before frying, but this often complicates the process of obtaining a crust on the steak, in addition, the sugar, herbs and garlic contained in the marinade can burn. It is best to marinate the meat after cooking when it is resting.
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Cooking Tips

15 Tips for Cooking Cool Fish

No holiday is complete without fish. Following these tips, you will have the most delicious fish on your holiday! 🙂

  1. Cook fish in a sealed container so that moisture does not evaporate unnecessarily.
  2. When frying fish, you can add a few pieces of raw potatoes to boiling vegetable oil. It will eliminate unpleasant roasting odors.
  3. Fish dishes can be served with lemon slices, sliced tomatoes, various dressings, and sauces.
  4. Thick-bottomed pans are good for frying fish.
  5. To prevent the fish from falling apart during frying, it is salted 15 minutes before cooking.
  6. You need to bake fish dishes in a highly heated oven.
  7. The cutlet mass is prepared from low-bone fish, minced fish is prepared only before cooking. Fish cakes will be tastier if you add finely chopped fried onions to the minced meat.
  8. Fish will not stick to the pan when frying if you add a little salt to the vegetable oil.
  9. For cooking 1 kg of fish, take 2 liters of water. The fish broth is salted at the beginning of cooking. Whole cooked fish is juicier and tastier, and steamed fish tastes better than boiled in water.
  10. When boiling, fish soup is cleaned, but scales and fins are not removed. The prepared fish is placed in cold water and very slowly, in 30-40 minutes, brought to a boil. When heated slowly, the fins (partially) and scales (completely) dissolve, giving the ear a density and a unique broth. When heated quickly, they brew and become tough, insoluble. With slow heating, the ear is ready 3-5 minutes after boiling.
  11. When cooking fish soup, it is useful to pour in from 50 ml to 100 ml of vodka per liter before heating.
  12. Small fish should be placed in boiling water for cooking, large fish in cold water. To boil the fish soup, the fish is placed in cold water, removing the eyes and gills.
  13. Pike perch, carp, pike, cut into pieces, boil for 15-20 minutes; fish weighing over 1 kg is cooked for about 1 hour.
  14. The most delicious fish soup is obtained from fresh ruffs, tench and perch.
  15. Sometimes, to improve the taste of the broth, add cucumber pickle or put a pod of fresh sweet pepper, dill, and an onion.
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Cooking Tips

5 Tips for Making Sushi

Sometimes you want to make delicious sushi or hot rolls at home. How to choose the most important component for them – rice? Nothing seems to be easier. However, choosing the right rice and preparing it will depend on the quality of the final dish.

  1. Not all types of rice are suitable for making sushi and rolls. Usually, round grains of rice with a high starch content are chosen for this dish so that the final product has sufficient stickiness. The following varieties can be recommended: Kokuho, Kahomai, Maruyu, Minori and Nishiki, but you can limit yourself to absolutely any round grain, opaque rice.
  2. Choosing the right sort of rice for sushi is half the battle. It is much more important to cook it correctly so that the rolls turn out to be canonical and tasty. It is necessary to cook the rice in such a way that balls can be easily molded from it.
  3. It is washed first. At this stage, due to the treatment with water, all dirt, dust and husks, as well as excess starch, are washed off the rice. Important! Rice must be rinsed with cold water until it becomes completely transparent, otherwise it will burn to the bottom of the pan during cooking. Some adherents of Asian traditions are sure that clean water should be passed through rice nine times. After that, you will need to drain all the liquid from the rice, leaving it to dry.
  4. Now it’s time for cooking. To cook rice properly, it is important to maintain the correct proportions. For water and rice grains, they are 1: 1.25. Let’s choose a saucepan in which we cook ordinary rice. You can add nori algae to the pot to add a sea-scent flavor while boiling. After boiling, it is removed. Adding other ingredients will add spice and extra flavor to the rice. Try using rice wine or even sake for this.
  5. The final stage is rice dressing. Spread the boiled rice in an even layer in a container, evenly pouring rice vinegar mixed with salt and sugar on its surface. In this case, the rice must be mixed. After stirring, the rice should be transferred with a spatula to one half of the container. Then each portion is leveled with a spatula to allow each rice grain to soak in the vinegar. When the rice is spread over the bottom, cover it with paper towels for the final soak.
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Cooking Tips

13 Important Tips for Cooking Fish

We will help you prepare the most delicious fish! 😉

  1. The broth is never diluted with water, this will irreparably impair its taste.
  2. To make the fish more juicy, tender, it must be soaked in milk and only then salt and pepper.
  3. In an acidic environment, potatoes, peas and legumes do not boil well, remain tough; vegetables containing acid are placed at the very end of cooking.
  4. Raw or pre-fried fish is baked. When baking fish in the oven, the dishes must be filled to the brim; otherwise, the moisture will quickly evaporate and the dish will not taste good.
  5. If you pour fresh milk into a saucepan with fish, the smell will disappear, and the fish will become tastier and softer.
  6. When stewing fish, the taste of the dish will improve if you add boiled mushrooms.
  7. All fish dishes are cooked over low heat. As soon as the dish boils, the heat should be reduced.
  8. Before cutting, wipe the wooden board with a slice of lemon or moisten it with vinegar, then the board will not smell like fish.
  9. Boil squid whole or in large chunks, dipped in boiling salted water for 4-5 minutes, with low heat, adding fresh dill or parsley. With prolonged cooking, the meat becomes tough.
  10. Large shrimp are cut by hand, they have a light chitinous shell, from which the neck meat is easily extracted. The carapace of the cephalothorax is used for stuffing and cooking cancer oil.
  11. The shrimp are boiled for 8-10 minutes from the moment the water boils. Finished shrimp should float. Can be served whole.
  12. Shrimp broth has a pleasant smell and taste, after straining it can be used to make soups and sauces.
  13. Crayfish and lobsters should only be boiled alive, Dip into boiling water only upside down. Crayfish are especially tasty if caught in the fall. The larger the cancer, the tastier its meat.
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6 Very Important Tips for Making Delicious Sushi

Japanese cuisine has so long and firmly entered our lives that among your friends there can easily be more sushi lovers than salads. So throwing a sushi party is a very tempting idea. But what if your first attempt at making sushi on your own failed? Then this article is especially for you.

  1. Have you ever cut a tomato with a dull knife? Exactly. The fish knife should be very sharp. And long. To prevent a slice of fish from falling apart, it must be cut off in one, maximum two movements, then the slice will be smooth, even and, most importantly, whole. If you completely hit the authenticity, there are special Japanese knives for cutting fish and sushi with one-sided sharpening. Our chefs start every day with a sharpening knife. And before cutting the rolls, the knife is barely moistened with water. The fish should be cut at an angle of about 45⁰ along the grain, so that the slice will not fall apart.
  2. It’s hard to imagine Japanese cuisine without rice. But unlike rice, which we use for porridge, pilaf and other dishes, to prepare sushi we need a different type of product and a different method of cooking. First, the rice must be round grain. In stores, this rice is usually marked “for sushi”. Such polished grain is quite sticky, but at the same time it does not stick together in a lump. Of course, if you cook it properly. And it is necessary to cook clearly to the degree of al dente (when the rice is already ready, but has not yet lost its elasticity), in no case should it be overcooked. To simplify the task, you can use a slow cooker or rice cooker, in which the product will be ready in 25 minutes. You can add a special dressing of rice vinegar, salt and sugar to the finished rice – in addition to giving a special taste, it will allow the rolls to keep their shape better.
  3. The importance of choosing good fresh fish is hard to overstate. Take fish that has been shock-frozen. Temperatures from -18⁰C to -30⁰C kill absolutely everything that your stomach may not like. Buy fish in trusted stores, and in no case “off hand” in some spontaneous market. Choose vacuum-packed fish in stores.
  4. An indispensable sauce for most Japanese dishes is sold in our stores in powder form. Don’t worry, there is no chemistry in it, it just keeps the grated green Japanese horseradish. In order for it to take the form you know, it must be diluted with boiled water at room temperature. But be careful, when mixing the powder with water, the fumes are the same as when chopping onions. The strength level can be controlled independently – the more water, the less burning your wasabi will turn out to be.
  5. Wasabi. The correct soy sauce consists of only 4 ingredients: soybeans, wheat, salt and water. Read the composition carefully. It is advisable to buy soy sauce in a glass bottle – it is stored in it much longer than in a plastic container. Also, soy sauce can be sold concentrated or already diluted. Again, study the label. Restaurants serve ready-to-eat sauce, but when ordering delivery, couriers bring in a concentrate (as written on the cap), which must be diluted to taste.
  6. Before making your sushi, make sure you have the correct bamboo curling mat. Many novice “home sushi” use a plastic bag to shape the rice, which is fundamentally wrong and unproductive – the rice will still fall apart. So you can’t do without a mat. So, put the rice on nori (green sticky seaweed) and put it on the mat, after wetting your hands with vinegar water, evenly lay out the other ingredients – the filling, and twist with effort. We fix it for a few seconds and carefully unfold it. The result is the perfect rice sausage. Cut it with our super-sharp knife soaked in water and sprinkle with sesame seeds or other spices to taste. Knowledge, patience, sleight of hand and a little magic.
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9 Ravishing Secrets for Grill-Lovers

The alpha and omega of an appetizing grill, especially meat, is a good marinade, i.e. combining the right ingredients in the right amount with the right preparation method. So, you definitely need to master this secret of a successful grill:

  1. There are many recipes for marinades, but most importantly, they include 3 main ingredients: acid, fat, and spices.
  2. Larger pieces of meat are best to cut into smaller pieces before marinating. The smaller the pieces, the faster they will marinate.
  3. It may take as little as 30 minutes to marinate the meat, but feel free to marinate longer for a better taste. The longer the meat is marinated, the more flavorful it becomes.
  4. Marinating overnight will help to increase the tenderness of beef.
  5. To prevent the chick from becoming tough on break, try not to marinate it. Marinating can not only make the chicken tough, but it can also take away the flavor.
  6. How much marinade to take? – About 2 cups for every kilogram of meat. So try to cook enough to completely saturate the meat you are about to cook.
  7. Always refrigerate meat while marinating.
  8. A plastic container or plastic bag can greatly reduce the hassle of preparing meat. Sealing in a zippered plastic bag can reduce the amount of marinade needed to prepare your barbecue.
  9. Sprinkle fat on the meat during the last 10 minutes of grilling to reveal the flavor. Avoid contaminating your meat with fresh marinade.
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Cooking Tips

10 Tips for Cooking Fish

These tips will definitely help you cook delicious fish 🙂

  1. Before processing fish, place it in a bowl of water, if the fish sinks – it is fresh, if not, then refuse to cook this product.
  2. Frozen fish is thawed in cold water with the addition of 1/2 tbsp. tablespoons of salt per 1 liter of water.
  3. Fish fillets are thawed without water to avoid losing nutrients and impairing the taste of the fish.
  4. It is not recommended to boil bream, carp, navaga, carp – the broth turns out to be bitter.
  5. To eliminate the strong smell of fish frying, place one potato, peeled and cut into slices, in vegetable oil.
  6. To eliminate the pungent specific odor of flounder, remove the skin from the dark side when cleaning it.
  7. Food waste left over from fish preparation for frying (head, bones, fins, tails) should be used to boil a small amount of broth, in which you can make a delicious sauce.
  8. Do not allow the liquid in which the fish is boiled to boil too much.
  9. Fish broth is salted at the very beginning of cooking.
  10. Fish cakes will taste better if you put finely chopped and lightly fried onions in the minced meat.
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10 Tips for Making Sushi and Rolls

Japan is the country that gave us healthy food, which includes the world’s most widespread dish “sushi”. It began to spread around the world since the 70s, but has conquered the world only recently. Since sushi and rolls are a rather specific dish that not everyone will like, they reworked it and introduced something new familiar to Europeans a huge number of times.

  1. Wasabi or Japanese mustard, as many call it, should be kept in the refrigerator for no more than 2 weeks.
  2. If ingredients fall out of the roll during cooking, press down on the ends (edges) with your fingers.
  3. For making sushi, you should use rice varieties with round short grains.
  4. In order for the rolls and sushi to have smooth edges and look beautiful when cutting, they should be cut with a very sharp knife with a thin blade.
  5. When preparing rolls and sushi, the nori should be placed with the shiny side on the mat, and the dull side on the inside of the roll.
  6. Store dried nori in a dry place.
  7. There is pickled ginger between meals of different types of sushi – this allows you to better feel the taste of the new dish. And so that it does not lose its taste and useful qualities, ginger must be properly stored.
  8. In order for sesame seeds to be fried quickly and evenly, they should be fried in a well-heated frying pan without oil.
  9. A bamboo mat (a special mat for making sushi and rolls) is an indispensable attribute of both a beginner and a professional sushi master. Many people unknowingly use a plastic bag to shape. However, such rolls and sushi do not hold their shape well and fall apart.
  10. Sushi is a perishable product and is recommended to be eaten within 2-6 hours. After the allotted time, the dish loses its taste.
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10 Helpful Chef Tips for Beginner Grillers

It is not the first time that beginners manage to cook a steak on the grill with high quality and tasty. The first failed attempt is not a reason for frustration, but a great opportunity to analyze your mistakes to take into account and correct them in the future. Below we will share useful tips and tricks from experienced chefs on how to cook a deliciously and unmistakably grilled steak perfectly.

  1. Preheating the grill. The first rule to remember once and for all. For the planned dish to turn out equally tasty from time to time, it is necessary to take care of heating the grill in advance. Set the temperature to maximum and preheat the barbecue for 10-15 minutes before starting the cooking process.
  2. Continuous flame control. Drops of fat dripping off the steak during frying can trigger flames. A strong fire can dry out the meat, and in this case, you do not need to use water at all. It is enough to reduce the heat to a minimum or completely extinguish the burners. Wait a couple of minutes and continue the cooking process.
  3. There must always be an adequate supply of fuel. It doesn’t matter if you cook on a charcoal or gas grill, to avoid unforeseen situations during the cooking process, always have enough fuel to roast the meat.
  4. Temperature control. As you know, when preparing various dishes over an open or indirect fire, it is important to adhere to the existing recommendations for temperature conditions. For example, there are certain rules for roasting poultry and pork. In the case of thick pieces of meat or baking whole poultry, it is rational to choose medium temperature conditions. In the case of thin steaks, the fire can be more intense and the roasting time may be limited.
  5. Experiment and master new culinary techniques. To enhance the usual taste of meat, it can be fried on both sides over high heat. This technique will allow you to get an appetizing golden-brown crust. So that the meat is not overdried, it is better to continue frying until fully cooked over medium or low heat. It is rational to use and not direct heat until the dish is fully cooked. Slow simmering allows the taste of the dish to unfold as much as possible, without overdrying the meat fibers and completely preserving their juiciness.
  6. Experiment with flavors. To revive the usual taste of the dish, we recommend using different variations of sauces, combining them individually each time. For example, a pinch of sugar will give the meat a more intense flavor and a delicious crust. Remember also that you need to grease the steak with sauce 5-10 minutes before cooking. If the meat has been pre-marinated for several hours, it should be cooked at minimum temperatures, gradually increasing the heat. Thus, the finished dish will turn out to be evenly fried, without a specific, burnt aftertaste.
  7. Stay alert while preparing food. For your dish to turn out perfectly fried, without burnt edges, you need to monitor not only the temperature and intensity of the fire but also the state of the steak frying. Especially, this rule is relevant when frying chops, thin pieces of meat, burgers over high heat.
  8. Cleanliness is the key to health. Interaction with any food, including meat, requires certain hygiene rules. The work area must be kept as clean as the grill itself. Pay special attention to the cleanliness of hands and cutlery. It is better to check the degree of roasting of meat not with improvised means, but with a special, disinfected temperature probe.
  9. It is also important not to forget about the cleanliness of the grill. As with any kitchen equipment, the grill must be kept clean. After cooking, until the particles of fat and food are completely dry, they must be removed. All types of dirt can be easily removed by intensive heating of the grill. After firing, the ash can be easily removed with a sponge or barbecue brush. Timely removal of dirt will allow you to always prepare delicious food, without any foreign odors. Do not forget about the timely maintenance of your grill. Monitor the serviceability of burners, temperature controllers. We also recommend purchasing professional grill cleaning tools. With their help, it will become much easier and more convenient to monitor the health of the equipment.
  10. Organize proper storage of your grill. To make your grill, gas, or charcoal, serve you for many years, get a special cover for it. It will protect the metal from moisture, dust, and mechanical damage.
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9 Tips for Making Sushi for Beginners

In fact, sushi is very simple: rice, fish, and various additives like cucumber or avocado. However, in order for your sushi to turn out really cool and not worse than in a restaurant, we advise you to adhere to a few rules.

  1. The knife is the main participant in the preparation of sushi after you. Therefore, he must be at his best. That is, it must be very sharp. Therefore, do not be too lazy to sharpen it before starting your culinary experiments. Choose knives with wooden handles: when wet, they won’t slip in your hands. Such knives in Japan are called “bento” and are used to make sushi.
  2. All ingredients must be exceptionally fresh or, as they say in the markets, the freshest. Otherwise, you risk not only tasteless rolls, but also your own health: we think we don’t need to say that stale fish is dangerous. In addition, whatever fish you choose – fresh, smoked or dried – it is important to cut it correctly. Do not cut tender fish fillets as they will lose their presentation. Here we go back to rule number one: the sharp knife.
  3. Fig. It is very important to prepare it properly. Sushi is made from warm round-grain rice prepared using a special technology. 460 g of rice requires 750 g of water. Rice must be washed and dried for an hour, then placed in a saucepan with a tight lid, pour in water and cook over minimum heat for 5 minutes after boiling. Then it needs to be steamed for 12-15 minutes on low heat, remove the pan from heat, remove the lid and cover with a towel for 15 minutes. Then gradually add vinegar dressing to the rice and let it dry.
  4. Mat. That is, the rug with which the rolls are rolled. It should be made of bamboo so you can press the sushi rice properly. Many beginners use a plastic bag for these purposes, but it does a poor job: rice will quickly fall apart.
  5. Acetic water. When forming sushi by hand, use vinegar water. It is convenient to wet your hands in this solution during cooking and rinse them after working with rice. To make vinegar water, mix two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar with a glass of water.
  6. Proportions. Do not coarsely chop the sushi ingredients; this can impair the appearance and taste of the dish.
  7. Nori. Supermarkets sell sliced nori sheets, which are convenient only for making traditional sushi. If you bought these algae by mistake, don’t throw them away. Lay the sheets tightly together and crush a few boiled rice at the joints. This technique will help you easily glue nori and use them to prepare any kind of sushi.
  8. Wasabi. Do not get carried away by it. An excessive amount of this sauce will not let you enjoy the taste of the dish, because its sharpness dulls the taste buds.
  9. Eat immediately. Sushi should be eaten immediately, because this dish, prepared from fresh products, deteriorates very quickly. The maximum shelf life of sushi is six hours, provided that special boxes are used.
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