Cooking

The exact temperature of your oven is important, but so is where the heat is located. If heat is uneven in an oven, you could end up with goods that are burnt in some places and still cooking in other places. A thermometer will tell you the temperature, but it won’t tell you where the hot or cold spots are. Luckily you can test your oven with just sugar and a pan to see what you’re dealing with. Set your oven rack to the middle (where it would be if you were baking) and crank the heat to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle an even layer of granulated sugar onto it. Try using a cup of sugar, which would be enough to cover a 11×17-inch pan with a light dusting. Once preheated, place the pan in the center rack of the oven and set a timer for 10 minutes. Once the timer goes off, immediately remove the pan from the oven and inspect the sugar. With this method, you now have a map of your oven’s hot and cold spots. Where the temperature was exactly 400°F, the sugar should be melted without being burnt. Darker, burnt sugar indicate hot spots, while unmelted areas are cool spots. This will help inform where you should be placing goods in your oven. Source: the Kitchn

Baked goods and savory treats made with brown butter give it an extra depth of flavor. It works some serious magic. It has a depth and an intensity that melted butter can lack. While brown butter isn’t hard to make on a stovetop, it can be more work. It requires an extra level of vigilance so the butter doesn’t overcook or burn. Simplify the process by browning the butter in a microwave instead! Cut the butter in roughly cut pieces and place in a microwave-safe bowl with a cover. Heat in a microwave on high for about 10 minute if you’re browning a cup of butter. This will be less if you’re browning less. Check the butter to see it has a nutty smell with browned bits and a deep amber color. If you haven’t achieved that quite yet, simply stick it back in the microwave for another minute or two. The most important part here is this is a completely hands-off experience. There’s no active time required. Brown butter will give your baked goods that extra bit of flavor, and with the microwave tip you’ll be sure to get the results you desire. Source: the Kitchn

Cooking steak can either be a success or a failure with just one crucial step. After you have transferred steak from a grill to a cutting board, it should rest on the board at room temperature for five to seven minutes. These crucial moments ensure the perfect distribution of the juices inside. If you cut into steak too quickly off a barbecue you’ll get a bullseye pattern. On the other hand, if you let the steak sit without touching it, you’ll get a gentle gradation from red to various pinks. For these moments after, don’t wrap it in foil, cover it or poke it. Leave it alone and you’ll be rewarded with the perfect steak. Cosmo Appliances can set you on the right path for all your cooking needs–including a perfect juicy steak. Find a full collection of Cosmo stoves, gas ranges or dual fuel ranges here. Looking for other ways to connect? Follow our Facebook and Instagram! Source: House Beautiful

There are plenty of flour varieties out there–whole wheat, rye, spelt, and more. An all-purpose flour may sound like it’s good enough for every making project, but some recipes may call for a bread flour instead. These two are closely related and can mostly be used interchangeably. However, the small differences in protein and gluten content variations can make a difference in the final product. Here’s what you need to know about the differences between all-purpose and bread flour. All Purpose Flour This flour is the perfect balance of protein and gluten for most recipes. It’s made by removing the wheat’s germ and grinding the starch-rich endosperm into a flour with 9% to 11% protein content. This protein will determine how strong, stretchy and tender a baked good will be. All-purpose flour is ideal for cookies, muffins and quick breads. It can also work for most cake recipes and some breads. Bread Flour A bread flour will have more protein content than all-purpose flour, about 11% to 13%. This will ultimately aid gluten development, resulting in chewy baked goods. It’s most commonly used for breads (hence the name) but can also be great for cookies, pizza crusts and more. You’ll notice crumb and texture differences between the flours but they generally can substitute one another. Avoid over-mixing bread flour if you are using it in place of an all-purpose flour or you can end up with chewy, dense baked goods. Source: the Kitchn

If you’re looking to perfect that chocolate chip cookie recipe, you should start with learning the basics to butter. Butter carries all the important factors to a cookie’s flavor and texture. Here’s what the differences in butter can do for your recipe. Butter gives flavor, tenderness and flaky layers to baked goods. It can also bring a bit of structure and rise. For instance, a chocolate chip cookie dough incorporates butter and sugar to incorporate air into the final result. The fat and moisture in butter can enhance or inhibit gluten development which directly impacts the shape, spread and texture in cookies. Softened Butter. At a temperature between 70 and 72 degrees F, butter is soft enough to incorporate air but not soft enough that it will melt immediately in the oven. This will result in super thin cookies and prevent gluten development. Cookies will come out with a finer texture and more cake-like. Melted Butter. In its liquid state, butter will mix with both the sugar and flour for a softer dough that develops more gluten. Cookies baked with melted butter will spread more than those with room-temperature butter. If you chill cookie dough made with melted butter, you’ll end up with a cookie that is soft and chewy but crispy on just the edges. Cold Butter. A cold butter will make baked goods flaky by creating layers in the dough and cutting through the gluten development. A pie crust or croissant would be an example of this method. It makes for a super crispy cookie with a tender center. Source: the Kitchn

Minced garlic is a great way to infuse food with sweet, pungent garlic flavor. However, mincing is arduous and can often bring undesired smells. Follow this guide on when you should skip the mincing altogether even if a recipe calls for it. Smashing or slicing garlic will break down the cells inside the clove which starts a chemical reaction. This reaction is what gives a stronger flavor, so finely minced garlic will be more pungent than smashed cloves. However, minced garlic will also burn easier and often taste bitter if overcooked. Skip mincing garlic for soups, stews and braises. A stew will cook slowly, so there’s no need to mince garlic. The broth will break down the cloves. Maximize flavor by smashing the cloves before tossing them into the pot. Slice garlic for pastas and sautés. Cooking sliced garlic in olive oil or butter will caramelize, adding to the flavor of the base dish. Try frying the garlic in oil and use the oil to sauté vegetables. Minced garlic with these methods could easily burn, leaving a bitter taste. Grate for dressings and marinades. You can mimic the flavor of minced garlic by simply grating it on a fine grater. This is easy to overcook so save it for salad dressings and marinades. Source: The Kitchn