Showing posts with label Spicy Foods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spicy Foods. Show all posts

Monday, November 16, 2009

Flavorful Steak Marinade Recipes

Marinades have always been used by people for cooking meat even centuries ago. Different kinds of spices and oils have been used to give different flavors to the meat. Today marinades are used as meat flavoring and tenderizer. There is no historical account to tell how the marinades were discovered. One theory states that it could have been discovered accidentally when someone was making the best preservative for the meat.

There are many kinds of steak marinades. Almost everyone has their version of the best steak marinade. There are basically four ingredients that make the best steak marinade delicious. The best steak marinade can make the meat tender and achieve an even flavor. Other people like their marinades spicy and strong. Others like it smoky and sweet like the barbecue marinade for steaks. The most ideal way to discover the best steak marinade for you is to cook several steaks using different kinds of marinades for each steak.

1. Dark Steak Marinade Recipe

Ingredients:

1. Two medium shallots that should be minced 2 medium
2. one tablespoon of dried thyme
3. three tablespoons of brown sugar
4. one fourth cup of soy sauce
5. three tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
6. two tablespoons of Balsamic vinegar
7. one third cup of oil

Put all the ingredients in a plastic bag with a tight lid. Put the steaks and close it up. Put it inside your ref and let it marinate throughout the night. Turn the plastic bag from time to time so each steak will have a coating of the marinade. This recipe yields four cups.

2. Spicy Mustard Steak Marinade

Ingredients:

1. one half cup of steak sauce you can buy in bottles
2. one fourth cup of Dijon mustard
3. one fourth cup of vinegar made from red wine

Put all the ingredients in a zip lock bag or in a container and mix them altogether. Put the steaks and marinate it for many hours inside the ref. You can also use the rest of the steak marinade for basting the steaks while grilling it.

3. Herb Marinade for steaks Recipe

Ingredients:

1. four tablespoons of olive oil
2. three tablespoons of Worcestershire
3. two teaspoons of garlic that has been minced
4. one teaspoon of dried rosemary
5. one teaspoon of dried thyme
6. one half teaspoon of salt
7. one fourth teaspoon of pepper

Blend all the ingredients in a heavy duty zip bag. Put the steaks along with it. Put it inside the fridge for five to six hours.

About the Author
Visit these sites if you want more information about best way to marinate steaks or how to make hash browns in particular.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Chinese Recipes - Szechuan Cooking

Many people when asked about Szechuan cuisine immediately think of hot, spicy food that has you gulping down copious amounts of water for the rest of the evening to try and cool their burning taste buds. People are then often surprised to discover that at least of one-third of the recipes that make up Szechuan cuisine are not spicy at all.

That is not to say that Szechuan's reputation for producing "mouthburners" is undeserved. But, along with fiery classics such as "Hot and Numbing Fish" and "Kung Pao Chicken," Szechuan is the home of "Tea Smoked Duck", which is a fascinating dish made by smoking a duck over tea leaves. It is unclear precisely how chilli peppers were introduced to Szechuan, a landlocked, mountain-ringed region in western China.

The most accepted view is that Indian missionaries brought chillies with them during their travels along China's famous Silk Route - a series of pathways originally constructed during the Han dynasty for military and strategic purposes that subsequently gained more importance as a major trade route. Another theory is that they were brought in by Chinese merchants trading with Portuguese and Spanish sailors at various seaports. In any event, today chilli peppers are an indispensable feature of Chinese regional cuisine.

Dried peppers are frequently used in Szechuan dishes, while cooks favour fresh peppers in the neighbouring province of Hunan.

Tip - Ever hear the expression "Oil and water don't mix"? It's true, which is why drinking water doesn't help combat the effects of spicy foods. Since most spices are oily, the water just rolls over the spice.

Eat rice instead - it absorbs the hot chilli oil. Beer or milk also help. Szechuan pepper is an important ingredient in Szechuan cooking, also known as pepper flower, Chinese pepper. Szechuan pepper is not a pepper at all.

Instead, the reddish-brown fruit - one of the ingredients in five spice powder - is a berry that comes from the prickly ash tree. While not as hot as chilli pepper, it does have a unique flavour, and is famous for its numbing effect on the tongue.

Of course, all of this begs the question: how did the Szechuanese develop their taste for fiery hot cuisine? One common explanation is that Szechuan's muggy, humid climate encourages people to eat strongly spiced foods. There's more to it than that, however. Szechuan dishes often contain many flavours, such as sweet, sour, bitter, hot, salty, aromatic, and fragrant. Hot foods like red chilli stimulate the palate, making it more sensitive to all these flavours. In addition, they cleanse the palate in preparation for the next dish.

Foods featured in Szechuan cooking

Chilli peppers, Szechuan pepper, garlic, salt, and dried and pickled ingredients such as Szechuan preserved vegetable. Beef, lamb, and pork, although the Szechuanese eat less pork than neighboring Hunan, which is famous for its ham. Cooking methods: Szechuan cooks employ a variety of cooking methods, from stir-frying to roasting and simmering. Twice Cooked Pork, where the pork is first boiled and then stir-fried, is a classic regional dish.

Szechuan Chicken Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

* 4 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, about 7 ounces each
* 2 egg whites * 2 tablespoons cornstarch Sauce:
* 2 tablespoons rice wine, dry sherry or cooking wine
* 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
* 2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce
* 2 tablespoons sesame oil
* 1 tablespoon soy sauce
* 2 tablespoon brown sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon crushed dried red chillies, or to taste
* 2 slices ginger, minced, to form 1 tablespoon

Other:

* 4 carrots, cut into thin strips
* 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
* 1/2 green bell pepper, sliced
* 3 green onions, chopped
* 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

PREPARATION:

1. Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Cut the chicken breasts into thin strips. (Partially freeze chicken breasts first to make this easier).
3. Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
4. Whisk the cornstarch into the egg whites and coat the chicken strips with the mixture
5. Heat 1 cup oil in the wok & cook the chicken strips briefly in the hot oil until they turn white.
6. Remove the chicken and drain on paper towels.
7. Clean out the wok and add 1 tablespoon oil.
8. When the oil is hot, add the carrots & stir-fry briefly before adding the peppers.
9. Make a "well" in the middle of the wok and add the sauce.
10. Heat briefly then mix the sauce in with the vegetables.
11. Return the chicken to the wok.
12. Stir-fry 1 to 2 more minutes then stir in the green onions.
13. Serve with rice.

About the Author
Matt owns Secret Chinese Recipes that helps people to cook chinese recipes