Tools For Juicing

Hand Juicer

For the simplest juices this is all that you will need. A small stainless steel manual juicer or a plastic one with collection cup can be found for $15 or less. Combined with a good knife and cutting board, this tool will be all you need for occasional juicing.

Optional Utensils

A citrus squeezer is handy for quickly juicing lemons and limes. A wheat grass juicer is a hand cranked extractor for recipes using wheat grass and other soft leaves. A mango corer is a handy tool to have when using fresh mango in your juices. Oxo makes one that sells in many grocery stores for about $12.

Electric Juice Extractor

When you want to make juicing part of your lifestyle or go on a juice diet, you will more successful if you have an electric juice extractor. Breville, Black & Decker, Hamilton Beach and Jack Lalanne are some of the most popular brands. The heavy duty juicers have a feed tube, much like a food processor, and a mesh filter that separates the pulp from the juice. Most fruits can be fed whole into the extractor, making juice preparation quick and easy. These units yield much more juice than a manual juicer, and the pulp can be composted or used in many recipes.

Blender

A high quality blender is a nice addition because it allows you to expand your recipes to frozen fruit juices, smoothies and blended soups. Black & Decker, Hamilton Beach, Cuisinart, KitchenAid and Oster are the most common brands. Always purchase a professional series blender with the most power you can afford. You really only need two-speeds and preferably a glass or durable polycarbonate container. Vitamix makes one of the best high performance blenders available. They cost more but last much longer than other brands, and they are so powerful you can actually make steaming hot soup in them in just minutes. It's a good investment if you will be using your blender daily.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Maruko_Ito

READMORE - Tools For Juicing

What is the Difference Between Stock and Broth?

There are some questions that come up repeatedly … and this is one of them… so just what is the difference between stock and broth?... the short answer is … not much. You really can use them interchangeably in recipes… and in fact… many chefs use the terms interchangeably too.




Meat Stocks and Broths

BUT… there is a slight difference… in a nutshell… for meat stocks and broths…the stock is made with bones and trimmings from meat… where broth is made from the some bones and mostly the actual meat itself. I have to chuckle at some celebrity chefs and some bloggers that emphasize the use of stock and not broth…. broth is actually the richer of the two and is a more finished product… and table ready.

However, stock will thicken a sauce better than broth without using butter or cream. Stock contains gelée… gelatin, if you will… from the bones that are boiled when making the stock. Stock will deglaze a pan differently than broth because of the gelée… it will combine more easily with the pan drippings and thicken the sauce as you reduce it… replacing the butter or cream needed to finish the sauce.

The best chickens to use to make broth are stewing hens. You can also use whole chickens or parts.

Vegetable Stocks and Broths

When it comes to vegetable stock… I wasn't quite sure of the difference … since no meat is used and therefore no bones….so I investigated further… and what I found is..

With vegetable stocks and broths… the difference will lie more in the finished product. If the finished product is really a soup.. then you’d probably call it a broth. If the finished product is more of an ingredient in the finished product, say a sauce or a base for another soup.. then it would be called a stock. Notice I say called a stock…. because ultimately it really doesn’t matter… you can use them interchangeably.

The bottom line here is you can use either… but in the case of meat stocks and broths… stocks are made from mostly bones and trimmings and sometimes some meat…. and broths are mostly made with meat and some bones… it’s the ratio that ultimately decides what to call it… but again… for the most part you can use them interchangeably.

source:
http://cookingtipoftheday.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-is-difference-between-stock-and.html

READMORE - What is the Difference Between Stock and Broth?

Tips for Cleaning Aluminum Cookware

• To remove interior discoloration, fill the pan with water, add 1 tablespoon cream of tartar or 1 tablespoon lemon juice per quart of water, and simmer until the discoloration is gone.
• Rub the stained surface gently using a soapy scouring pad; rinse.
• Complete the process by scouring the pan with a steel-wool soap pad. Caution: Wear rubber gloves.
• Use a steel-wool soap pad to remove burned-on food on cast-aluminum cookware.
• Liquid nonabrasive bathroom cleanser or a paste of baking soda and water used with a synthetic scouring pad will polish both cast and sheet aluminum.
  

READMORE - Tips for Cleaning Aluminum Cookware