Cooking

Devon Hogroasts, Hog Roasts in Devon, UK – How to Cook a Perfect Pig

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The popularity of hog roasts in the UK is undeniable. There’s nothing better on a warm summer day than to gather with friends and family while a succulent pig roasts slowly on a spit. Here’s some information about hog roasts in Devon that will help you bring off your event without a hitch.

For a “Wow” Factor, Choose Spit Roasting

It’s nothing short of spectacular to be invited to a hog roast in Devon and arrive to see a whole pig, seasoned to perfection, rotating slowly on a spit over a charcoal or wood fire. Even hog roast weddings are exceedingly popular. Spit roasting is an ancient cooking technique. For a pig roast, the horizontal spit bar should be about 70 inches in length. To facilitate attachment of the meat, most spits have moveable crossbars to which the meat is attached. The ends of the spit bar fit into uprights that are adjustable to move the pig closer or farther from the fire. A strong motor rotates the pig slowly.

How to Prepare the Carcass for Spit Roasting

You can leave the stomach cavity open or close it according to your preference for the hog roast. Regardless, for extra flavor, rub a seasoning mix onto the interior surfaces of the pig rather than using just plain salt and pepper. Citrus flavors are particularly complimentary to pork, so try a mixture of 1/4 cup lemon or lime juice, 1/4 cup orange juice, 3 tablespoons of good quality olive oil, 6 cloves of garlic, put through a press or very finely chopped, 3 tablespoons of coarse salt and 2 teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper. Finally, score the skin all over with a sharp knife in a criss-cross pattern. This will allow more fat to render during cooking. Wrap the thinner parts of the pig, such as ears and snout, with aluminum foil so they do not overcook.

Roasting the Pig

The secret to succulent spit-roasted pork in hog roasts in Exeter or Devon is slow, even cooking. The rotating spit takes care of the “even” part, but you’ll have to monitor the heat to assure slow cooking. A temperature of 350 F is ideal. To test the temperature, hold your hand, palm down, at the same distance from the fire as the pig will be. If you can hold it there for 8 to 12 seconds, the temperature is correct for spit roasting. Test for doneness by inserting an instant-read meat thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh. A temperature of 165 to 170 indicates that the meat is fully cooked. Allow 6 to 10 hours for pigs that weigh from 60 to 125 pounds. Remove the foil during the last hour of cooking. Your UK hog roast is now ready to enjoy!

Hog roasts in Devon, UK are great events for young and old alike. Why not try your hand at this crowd-pleasing spectacle for your next special event?

You Wont Believe This Easy, Simple Method for Cooking Sauce

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One of the most difficult things for a cook at home to make is a flavorful sauce. A great sauce will cover some of the worst cooking mistakes, enhance most of the best cooking successes and make you appear to be a home cooking genius.

Cooking a sauce means adding flavor, texture, and appearance to your home cooking dishes. A sauce or gravy is made of three simple ingredients: liquid, thickener, and flavorings. When you need easy cooking ideas for cooking sauces at home, you need only think of these three things.

Liquid for Your Sauce

If youre making a chicken dish, youll probably want to add something like chicken broth. If youre making a tropical dish, you might add a fruit juice or add soy sauce to an Asian dish. Add the liquid that makes sense for the protein that youve cooked and once youre comfortable making sauces, be open to experimenting with new and different flavor combinations. Next, you will need to be able to thicken your liquid so that it sticks to your food for some great home cooking.

Thickener for Your Sauce

A sauce needs to be thick enough to cling to food and not wind up as a puddle on the bottom of the plate. The easiest way to thicken a liquid is with a cornstarch slurry. This is the same method that most of our grandmothers used to make gravy from the pan drippings of the holiday turkey. When you dissolve cornstarch in a cold liquid, then add it to a hot liquid (your sauce), it will gelatinize, and thicken the sauce.

While slurry is the easiest way to cooking sauce success, roux is the most widely used and most flavorful because of the fat needed to separate starch molecules. If youve ever noticed lumps in your gravy, its because groups of starch molecules have stuck together and only thickened on the outside of the group. Butter, oil, or solid fats in a roux help to “line up” the starch molecules for the introduction of hot liquid and their opportunity to individually absorb the liquid and swell, this thickening the sauce.

Flavoring for Your Sauce

The liquid that you used to create your sauce may give you enough of a flavor profile that you dont need to add any additional flavors. However, if there isnt enough flavor, add some! You could add garlic, onions, ginger or any number of different ingredients while you are cooking your sauce to help to liven up your home cooking.

No matter what the liquid, thickening agent or flavor profile you choose, you can find that cooking sauce is a skill youll enjoy and will lead to more easy cooking ideas without recipes. Before you know it, everyone will be begging you to have them over to your house for some great home cooking.

Cast Iron Cookware – The Only Way to Cook

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When a gourmet chef steps into the kitchen to create a masterpiece, there are several elements that come into play to contribute to his ultimate work of art. One of those elements is the equipment he uses and specifically the cookware utilized to prepare his dishes. However, when one thinks of a gourmet chef, cast iron cookware does not come to mind. There is one thing that many food connoisseurs don’t realize: many of the fine dishes they have eaten have been prepared using cast iron pots and pans.

It has been used in cooking for hundreds of years. You can probably recall your grandparents using cast iron frying pans and skillets. Its ability to withstand extreme cooking temperatures makes it a fantastic choice for searing or frying, and its excellent heat distribution and retention makes it perfect for cooking stews and other dishes that require a slow, long cooking process. There are a number of different pieces of cast iron cookware, each serving a special purpose and making cooking a special experience. Types of pots and pans include Dutch ovens, frying pans, deep fryers, woks, flat top grill’s, griddles, and jambalaya plots. Each and every one of these pieces of cookware can find itself in the most elaborate of restaurants, as well as a campsite deep in the Rocky Mountains. But regardless of where it is used, it always gets the job done.

As you begin your quest with this type of cookware, keep in mind that preserving your cookware is very simple but it does require a bit more maintenance than other types of cookware. Because ordinary cookware cleaning techniques require scouring and washing, they are not recommended for a good piece of cast iron cookware. A dishwasher or scouring pad can remove the seasoning on a griddle or Dutch oven. As such, it should not be cleaned like most other cookware. Many who use cast-iron cookware suggest never cleaning cast-iron pans at all, but simply wiping them out after use or washing them with hot water and a stiff brush. Then again, other cast-iron aficionados advocate washing with mild soap and water, and then season the pan by coating it with a thin layer of fat or oil. There’s even a third approach that calls for scrubbing with coarse salt and a paper towel or clean rag. Any of these approaches will work fine as long as your cookware remains well seasoned, coated by oil or fat, and stored in a dry place.

Having and using cast iron cookware will benefit your family for generations to come. Your children and grandchildren will have an opportunity to go down to the creek and enjoy a good fish fry. At home, you most certainly will be able to wake up and enjoy the scent of cooking bacon and brewing coffee. Your life will never be the same once you invest in cast iron cookware.

Let’s Barbeque……….

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Its that time of year again, get out the grills and get ready for BBQ season. There are many different ways that people Barbeque. Here are some tips that you can use for when grilling out
and having family and friends over for a cookout. If you want to produce the perfect product which
includes mouth watering BBQ chicken, brisket and pork, there are four important factors in Barbequing. They are the meat, the method, the flavors and the smoke.

The right way to grilling is what is right for you and the only way to get good at anything
is the famous saying practice makes perfect. The first thing you need to do is purchase a Barbeque.
There are many barbeques that range from $30- $2000, just depends on how fancy you want to get.
When getting a barbeque you want to consider these simple things. The space you have for one
whether it is a big yard, get a large barbeque or a small space and get the smallest one possible. The second thing you need to do is consider the number of people you cook for regularly and you need to figure out the portions of food you will cook on your grill. If you want to have cookouts with family and friends all summer you need to consider a larger grill to put enough food to accommodate everyone. Also when it comes to grilling out you need to take into consideration if you want shelves and a workstation. It could make things easier to have a place to hold your meat and utensils and seasonings. The last thing to think about it how often you will use it, if it is just for the holidays then you might want
to go for the cheaper route since it once be used that much.

Once you have the grill and starts grilling you want it to be clean every time. You dont want the taste of fish on you steak. The best time to clean the grill is right after you get done cooking and use a wire brush to get off all residues. Before you start grilling you want to put a little bit of vegetable oil on the grill so that your food doesnt stick. Another good tip for grilling is when you begin a lot of people like to turn up the heat right before they put food on and that is wrong, you want to heat
up the grill 15-30 minutes before you start cooking your amazing food your about to make. You also want to have all your seasonings and utensils right beside you so youre not running back and forth to the kitchen. Also just in case things get out of hand and a flare up happens have a bottle of water nearby to put out unwanted flames.

When it comes to preparing you food for the grill, there are many different ways to do so. It can be your familys recipe or a sense of chef you have and try out different spices. Here are some ideas that can also help when it comes to preparing you meat for the grill. If you are going to grill a steak you might want to cut off any extra fat and put a pinch of salt and pepper on it and maybe add some steak seasoning before putting it on the grill. When cooking chicken you might consider putting it in the oven or microwave to cut down on cooking time and browning of the chicken. And when it comes to fish
one of my favorite things to do is to put it in a zip lock bag and add some olive oil and some herbs you like before grilling it. When you are grilling any kind of meat you want to keep to the cookbook guidelines when it comes to how long you leave it on the grill. Dont forget to have your cooking utensils such as long handed tongs, spatula, and fork and grill cleaner.

Everyone has their own techniques when it comes to grilling by use of their family recipes, tools, and marinades. Hopefully some of these will help you for this upcoming Barbeque season.
Nothing is better than spending time with family and friends while grilling out in the backyard having some amazing barbeque meals. Happy Grilling everyone!

Thai cooking survival guide by a Thai soprano-wife-mother.

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Where is the real Thai taste?

I am Thai. A Thai who grew up in a modern household; yet, I had the fortunate opportunity to witness the greatness of the Thai past. I was the last generation of my family to see the real Thai way from within my very own teakwood fence.

I remember Bangkok in a calmer way than most people now. The coolness of fresh air with the faint sweet aroma of Thai flowers – DokJumpee, DokPuth, DokMali, DokKaew, and DokPiguln- in combination with the sound of brass bells from a wooded tram on which I would ride along Rajchadahmneun Avenue, was the Bangkok that I knew. My mother was the oldest daughter in a family of five children.

Back then, she and her eldest brother were the two who were married and had their own children. We lived in one of three houses on my maternal grandparents’ large property on the west side of the Grand Chaopraya, the river so deep that it supports not only domestic traffic but is also the path for international freight ships, making it the major blood vessel of the country.

My grandparents occupied the largest house, also the first house at the front of the property, which faced a major road but sat far enough back and was disguised by many large and shady fruit trees. My eldest uncle and his family lived in the second house in the middle, and our house was set farthest back on the property. I was very happy with my never-ending activity from playing with my playmates ‘from tree-to tree,’ and waiting every afternoon for a Chinese “Olieng,” or iced coffee, iced tea and sweet snack goodies, vendor to arrive in his boat in the canal- “klong-” that marked our property line and the neighbor’s in the back.

I had many playmates, and I vaguely remember they all lived with us on our property- as to where on the property, I wasn’t sure. A few years ago, I asked my mother about them and received confirmation that those were our- or, rather, my grandparents’- hired help and their families who had been there since my maternal great-grandmother’s day. I was surprised that I could remember back that far, since my mother said that they had moved out when I was very young. She also confirmed my memory of the tram but said that it stopped running soon after I was born. I don’t know if I’m dreaming, but I have flashes of memory of this wonderful time, here and there, throughout my life.

My great-grandmother- the mother of my maternal grandmother- represented the real Thai extended family. She was a Thai-Mon. (Mon – the nation that got swallowed up by Myanmar-Burma back then. The Mons relocated to Siam since the Golden Age of Ayuthaya.) The word “Thai” means freedom, and coming to Thailand meant to open the door of opportunity among the peaceful people and under the cool shade of the Great King.

My great-grandfather was a Chinese boy who came to Bangkok with his family. He grew up to be an inventor, an author, a scholar, and a businessman who owned and operated an international trading company with his old country, China. Along with a British physician, Dr. Bradley, they started the first English language newspaper in Thailand and also invented the first Thai typeset for the typewriter. Later, my great-grandfather was granted a title from the King.