Tips, Tricks and Things You did not Know You needed to Know

Conversion Table Spice Preparation On a Related Note Regarding Temperature Reheating Leftovers Tips for Cooking and Using Herbs and Spices Mixing Spice with Food Baking Soda and Vinegar All Oil and Grease are NOT the Same Herbs and Spices are FOOD Salt 170 degrees Sodium Hyphochlorite (Bleach) Deer Meat To Butter or Not to Butter Why Cook Food

First, remember, you can always ADD more spice, but you can not remove it. Therefore, start with less than what you think you want then taste and repeat as desired.

There are several ways to prepare and use spices.

Heating foods over 170 degrees kills things.  Sometimes this is what you want, often it is not what you want.  Many people try to cook their food FAST and this brings consequences.

The process of cooking is a factor of time vs heat.  Often, you can cook at higher temperature for less time or you can cook at lower temperatures for longer times.  But, never should you cook at high temperature for a long time.  This has an effect on texture and nutrients.

Cooking at higher temperatures will cook the outside much faster than the inside, leading to dry and tough meat.

With modern people trying to cook FAST, they opt for the high heat and a minimum time (which often becomes to too much time).  Using chicken as an example, you might could use 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or 225 degrees for 60 minutes (much better).

Slow cooking your meat makes it more tasty, juicy and tender.

Vegetables are also being killed by most cooks.

Most vegetables are edible WITHOUT cooking.  If you have a reason to “cook” them, then usually the best method is to bring water to a boil and add vegetables for a minute or two, then promptly remove from the water.  This helps keep them crispy and tasty with much of their nutrients.

The next time you order a pizza try this.  Order what you want on the pizza but have veggies put on AFTER it comes from the oven.  If they look funny at you, then simply point to the salad bar.

Ever heat pot roast as a leftover and find you can hardly chew it or swallow it?  Try this. 

For most of your leftovers, bring water to a boil in a deep enough pan to cover you food.  Then add the food you want to eat, for about a minute or two.  Remove and enjoy the succulence.

This will work for all meats and vegetables, with few exceptions - like mashed potatoes.

 

Some foods will simply need to have the spice added by sprinkling or folding (mixing) into food.  Other foods will better if spices are prepared separately added to the food.

Fowl are an example of preparing the spice separately.  After cooking the fowl, use the drippings of the fowl to mix with the spice.  Add oil or water as needed or desired.  After preparing the spice you can roll the fowl pieces in the spice or use the spice as a dip.

Chili and rice are examples of adding the spice to the food and folding (mixing) it together.

There is also the method of sprinkling the spice on the food.  Remember, spices taste differently when wet or dry.  Eggs and potatoes are examples of sprinkling.

From your clothes to your dishes to your hair to your body, baking soda and vinegar may be the best cleaning agents you get use.

While using Dawn dish soap to remove greasy messes, using baking soda will cost less and work beautifully.  The difficulty in using baking soda is that does not lather, leaving a trail of where you have washed, and confuses people as to where they have cleaned.

The same is true for your hair and body.  Rinsing your hair and body with vinegar is refreshing and exfoliating.  The smell is NOT a problem as it is gone in minutes.

There is some heady research involved in this, so you will have to do your own research.  But, first choice for cooking is coconut oil, with second choice being olive oil. A must see: The oiling of America

Treat them as such.  Think in terms of putting food on your spice.  The point is, think of using more than a sprinkle.

First, let us make something perfectly clear.  As far as you are concerned, ALL SALT IS SEA SALT.  It matters not if it is separated from seawater, dug from ground pits.  Pits are ancient sea beds, a collection of salt when that sea disappeared long ago.  The only difference in salts is not the salt, but the surrounding minerals.  The minerals are washed or not washed from the salt.  If you buy grey or pink “sea” salt, it merely is not cleaned of surrounding minerals.  If you buy “white” salt, it is merely cleaned of surrounding minerals.

The salts that have not been cleaned probably do contain desireable minerals, but that may or may not be enough reason to pay extra.

When using herbs and spices, remember SALT can be your friend.  You can use SALT to enhance flavor and to extend the use of your herbs and spices.  If you want to make your spice fit into more servings, then use a little less and a dash of SALT.  BE CAREFUL – if you cross the fine line the SALT will ruin the food.  Maybe you could rinse it off, but you have to determine that.

If you heat vegetable or animal things to over 170 degrees, you kill bacteria (GOOD and bad).  You also will damage or kill other things of nutrient value.  Many people cook meats at around 350 or so degrees and for WAY TOO long.

Here are a couple examples of needed temperatures for some food:
•    Beef is cooked after it reaches an internal temperature of 145-160 degrees (depending on rare, med, well) for about 10 minutes.
•    Chicken is cooked after it reaches an internal temperature of 160-165 degrees for about 10 minutes.

If you want to sear whole spice, that might be OK, but not ground spice.

Being mindful of the temperatures will keep your oil from being a concern for cancer.

Many people do not understand simple chemistry (and why should they????) and are easily frightened by technical words.  If you tell many people that “dihydro monoxide” is rampant in factory and restaraunts and even in their homes, they would agree to ban it.  The same would be true if you tell them the same about “sodium chloride”, they would agree to ban it.  And again if you tell them about “sodium hypochlorite”, they would agree to ban it.

“dihydro monoxide” is WATER   
                  “sodium chloride” is table SALT   
                                     “sodium hypochlorite” is BLEACH

Sodium hypochlorite is one of the two elements which makes SALT.   The other is sodium, a metal.  When sodium and sodium hypochlorite are combine (do not try this at home) the result is sodium chloride – SALT.  Conversely, when you separate SALT into its parts, you get sodium and sodium hypochlorite - BLEACH

The promoted fears for bleach may be genuine, but you can drown in water.  Should we avoid water?  Vinegar will NOT kill Listeria.

Exposing something to sodium hypochlorite for at least 3 minutes and as long as 10 minutes will effectively rid it of all germs (bacteria, virus, etc).  Sodium hypochlorite once exposed to air is neutralized after about ½ hour to 1 hour, and no longer useful.  The remaining residue is sodium (salt), which rinses easily.

If you use sodium hypochlorite to disinfect something, including food, it should be adequately rinsed.  Typical ratio of use is about 1 cap (1/4oz) bleach to 1 gallon water.  This is not a critical ratio.

The smell of bleach is NOT bad.  It indicates the item is treated and germ free.

When using game meat such as deer – it is a very DRY meat.  It may help to include some cow fat added to the deer meat.  Maybe 25 % fat, (maybe 1 lb of venison, and 1/2 lb of cow meat [for fat content]), otherwise your results will be dry.  Experiment.

This is closely related to the oil issue.  Butter is GOOD for you. 

Ants and flies will not touch margarine.  It is hydrogenated and causes heart disease.  AND it does not spoil. 

But having said all that, coconut oil is a great replacement for butter.

1. Butter is rich in the most easily absorbable form of Vitamin A necessary for thyroid and adrenal health.
2. Contains lauric acid, important in treating fungal infections and candida.
3. Contains lecithin, essential for cholesterol metabolism.
4. Contains anti-oxidants that protect against free radical damage.
5. Has anti-oxidants that protect against weakening arteries.
6. Is a great source of Vitamins E and K.
7. Is a very rich source of the vital mineral selenium.
8. Saturated fats in butter have strong anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties.
9. Butter contains conjugated linoleic acid, which is a potent anti-cancer agent, muscle builder, and immunity booster
10. Vitamin D found in butter is essential to absorption of calcium.
11. Protects against tooth decay.
12. Is your only source of an anti-stiffness factor, which protects against calcification of the joints.
13. Anti-stiffness factor in butter also prevents hardening of the arteries, cataracts, and calcification of the pineal gland.
14. Is a source of Activator X, which helps your body absorb minerals.
15. Is a source of iodine in highly absorbable form.
16. May promote fertility in women.
17. Is a source of quick energy, and is not stored in our bodies adipose tissue.
18. Cholesterol found in butterfat is essential to children's brain and nervous system development.
19. Contains Arachidonic Acid (AA) which plays a role in brain function and is a vital component of cell membranes.
20. Protects against gastrointestinal infections in the very young or the elderly.
    
    
    A must see: The oiling of America

That is a trick question.  If it is food, you do not need to cook it.  If it is something you can not eat in the raw, then heating it helps break down elements of the item so you can digest it.  As a rule, raw vegetables are usually food right off the plant.  They do not need “cooking”.  Have you ever eaten a tomato off the vine?  What of corn?  You have never really tasted them till you eat them fresh from the plant.

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