Category: Food

Mixers refer to the endless variety of stuff you can add to liquors in making cocktails. Mixers are not alcoholic but their purpose is for mixing with alcohol. Of course, you can mix anything with alcohol, but it would not always taste great. There are mixers that are compatible with certain alcoholic drinks.

Cola

This classic mixer goes well with whiskey and rum. Squeezing a wedge of lime will give you the well-known Cuba Libre.

Cranberry juice

This juice gives the Cosmopolitan its red color which is a signature of the popular drink. It goes very well with vodka or orange liqueur.

Ginger ale and ginger beer

Both of them go well with blended whiskey or bourbon. Ginger ale gives more sweetness while ginger beer offers more spice.

Grapefruit juice

The sharpness of the juice complements the floral flavors of gin. It goes better with gin than vodka because of that. It is also an excellent match for rum or tequila.

Grapefruit soda

Tequila and a pinch of salt transforms into something even better when mixed with this soda.

Lemon-lime soda

It is a bit sweet and beginners usually mix this with whiskey drinks. It also does magic for fruity punches. Some of the most common lemon-lime sodas are 7-Up, Sierra Mist, and Sprite.

Orange juice

Freshly-squeezed orange adds texture and flavor to gin, vodka, and rum. Mixed powdered juice also works fine.

Tonic

It gives a hint of bitterness to the drink and is usually mixed with either gin or vodka.

Seltzer water

It provides sparkle to a heavy alcoholic drink. It also gives the body to flavored vodkas. This is best for a light, low-key sipper.

The company, StrangeLove, offers various tonic mixers and lo-cal sodas. The following premium mixers are worth trying.

Hot ginger beer

It gives rum, whiskey, or bourbon a unique kick. It has the dry heat of the Australian ginger root and the spicy aromatics of Sichuan pepper. This is a perfect mixer that will give you an implacable hot ginger experience.

Dirty tonic water

This premium mixer uses cinchona bark, orange peel, and fragrant rosemary. The combination creates a natural, earthy tone with a bit of delicacy and boldness. It is perfect for herbaceous or citrus-led gins.

Salted white grapefruit

This is a mixture of white grapefruits, grapefruit essential oils, and pink flake salt. Any premium tequila will become even smoother with its natural saltiness. The sourness of grapefruit gives the tequila more balance and accent.

What would you like for dinner tonight? Chicken cordon bleu? A plant-based burger grilled to perfection? Shrimp scampi? If you’re a resident of a senior living facility, and none of these are on the menu tonight, chances are they will be soon.

The food at assisted living facilities and nursing homes used to be sort of blah, to put it politely. But that began to change when the Baby Boomers, with their gourmet palates, began moving into senior living facilities.

There are no more mushy meals. And the light hand with the salt and spices is gone. What the Boomers are looking for is food that feels and tastes like the food they ate at fine restaurants. They want that fine restaurant atmosphere, too.

Meals Matter
According to an American Time Use Survey, people between 65-74 spend about seven hours a day on leisure activities. Meals are considered an activity and take up about an hour and a half of an older person’s day. The Boomers expect that hour and a half to be enjoyable and time well-spent.

For residents of senior living facilities, there’s another reason why mealtimes are so important. They’re social occasions when everyone gathers in the dining room for conversation, as well as food.

In the top facilities, the dining rooms replicate five-star restaurants with linen tablecloths, crystal glasses, and fine china. Some serve wine with meals. And there’s no cafeteria-style eating. Servers bring the food to the tables and take the dishes away when the diners are finished eating.

Competing For Top Chefs
Senior living facilities used to hire just about anyone who knew how to prepare a meal. But today, they compete with the restaurants and country clubs for the best chefs to run their kitchens.

The chef is backed up by dietitians and a wellness staff to help plan delicious and nutritious meals. In some facilities, a panel of residents makes menu suggestions and gives feedback on the food.

Emphasizing Fresh Food And Choices

Another change that’s come to the kitchens of senior living facility kitchens is an emphasis on fresh food. Before the Boomers came along, that was in short supply at many assisted living facilities and nursing homes. But today, there’s always fresh fruit. And meals are prepared from scratch with fresh farm to table meat and vegetables. Like the food at any good restaurant, chefs prepare food at senior living facilities with sauces and spices.

Choices can range from steak to pizza and even sushi. Keeping their dietary needs and preferences in mind, residents can choose low sodium, gluten-free and vegetarian dishes.

A Sneak Peek At The Menus
So what’s on the menus at the largest senior living companies? Here’s a sneak peek.

One evening at Sunrise Assisted Living, residents got to choose from baked salmon on greens, chicken Milanese, or the sandwich of the day plate for dinner. The salmon and chicken came with Rosemary red potatoes and roasted beets. For dessert, the choices were ice cream, no sugar added ice cream, sliced fresh fruit, sour cream pound cake, or vanilla pudding parfait.

For lunch that day, residents had tomato bisque, spinach blue cheese salad, a choice of chicken pot pie or an egg salad stuffed tomato, or a sandwich. Dessert choices included baked apples, sliced fresh fruit, and ice cream.

On the menu for breakfast were scrambled egg casserole or a Sunrise omelet. Residents could also have cold cereal or oatmeal, bacon or sausage and sliced fresh fruit.

Where Will You Eat?
Generally, dining programs like Sunrise’s are available at continuing care, independent living, assisted living and memory care facilities, and nursing homes. If you buy or rent a home in a senior living community, when it comes to gourmet dining, you’re on your own. So when you downsize, hang on to your cookbooks.

People who make and eat at home regularly tend to live a happier and healthier lifestyle. Cooking food at home enhance to consume less sugar and processed foods, which can result in higher energy levels and improves mental health. To satisfy all the family members by cooking at home is not possible, because each one prefers different kinds of food. You need to cook with a lot of speed and it can be done easily with the instant pot. By knowing Effortless Instant Pot Recipes you can satisfy all of their needs.

What is an instant pot?

The instant pot is the most popular kitchen appliance, which is referred us as multicooker due to its functionalities. It not only makes the food quickly but also prepares a meal healthier. It is considered as all in one device where you can saute, slow cook, steam veggies and non-veggies and make rice. You can make ready the food for less than an hour.

Instant pot with its pressure cooking function locks the steam where releases liquid from meat and vegetables, it pushes back into food by building pressure. With the normal pressure cooker, the safety factor is high in risk, if the lid is not closed properly it may explode and cause damages. Whereas in an instant pot, the lid stays locked until the pressure is released. The instant pot is designed with the advanced technology, if it seems to be unsafe then the device will shut down automatically.

You can cook a meal for a single person or else for the whole family for less than 30 minutes. You can try out Effortless Instant Pot Recipes which is more simple than you expect. The cleaning process of the instant pot is also very easy.

Did you know that steaks are good for your health? Aside from being rich in protein, steaks also have high iron content that can aid in overcoming and preventing iron-deficiency anemia. It is also an excellent source of essential micronutrients, like selenium, zinc, and B-vitamins.

Grass-fed beef has also been found to contain higher omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins E and A, and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a nutrient that aids in weight loss and can help fight chronic diseases like cancer and diabetes.

Health benefits aside, people eat steak for the sheer pleasure it offers. So, whether you’re planning to dine at a steakhouse in Abu Dhabi or prepare the steak yourself, here are five rules you must know first to enjoy great steak:

When Eating Out

Because of their elegant setup and etiquette, many people find it intimidating to eat at steakhouses. But this shouldn’t be the case. After all, these establishments are all about enjoying the pleasures of life.

To make sure you get the most out of the experience, below are some things you must remember when eating steak at a steakhouse:

1. Choose the right wine to pair it with

Picking the right pair of steak and wine can mean a world of a difference in your steakhouse dining experience.

When matching meat with wine, the rule of thumb is to pair red with red and lean with light. Since steaks are prepared using red meat, the focus of this article will be on matching the leanness of meat to the red wine.

Following the “lean with light” premise, you should opt for light or medium-bodied red wines when you order lean cuts of beef, such as:

• Sirloin tip side steak
• Eye of round steak
• Bottom round roast
• Top round roast
• Top sirloin

Alternatively, fatty cuts of meat go well with bold red wines that are rich in tannin, which serves as a palate cleanser that “scrapes” fattiness from the inside of your mouth.

Some of the steak cuts that work great with bold wines are:

• Hanger steak
• Filet mignon
• Porterhouse steak
• Skirt steak
• New York strip
• T-bone steak
• Ribeye steak

2. Medium rare is the best way to go

While everyone has their own preferences when it comes to the doneness of a steak, most chefs and steak aficionados would tell you to opt for medium-rare.

You see, the longer a steak is cooked, the drier and tougher it becomes. This means that steak that is cooked past medium (i.e., well-done and medium-well) are less tender and moist, and would feel much like eating a piece of leather.

However, rare steaks may not be quite pleasing for a steak novice’s palate as well. Aside from being generally cold inside, rare steaks also haven’t reached its full potential for flavor since the fat in the meat hasn’t melted yet. The marbling — or the little specks of fat contained within the meat — is what makes steak flavorful and, ultimately, determines the overall quality of the steak.

So, what level of doneness should you pick if well-done, medium-well, and rare are removed from the equation? Easy. Go for what’s left in between: medium-rare.

When cooked medium-rare, the meat is able to reach its optimal level of tenderness and flavor while retaining its juiciness. Medium-rare steaks are also warm, which removes that awful feeling of putting cold meat into your mouth.

When Cooking Steak

Steaks are considered a treat for the taste buds of foodies all over the world. No matter where you are, enjoying a great steak should not be so hard.

Of course, you don’t have to go out just to taste a slice of that juicy and meaty goodness — you can cook it in the comforts of your own home. When doing so, there are a couple of general rules you must keep in mind to ensure that you prepare a decent — if not, steakhouse-quality — steak on your own, as follows:

3.  Buy top-quality meat

Unless you have plenty of money to spend, you probably won’t have steak for all three meals every day. Because of the price of top-quality meat, steaks are often considered an indulgence and, thus, only consumed on rare occasions.

Since it’s already an indulgence, you must make sure that you buy good quality meat when cooking steak at home. If you truly want to enjoy great-tasting steak, you have to find ways to get meat that is on par with the reputation this type of food has.

One way to do this is to buy lesser-known cuts from the local butcher. Aside from being inexpensive, these meats are more likely fresher than frozen ones from the supermarket since you’re getting it direct from the source.

If you have no access to a butcher, you won’t have any choice but to purchase meat from a supermarket. If this is the case, you should at least look for cuts that are roughly one inch thick and has a good level of fat content to make into a decent steak.

4. Pat down the meat before cooking

Once you get your hands on good meat, the next thing you have to do after bringing it home is to pat it down with a kitchen towel. This will get rid of the extra moisture that causes the steak to steam rather than sear when cooked. This is also the best practice after thawing meat that’s been sitting in the fridge for some time.

5. Don’t trim off the fat

Before cooking, you must also remember not to trim off the fat from the meat. The level of fat in the meat is a crucial factor in ensuring that the steak is juicy and flavorful.

The fat from the meat helps prevent it from sticking to the pan or grill and from drying out during cooking.

If you’re not fond of eating fat, you can simply leave it on your plate after the steak has been served. Never remove it prior to cooking.

A Final Word

Steaks are arguably one of the best-tasting food you can ever get a bite of in your entire life. While they may be easy to come by, making your steakhouse experience worthwhile is another thing altogether. Before you head out to weekend brunch in Anantara, Abu Dhabi or prepare a steak in your home, consider these rules first for optimal satisfaction.

Americans consume more pizza than people from other countries in the world. It’s estimated that an American will consume at least 46 slices of pizza every 365 days. That’s quite a big amount, but facts never lie.  Every pizza lover knows there are qualities, which define a good handcrafted Italian-recipe pizza. Even the most trusted pizza bases online will define such qualities clearly and precisely, so you can easily choose what suits you. The qualities of the toppings, sauce, cheese, and crust in pizzas vary significantly from one pizza to the other, and that’s why they should be your focal considerations.

Check the Crust

Check the texture and flavor of the pizza to confirm if it is thick, thin, or has a media size.  For thick pizza crust, ensure the texture is airy and light or even chewy.  As for the thin pizzas, ensure they have a crispy bottom, are foldable. The heart should be soft and delicate, too. For those who prefer pizzas with medium-sized crust, ensure it combines the qualities found in both the thin and thick pizza crusts.

Evaluate the Sauce

Pizza sauces are made of different flavors, most of which include butter, olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, basil, pepper, salt, oregano, and onions. Avoid sauces with too much tomato flavor, too much oregano, or lots of garlic as they will not combat well with pizzas.  It is crucial to ensure the sauce is well-made and has the right and fresh ingredients.

Check the Toppings

The pizza toppings are another fundamental consideration.  Ensure you get the right pizza toppings, depending on personal preferences. Those who prefer protein toppings should offer toppings featuring chicken, beef, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, broccoli, salami, salmon, pineapple, and more. These ingredients are known to be super when it comes to giving pizza the sweetness, crunch, and saltiness you desire to have fun moments eating it.

Check the Cheese

Talk with your selected pizza bases online baker, so they do not mix the cheese with toppings.  Cheese should have gooeyness and stretch that gives your pizza the flavor you need.  You will have lots of cheese options to choose from, with mozzarella being the most common and preferred choice by many.

Conclusion

Know what you want in a pizza is simply not enough, especially if you are not the one going to cook it. Knowing the qualifications and experience of the pizza cook you entrust the job of handcrafting your pizza using the suggested ingredients is important, too. Minimize the hassle of searching and comparing options online by choosing the best pizza bases that are trusted, such as Letizza bakers. With us, you can have your pizza customized to match the unique ingredients and budget needs.

Onion is a vegetable that has germ-free, remedial and synergist characteristics can be utilized to help the fix of numerous illnesses and diminish the cooking time of various dishes separately. Granulated onion seasoning has a low calorific worth. As an impetus, it is utilized to decrease the cooking time of the accompanying dishes: Beans, Rice and meat. What’s more, it softens the hamburger by reducing its durability.

Onion is additionally utilized as a flavour in cooking Soup, Stew, Rice Plantain and Green verdant vegetables (for example Spinach). At the point when the onion is used as a zest in these dishes, it improves the taste, flavor, and smell. It is likewise utilized for decorating numerous kinds of dishes. It comprises a massive segment in Salad making. In spring or green onion, both the bulbs and leaves are consumable.

Its antiseptic and essential characteristics help with relieving the accompanying maladies: Asthma, Bronchitis, Pneumonia, Influenza and Cold. Casualties of Tuberculosis have been accounted for to improve extensively because of the substantial utilization of onion. Onion has achieved improvement in instances of Low Blood Pressure and Obesity. It likewise helps the obliteration of worms and different parasites in the body. Squashed onion poultice applied to the chest has been accounted for to mitigate instances of Pleurisy (aggravation of the lung) and bubbles on the skin. Granulated onion seasoning is excellent for people with diabetes since it contains allyl propyl disulfide, which brings down glucose levels by expanding the measure of free insulin accessible.

While onions can demonstrate to be stable, they ought to be, similar to certain vegetables and flavours, be taken in the perfect sums and with some restraint. This is because expending onions in additional enormous amounts can prompt gastrointestinal bothering and to stomach trouble. Whenever taken excessively, at that point, these conditions can prompt the runs and sickness. At the point when utilized appropriately and in the perfect sums, anybody can unquestionably use the numerous medical advantages offered by the onion. Make sure to incorporate into dishes, soups, plates of mixed greens or even eat them crudely. Time and experience have demonstrated that the medical advantages of onions exceed the gastrointestinal distress whenever devoured excessively.

Make sure to value the onion, not because it makes your dishes more delectable or basically because it adds punch to your suppers yet more so because it gives you a ton of medical advantages that you can’t only get from other arrangement produce.

In the fast world, having enough time in hand is a major issue. When you got to do so many things at once, it is hard to keep up with a healthy diet. This is when you are in look for quick meal options to have all the vital nutrients in a single bite. There are several sources that recommend pizza as the right source of essential nutrients in the easy way of eating the meal with perfection. Pizza is known to be the sort of complex food type with all the essentialities packed under the head. For some, pizza is the kind of junk food or fast food. It is not so in reality when stuffed with the right ingredients.

Pizza Eating Style
Pizza is the flattering food type packed with complete nutritive value. However, based on the common notion one can order for the 3 meat pizza and this is considered to be the healthful meal and can be both filling and nutritious. It is perfect to have pizza as a complete meal. Still, don’t take the same in large amounts or else it can be one big fat eating. You can eat pizza with the serving of salad. This is how the meal is made complete for the person not having time to prepare other things at the extreme moment.

Common Components of the Pizza
Pizza is a good one among the major food groups and it is mostly recommended by the nutritionists and the doctors when the question arises for proper and healthy nutrition. There is a rundown of the complete food types and in the process, pizza comes on top of the list. Pizza has the presence of the essential grains. The crust is the basis of any pizza type. It acts as the binder of the entire pie, with the holding of the prime nutrients. The crust is simply the bread type and this comprises of the flour. The food type is the rich source of the carbohydrates and this is used by the body as fuel for its daily functioning.

Contents of Pizza
The food grain group of the pizza is the best source of the minerals and the vitamins and these are essential for the perfect maintenance of the normal body functionalities. The crust of the pizza is the best and rich source of fiber. This is absolutely needed for maintaining the functioning of the digestive system. Pizza contains the rich food products and these essentially belong to the main meat group.

Essential Pizza Ingredients
It is time that you order for the 3 meat pizza after you know well about the ingredients. The usual pizza consists of pepperoni, Italian sausages, ham, ground beef, and the rest of the meats. Pizza can even be made of lamb, chicken or veal. This kind of food is rich in protein, vitamin D and iron. The nutrients present in pizza are needed for the reason for muscle building and the development of the vital tissues. The nutrients are also needed in order to maintain the quality of skin and hair. This is why when you can invest time in arranging for a healthy diet you can choose pizza as the best eating option.

It might seem daunting for you to cook food. But still, it is worth to tackle it at home. Octopus can be ordered at some fancy restaurant but cooking this impressive sea creature will surely make your dinner mind-blowing. Octopus is one of the favorite seafood across the Earth. The idea of cooking this sea creature will give you immense pleasure. It is not hard to cook it as you think it will be. With Octopus sky is the limit, so you can roast and grill it. Pan frying is also another option. So, now prepare the seafood at your home with these delicious recipes.

Grilling

It will offer the best taste of Octopus. Throw the tentacles on the grill along with some flavorful smoke as well as char. Do not forget to pre-cook it in stovetop or oven before putting it on to the charcoal. Do not add directly on the grill, as a result, will be dry meat. In fact, pre-cooking in the olive oil will bring the exotic flavor of Octopus. Dress it with pepper and salt. It must be kept at the high-temperature grill. One must flip it after 4-5 minutes in the grill. It must be perfectly browned and must be accompanied by a dressing of herbs, fresh lemon and oil.

Roasting

Roasting undoubtedly takes some time to make the Octopus delicious for cooking. Sprinkle some salt on it and then place it on the foil-covered baking sheet. Put it at 250 degrees oven for at least 2 hours. However, keep checking it by piercing it with the help of a fork till you get your preferred tenderness.

Braising

Another method to cook Octopus as this technique locks the moisture in the meat and Octopus soaks the flavors while cooking in liquid.

Braised Octopus in Tomato Sauce with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

In this one, Octopus will soak the flavor of aromatic tomato sauce. Serving it with crisped fingerling potatoes will offer you an immense pleasure of Octopus. One must separate the tentacles and cut it down from the area where they start. You need to use salt, bell pepper, garlic and onion in this. In the end, you need to prepare the sauce in which add tomatoes, red wine, honey, bay leaves, stock and paprika.

Octopus with Potatoes and Chorizo

It is a delicious and smart way of Spanish styled cooked Octopus. In this, tentacles are dipped into the hot water so that shapes of tentacles can be hold during cooking.

Grilled Octopus along with Ancho Chile Sauce

In this, Octopus is braised in sherry and after that skin is removed from it to provide extra-tenderness. You can glaze it with ancho chili sauce.

Octopus Turnovers and Spicy Creole Mayonnaise

Sometimes Octopus is tough so when it is cooked for a longer time, it becomes tender and gives you the right flavor and taste. It is really palatable in addictive pastries of Jose Enrique.

Pan Seared Octopus in the Italian Vegetable Salad

Octopus sandwich with the flavors of Italian Cuisine is amazing. Sear it and braise it in the white wine till it becomes tender.

Try cooking Octopus at home and enjoy a delicious meal.

Meat is a vital source of animal protein necessary for the proper functioning of the human body and its development, making it n essential food in the diet of man. Nowadays, with the increase of the population and the distances between the production centres and the consumption centres, it is necessary to apply different techniques to conserve the meat with the objective that it reaches the hands of the consumers and fulfils its function as food. To preserve the meat for long periods, it transforms such as sausages. The sausages cover a large number of products such as ham and chorizo.

How to get the premium quality every time?

A poorly maintained stuffer will yield sausages of poor quality — however, the improved designs of the machines which are intended to help the team to better support the processing plant environment. Coupled with an increased interest in preventive maintenance it ensures that consumers are receiving the best they can. The Italian Barrel stuffers have evolved to become more and more hermetic machines mainly by reducing the number of doors and improving the sealing materials. But regular greasing, oil changes and replacement of the filters as indicated by the manufacturer specifications are still the cornerstones in most applications.

After all, the moisture-laden environments of the processing plants cause damage to the parts of the machines. It makes them work such as metal gears and in the most modern equipment the control panels and computer programs that control everything, from the speed of the bands to the length of the cover and the weight of each portion of the product. Greasing is required daily, weekly or monthly. Similarly, being aware of the integrity of seals and gaskets and replacing them regularly is critical especially to protect the equipment from the intense use of hot water and chemicals during cleaning operations.

You should know the machine better

Stainless steel surfaces are much more resistant than aluminium parts to chemical treatments, but certain caustic compounds can still cause them damage. In some applications, greasing is the most crucial step because it is a very humid environment especially for those parts that are exposed more frequently to cleaning with high-pressure water. Grease dissipates water from gears and bushings that will wear out if they are not adequately lubricated. The design of today’s machines makes the task of removing parts such as meat pumps.

Conclusion: Product considerations

Relatively easy for the processors in preparation for cleaning and some cases being able to do this in a matter of minutes but familiarity with the components is essential for reassembly. In some instances, smaller plants that rely on their employees to perform cleaning tasks have an advantage in their ability to verify all parts that can easily be lost or damaged during cleaning. Another of the critical considerations for the maintenance of stuffers is the type of product that is made in them and the volume. Speaking of lubrication, the fattier raw material such as pork which has more natural fat, in the long run, is nobler with the mechanical components of the machine.