Cooking For One, Four or More…
Learning to cook for yourself or family is much healthier, less fattening and less expensive than ordering in or dining out. Take a Chinese take-out entree like beef and broccoli, which has over a thousand calories without the fried rice and pot stickers on the side. Four slices of deep dish pizza and lasagna will set you back over 2,000 calories and double your sodium and saturated fat allowance for just one day. Cooking isn’t hard to learn. Start with easy “comfort foods” to look forward to. Remember the three P’s: “Practice, Preparation and Presentation”. Practice on yourself (you don’t want to give food poisoning to your loved one; dates included).
Don’t be scared to make something from scratch. Fresh produce, meat and dairy are better than getting sucked into the ready meals full of sodium and sugars.
STIR-FRYING TIPS****
- STIR-FRYING…quickly cooking thin uniform pieces of meat in small amounts of fat in an open pan (variation on sauteing).
- For best results, use tender beef cuts (sirloin, tri-tip, ribeye, top loin (strip), tenderloin, shoulder center (Ranch Steak), shoulder top blade (Flat Iron) and shoulder petite tender, can be cut into strips for use in stir-fry recipes.
- Lean boneless cuts yield 3 1/2 to 4 three-ounce servings of cooked, trimmed beef per pound. Ribeye will slightly yield 3 three-ounce servings per pound.
- Prepare and assemble all ingredients for the dish before starting to cook. Prepare beef strips in a uniform thickness and width for even cooking. *(TIP) Partially freeze the beef first (30 min.) will facilitate cutting beef strips evenly.
- MARINATING– Thin beef strips absorbs flavors and can be tenderized more quickly than steaks. Keep marinade time short 15 to 30 min.) to add flavor…no more than 2 hours to tenderize.
- Strips from beef flank, top round and round tip steaks benefit from a tenderizing marinade (lemon juice/ food acid) or tenderizing enzyme (fresh ginger).
- Drain beef strips well before stir-frying.
- STIR-FRY COOKING– Use a wok or a heavy nonstick skillet. Preheat (VERY HOT) about 5 min. to start.
- Use high temperature oils (oils with high smoke points), peanut and sesame for high-heat stir-frying. Olive, canola and grapeseed oils have moderate high smoke points, making them good for sauteing over medium-high heat.
- Stir-fry beef in batches, about 1/2 pound at a time. OVERCROWDING CAUSES THE BEE TO STEAM RATHER THAN BROWN.
- Stir-fry with a continuous stirring-scooping– tossing motion to ensure even cooking.
- Stir-fry beef until the outside surface is no longer pink and the center is slightly pink *(TIP) Beef can overcook in a few seconds!
- PAY ATTENTION! (Beef tri-tip, flank and round cuts are heat sensitive).