Regional Stock Reports

The Basic Preparation Food: Dairy Products.

HARD AND SOFT CHEESES

Cheese is made from milk which has been naturally or artificially turned sour. The first method is achieved by standing the milk in a warm place and allowing natural, friendly bacteria to convert the milk’s natural sugars into lactic acid. The latter method is effected by adding an enzyme, usually in to form of rennet.

Colouring and salt are usually added too. The whey is then drained off and the curds are pressed into moulds where they are ripened or cured. Some cheeses are subjected to pressure; soft cheeses are not. Curds are ripened or cured by a variety of means. The method, the quality of the milk and its pasture, the breed of cow, sheep or other animal and the type of bacteria all govern the final product.

Some local conditions are unique and those areas produce cheeses that are not successfully replicated elsewhere: for example Gruyere and Edam, although factories do try. Some even have some success, as most of the world’s Cheddar cheese now comes from the United States and Canada.

The constituents of cheese are typically: 33% fat, 33% protein and 33% water with salt, colouring, sugar etc making up the rest. These percentages vary from region to region as some manufacturers use full-cream milk, others skimmed-milk and yet others add extra cream. Others add some extra sugar, although most do not. All cheeses have a high calcium content and may be considered as ‘concentrated milk’ and stored as such.

Many people say that cheese should not be kept in a fridge and although storing in water, as for milk, is not an option, a cool larder is definitely ideal. Try the traditional method of hanging it up in muslin in a cool, airy place. If the weather is hot, dampen the cheesecloth with water to which a little vinegar has been added.

Cheese is typically served in Europe with a salad or/and bread and is often served after or instead of the sweet course. Hard cheese can be difficult for children to digest and grating it first will make it more palatable to them. Once grated the cheese can be sprinkled on vegetable or fish soups or sauces; added to egg, pasta, rice and oatmeal dishes; put on baked potatoes or pastry; toasted on bread or put in salads and sandwiches.

How To Cook Cheese: A little known fact is that many people find cooked cheese indigestible. The reason lies in its molecular structure. Here is why: cooked starch can be digested by the saliva in the mouth but other foods must pass to the stomach or intestines for this process. They are, however, broken up in the mouth. Digestion of protein begins in the stomach and is completed in the small intestine, while fat is not rendered soluble until it reaches the small intestine.

Cheese possesses a high fat and protein mixture, but in melting, the fat often covers the protein and prevents the digestive juices reaching it in the stomach. Therefore, its digestion is delayed until the fat has been absorbed in the intestines. Cheese can be rendered more digestible by:

1] Combining it with some starchy food, because the starch will absorb the fat, not allowing it to cover the protein.

2] Using seasoning: Cayenne Pepper or mustard will irritate the intestinal lining, causing the release of extra digestive juices.

3] Cooking rapidly at high temperature. This stops the protein from becoming tough and stringy and so, harder to digest or you could add cheese to sauces late in the process.

4] Adding alkali: so, large pinch of Bicarbonate of Soda per 75g (3 ozs) will help neutralize the fatty acids and make the proteins easier to digest.

If you would like to read more about Welsh food, food in general or how to use cheese in particular, just go over to Traditional Welsh Recipes

Basic Preparation Of Foods: Dairy Produce.

Eggs: Part Two

Poaching: boil 1.5 inches (40mm) water in a frying pan; add a teaspoon of salt and 5ml of vinegar. Break an egg into a cup, inspect and pour into boiling water. Turn down the heat. Gather the white around the unbroken yolk with a spoon and continue to simmer for another 3-4 mins. Lift out with a fish slice, drain and serve on hot buttered toast.

Scrambling: beat the eggs well; add salt, pepper to taste and a dash of milk. Melt enough butter to cover the bottom of a frying pan. Fry the eggs slowly, stirring continuously. Cook in a basin floating on boiling water, if preferred. Dish up when nearly completely set, after about 5 minutes.

Fried: Melt enough fat to easily cover the bottom of a shallow pan. Tip egg in gently and fold the whites around the yolks. When the white has solidified, baste the yolk to taste and remove whole with a fish slice.

Baked: lightly grease a fireproof dish and pour the eggs gently into it. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and butter to taste. Bake in a medium oven and serve in the same bowl after the whites have set.

Omelette: buy a pan and keep it only for omelettes! The base should be smooth and clean. Allow two eggs per person; beat lightly and add salt and pepper to taste. Melt enough butter to cover the base of the frying pan. When the butter is hot, pour in the eggs; as it sets, lift up the handle and draw the set mixture up towards the handle, allowing the liquid egg to run down onto the hot pan. When all the liquid is set, tilt the pan forward and roll the omelette over. Serve immediately on a hot plate. It can be filled with almost anything, before being rolled over.

Pouring Custard: lightly beat 2-3 eggs for every pint of milk. Heat the milk and gradually add to the eggs; add sugar and flavouring to suit your taste; cook in a double pan or jug and hot water until the required thickness has been reached. If it is not to be served up immediately, pour a thin layer of water onto it’s surface to prevent a skin forming on top.

Baked Custard: proceed as above but then transfer the custard into a lightly greased shallow dish; sprinkle sparsely with nutmeg and place the dish in water to halfway up its sides. Bake at 350 F for 35-45 minutes; you can test its solidity by inserting a knife, which should be clean on withdrawal.

Steamed Custard: proceed as for baked custard, but cook in a steamer or a pan in boiling water. The length of cooking time is about the same too.

Custard Tarts: pour pouring custard into unbaked pastry cases and bake in the oven for 40-50 mins. A little jam can be placed in the bottom of the case first, if desired.

If you would like to learn more about food in general or Traditional Welsh Recipes in particular, please pop along to http://welsh-recipes.the-real-way.com/

Basic Preparation Of Foodstuffs: Dairy Products

These fairly basic tips may seem quite irrelevant to most modern householders who own a refrigerator, but modern technology do make people sloppy and so it is very worth while to know ‘why’ we ought do some things. For example, it is worth remembering these tips when your refrigerator is broken or is so small that it will not hold everything you have, such as when camping or boating or on holiday in some (parts of) countries in the world.

MILK:

Milk is known as ‘nature’s perfect food’, because no other food, consumed on its own, can support adult human life. It is of the utmost importance for the growth and development of adolescents, but it must be clean, because bacteria find it very nourishing too and quickly grow in it. If you did not buy your milk pasteurized, then you should scald it and cool it quickly before drinking it.

How To Scald Milk: Rinse a clean saucepan with cold water, pour in the milk and apply heat until bubbles form around the side of the pan. Keep it at this temperature, that is not letting it boil, for 3 minutes. Do not overheat, as milk burns easily. Pour immediately into a clean jug and place in a basin of cold water and cover with a fine cloth to prevent the ingress of flies and dust.

How To Keep Milk Fresh: If milk the is not be preserved in the receptacles in which you bought it, pour it into a clean container, which has been rinsed with cold water. A warm receptacle will cause the milk to stick to the sides and go off much more quickly. Always keep milk covered and in the coolest place in the larder. it is a good tip to remember that draughts usually occur at ground-level and that hot air rises. Never keep milk in an airless cupboard and in hot weather stand the milk in a container in a bowl of water with the cloth covering hanging in the water. The muslin will soak up water, which will evaporate, which dissipates the heat, ensuring that the container remains cool. Keep milk away from strong-smelling foods, as it absorbs smells easily. Never mix old and new milk together.

Sour Milk: When milk comes straight from the cow, it is a little alkaline, but as time passes, lactic acid is created and it becomes what is called ’sour’. Pasteurizing or scalding the milk retards this process. Milk which is just “on the turn” can be rejuvenated by boiling with a pinch of bicarbonate of soda to restore its alkalinity. However, once the milk has gone too far and has curdled, it can be strained through (cheese) cloth, thus separating the curds from the whey. The curds can be used as a filling for cakes, tarts, scones etc and the whey can be used as the liquid for making scones, cakes and soups etc., because it still retains a lot of goodness.

Evaporated Milk: Evaporated milk is ordinary milk, which has had some of its water content driven off by heat in some way or another before being canned. Once reconstituted by adding water, it will last only a little longer than fresh milk.

Condensed Milk: This form of milk is merely evaporated milk to which sugar has been added before being placed in its container. The sugar acts as a preservative and preserve the milk for about a week. Do not keep in the tin, but decant it into a jug or bottle.

Dried Milk: Dried milk comes in a variety of forms and notice should be taken of the instructions on the label. Specialized products can be bought for babies, invalids, convalescents and dieters, all of which contain varying amounts and types of added vitamins and minerals. Usually, they are very much lower in fat content than conventional milk.

Basic Preparation Of Foods: Dairy Produce.

CHEESES

Cheeses are manufactured from milk which has been naturally or artificially turned sour. The first method is achieved by standing the milk in a warm place and allowing natural, beneficial bacteria to convert the milk’s natural sugars into lactic acid. The second method is effected by adding an agent, usually rennet.

Colouring and salt are usually added too. The whey is then drained off and the curds are pressed into moulds where they are kept until ripened or cured. Some cheeses are subjected to pressure; soft cheeses are not. Curds are ripened or cured by various means. The method, the quality of the milk, the breed of cow, sheep or other animal and the quality of its pasture and the type of bacteria all govern the end result.

Some local conditions are unique and those areas produce cheeses that are not successfully copied anywhere else: for example Roquefort and Edam, although factories do attempt it. They even have a measure of, just think most of the world’s Cheddar cheese now derives from the USA and Canada.

The constituent parts of cheese are roughly: 33% fat, 33% protein and 33% water with salt, colouring, sugar etc making up the other 1%. These proportions do vary from area to area as some manufacturers use full cream milk, others skimmed milk and yet others add extra cream. Yet others add extra sugar, although most do not. All cheeses have a high calcium content and can be considered ‘concentrated milk’ and stored in the same way.

Many people say that cheese must not be kept in a fridge and although storing in water, as for milk, is not a viable option, a cool larder is certainly ideal. Try the traditional method of suspending it from a hook in muslin in a cool, breezy place. If it is hot, moisten the cheesecloth with water to which a little vinegar has been added.

Cheese is typically served in Europe with a salad or/and bread and is often served after or instead of the sweet course. Hard cheese can be difficult for children to digest and grating it first will make it more palatable to them. Once grated the cheese can be sprinkled on vegetable or fish soups or sauces; added to egg, pasta, rice and oatmeal dishes; put on baked potatoes or pastry; toasted on bread or put in salads and sandwiches.

How To Cook Cheese: A little known fact is that many people find cooked cheese indigestible and the reason lies in its structure. Here is why: cooked starch can be digested by the saliva in the mouth but other foods must pass to the stomach or intestines for this process. They are, however, broken up in the mouth. Digestion of protein begins in the stomach and is completed in the small intestine, while fat is not rendered soluble until it reaches the small intestine.

Cheese possesses a high fat and protein content, but in melting, the fat frequently covers the protein and prevents the digestive juices reaching it in the stomach. This results in, its digestion is delayed until the fat has been absorbed by the intestines. Cheese can be rendered more digestible in the following way:

1] Adding to or combining with starchy foods. The starch will absorb the fat, not allowing it to cover the protein.

2] Adding seasoning - Cayenne Pepper or mustard will irritate the intestinal lining, causing the release of extra digestive juices.

3] Cooking rapidly at high temperature. This stops the protein from becoming tough and stringy and so, harder to digest or you could add cheese to sauces late in the process.

4] Adding an alkali: for example, a generous pinch of Bicarbonate of Soda per 3 ozs (75g) will help neutralize the fatty acids and make the proteins easier to digest.

Preparation Of Foods: Dairy Produce.

Eggs: Part II

Poaching: boil 40mm water in a frying pan; add a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of vinegar. Crack egg into cup, inspect and tip into water. Turn down the heat. Gather the white around the unbroken yolk with a spoon and simmer for 3-4 mins. Lift out with a fish slice, drain and serve on hot buttered toast.

Scrambling: beat eggs well; add salt, pepper and a dash of milk. Melt enough butter to cover the bottom of the pan. Cook eggs slowly, stirring continuously. Cook in a basin floating in boiling water, if preferred. Serve when almost completely set, in about 5 mins.

Fried: Melt enough butter to easily cover the bottom of (a|the shallow pan. Tip egg in gently and gather the whites around the yolks. When the white has solidified, baste the yolk to taste and remove whole with a fish slice.

Baking: lightly grease a fireproof dish and slide eggs into it. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and butter. Bake in a moderate oven and serve in the same pan after the whites have set.

Omelette: buy a pan and keep it only for omelettes! The base should be smooth and clean. Allow two eggs per person; beat lightly and add salt and pepper to taste. Heat enough butter to cover the base of the pan. When the fat is hot, pour in the eggs; as it sets, raise the handle up and draw set mixture up, allowing the liquid egg to run down onto the hot pan. When all is set, tilt the pan forward and roll the omelette over. Serve immediately on a hot plate. It can be filled with almost anything, before being rolled over.

Pouring Custard: beat 2-3 eggs per 1 pint of milk lightly. Heat the milk and pour gradually over the eggs; add sugar and flavouring; cook in a double pan or jug and hot water until the required thickness has been reached. If it is not to be served immediately, pour a thin layer of water onto the top to prevent a skin forming.

Baked Custard: proceed as above but then pour the custard into a lightly greased shallow dish; sprinkle sparsely with nutmeg and place the dish in water to halfway up its sides. Cook at 350 F for 35-45 minutes; you can test its solidity by inserting a knife, which should be clean on removal.

Steamed Custard: as above, but cook in a steamer or pan of boiling water. Cooking time about the same.

Custard Tarts: pour a little pouring custard into each unbaked pastry case and bake in the oven for around 40-50 minutes. A little strawberry jam can be placed in the base of the pastry case first, if preferred.