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Ming Tsai's Must-Have Pantry Essentials

YumSugar — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 05:50:32 -0700

Last week, when I caught up with PBS host and restaurateur Ming Tsai, he spoke openly about his love affair with cooking, his latest ventures, and whether he'd be up for Top Chef Masters. In addition, Ming had endless tips for home cooks and rattled off a list of select Asian ingredients no kitchen should be without. To find out what they are, keep reading.
Source: Flickr User mamamusings

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Do You Cook With Dried Mushrooms?

partysugar — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:15:31 -0800

What's Your Favorite Trendy Ingredient of 2008?

YumSugar — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:00:28 -0800

Much like fashion or beauty, the epicurean world ebbs and flows. Certain ingredients or techniques fade away into obscurity while others suddenly come to the culinary forefront.

This year it was all about the pig - using the whole thing, from snout to tail. Exotic berries from goji to acai were all the rage. Ingredients with health benefits, such as antioxidant-rich fruits, continued to gain momentum. Which of these items do think is the Best of 2008?

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Let's Dish: What Ingredients Do You Refuse To Eat?

partysugar — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:00:44 -0700

Whether you're a picky eater or an adventurous one, everyone has certain items that they refuse to eat. Some things like mayonnaise, blue cheese, or cilantro are commonly hated, whereas things like chocolate or chicken are typically disliked by only a handful. Taste, texture, smell, color - whatever the reason - everyone has that one thing they avoid eating. So what ingredients do you refuse to eat?

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Learn How to Make Your Own Bar Ingredients

partysugar — Tue, 19 May 2009 10:15:08 -0700

Last week it was Cocktail Week here in San Francisco and I was lucky enough to attend a bunch of the events. The highlight was Thursday's bar school - a day of education. Since I'm an avid home mixologist, I checked out the House-Made Ingredients How-To taught by Jeff Hollinger, general manager at Absinthe, and Neyah White, bartender extraordinaire at Nopa.

In the drinks industry, both Jeff and Neyah are pioneers when it comes to creating bitters, cordials, tinctures, syrups, etc. The duo has made it its mission to bring back the craft of cocktail making one bottle of bitters at a time. To check out their tips for making bar ingredients at home and see a gallery of images from the class, read more.

The class started with a quick rundown of basic bartender terminology. A simple syrup is a mixture of water and sugar that is the foundation of an endless variety of syrups. A cordial and liqueur are spirits that have been infused with a flavoring agent (a fruit, herb, or spice) and are then sweetened. A tincture is a super-concentrated flavoring agent that is made from one specific ingredient. Bitters are like tinctures, but are made from a variety of ingredients.

Don't rely on recipes. Instead White recommends lots of creative experimentation.
Never throw anything away. Hollinger uses everything that comes out of the kitchen - including pickle juice leftover from one of Jamie Lauren's dishes - to make drink flavorings. White reserved the tops and bottoms of a season's worth of oranges in a large jar. After months of macerating in a high-proof alcohol, he had a complex and flavorful orange bitters.
Use in-season fruit to make syrups and shrubs (a mixture of fruit, sugar, and vinegar).
When making bitters and other highly concentrated flavoring agents, don't use the most expensive alcohol. Select an affordable pot-stilled alcohol.
It doesn't matter which type of alcohol you use. Rum, vodka, and everclear are all good options.
When working with citrus peel, be sure not to use the white pith. It will make the liquor or cordial bitter.
Be patient. The longer a mixture sits, the more flavorful it will become. Hollinger and White leave bottled flavorings in dark, cool cabinets for up to a year.
Strain and strain again. Once the liquid has reached the desired concentration, strain several times in cheesecloth. The final mixer should be clear and clean.
Make small batches. You can experiment with more ingredients that way.

Now I'm excited to get started on making my own bitters and cordials! Have you ever made your own bar mixers? What kind? How did they turn out?

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Know Your Ingredients: Tomatillos

YumSugar — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:00:19 -0700

If you're a lover of green salsa, then you should get to know tomatillos. A key ingredient in Latin-American cooking, the tomate verde as it's called in Spanish, or "green tomato," is related to tomatoes but has a drastically different flavor.

Tomatillos have a papery, outer husk, a firm, green exterior, and white flesh. They range in size from an inch to two inches in diameter. When overripe, they develop a yellow hue and should not be consumed. When eaten raw, tomatillos add a zippy, refreshing flavor. They can also benefit from blanching, fire-roasting, and other forms of cooking, which soften their consistency while enhancing their flavor.

Because of their tart quality, tomatillos make a great addition to salsa verde, tortilla soup, guacamole, pork posole, or mole sauce. Have you ever cooked with tomatillos? What are your favorite ways to prepare them?

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Secret Ingredient: Tofu Recap & Green Onions Next

YumSugar — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:43:17 -0800

The next secret ingredient is Green Onion (aka Scallion). Go out and find your best recipe featuring green onions. I want to see some creativity, some home favorites, some weird concoctions, anything as long as it has green onion in it! So join the Secret Ingredient Group and post your best green onion recipe there!

This week's winning Secret Ingredient recipe comes from reader celebrity_soup. She's really thought outside of the box and come up with a fantastic way to use tofu in a dessert. Think you don't like tofu? Well, check out this Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie and see if you don't change your mind. Thanks to everyone who posted their tofu recipes.

Next week it could be one of your recipes here!

To learn how to post to the Secret Ingredient Group, read more

I know this looks scary, but it's really simple once you get the hang of it. Send me a message if you have any problems!

First of all, join the Secret Ingredient Group
Click "Create & Share!" on the left hand side
Choose "Blog"
Give your recipe a Title
Change the category to "recipe"
Change the channel to "food and entertaining"
Add keywords (for example "secret ingredient, tofu, chili peppers")
Type your recipe into the body box
If you have an image, click on the "Add Image" link below the "body" box
A popup window will happen - click on "Browse" to find your image on your computer
Once you have the image chosen, click "Submit"
The popup will show you your image, choose size: "normal" - if you want, you can give it a title (which will show up as a caption)
Click "Insert" and the popup will go away
Your "body" box will now have the code for the picture. Leave it as is.
Click Submit

Secret Ingredient: Crab for Tofu

YumSugar — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 07:52:14 -0800

The next secret ingredient is Tofu.
So join the Secret Ingredient Group and post your best tofu recipe there!

This week's winning Secret Ingredient recipe comes from reader mandiesoh. Just in time for the Lunar New Year, mandiesoh has provided us with a fantastic recipe for Singapore Chili Crab. It looks absolutely great and I can't wait to try it. Thanks for posting! Next week it could be your recipe here for everyone to see.

To learn how to post to the Secret Ingredient Group, read more

I know this looks scary, but it's really simple once you get the hang of it. Send me a message if you have any problems!

First of all, join the Secret Ingredient Group
Click "Create & Share!" on the left hand side
Choose "Blog"
Give your recipe a Title
Change the category to "recipe"
Change the channel to "food and entertaining"
Add keywords (for example "secret ingredient, tofu, chili peppers")
Type your recipe into the body box
If you have an image, click on the "Add Image" link below the "body" box
A popup window will happen - click on "Browse" to find your image on your computer
Once you have the image chosen, click "Submit"
The popup will show you your image, choose size: "normal" - if you want, you can give it a title (which will show up as a caption)
Click "Insert" and the popup will go away
Your "body" box will now have the code for the picture. Leave it as is.
Click Submit

Secret Ingredient: Butternut Squash

YumSugar — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:37:45 -0800

Calling all crafty cooks! I double-dog-dare you to post a recipe in my Secret Ingredient group. Each week I'll announce a new ingredient and invite you to post a recipe that creatively incorporates the ingredient of the week.

Last Friday I introduced butternut squash as the first secret ingredient. If you've got an innovative recipe that contains butternut squash (which is very in season right now) add it to my Secret Ingredient group. One lucky recipe will be featured on YumSugar as my secret ingredient dish of the week.

Know Your Ingredients: Hearts of Palm

YumSugar — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:50:57 -0700

You may regularly get hearts of palm as a fixing at the salad bar, but do you know what these vegetables are, exactly?

Hearts of palm - also called palmito or swamp cabbage - are the sweet, tender cores of various palm trees. When harvested, the tree's bark and white fibers are removed, leaving an edible core. Because extracting the palm's inner core destroys single-stemmed coconut, acai, and sabal palm trees, multi-stem palms known as peach palms are cultivated solely for the purpose of harvesting palm hearts.

A staple of Latin American cuisine, hearts of palm are used in spreads, eaten out of hand, tossed into salads, and served with pasta.

The plant has a mild flavor similar to that of an artichoke heart, and is crisp when fresh, though it turns softer when canned. Are you surprised to hear where this salad bar staple comes from? What are some other ingredients you've always wondered about?

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