I always wondered what the difference was between green onions (scallions) and chives, as people used them interchangeably when asking to have them held from their loaded baked potato - me working as a waiter at the illustrious Roadhouse Grill at the time (my store closed in late 2005, while the rest of the company [...]

Posted in Food Profiles 5 Comments »

I always see leeks on cooking shows, but they can be a bit intimidating in the store if you don’t know what they are or what to look for (as they were for me. Here I’ll go over what leeks are and how to pick them.
What Are Leeks?
Leeks look more or less like a [...]

Posted in Food Profiles 1 Comment »

Currants are one of those foods that I’ve heard mentioned on various cooking shows, but I never knew what they actually were. So today I decided to do a little research and figure out what exactly a currant is.
A currant is a type of small berry and comes in red, black and white varieties. [...]

Posted in Food Profiles 2 Comments »

Quality grades for beef were established in 1927 to create uniform standards by which to judge meat. These grades measure the overall flavor, tenderness, and juiciness of the meat based its age, marbling, color and texture.
The USDA grades are:

Prime - Prime beef is the best quality, with only about 2% being graded so. [...]

Posted in Food Profiles, Stocking the Kitchen No Comments »

I love fresh bread and have started experimenting with no-knead recipes (of which one attempt you’ll see on Monday), but I thought I’d first do a quick run-down of the different types of flour out there. Flour is essentially any sort of ground grain, seed or legume.
White Flour
This flour, the one you’ll probably use [...]

Posted in Food Profiles 7 Comments »

This is part two of my investigative report into rice. Feel free to read part one, where I break down the difference between brown, white, and the infamous parboiled rices.

Today I will discuss long, medium, and short grain rice. I will also mention popular specialty varieties which you might see in the store. [...]

Posted in Food Profiles 6 Comments »