Culinary

Culinary Traditions Of Cuba

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The East Caribbean island of Cuba has a rich cultural heritage from which has arisen culinary traditions that are as vibrant and varied as the variety of cultures that have contributed to the development of this distinct and delicious cuisine. In addition to the ancient influence of the native peoples of Cuba, the Spaniards brought their own culinary styles, tinged by those of the Moors who held huge parts of Spain for centuries. The slaves that were brought from Africa made significant culinary and cultural contributions, with other culinary traditions being brought to the island with the French colonists fleeing uprisings in Haiti.

As these various influences came together, a distinctly Cuban flavor and style evolved, which is reminiscent of country peasant styles of cooking by oral tradition and eye, rather than relying on specific measurements and the creation of dishes that tend towards the simple and hearty, and that can be left on their own to simmer. Fussy, heavy sauces are unusual and deep-frying is simply not a favored cooking method. The island nation, naturally, uses a great deal of seafood in its cuisine, which encourages the use of simple cooking techniques and spicing that is meant to enhance, not smother, natural flavors.

The most common spices used in Cuban cuisine are garlic, cumin, oregano and bay or laurel leaves. Sofrito is also popular, and used in a wide range of dishes, from those of beans to those of meats to those that are made from a base of tomato sauce. A typical sofrito is made of green pepper, onion, garlic, oregano and black pepper fried in olive oil until the pepper, onion and garlic are soft and translucent and the flavors blend to perfection.

The dense, nutritious, energy producing vegetables commonly used belie the African and native peoples influence on the cuisine of Cuba. Yuca, malanga, boniato, and plantano are among these, and are often simmered together with complementary vegetables and served simply, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with chopped fresh onion a satisfying, strengthening and simple dish for a hard working people.

Meats are often prepared using island flavored marinades of that use lime juice or the juice of a sour variety of the orange as a base. Then, the meats are roasted or simmered very slowly with spices, often for hours. Beans and rice are an essential part of most meals, with black beans being well known as a Cuban specialty.

Cuban cuisine is also notable for its baked goods, which include a variety of turnovers. Some are filled with spiced meats and other types feature a particularly Cuban blend of cream cheese and guava paste. Flan is among Cubas most beloved dessert items.

In Cuban cuisine, the subtle flavors of healthy foods are enhanced by cooking and spicing methods designed to bring out the best in each component of a dish. The culinary traditions of Cuba are a delight to the tongue, naturally, but they also offer a fascinating glimpse into a culture that has brought together many varied elements to create a cohesive whole.

Culinary Schools In Italy

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Why you should attend culinary schools in Italy? Maybe you are just curious to discover something new in your life, or maybe you are a cooking lover and you want to know secrets behind good tasting dishes you eat. One more reason, not less important than the previous ones, is about job. Today, if you want your career in cooking, you need a good cooking education. You need to attend lessons, learn recipes and make experience. Its important to learn basics of cooking, then specializing in some specific kind of cooking.

Cooking is absolutely one of the most known elements of Italian culture in the world. Not just spaghetti or pizza, but a very large variety of good tasting dishes, coming from a long and consolidated tradition. Italian people is really proud of Italian gusto: Italian restaurants are appreciated in every part of the world. Thats why many people choose culinary schools in Italy. Main Italian cooking elements to focus on are fresh pasta, artisan gelato and Italian desserts, Italian artisan breads and pizza and regional Italian cuisine. This last aspect in very important, considering that each Italian region has its traditional recipes and products. Some examples, worldwide famous, are Prosciutto di Parma, a particular and very sweet kind of ham, and the Chianti of Tuscany, that is both a specific geographic area but also a very good tasting red wine.

Torre di Babele, one of the best culinary schools in Italy, is located in Rome, the capital city. It offers a very interesting way to learn how to cook Italian recipes. In facts its courses of cooking can be associated with Italian languages lessons. In this way you can learn Italian language and cooking at the same time. Attending a culinary school you will improve your vocabulary and your cooking skills, going deeply into Italian culture and tradition too. Thats why its important to directly study in Italy, where you have the opportunity to stay in close contact with the costumes and the spirit of the nation. Torre di Babele was founded in 1984 and since its opening, the school has focussed also on the teaching of culinary art to foreigners. The school attracts people and students from around the world from countries all across Europe, as well as North and South America, Asia, Africa and Oceania. Classes are made up of participants of all ages, with a majority of university students and young from 18 to 30.

Torre di Babele offers four different kinds of courses. Italian cooking has just one week duration: this is a light version course, reserved to curios people who just want to learn basics. It is also possible to associate this course with Italian language lessons. Furthermore, there is the possibility to attend individual lessons or in group. Any course of Torre di Babele culinary school comes with wine tasting seminar, held in one of the best known enoteca in Rome.

Foods You Can Eat To Boost Collagen And Reduce Wrinkles

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When you are a child, skin is soft and supple. There aren’t any wrinkles. Skin is perfect. In your late twenties, wrinkles start to form. Tiny lines, depressed into otherwise supple skin appear. As you get older, the lines deepen and more lines form. Collagen supports your skin. As collagen breaks down and diminishes with age, the supporting structure beneath the skin decreases and skin sags and wrinkles form.

What can you do about collagen? Some foods help boost your body’s collagen production, so include these in your diet.

1. Pigs trotters
Pigs feet sound gross. They are reputed to help you look younger because they contain collagen. At very least, your body, after breaking down the food would be able to reuse the nutrients in collagen production. Stewed pigs trotters in black sauce is a Chinese delicacy.

2. Soya Bean Milk, tofu and anything that is based on soy.
Soy contains genistein, an isoflavone. This isoflavone blocks enzymes that would otherwise destroy collagen.

3. Garlic.
Garlic contains sulfur which helps your body produce collagen. If you are concerned about garlic breath, chew some parsley to freshen your breath. Garlic contains taurine
and lipoid acid which support damaged collagen fibers.

4. Tomatos
These are very rich in the antioxidant lycopene which inhibits collagenases. Collagenases are enzymes that destroy collagen.
Antioxidants neutralize free radicals which would otherwise destroy the collagen and supporting structure of your skin, so taking foods with antioxidants

5. Fish
This is rich in omega fatty acids that keeps skin soft and supple.

6. Oranges and lemons
Citrus fruits are rich in vitamin C which will help your body produce collagen.

7. Dark green leafy vegetables
Dark green veggies like spinach contain vitamin C for collagen production. Spinach also contains iron and a whole host of vitamins to keep your body young and healthy.

8. Lean meat.
Food that has lysine and proline promote collagen and lean meat contain these, so the meat in pig’s feet should help. Maybe the collagen in pig’s feet would work too.

Celebrity Chefs Lead Stellar Culinary Careers

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Charismatic and creative chefs have impacted culture since the 1880s, when France’s Antoine Carme rose to stardom as chef for Napoleon and European royalty. Less than a century later, American Julia Child recreated the world’s understanding of French Cuisine through her cookbooks and television appearances, paving the way for a slew of celebrity chefs in the 1990s and into the next century.

Celebrity chefs earned their fame by starting with culinary school degrees or cooking in their parents’ kitchens. Some supplement culinary school or formal culinary education with natural talent and magnetic personalities to earn public success. Celebrity chefs and their cooking wisdom are available everywhere including a television network devoted entirely to culinary arts and shelves of cookbooks at the local bookstore.

Julia Child: American Chef Turns French

Julia Child, born in 1912 in Pasadena, California, got her start in cooking in the late 1940s after a career in advertising and public relations. Already a graduate of Smith College, she enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu culinary school when her husband was assigned a job in Paris. She later opened a cooking school, L’Ecole des Trois Gourmandes, and published the famous cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking with two colleagues from Le Cordon Bleu. Child became one of American’s first celebrity chefs and enjoyed a long career of television appearances, teaching, and writing.

Rocco DiSpirito: Reality Cooking

New York’s Rocco DiSpirito is one of celebrity chefdom’s best educated stars. He enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America at age 16, where he earned a culinary school degree with honors. He later studied at the Jardin de Cygne in Paris, and spent two years studying regional French food and wine. Rocco rounded out his culinary education with a business degree from Boston University. DiSpirito is known for his fusion of French and Asian styles, and he has opened several popular restaurants. His television credits include the reality show The Restaurant and selling Rocco Cookware on QVC.

Bobby Flay: Natural Culinary Talent

Bobby Flay began his culinary career at age 17, when he was hired at Joe Allen’s restaurant in Manhattan. Allen was so impressed with Flay’s cooking abilities that he paid for Flay’s culinary education at the French Culinary Institute. After receiving his culinary school degree, Flay became famous for his unique blends of Spanish and American cuisines. Flay owns four restaurants, including Bolo in New York, and appears regularly on the Food Network and the Early Show on CBS.

Emeril Lagasse: Kickin’ Cooking up a Notch

Known for popularizing Cajun and Creole cooking, Emeril Lagasse first learned about cooking from his mother as a young boy in Massachusetts. He received his culinary school degree from Johnson and Wales University, and worked as head chef at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans before opening his own restaurants there and in other U.S. cities. He also is a famous TV personality, getting his start in 1993 on the Food Network. The word “bam” has become synonymous with his name.

Nigella Lawson: Writing Her Culinary Career

Unlike most celebrity chefs, Nigella Lawson began her culinary career as a food writer. She earned a language degree from Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford, England and got a job writing a restaurant column for Spectator. She now writes for several major culinary publications, including Gourmet and Bon Appetit, has published a number of bestselling cookbooks based on her motto, “To achieve maximum pleasure through minimum effort.” Today, she hosts several successful TV cooking shows such as Nigella Bites.

Jamie Oliver: Life-Long (and Naked) Chef

Jamie Oliver began his culinary training at age eight in his parents’ popular pub in England. He worked on his culinary education at Westminster Catering College through age sixteen, and he got his celebrity break when he appeared on a documentary about the British caf in which he was working. Television producers called him in the next morning, and he began starring in the enormously successful Naked Chef. He has since written several Naked Chef books, taken his live cooking show on the road, and opened a popular not-for-profit restaurant. Jamie’s dedication to public service and to making culinary education accessible has won him many fans.

Wolfgang Puck: Charismatic Culinary Talent

Originally from Austria, Wolfgang Puck was one of the first super chefs to establish a cooking empire. His interest in cooking was first sparked by his mother, a hotel chef. Puck received his culinary education as an apprentice in the master kitchens of top French restaurants in Europe. His charismatic personality and cooking talent led to television appearances, popular cookbooks, and wildly successful business ventures. Spago, his famous Los Angeles-based restaurant, revolutionized California pizza with its menu of gourmet toppings.

Gordon Ramsay: Villain Chef or Hero Helper?

England’s Gordon Ramsay has become one of the most notorious villains of celebrity chefdom, known for both his outstanding cooking skills and abrasive personality. His soccer career was cut short with an injury at age fifteen. He began cooking four years later, working with top chefs in London and Paris before becoming head chef at Aubergine in 1993. Ramsay’s infamy has spread to the U.S. in his reality television show Hell’s Kitchen. His culinary career continues to flourish with new restaurants and another television series where he provides on-the-spot culinary education to struggling restaurant owners.

Rachael Ray: Much More Than 30 Minutes of Fame

Culinary entrepreneur Rachel Ray began cooking at her mother’s side as a toddler. Her family owned and worked in restaurants in the northeastern United States. Ray learned about gourmet foods working at the candy counter and the fresh food department at Macy’s. She opened a prestigious gourmet food market in New York but left to pursue a culinary career in the Adirondacks. She managed restaurants and taught her “30-Minute Meals” cooking classes, which catapulted her to fame when she was featured on the local news. Ray now is the author of New York Times bestselling cookbooks, publishes her own magazine, and appears regularly on television.

Sources:

“Rocco DiSpirito,” About.com
BobbyFlay.com
“Julia Child,” Chef2Chef
“Emeril Lagasse,” Emerils.com
Every Day with Rachel Ray
“Jamie Oliver,” Food Network
“Rachel Ray,” Food Network
“Rocco DiSpirito,” Food Network
Jamie’s Kitchen
“Jeff Smith,” Seattle Times
“Bobby Flay,” Star Chefs
“Julia Child,” Star Chefs
“Nigella Lawson,” Style Network
“Celebrity Chefs,” Travel-Quest
“Celebrity Chefs,” USA Today
“Celebrity Chefs,” Wikipedia
“Bobby Flay,” Wikipedia
“Emeril Lagasse,” Wikipedia
“Gordon Ramsay,” Wikipedia
“Nigella Lawson,” Wikipedia
“Wolfgang Puck,” Wikipedia
WolfgangPuck.com

Fajita Recipe – Healthy Eating

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Fajita recipe is healthy eating and the fact that you can experiment and improvise with this form of cooking makes the fajita even more popular today. Fajita is typically a Tex-Mex cuisine that owes its origin to the state of Texas Mexican workers. The first stall selling fajitas came about in 1969 and since then there has been no looking back for this popular recipe.

Fajita specialists hold that there happens to be only one original fajita recipe, although today you will come across fajita recipe in many variations and combinations. The original recipe comprises a beef slice called skirt steak which used to be cooked with vegetables and served with condiments. The word “fajita” literally means a girdle or belt, but today it stands for grilled meat that is served with corn or flour tortilla and an assortment of vegetables and condiments.

The choices with which you can prepare fajitas are the reason why the fajita recipe is so popular. You could make your fajita recipe light, nutritious, and healthy by using your creativity and culinary instincts. By introducing your own ingredients to it, you could even make the fajita recipe more palatable and mouthwatering. You could start by getting a good wrap bought from reputed supermarkets instead of buying those being sold on the street by vendors.

You could also start by using extra virgin oil which can make a world of difference to an ordinary recipe. Using sunflower oil is not recommended because it is fattening and does not help better the taste. Next, you should experiment with meat types. Instead of the traditional beef, choose chicken, pork, or shrimp for a difference in taste. Spice up this dish with tasty sauces and condiments to make it more appetizing.

Eating healthy typically means eating food that is low on fat content, salt, and simple carbohydrates. In a fajita recipe you can conveniently take care of all these factors by experimenting with the varieties of meat, vegetables, and flour. The vegetables that we normally tend to leave out of our everyday meals, and which are extremely important for ensuring a balance healthy diet, can be included in your fajita recipe. Most of us stay away from these nutritious vegetables simply because they are not prepared in a tasty manner. But with fajitas, you can dress your vegetables in a different costume and make them delightfully tasty for your family.

You can use your imagination to prepare the fajita mix by substituting beef with chicken, pork, or shrimp, preparing the tortilla with soy or wheat flour and not refined flour, and grilling the meat with a drop of olive oil. That way you get fajitas which are low in fat, more fibrous, and highly nutritious.

So eat healthy by experimenting intelligently with fajita recipe and enjoy this very popular dish in an unconventional way. You can consume healthy food without having to compromise on the taste. And above all, you can make this food with almost anything you can get your hands on, instead of having to prepare dishes with exotic items that are frightfully expensive. So think out of the box and use your creativity to make the fajita recipe healthier and tastier!