Wizard Recipes

The USDA recommends that all meat be cooked until well-done (160°F) to kill any bacteria that could cause illness. We sometimes recommend cooking temperatures that are below this figure, because some meat tastes best cooked medium-rare or medium.

Food-borne illnesses are relatively rare and usually affect only infants, the elderly, or people with weak immune systems. The degree to which you cook meat is a matter of personal taste, but also keep in mind for whom you are cooking.

Roasting

There is only one way to guarantee that meat is roasted to the desired doneness: Use a meat thermometer. Always insert a thermometer into the center or thickest part of the roast without touching any bone or fatty sections.

Boneless roasts are tied to help them keep their shape during roasting. In our recipes, we sometimes place boneless roasts on a rack in the roasting pan so the heat can circulate under the meat, preventing the meat from cooking in its juices. Not all boneless roasts need to be cooked on racks, however.

Tenderloin and some loin roasts cook so quickly that they don’t have time to create juices. Rib roasts and other bone-in cuts come with their own natural builtin racks. Always remove a roast from the oven when it reaches 5° to 10°F less than the desired temperature, as the temperature will continue to rise as the meat stands.

It is not necessary to cover the meat; the density of the hot roast will keep it from cooling too quickly. A foil tent would only trap the steam and soften the roast’s delicious crusty exterior.

Panfrying and Sautéing

These fastest of cooking methods yield quick, tasty results. Before sautéing, pat the meat dry with paper towels so it can easily brown. Be sure to use a heavybottomed skillet so the heat is conducted evenly.    We don’t advise using a nonstick skillet; its slick surface inhibits the formation of a good crust. And don’t crowd the meat in the pan or it will steam instead of brown.

Cook over medium-high to high heat to sear the meat and give it rich flavor.

Braising and Stewing

Few dishes satisfy as much as a long-simmered stew or braised pot roast. The key is to be patient when slow simmering tough cuts of meat: It takes a long time for the collagen in the meat to melt and for the meat to become fork-tender. The key word here is “simmering.”

Tip: Do not let the liquid cook at more than a slow simmer or the meat will end up dry and tough.

Braising is usually done in a Dutch oven: a sturdy pot with a tight-fitting lid and a handle at each side that can go from the stovetop to the oven (and directlyto the table if you like). Enameled cast-iron Dutch ovens are somewhat expensive but can last a lifetime. Old-fashioned, less expensive cast-iron Dutch ovens work equally well.

Broiling and Grilling

These dry-heat cooking methods are close “cousins.” In broiling, the heat source is on top of the food, while in grilling, the heat source is below. Whether broiled or grilled, the food gets caramelized from the intense heat, which greatly contributes to its flavor. To make up for the lack of delicious smoky flavor when broiling, we like to use a flavorful marinade or dry rub.

Always preheat a broiler on high for about ten minutes. Stoves with separate broiling units have adjustable broiler racks that enable them to be positioned as close to or as far away from the heating element as desired. Electric ovens that double as broilers are problematic.

There is usually only one upper-rack position that is close to the heating element, but it is sometimes farther away than the ideal distance. This makes preheating especially important.

Carving Meat

Steaks and roasts benefit from a resting period before being served. This allows time for the internal juices to get redistributed throughout the meat, making the meat juicy and firming it for easier carving.

Steaks should be transferred to a warm platter to keep them from cooling off, but they only need to stand for a minute or two before being served. Average-size roasts (about three pounds) should stand for ten minutes, and larger roasts for up to fifteen minutes.

For safety’s sake, it’s a good idea to place a towel under the carving board to prevent it from moving. Always carve with a sharp thin-bladed knife and use a two-tine meat fork to steady the roast. Carve across the grain, not parallel to the fibers of the meat; this produces  shorter fibers, making the meat more tender.

Certain procedures are often applied to meats before cooking to add flavor and/or moisture. These include marinating, barding and larding.

Marinating

Marinating is the process of soaking meat in a seasoned liquid to flavor and tenderize it. Marinades can be simple blends (herbs, seasonings and oil) or a complicated cooked recipe (red wine, fruit and other ingredients). Mild mari­nades should be used on more delicate meats, such as veal.

Game and beef require strongly flavored marinades. In wine-based marinades, white wine is usually used for white meats and red wine for red meats. Not only does the wine add a distinctive flavor, the acids in it break down connective tissues and help tenderize the meat.

Veal and pork generally require less time to marinate than game, beef and lamb. Smaller pieces of meat take less time than larger pieces. When marinating, be sure to cover the meat completely and keep it refrigerated. Stir or turn the meat frequently to ensure that the marinade penetrates evenly.

Barding

Barding is the process of covering the surface of meat or poultry with thin slices of pork fatback and tying them in place with butcher’s twine. Barded meat or poultry is usually roasted. As the item cooks, the fatback continuously bastes it, adding flavor and moisture. A drawback to barding is that the fatback prevents the meat or poultry from developing the crusty exterior associated with roasting.

Larding

Larding is the process of inserting small strips of pork fat into meat with a larding needle. Larded meat is usually cooked by braising. During cooking, the added fat contributes moisture and flavor. Although once popular, larding is rarely used today because advances in selective breeding produce consistently tender, well-marbled meat.

Dry-Heat Cooking Methods

Dry-heat cooking methods subject food directly to the heat of a flame (broiling and grilling), hot air (roasting) or heated fat (sauteing and pan-frying). These cooking methods firm proteins without breaking down connective tissue. They are not recommended for tougher cuts or those high in connective tissue.

Broiling and Grilling

To serve a good-quality broiled or grilled product, you must start with good quality meat. The broiling or grilling process adds flavor; additional flavors are derived from the seasonings. The broiler or grill should brown the meat, keeping interior juicy. The grill should leave appetizing crosshatch marks on the meat’s surface.

Selecting Meats to Broil or Grill

Only the most tender cuts should be broiled or grilled because direct heat does not tenderize. Fat adds flavor as the meat cooks, so the meat should be well marbled. Some external fat is also beneficial. Too much fat, however, will cause the broiler or grill to flare up, burning or discoloring the meat and adding objectionable flavors. Connective tissue toughens when meat is broiled or grilled, so trim away as much of it as possible.

Seasoning Meals to be Broiled or Grilled

Meats that have not been marinated should be well seasoned with salt and pepper just before being placed on the broiler or grill. If they are preseasoned and allowed to rest, the salt will dissolve and draw out moisture, making it dif­ficult to brown the meat properly.

Some chefs feel so strongly about this that they season broiled or grilled meats only after they are cooked. Pork and veal, which have a tendency to dry out when cooked, should be basted with sea­soned butter or oil during cooking to help keep them moist. Meats can be glazed or basted with barbecue sauce as they cook.

Cooking Temperatures

Red meats should be cooked at sufficiently high temperatures to caramelize their surface, making them more attractive and flavorful. At the same time, the broiler or grill cannot be too hot, or the meat’s exterior will burn before the interior is cooked.

Because veal and pork are normally cooked to higher internal temperatures than beef and lamb, they should be cooked at slightly lower temperatures that their exteriors are not overcooked when their interiors are cooked properly. The exterior of white meats should be a deep golden color when finishing

Degrees of Doneness

Everyone request and expect meats to be properly cooked to specified degrees of doneness. It is your responsibility to understand and comply with these requests. Meats can be cooked very rare (or bleu), rare, medium rare, medium, medium well or well done.

Larger cuts of meat, such as a Chateaubriand or thick chops, are started on the broiler or grill to develop color and flavor and then finished in the oven to ensure complete, even cooking.

Determining Doneness

Broiling or grilling meat to the proper degree of doneness is an art. Larger pieces of meat will take longer to cook than smaller ones, but how quickly a piece of meat cooks is determined by many other factors: the temperature of the broiler or grill, the temperature of the piece of meat when placed on the broiler or grill, the type of meat and the thickness of the cut. Because of these variables, timing alone is not a useful tool in determining doneness.

The most reliable method of determining doneness is by pressing the pie of meat with a finger and gauging the amount of resistance it yields. Very rare (bleu) meat will offer almost no resistance and feel almost the same as raw meat. Meat cooked rare will feel spongy and offer slight resistance to pressure. Meat cooked medium will feel slightly firm and springy to the touch. Meat cooked well done will feel quite firm and spring back quickly when pressed.

Accompaniments to Broiled and Grilled Meats

Because a broiler or grill cannot be deglazed to form the base for a sauce compound butters or sauces such as bearnaise are often served with broiled or grilled meats. Brown sauces such as bordelaise, chasseur, perigueux or brown mushroom sauce also complement many broiled or grilled items.

Procedure for Broiling or Grilling Meats

1 Heat the broiler or grill.

2 Use a wire brush to remove any charred or burnt particles that may be stuck to the broiler or grill grate. The grate can be wiped with a lightly Oiled towel to remove any remaining particles and to help season it.

3 Prepare the item to be broiled or grilled by trimming off any excess fat and connective tissue and marinating or seasoning it as desired. The meat may be brushed lightly with oil to help protect it and keep it from sticking to the grate.

4 Place the item in the broiler or on the grill. Turn the meat to produce the attractive Crosshatch marks associated with grilling. Use tongs to turn or flip the meat without piercing the surface (this prevents valuable juices from escaping).

5. Cook the meat to the desired doneness while developing the proper surface color. To do so, adjust the position of the meat on the broiler or grill, or adjust the distance between the grate and heat source

Foods can be cooked in air, fat, water or steam. These are collectively known as cooking media. There are two general types of cooking methods: dry heat and moist heat.

Dry-heat cooking methods are those using air or fat. They are broiling, grilling, roasting and baking, sauteing, pan-frying and deep-frying, Foods cooked using dry-heat cooking methods have a rich flavor caused by browning.

Moist-heat cooking methods are those using water or steam. They are poaching, simmering, boiling and steaming. Moist-heat cooking methods are used to emphasize the natural flavors of food.

Other cooking methods employ a combination of dry- and moist-heat cook­ing methods. The two most significant of these combination cooking meth­ods are braising and stewing.

Dry-heat cooking methods

Cooking by dry heat is the process of applying heat either directly, by sub­jecting the food to the heat of a flame, or indirectly, by surrounding the food with heated air or heated fat

Broiling

Broiling uses radiant heat from an overhead source to foods. The tem­perature at the heat source can be as high as 2000°F (1093°C). The food to be broiled is placed on a preheated metal grate. Radiant heat from overhead cooks the food, while the hot grate beIow marks it with attractive cross-hatch marks.

Delicate foods that may be damaged by being placed directly on a metal grate or foods on which cross-hatch marks are not desirable may be placed on a preheated heat-proof platter then placed under the broiler. Cooking will take place through indirect heat from the preheated platter as well as from the di­rect heat from the broiler’s overhead heat source

Grilling

Although similar to broiling, grilling uses a heat source located beneath the cooking surface. Grills may be electric or gas, or they can burn wood or char-which will add a smoky flavor to the food. Specific woods such as mesquite, hickory or vine dippings can be used to create special flavors. Grilled foods are often identified by Crosshatch markings. Next you can find the procedure for positioning foods on the grill to create these markings:

1.                          Decide which side of the grilled food will be presented face up to the customer. Place the food on the hot grill with this side facing down. If the item is oblong, place it at a 45-degree angle to the bars on the cooking grate. Cook long enough for the food to develop dark charred lines where it touches the grate

2.                          Rotate the food 90 degrees and allow it to cook long enough for the grates to char it to the same extent as in step 1

3.                          Turn the food over and finish cooking it. It is usually unnecessary to create the Crosshatch markings on the reverse side since this will not be seen by the people who will eat it.

Roasting and Baking

Roasting and baking are the processes of surrounding a food with dry heated air in a closed environment. The term roasting is usually applied to meats and poultry, while baking is used when referring to fish, fruits, vegetable starches, breads or pastry items. Heat is transferred by convection to the food’s surface, and then penetrates the food by conduction. The surface dehydrate: and the food browns from caramelization, completing the cooking process.

Sauteing

Sauteing is a dry-heat cooking method that uses conduction to transfer I from a hot saute pan to food with the aid of a small amount of fat. Heat then penetrates the food through conduction. High temperatures are used to sau and the foods are usually cut into small pieces to promote even cooking.

To saute foods properly, begin by heating a saute pan on the stove top, then add a small amount of fat. The fat should just cover the bottom of the pan. Heat the fat or oil to the point where it just begins to smoke. The food to be cooked should be as dry as possible when it is added to the pan to promote browning and to prevent excessive spattering.

Place the food in the pan in a single layer. The heat should be adjusted so that the food cooks thoroughly: it should not be so hot that the outside of die food burns before the inside is cooked. The food should be turned or tossed periodically to develop the proper color. Larger items should be turned using tongs without piercing the surface. Smaller items are often are turned by using the sauteuse’s sloped sides to flip them back on top of them­selves.

When tossing sauteed foods, keep the pan in contact with the heat source as much as possible to prevent it from cooling. Sauteing sometimes includes the preparation of a sauce directly in the pan after the main item has been removed. ]

Stir-frying is a variation of sauteing. A wok is used instead of a saute pan the curved sides and rounded bottom of the wok diffuse heat and facilitate tossing and stirring. Otherwise, stir-frying procedures are the same as those outlined for sauteing and will not be discussed separately here.

Pan-Frying

Pan-frying shares similarities with both sauteing and deep-frying. It is a dry-heat cooking method in which heat is transferred by conduction from the pan to the food, using a moderate amount of fat. Heat is also transferred to the food from the hot fat by convection. Foods to be pan-fried are usually coated in breading. This forms a seal that keeps the food moist and prevents the hot fat from penetrating the food causing it to become greasy.

To pan-fry foods properly, first heat the fat in a saute pan. Use enough fat so that when the food to be cooked is added, the fat comes one third to one half way up the item being cooked. The fat should be at a temperature somewhat lower than that used in sauteing; it should not smoke but should be hot enough so that when the food is added it crackles and spatters from the rapid vapor­ization of moisture. If the temperature is too low. the food will absorb excessive amounts of fat; if it is too high, the food will burn on the outside before the in­terior is fully cooked. When the food is properly browned on one side, turn it without piercing it, using tongs. Always turn the food away from you to prevent being burned by any fat that may splash. When the food is fully cooked, remove it from the pan, drain it on absorbent paper and serve it immediately.

Deep-frying is a dry-heat cooking method that uses convection to transfer heat to food submerged in hot fat. Heat then penetrates the food, cooking the in­terior through conduction. Foods to be deep-fried are usually first coated in ratter or breading. This preserves moisture and presents the foods from ab­sorbing excessive quantities of fat. Deep-fried foods should cook thoroughly while developing an attractive deep golden-brown color. Foods to be deep-led should be of a size and shape that allows them to float freely in the fat.

Today, most deep-frying is done in specially designed commercial fryers. These deep-fat fryers have built-in thermostats, making temperature control more precise. To deep-fry food, first heat the fat or oil to temperatures be­tween 325°F and 375°F (160°C-190°C). Slowly place the food in the fat, where il should float freely. Use tongs to turn it if necessary. When the food is done, remove it from the fat. drain it on absorbent paper and serve it immediately.

Vegetables are extremely versatile in the kitchen. We may use any of the following cooking methods to prepare them:

1. Boiling, blanching or parboiling. All these terms refer to the same cooking method- cooking in briskly boiling large amount of salted water, akin to pasta cooking. The reason for large amount of water is to keep it at boil as much as possible when you add the vegetables.

A large body of liquid keeps its heat better than a small amount. When you add the vegetables, it returns to boil relatively quickly. Large amount also helps to dilute accumulating leached-out acids that would change the color.

Blanching and parboiling are the same things. The terms imply cooking in boiling water until nearly cooked but still quite crisp. Once you remove the vegetables from the boiling water, you quickly immerse them in cold water to stop the cooking process (iced water, that some cookbooks suggest, is not necessary-cold water instantly stops the process and you avoid an unnecessary step of ice water preparation).

Then the vegetables are ready for a next cooking step, for cold storage or as salad ingredient. Boiling is a term that implies cooking to a softer stage than blanching. Today many cooks prefer to serve freshly-blanched crisp vegetables instead of boiled.

You always add salt to the water to cook vegetables. The amount is about ½ teaspoon for every quart (liter) of water. Without salt the boiling water leaches out the vegetables’ natural salt and the flavor becomes flat.

Blanching produces the brightest colored vegetables of all cooking methods. They become brighter than their natural colors. Why? Vegetables are made up of tiny cells that contain the coloring pigments.

There is a thin layer of air that surrounds each cell and that layer slightly mutes the color in living plants. It is similar to looking through a fogged-up windshield. The heat in blanching removes that thin air layer from the surface cells, and the muting effect disappears-the colors become brighter, like if you had put on the defroster for your windshield.

2. Steaming is a slower process than boiling or blanching requiring nearly twice the cooking time. Many cooks swear by steaming as the method for best-tasting vegetables. But thers (myself included) disagree. When you steam and blanch the same vegetable to the same degree of doneness, you notice a slight but distinct difference.

Steaming does not bring the flavors out as fully as cooking in boiling water does. You may want to try it yourself and decide. You don’t need to salt the water when steaming in spite of some cookbook directions. Salt does not evaporate with the steam and the vegetables remain unaffected.

3. Stir-frying, sautéing and frying are closely related methods. All use high heat and oil or fat to prevent sticking to the pan and to develop the flavor by the browning reaction In stir-frying you add just a film of oil, in sautéing somewhat more and you fry in deep, hot oil. When frying in a lot of oil, the cook needs to coat the vegetable with a batter, or the fast-escaping steam from the vegetables makes a terrible spatter in the oil. The coating moderates the direct contact of the hot steam and the oil, resulting in plenty of hissing and sizzling but less spattering.

4. Baking or roasting is suitable for many of the sturdier vegetables. Those with particularly high moisture content, such as cucumbers, are not suitable-by the time they are finished roasting, not much more than a brown pellet left. You always stir in a small amount of oil or fat with baked or roasted vegetables to help them brown and inhibit sticking to the pan.

You may also add seasonings with the oil. Add robust herbs and spices early in the process but subtle-flavored herbs lose too much essential oil during the baking process, so it is best to add them late. For baking or roasting, use whole vegetables or large chunks. If you cut them into too small pieces, they dry out too much.

5. Broiling and grilling vegetables are just like broiling or grilling meat, except it is necessary to add some oil or fat to avoid sticking and promote browning. For this method the vegetables are often in thick slices.

6. Microwave cooking is very popular because of its speed. Many cooks believe in this method yet it is so fast that overcooking is a real danger. You leave the vegetables in the microwave oven just 30 seconds too long, and you end up with a product ready to be puréed for baby food. Microwave cooking doesn’t brings out flavors, either. Test it for yourself and compare. Cook, say green beans, in the microwave to the same doneness as green beans you cook in boiling water or in a steamer.

My memorable microwave cooking lesson was at a good friend’s summer dinner party at the height of the corn season. He was a first-class gardener and his wife was a third-class cook. Unfortunately, she was the designated cook in the house. Minutes before dinner he picked fresh young corn in his backyard garden, handed them to his wife while us guests looked on in an expectation for fabulous culinary delights.

Fresh-picked corn is a rarity in most of our lives and the flavor is often ahead of caviar and truffles. The corn cobs were ready in record time-she microwaved them. Instead of culinary delight it was a struggle to chew and swallow the tough, flavorless kernels. The microwaves totally annihilated them. It was a pure waste growing them since in this case frozen corn would have easily surpassed the fresh.