Cooking Traditional Food From The UK

Cooking traditional food from the UK in the comfort of your own home can seem like the impossible. The wonderful foods that one thinks about from England may seem only possible if you eat at the finest restaurants in the UK or around the world.

The truth is that you can make your own favorite traditional English foods at home now. The Internet has opened many doors for food lovers. The average person, as well as the professional chef, has added to the many incredible British recipes that can be made at home by using the net.

Where to Find UK Traditional Food

It can seem a bit out of reach to be able to find real traditional food from the UK if you do not live there. The idea that what you get will be the same as if you were fine dining in London seems very farfetched. The truth is that you can get the real deal to serve at home. Many traditional British meals are available on recipe sites all over the Internet.

If you want to find the best traditional UK food recipes to make at home, simply log onto your computer and search online. This will offer up hundreds of authentic meal idea all straight out of Great Britain. You will be able to recreate each of these meals for yourself, family, or guests. While cookbooks offer many generic recipes, the Internet can offer more traditional foods that are served in specific ways depending on the region in which they are being prepared.

Choosing the Right Recipe

Choosing the right traditional food recipe may not be as easy as one thinks. When you are looking online there will be hundreds of sites to surf through. Knowing which sites actually have traditional UK foods may not be easy to see at first.

The first thing you want to look for is the recipe site rating. Anything less than 4 stars should be ignored. There are so many sites that this will still leave you many, many options. You also want to look at where the site is derived from. Using a UK recipe site to get the best traditional food makes the most sense. You are more likely to find the real recipe the way it is made in England when using UK sites.

Finding the right recipe may take a bit of time, but since you are searching at your own leisure from home, it is not something that is daunting or horrible. You will be able to bookmark each recipe for future reference. This makes it very easy to pull up in the future. You can also save the UK food recipes onto your computer in a folder. This will allow you to retrieve them even if the website shuts down later.

No longer do you have to be in London to eat the traditional meals that they do. Now you can get the recipes you enjoy online and eat these great dishes at home.

"A Dash of This" and a "Pinch of That" - Traditional Terms Used in Southern Cooking

Southern cooking is totally about how you add spices and seasonings to your food. When I say spices, I don't mean hot and spicy, I simply mean how you use cooking spices to bring out the traditional flavors in your dishes. This method of southern cooking really started when the African American slaves prepared their food many years ago. They used terms such as "a dash of this" and "a punch of that" in referring to cooking spices and seasonings for their food.

Why were these terms used?

These terms were used because back then there were no measuring devices, cookbooks, or cooking classes to learn from; they had to second guess their measurements and they only had each other to rely on to remember main ingredients. So they created terms that were easy for them to season their food. They also developed ways to know when their baked food was done by saying " bake until golden brown." Today, this method of cooking is still popular in many southern kitchens.

Sometimes adding "a dash of this" and "a pinch of that" may not be enough spice for your dish, just always remember to add spices according to your taste and what compliments the dish you're preparing.

Any one who makes southern and soul food know that recipes are only a base for you to start with. The amount of seasonings and cooking spices a recipe call for, may be more or less to your taste. What's important about this method is that you control the amount of spice that you use. Only you can determine the amount of seasonings to add for a particular recipe.

Because the base of southern cooking is spices, you will find cooking terms, "a dash of this" and "a pinch of that" throughout my new cookbook, Soul Food Lovers' . The recipes in the cookbook also allow you to use your judgment when adding spices to your food.

Today, many southerners still cook without a recipe, just by remembering main ingredients and adding seasonings to their taste. So, go ahead, add "a dash of this" and "a pinch of that" to bring out the true flavors of your southern recipes.

For more information on cooking spices and to get a better understanding on using them , check out these resources:

Resources:

http://www.soul-food-advisor.com/cooking-spices.html

Cooking Recipe - A Great Recipe For Traditional Italian Baked Lasagne With Meat Sauce

This Lasagne recipe comes from a traditionally made lasagne from Bologna Italy. It has been handed down through the generations and it is still a common dish in that area.

A friend of mine who travels to Italy quite often has tasted many Lasagne recipes and he says this recipe is his favorite. We will prepare this meal in two parts. Firstly we'll prepare the bolognese meat sauce and then the Lasagne.

Bolognese Meat Sauce

Ingredients
1oz butter
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1oz of unsmoked bacon, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely sliced
1 celery stick, finely sliced
4 medium sized mushrooms, sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
12oz of lean minced beef
1/4 pint of red wine
4 fl oz of fresh milk
14 oz of canned plum tomatoes, chopped with juice
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves
salt and ground black pepper for seasoning

Method

Heat a heavy saucepan with the butter and oil in it. Add the onion and gently cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the bacon and cook until the onion becomes translucent. Stir in the carrot, celery, mushrooms and garlic. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the vegetables become soft.

Add the minced beef, stirring into the vegetables until the meat loses its red color. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in the wine, raise the heat slightly and cook for 3-4 minutes until the mixture thickens. Add the milk and cook until it evaporates.

Stir in the tomatoes with their juice and the herbs. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 11/2-2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Once you have done this you can start to prepare the lasagne.

Baked Lasagne

Method
(serves six)

Ingredients
14oz of dried lasagne
4oz of grated Parmesan cheese
11/2oz or 3 tablespoons of butter
salt and ground black pepper

For the bechamel sauce
11/4 pints of milk
1 bay leaf
4oz of butter
3oz of flour

Method

1- Butter a large, shallow baking dish. Pre-heat the oven to 200degC/400degF/Gas mark 6.

2- Make the bechamel sauce. First heat the milk with the bay leaf in a saucepan. Melt the butter in a separate saucepan.

3- Add the flour to the butter and mix in well with a whisk. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Strain the hot milk into the flour and butter and mix with the whisk. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly for 4-5 minutes adding salt and pepper for seasoning.

4- Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add salt and half the sheets of
lasagne. Cook for 4 minutes.

5- Cover a large work surface with a clean cloth. Take out the lasagne from the pan and drop into a bowl of cold water for about 30 seconds. Remove one by one and lay them out flat on the cloth carefully avoiding any overlapping. Repeat the process for the rest of the sheets.

6- To put together the lasagne have all the ingredients to hand. Firstly spread a thin layer of meat sauce over the bottom of the baking dish. Put a layer of pasta over the meat sauce. Cover with a thin layer of meat sauce, then one of bechamel. Sprinkle with a little parmesan.

7- Repeat the layers in the same order finishing with pasta layer coated with bechamel. Make up approximately six layers. Finally sprinkle the last layer with parmesan.

8- Bake the lasagne in the oven for 20 minutes or until it starts browning on top. Take out of the oven, leave for 5 minutes and then serve.

A great accompaniment with this meal would be a fresh green salad with a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar spread over it. Delicious.
And for those with a large appetite why not try some freshly prepared garlic bread.

Enjoy your fresh and tasty "Traditional Italian Baked Lasagne" with meat sauce.

Campfire Cooking Recipes - 4 Great Camping Dishes Using Traditional Campfire Cooking Recipes

There is nothing like the fresh air and exercise that you get on a hiking or camping trip, to work up a really big appetite. But you don't want to spend ages preparing and cooking complicated meals, which turns it into a chore.

The whole experience should be fun, so if you can plan out a few simple camping dishes, it can make it a lot more enjoyable. Well with some traditional campfire cooking recipes, this can be a lot easier than you think.

Try out a couple or even all of the easy recipes below and see how much more exciting and interesting you can make your camping meals.

BREAKFAST

Oat and nut pancakes.

Ingredients.

1 & 1/2 half cups of oats,

1 cup of flour,

2 tablespoons of brown sugar,

Pinch of salt, to taste,

3 teaspoons of baking powder,

½ a cup of mixed chopped nuts,

1 & ½ cups of milk,

2 eggs,

2 tablespoons of butter,

Mix together all the dry ingredients (oats, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, nuts,) and put to one side, while you whisk together the milk, eggs, and butter. Pour this onto the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Lightly grease a griddle or frying pan and pre heat on the fire. Pour about half a cup of the pancake mix into the pan and cook until bubbly and edges look dry, turn pancake over and cook until golden brown. Serve with maple syrup or similar.

LUNCH

Simple Spam snack.

Ingredients.

1 onion,

3 or 4 potatoes, (depending on size),

1 tin of Spam,

1 tablespoon of butter,

Salt & pepper to taste.

Peel and chop the onion and potatoes into roughly ¾ inch pieces, and cook in skillet or frying pan until tender. Chop spam into similar size cubes as onion and potatoes and add to skillet or pan add salt and pepper and continue cooking until all ingredients are, crispy and spam is well heated through. Allow to cool slightly and serve with some crusty bread and butter.

MAIN MEAL

Foil cooked Meatloaf.

Ingredients.

2 pounds of ground beef,

1 egg,

½ a cup of bread crumbs,

½ a can of tomato soup,

Salt & pepper to taste.

Mix all the ingredients together in a suitable container or bowl until it all binds together and can be moulded into a loaf shape of your choice. Place into a large piece of tin foil and wrap well, leaving an air pocket at the top for steam. Cook on small grill on top of fire embers for approximately ¾ of an hour, turning as necessary. Serve with potatoes and vegetables of your choice. Will serve 4 people.

SWEET

Baked Banana.

For a quick tasty desert, simply split a banana lengthwise leaving the skin on. Insert brown sugar and butter into split. Wrap in tin foil and bake in embers of fire until sugar and butter melt into the banana.

Traditional Indian Cooking

Many people are mystified by traditional Indian cooking and cuisines and a little somewhat confused with the varieties of curries and spices used . Some may even think the traditional Indian cooking is mostly about vegetarian dishes and curries.

India has one of the finest and richest culinary histories. Contrary to popular belief, Indian cuisines are not complex or too confusing to cook. It can also be as elaborate as you want it to be. If you understand the diversity of the country, which is divided into four regions, north, south, east and west, you will appreciate the varieties of dishes, exotic spices, cooking methods, etc.

Two distinctions in many Indian recipes is the absence of beef and pork due to religious factors, as cows are sacred to the Hindus and pork is prohibited in the Muslim diet.

Indian cuisines are however generally characterized by exact combination of spices and flavours and the cooking method generally is to saute and simmer the dishes or curries over low heat. Tandoori cooking has popularised the oven-clay oven method which has produced tandoori chicken or naan bread.

Regardless of region, spices are key ingredients in Indian cooking. The Indians are also mindful of the healing properties of spices in their cooking. These are derived from plants's roots, buds, seeds, fruits and dried bark which produce the exotic aroma. It is released when the spices are heated up. All these spices are all readily available in supermarkets.

Spices can be grouped into five basic categories: sweet, pungent, tangy, hot, and amalgamating. The way these are used and the amounts used in cooking are governed by these characteristics. Examples of the different types of spices are:

Amalgamating: Coriander seed, fennel seed

Sweet: Cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, vanilla

Pungent: Cloves, star anise, cardamom

Tangy: Ginger, tamarind, sumach, kokam

Hot: pepper, chilli, mustard, horseradish

Most of the herbs such as thyme, sage, marjoram, oregano, bay leaves, mint and rosemary are considered as savoury. The herbs do have varying degrees of flavour intensity, however not as dramatic as with spices.

Northern Indian cooking is influenced by the weather which can range from extreme heat to freezing cold. The dishes are traditionally rich and heavy with cream and ghee, using breads, meats and tend to be less spicy. Yoghurt is widely used instead of coconut milk which is widely used in the south. They also tend to be drier as soupy sauces do not mix well as dippings for breads. Naan and chapati breads come from the north.

In the south where the weather is mostly hot, rice is widely grown and this makes the diet of south Indians rice-based that goes well with soupy curries. Spices are used heavily and the southern cusines tend to be spicier than the north. The roti-prata or dosai are typical southern breads.

Indian desserts are basically different forms of rice puddings, milk puddings, vegetables and fruits dipped in sweet syrup. Indian sweets or fudges are usually decorated or garnished with raisins, almonds, pistachios. Mostly made by boiling down milk to remove the moisture and then adding butter, flavour and sugar. The Indian sweets usually have high sugar content so use sugar in moderation when trying out Indian dessert recipes.