Anyone can cook on a grill. However, very few can do it right. If you follow these cooking tips for gas grills, soon to be known as the local neighborhood grillmaster.
Safety tips, the leak check – Gas is very flammable gas grills for cooking use, it is important to ensure that no leaks along the hose from the tank to the burners. The way to do is take a cup of water and a little dishwashing detergent. Rub the solution along the joints of all connections along the hose. Turn on gas and look along the hose. The gas will be the detergent / water solution bubble up leaks.
Heat up the grill – is important to have a gas grill a few minutes to warm up. Turn grill to high on all burners and let sit for 5 or 6 minutes. Not only does this burn anything stuck to the grid, but also allow you to obtain the temperature of the grill to the correct settings before you start cooking.
Clean the grill with a little oil – This is one of the cooking tips for gas grills that everyone seems to lose. Before cooking, always clean the area of the grid will be a small amount of oil. This will prevent foods from sticking down. Using tongs, take a small piece of paper towel and oil immersion. Rub this over the grill. You do not need much, just enough to keep food from sticking down.
Keep the lid closed – It’s hard not to look how the cooking is going, especially when it starts to smell good. However, it is very important to combat this need. Each time you open the grill cover which is releasing the hot air that is helping to cook food. This will extend the time needed to finish cooking. The longer the food is grilled, the more likely it will burn outside.
Use tongs for meat not forks – While this does not just fall into cooking tips for gas grills, is still very important and deserves to be mentioned here. Using a meat fork is going to make holes. This will allow the construction juices inside the meat to drain it. This not only dry the meat, which are also at risk of arson fat as juices fall into the flames.
Allow grill to cool down before cleaning – It is much easier and safer for the grill to cool before attempting to clean up the mess. It is recommended to leave for a few hours or overnight and to clean it once it is completely cool.
How much is a szklanka (”glass”)? Or a lyszka (”spoon”)? Are they metric (i.e. 250 mL and 20 mL respectively)?
What does “op.” mean, and how much is it?
I had thoroughly enjoyed my personal Sicilian history lesson provided by Alessandro Adorno, the Founder and Director of the Babylonia Language School. In addition he suggested that I attend one of the cooking classes organized by Babilonia that gives Italian language students an opportunity to create Sicilian delicacies first-hand.
Just a minute and a half from the language school is the home of Aurelio and Angela Ferrari, a couple who regularly host language students as part of the home-stay program of Babylonia. Currently the couple have three language students staying with them, and they provide them with comfortable accommodation as well as three home-cooked meals a day.
Aurelio, now retired, has spent a life-time in the hospitality industry. He has lived and worked in different hotels and resorts in Rome, France and England and has held a wide variety of positions in the tourism business, including work in various hotel and restaurant kitchens and has gained a wide variety of operational and managerial experience. After all the years abroad during his international career he returned to live in Taormina, in the house where he was born. He said he loves living here, it’s beautiful, and it’s very safe since there is virtually no crime.
He explained that he loves Sicilian cooking and that he truly enjoys sharing his knowledge. Lessons are taught three times a week and they focus on Sicilian home-cooking, using all the fresh locally grown ingredients that this fertile island has to offer.
Today Aurelio and his two culinary charges, Marjolein from Holland and Takashi from Japan, were going to produce a wide assortment of Sicilian specialties:
- Pasta alla Eoliana
- Pesce all Messinese
- Pomodori Gratini on Crostini
- Caponata Siciliana stile Arabo
- Aciughe marinate
- Formaggio Fritto
- Insalata di menta con olivi
- Mele al Agrodolce
As you can imagine a proper Sicilian meal always consists of multiple courses, and after all the preparation the students, the master chef and his family get to enjoy the meal together. Aurelio, a real character, added that students often sing, or play the guitar or the piano which is located on the main floor of his four storey house. He also added that he always makes sure to ask his students whether they have any food preferences or allergies or whether they are vegetarian.
Tonight was going to be a real feast for the palate with two main dishes: Pesce alla Messinese, a local fish specialty, and Pasta alla Eoliana – pasta Eolian Islands style. Both dishes require a basic sauce made from tomatoes and eggplants, flavoured with local staples such as onion, garlic, olives, capers, mint, basil and oregano. Aurelio refers to these herbs as the “profumi di Sicilia” – the fragrances or aromas of Sicily. The fish, cut in rectangular pieces, is cooked for only 10 minutes on the stove inside the sauce to make sure it’s nice and tender. To round out the taste a bit of red wine is added to the sauce at the end.
Pasta alla Eoliana starts with the same base and Aurelio explained that the pasta that is added is called “spacciatella”, a type of pasta that is not normally available in supermarkets. Any type of longitudinal hollow pasta should be able to substitute for this pasta variety.
Several aromatic side dishes were to accompany our meal: Pomodori Gratinati (gratinated tomatoes), according to Aurelio, are a great way to use up old bread. You simply cut a breadstick into slices, create a mixture called “pane saporito” – breadcrumbs flavoured with parsley, garlic, salt, all mixed thoroughly in a blender, and spoon the mixture on top of the tomatoes and add pecorino and parmesan, topped off with some anchovies, and bake the small pieces of bread in the oven for ten or eleven minutes to arrive at a delicious side dish.
Sicily’s multicultural heritage manifested itself in the next dish: the “Caponata Siciliana Stile Arabo” – a sweet and sour culinary relic of the Arab period in Sicilian history. The ingredients for this dish include raisins, pine nuts, sugar, balsamic vinegar, onions and eggplants cut in small cubes, all of which come together to form a deliciously fragrant vegetable relish that makes for a flavourful slightly sweet addition to any meal.
Aurelio and his two enthusiastic cooking students continued with the next side dish: “Acciughe marinate” are anchovy slices that are marinated for at least two hours in vinegar, lemon and salt with an addition of hot peppers, parsley and oil.
For the cheese lovers among us Aurelio prepared “formaggio fritto”: ricotta slices, breaded in beaten egg and flour and then pan-fried on the stove top. With the leftover egg he created an omlette, adding that nothing ever goes to waste in a Sicilian kitchen.
A mint salad consisting of mint leaves, with an addition of “pane saporito” (the savoury breadcrumb mix), olives, oil and vinegar was next before our chef and his two assistants created the dessert: “Mele al agrodolce”: sweet and sour apples. For this dish apple slices were covered with lemon juice and sugar and topped with sweet prunes, a sweet and sour way to cap off an assortment of healthy dishes prepared from fresh local ingredients. Sicilian cuisine is very healthful, with lots of fish and vegetables and very little animal fat. Aurelio’s eight-course meal was a perfect example of the focus on simple yet flavourful local ingredients that come together to form a fascinating array of aromas.
After the meal was cooked we all carried the numerous containers two floors up to the covered rooftop terrace which featured a long table that could hold at least 10 to 12 people. Aurelio, always with a big smile on his face, graciously introduced all the dishes on camera, and all of us sat down to taste this smorgasbord of Sicilian cooking.
Aurelio and his wife Angela talked to us about their families and about life in Sicily, which they both greatly enjoyed. The entire evening and the cooking class was conducted in Italian, another opportunity for exposure to the Italian language and the cordial hospitality of a real Italian family. After a delicious dinner Marjolein and I left this wonderful get-together and stepped out into a warm, moonlit night. We spent a few minutes on a terrace overlooking the Mediterranean and both commented what a special experience this time in Taormina has been before we left for a night of rest and another day of language studies.
I’m after a good website that has affordable, easy, low fat recipes. thanks!
I want to cook healthy but I don’t know any recipes can anyone give me a few recipes or point me in the direction of some tasty ones
Mia
It seems like eating/cooking healthy is SO expensive. Any tips?
Marcie
Most of us have found some sort of Italian cuisine that has become a favorite for our families and ourselves. Unfortunately, far too many of us discount the possibility of bringing Italian cooking into our very own kitchens for fear that many of the recipes are far too difficult. The truth is that learning to cook Italian food just might make your home the favorite drop in dining spot for friends and family all over.
Believe it or not, most great Italian recipes have an easier version that can be made with very similar effects when it comes to flavor and aroma. Also, despite the commercials of old, all Italian cooking does not require an entire day of simmering in order to achieve great flavor. Though you do not have to let your friends and family in on that little secret. Be a martyr for flavor and they will love you even more. You do not have to let anyone in on your best-kept secrets when it comes to preparing these often simple dishes.
The biggest challenge that most Americans face when it comes to Italian cooking is basically learning a new set of essential ingredients. The cheese, meats, or grains that are used in their creation most often identify or define Italian cuisine. It’s the combination of these primary ingredients that create some of the most distinctive flavors on earth. Learn about these ingredients. Identify the flavors and study the combinations of flavors and you should be able to not only follow many great Italian recipes but also to invent a few of your very own Italian inspired recipes.
The greatest thing when it comes to cooking Italian food is that most of these dishes are rather difficult to destroy. This of course does not indicate that it cannot be done, only that it isn’t as simple as with some of the more delicate cuisines around the world. Italian food is durable and flavorful but for the most part not too terribly delicate when it comes to flavor. You can go a little heavy with some spice or cheese without completely ruining the dish in most instances. If you are anything like me, this is a regular occurrence when cooking and one of the reasons I enjoy cooking Italian food so much.
Whether you are a beginner when it comes to the culinary arts or a seasoned pro there is something that will provide the appropriate challenge for you when it comes to Italian cooking. Take a look around there are recipes in abundance across the Internet, at your local library, in specialty cook books, and even in your favorite block buster best selling novels.
Another thing you should keep in mind when cooking Italian food is that nothing seems to bring out the flavor of Italian food better than a good bottle of wine to match. Perhaps this is the reason that it is difficult to ruin an Italian meal, no matter how bad it is, the good wine paired with it, will erase all ill will and tastes in very short order. You will want to spend a little time researching and studying the science (though some will argue that this is truly an art form) that goes along with pairing a good bottle of wine with the right flavor combination when it comes to Italian cooking. Once you’ve mastered this, there is nothing to prevent you from being the diva of all things Italian when it comes to food preparation.
The most important thing for you to remember when cooking Italian food is not to take the cooking too seriously. Good Italians know that the enjoyment of the meal is far more important than the process of preparing the meal. Make your meal an event with plenty of time for pleasant conversation and enjoyment of your company in between courses. You should also never rush a good Italian meal or you will find that all your efforts cooking Italian will be for naught as the true pleasure of Italian cuisine has been lost somewhere in translation.
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