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Reality Shows

October 15th 2010 13:30

Is This Reality?

Like everyone else I enjoy watching television, and one of my favorite things to watch are cooking shows. Nowadays especially on Food Network, there is a glut of “reality” type shows involving cooking. Now I have never been on television, but if those shows are defining reality then I don’t know a spoon from a can of soup!!

On Tuesday, I was watching one of my favorite shows on the Food Network called Chopped. I love that show, but in a million years I would never combine some of the items they put in their baskets. Take for example the dessert round; the contestants had to combine shisa leaves, pita bread, feta cheese and adzuki beans. Well I know when I am looking to whip up something special for my family and I don’t have adzuki beans and pita bread I go crazy. Now don’t get me wrong as I have said in my first blog, I think recipes should be a Starting Really Long Link but when I have to break out a dictionary just to figure out what some of these items are I don’t think that is based in reality.

Another qualm I have with these types of shows is the time limit. Yes I do know they are on television and they can’t go on and on and on, but to make an appetizer in 20 minutes with items you may not even be familiar with well I think it is a little unreasonable. I believe a better idea is giving them a fully stocked kitchen with items they are used to and look for some originality with how they use those items. If you want to keep it at 20 minutes fine, but I think they need a fighting chance when it comes to the ingredients. I don’t think any of our families put a stopwatch on Mom or Dad as they are cooking and say “stop times up, utensils down”. In my house growing up that would be the perfect thing to say if you didn’t want to eat anytime soon or wanted to volunteer to be the cook then and there.

A show I think that does get it right a lot of the time is Top Chef on Bravo. In that show there are skilled and acclaimed chefs like Chopped, but they are given plenty of prep time as well as time the day of the event to set up and cook. Now the judges on the other hand I think are very pompous and are almost too critical of the chefs.

Overall I would say I have learned a lot from both of those shows. I would love the opportunity to cook on either one of them, but can we please stop calling them “reality shows”. I am sorry my time is about up now, and I still have to plate my feta and pita French toast.

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Posted By: Michael Grass - Category: No Category

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Stop it's the Chicken Police

October 6th 2010 22:19

Now don’t worry there isn’t going to be tiny, feather covered police officers with wings trying to give you a ticket. But everyone does need to be aware of the some common food dangers and especially those that can include chicken.

When we all cook, most of the time it is for more than just us, and the last thing that we want to do is make anyone sick with our cooking or lack of cooking. One of the best tools to have in a kitchen to ensure good food safety is a thermometer. There is a minimum temperature for all meats and once that is reached it can be eaten safely. The following chart is for all types of meat.

MEAT MINIMUM TEMP
Ground Beef 160 degrees
Poultry 165 degrees
Turkey 165 degrees
Ham 140(pre cooked) 160 (raw)
Fish 140 degrees
Tuna, Swordfish Steak 125 degrees
Steaks, Chops and Roasts 140 degrees (med) 160 (well)
Pork and Sausage 160 degrees

Now cooking meats to the proper temperature is just one of the things you need to do to ensure safety. Another one is sanitization and keeping it clean. The first thing anyone should do before cooking is washing your hands and doing as often as needed. In addition, you need to make sure your cutting boards and knives are cleaned EVERYTIME you change products. Imagine you are cutting raw chicken, and then you start using the same knife to now cut up the lettuce for the salad. That is a huge gaff and for sure the chicken police are going to want to talk to you about it.

The last area of concern regarding food I’d like to address is where to keep cooked food and how to keep it fresh. First point is when refrigerating cooked foods, make sure they cool off ahead of time, because if you put something hot into a cold fridge then you are now raising the temp inside of the whole fridge and putting those foods into the danger zone. The danger zone is 41-140 degrees, and this can be watched and monitored very easily with a thermometer you can keep in your fridge as well.

Something else to keep in mind is on what shelf do you keep what foods. Products like milk, eggs and butter come in their own containers and any shelf is a good idea. The problems come when you put say raw chicken into the fridge to thaw, it ALWAYS must be kept on the lowest shelf. This will prevent cross-contamination; you don’t want raw chicken drippings going onto any cooked food. Raw chicken can make anyone very sick, especially those that may be in a high-risk group. That group would include children, the elderly and pregnant women.

Now these are just a few tips to follow to keep your kitchen safe, as well as those who are eating the food from your kitchen. The Chicken Police would like to thank you for your reading of this article and wish everyone happy eating.

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Posted By: Michael Grass - Category: No Category

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What's For Dinner?

September 30th 2010 19:25

What’s For Dinner?

The time is 5:00pm. You have just walked in the door and have had one of those days. Televisions are on, cell phones are ringing and the first thing you hear from the kids isn’t hello but “Mom what’s for dinner”.

This scene plays itself out in countless homes across the country on a daily basis. Many times the answer is a quick fix phone call to the local pizza shop or a call to Dad to stop at Burger King on the way home and pick up food for the family. Those ideas work, but eventually you get tired of the junk and eventually the kids do as well. So here is a solution that not only feeds the family it gives Mom the help she needs in the kitchen to get it done.

Involve the kids in the making of a meal. I don’t mean make them set the table, and clean up afterwards, I mean have them decide what to make (within reason), look up some recipes to follow and assist in the making of a meal. Kids love computers and there are so many sites nowadays devoted to food and recipes. So a few nights each week have the kids figure out the night before what is for dinner tomorrow. They can all take turns planning a menu.

Dependent on their age they are going to need some assistance in the menu. You don’t want to have an unbalanced meal so make sure it includes a protein, a starch and vegetables of course. In my home a lot of the time I forget the starches and just do proteins and vegetables. There are things that young children cannot do in the kitchen you sure don’t want them using sharp knives or using the stove, but at those ages they can be reading the recipes, tossing the salad in the bowl, or even helping to make the meatballs. Kids that age love to get their hands dirty and when they see that they are being productive they are going to want to do more the older they get.

Now if they are old enough the tasks can be endless. They can stir the vegetables over the stove, they also can put the chicken roaster in the oven and occasionally baste it as needed. You as the parent know what a balanced meal is and on a Sunday night, you and the kids can sit down plan out the week’s meals and divide the tasks. You are not asking them to plan out gourmet meals, some night’s hotdogs and beans are a great treat, and other times maybe everyone is in the mood for pancakes for dinner. Make meal time a family time. This way the next time you come home after one of those days, you won’t hear “what’s for dinner Mom” instead it will be “Mom we made dinner and you are just in time”. Thanks for reading and happy cooking and eating to everyone.

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Posted By: Michael Grass - Category: No Category

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