hiatus:

Really busy with other things, so I have to take a hiatus from this blog.  Enjoy your food!

avocados:

Picking:  If ripening a day or two before, you can pick a lighter green one, which will feel like a rock and not squeezable, and put it in a paper bag with an apple to ripen it.  I often just leave it on the counter and wait for the color to change; avocados ripen quickly.

An avocado that is a darker green is usually ripe, but if the skin feels a little too soft, like the skin is loose or shriveled, chances are you've found an over-ripened, bruised avocado, which isn't so great.  The best avocado is one that is slightly squeezable, and a darker green without being almost blackish-green.

Seasons (from ehow):  Haas avocados are available year-round but are at their peak from April to November. Fuerte are available from November to July. Reed are available from March to September. Booth, Lula and Taylor are available from the end of June through February. Zutano are available from October to May.  Bacon are available from November through July.

Here's a simple video for how to prepare avocados.  I use the same methods--cut in half, twist, chop knife into pit and twist to remove, use a butter knife to cut through, and scoop out with a spoon.

rice noodles:

Those Asian dried rice noodles in the plastic packages--what do you do with them?  Soak them in cold water for 30-60 minutes.  You want them just separated but still firm and not mushy.  In a pinch, place them in warm water for 10-15 minutes, but this may cook them slightly.  The water temperature only matters if you're looking for a fresher, firmer texture.  Throw them in soup or fry them up with plenty of oil.  Rice noodles are sometimes called rice stick.  The "cellophane" noodles that are like thread are usually made of mung beans and not rice.  They take longer to cook and are not the same as rice noodles though they look similar.  So, beware!

lettuce:

My least favorite commonly eaten food is probably lettuce, but it's good to know how to prep it for a salad or even a sandwich.  There are four types of lettuce:  butterhead, crisphead, looseleaf, and Romaine.  Icebergs, a type of crisphead, are very popular but the least nutritious.  Romaine is typically used for Caesar salads and is also crisp, but not as "sweet" as iceberg.  Looseleaf is common to gourmet sandwiches and green salads, and I find it is the slowest to wilt.

For heads of lettuce, peel off the outermost leaves and remove any part that is brown or wilted.  For shredded lettuce, rinse the outside, cut the head in half, and then slice down very thinly to achieve the strands you find in tacos, for example.  For a salad, whatever type of lettuce, I peel off all the leaves carefully, rinse them, tear the leaves apart by hand into smaller pieces, and place them in a salad spinner (sometimes) to keep them dry and crisp.  For looseleaf lettuce, just cut off the joining stem and proceed as above.

There are a number of lettuce variants like arugula, raddichio, and endive, and each has its own type of flavor.  It's probably a good idea to taste them individually and pair them with various foods to see what you like.

With darker greens, you might see some sliminess that needs to be removed as well.  Hopefully you can eat the leaves soon after purchasing them so as not to reach this stage.

cuts of beef:

What I use in:

Beef stew, beef noodle soup--chuck

Stir fry--flank, top round (something labeled London broil, which is not actually a cut)

Fajitas--flank

Pot roast--chuck

Shredded beef for tacos, etc--shoulder blade roast (from chuck) or top round

Ribs--short ribs or back ribs

Burgers, meatballs, meat sauces--ground beef

Plain ol' steak--all the short loins are the best, and most expensive.  I don't really like to cook sirloin, but it's a cheaper alternative.

steak:

I was going to write this long entry, but I found a site that has many of the same tips I've learned (e.g., let meat come to room temperature before cooking, use tongs, don't move it for the first couple minutes so it doesn't stick).  Good stuff.  It also has all the cuts of steak so you know what you're getting.  Another good resource is Bon Appetit's "Grilling Issue."  The next entry will be about the "other" steaks/cuts of beef and what I use for various types of dishes.

Cooking the Perfect Steak

salt:

Table salt, kosher salt, and sea salt--does it make a difference which one you use?  You can find plenty of info online, but my basic opinion is this:  Try them and you'll see.  Table salt is refined and processed with some additives or chemicals (although still 97% NaCl at least).  It is fine when you are dissolving it in something like soup or just need a little something on your food.  However, when you are roasting potatoes or rubbing it on meat, the larger crystals of kosher salt are slower-dissolving and have a purer flavor.  I don't believe iodine is added to it, however, and we all do need a little iodine for our health.  Sea salt seems to have a different flavor than kosher or table salt.  I tend to only use it on foods directly served, like sprinkling it on an avocado, because it has a strong, lingering flavor for me.  When it comes to a "pinch of salt" in recipes, the larger crystals are easier to pinch.  Also, Morton is saltier than Diamond table salt, so it's always helpful to try out a recipe and see if you need to adjust the salt amount.  That's as far as my salt repertoire goes; I've never had gray sea salt or other colored salt varieties.