Cooking with Alison

Archive for the ‘How-To’ Category

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Dulse

In Appetizers, Hors D'oeuvres, Snacks, How-To, Sides and Sauces, Soups and Salads on January 2, 2011 at am

Update:  This photo was published in TAPS The Beer Magazine in the November/December 2012 issue!

I had never heard of dulse until I started making travel plans to the east coast of Canada.  So when we were in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Krystal and I went looking for this and were lucky enough to find it at the City Market.  We purchased a bag of hand picked, sun dried dulse and brought it back to Ontario.  I wanted to share what I’ve learned as this might be of interest [in particular] to vegetarians, vegans, gardening enthusiasts and people who have anemia or hypothyroidism.  Note:  If you have hyperthyroidism, however, it may not be appropriate for you to consume dulse.

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How to Freeze Strawberries

In Desserts, How-To on August 19, 2010 at pm

Frozen strawberries are convenient to have on hand throughout the year for smoothies, alcoholic beverages, strawberry sauce, desserts, etc.  So I stock up on fresh strawberries in the summer and freeze them for the fall and winter.  I recently found a bag of strawberries at the bottom of my deep freezer from two years ago.  To my surprise, when I defrosted them, they still looked and tasted great!  So I thought I’d share my method for freezing strawberries.  It’s tedious and time consuming, but well worth it, in my opinion.

Photo below:  Strawberries defrosting.  After spending 2 years in the deep freezer, they were still great.

On a side note, this post is for my sister who suggested that I create an encyclopedia of “How to” on food and cooking.  I guess this is a start  😉

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How to Poach Eggs

In Appetizers, Hors D'oeuvres, Snacks, Breakfast, How-To, Red Meat and Eggs on April 19, 2010 at pm

I love love love eggs.  So, I’m well practiced at soft boiling, scrambling, and making sunny side up and over easy eggs.  I even stir fry and steam them in Chinese dishes (recipes in the Asian – Other Asian Foods category).  But I never poach them.  So when I watched Anne Burrell poach eggs on the Food Network, I figured it was about time that I learned this technique.  So I did some research online and pooled together some tips for poaching eggs.  I was very excited to learn (from Anne Burrell) that poached eggs can be made ahead of time.  Apparently, restaurants do this all the time.  So you could easily make several batches of these one day in advance if you’re having guests over for brunch or dinner.

Pictures above:  From my Poached Eggs with Asparagus, Prosciutto and Hollandaise Recipe here.

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How to Steam Cook Food

In Appetizers, Hors D'oeuvres, Snacks, Asian, Breads, Breakfast, Desserts, How-To, Main Course on February 24, 2010 at pm

I received a comment asking for pictures of my steaming equipment and technique.  So here I show you how I steam food, I discuss other methods of steaming, and I go into detail about the steaming equipment that you’ll need for each method.

Steaming food is very commonly done in Chinese cooking.  It’s a very healthy way of cooking as it maintains a lot of the nutrients in vegetables and reduces the amount of oil that you use.  It results in tender veggies and moist and juicy meats.  I steam cook vegetables, dumplings, whole chickens and fish, pork spareribs, a specific Chinese egg dish, etc.  (You can do a search for some of these recipes on my website.)

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