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At talkingcooking.com, we believe that good cooking is necessarily healthy cooking and vice versa and in recent times, the term healthy cooking often has to do with organic cooking. In fact, a large number of people who have taken to cooking at home have done so because they want to eat healthier food that is not laden with preservatives and chemicals. So a switch to organic cooking might prove natural in such cases. However, like almost everything good in life, organic cooking also has its own pros and cons. Here we give you a list of the main advantages and disadvantages of organic cooking that will help you decide whether you should switch over to organic cooking or not.

Advantages Of Organic Cooking

• The main and major advantage of organic cooking is that it is healthy cooking. Since foods are labeled organic only when they have not been treated with pesticides, preservatives, drugs, chemicals, antibiotics or hormonal modifications, you end up eating food that is as natural as nature meant it to be when you go organic. It has been proven that eating organic food decreases chances of getting afflicted with most immune system and lifestyle related ailments, and this is a major reason why you should consider switching to healthy organic cooking.

• When you go organic, you not only avoid elements that are disease causing and harmful, you also end up eating food that is richer in nutrients and antioxidants. It has been proven that organic foods often have a level of antioxidants that is 50% higher than that of conventionally grown foods. This extra dose of antioxidants ensures that you stay healthy, beautiful and fighting fit with organic cooking.

Disadvantages Of Organic Cooking

• Most people who switch all of a sudden to hundred per cent organic cooking often complain that the food is not tasty enough. This is mainly because we are so used to eating hormone pumped foods that the taste difference when you switch to healthy and wholesome organic food is considerable. However, this is just a matter of getting used to. Instead of switching to organic food all of a sudden, you should start introducing it into your cooking and diet little by little so that the difference in taste is not drastic. Also keep in mind that organic food is not “less tasty”, it only tastes “different” from the chemical pumped food that we are used to eating!

• Organic food is costlier and not very easily available. At times, you might not always find organic substitutes for a number of foods. And when you find them, you might notice that they are exorbitantly priced. Another thing that discourages many people from switching to organic cooking is that many businesses have started selling non-organic food as organic in order to make money. Make sure that you buy organic food that has been approved by the USDA to avoid getting cheated. As for the cost of organic food, you might want to check out fresh produce or farmers’ markets for getting cheap and fresh organic fruits and vegetables.

If you are just starting to bake, then you might want to know about what to stock in your kitchen and what you can do without. Initially baking can prove quite discouraging for most people, and no one ever became a good baker without loads of patience and perseverance. So if you are just starting out or if you want to be a weekend baker, then stocking your kitchen with loads of so called “baking essentials” will only result in a lot of expenditure, most of which will not be put to use any time soon. If you are into fun and easy home baking that you want to do with kids, family and friends or just to unwind, then you can do it with just a few basic things. A small list of the essentials that you will need for fun and easy home baking is provided here.

Ingredients:  People who bake frequently need to stock all kinds of flours ranging from all purpose to bread flour and cake flour to self rising flour. As an infrequent baker, you can do with plain and simple all purpose flour. You can always go out and buy a special kind of flour that your recipe demands as and when you need it instead of stocking it all beforehand only to throw it all out when it expires unused. You can easily indulge in weekend baking with all purpose flour( can do for cakes, bread, cookies and pies), castor sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and yeast in your pantry.

You will also need solid vegetable shortening and vegetable oil for baking cookies and cakes etc. If you are into easy baking, then you would definitely not want to prepare frosting at home, and having some containers of ready made frosting will let you frost your cakes without any hassle. Vanilla flavoring is an essential for most cookie and cake recipes, with most recipes requiring different flavorings based on what you are making. For every ingredient that is not an essential, go out and buy when you need instead of stocking up. Fresh ingredients will always give you better baking results.

Electronic Appliances: Assuming that you already own an electric or gas oven, there are just a couple of other appliances you will need for baking basics like cakes and cookies. If you don’t feel great about kneading, you might have to put your food processor to use. Otherwise, you will need a heavy duty hand blender with a whisk for beating eggs, cream and butter etcetera and a dry grinder for grinding sugar and spices. Using these few appliances, you can tackle almost all kinds of baking ranging from pies to cookies and cakes to breads.

Cookware: You might find baking utensils in aluminum, steel and glass in your local cooking stores. Even though glass is costlier and looks better, the best cake and pie pans are the ones that are made of dull, solid aluminum. If you are into long term baking, you might want to invest in a few non-stick ones, since they make it really easy to take out pies and cakes once they are done. You will also need a measuring cup for liquids and one for solids. Take cups that are marked for all kinds of ingredients so that you can do with just one each. Apart from these, a couple of mixing bowls, a set of measuring spoons and some basic spoons and spatulas will take you a long way on your fun and easy home baking route.

All of us with family and friends are often blessed (and sometimes cursed) with unexpected company at or right after mealtimes. Catering for surprise guests generally becomes a tough job when they land up just as you put the dinner dishes in the dishwasher. However, with our short and sweet list of surprise cooking ingredients to stock in your kitchen, you will never be at a loss for cooking ideas for surprise guests, no matter what time of the day or night they land up.

Quick Cooking Cereals: Small pasta like angel hair, bow or even shells can be boiled in minutes to form the base for a main dish or salad. If you have pasta in your cupboard, you can whip up a meal by either adding cooked or uncooked vegetables to make pasta or a pasta based salad as your main course. The same goes for quick cooking rice. Cook rice in the microwave, it will be done within 5 to 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sauté some chopped veggies like onions, peas, carrots, beans and capsicum along with some salt and pepper or some Chinese sauces in a wok, and pour in the cooked rice and fry some more. You are ready to serve Chinese style fried rice to your guests!

Frozen Vegetables and Non-Veg: Chopped frozen vegetables will cost slightly more than regular ones, but they are extremely convenient and they can last in your freezer for ages. These veggies can come in very handy to make a salad or a side dish. Add some boiled pasta or croutons for a light salad or add a heavy dressing if you want something slightly rich. You can also stir fry your veggies within minutes to make a side dish for your pasta or rice or bread. And these are a blessing if you want to have pizza within fifteen minutes. For those who like non vegetarian food, stock some packages of ready to eat chicken or fish nuggets, sausages or salami etc in your freezer.

Instant Stuff: Guests dropping by unexpectedly should not mind getting instant soup and noodles. But to show them what a proud kitchen you keep, you can add a little portion of your frozen vegetables or cooked chicken to instant noodles or soup. This not only adds nutrition to the food, it also imparts it a different taste and flavor that will make your instant very unlike “instant”. Remember that a little garnishing in these cases goes a long way. You should also stock up on pizza bases, because you can make a great pizza with these things within fifteen minutes when you use your frozen veggies and chicken nuggets as toppings.

Different Types Of Sauces: Readymade sauces and dressings can do wonders for any dish that you have to make instantly. If you have one Italian sauce, then you can use it on your pizza or to top off boiled pasta and your fresh, home made meal is ready for your guests. Similarly, with a couple of sauces like pesto, remoulade, teriyaki, hoisin or salsa, you can dish up an aromatic, flavored dish within minutes. Flavored vinegars and oils are great for salad and veggie lovers and some desert sauces let you convert plain ice-cream into a Sunday with the addition of a few fruits( of course canned!)

So go ahead, stock up and let the cook in you experiment with these easy to use, versatile ingredients. Trust me, you will never get anxious about unexpected dinner guests in your life!

If you have just started cooking at home, then most of your meals must be coming from recipes of your favorite foods right out of your cookbooks or from recipes provided by friends and family members. Unfortunately, most of our favorite foods are not very healthy, or haven’t you heard that all good things in life are unavailable, fattening or married to someone else! However, if you plan to go on cooking for the rest of your life, it is important that you incorporate healthy food in your menus as much as possible so that you can actually obtain health benefits from home cooking. Some tips and tricks for making healthy, wholesome and smart food right at home are:

· Start using vegetables in your meal. Most non-vegetarians do not really like having vegetables apart from salads. But by now everybody knows that you have to have at least five to seven portions of fruits and vegetables in your diet if you want to make it a healthy one. In order to add vegetables to your diet, you can definitely start with providing a portion of salad with every helping of meat, and gradually go on to include a helping of cooked or steamed vegetables along with it.

· As far as possible, try using organic vegetables. However, you must keep in mind that organic vegetables, apart from being costlier than regular ones, also do not taste as good. So start introducing organic veggies in your diet one by one instead of using organic only all at once, otherwise you might never be able to develop a taste for your vegetables and your family might start dreading your cooking.

· Cut down on fats. Of course this means not making French fries or onion rings with every meal, but it also means that you use lesser fat for making regular dishes as well. Buy non stick pans and utensils since they actually let you cook in lesser amounts of fat than required by normal vessels. You must know that trans fats are akin to poison nowadays and anything containing this should definitely be left out of the kitchen. You should also substitute butter, margarine and animal fats with vegetable oils since these are healthier and therefore, easier on your arteries. Use olive oil or some a seed oil instead of animal fats and butter. If you bake at home, then you can always substitute seed oil in place of butter and shortening. This will give you almost the same result but will produce food that is healthier to eat.

· Do not boil, fry or cook too much. It is a long known fact that overcooking makes food lose all its nutrition. Therefore, avoid cooking food at high heat for long intervals. Do not boil it or cook it too much. In case of vegetables, try steaming them wherever possible instead of cooking them on a direct flame. While it is important to cook meats properly, try to cook them for longer periods on low temperatures instead of cooking them on very high temperatures. This will ensure that your meat gets cooked without getting burned, charred or losing its nutrients.

Most people do not realize it, but having the proper cooking equipment really makes a difference to the way your dishes turn out. No wonder then, you might have noted that most world renowned chefs pay utmost importance to the equipments they use and many even travel with their favorite equipments for shows and exhibitions instead of taking a chance with new ones. Therefore, if you are stocking up your kitchen, then make sure that you at least get the basics right. This way, you will never have to give up making a dish in the middle just because you do not have the proper equipment. At the same time, your dishes will turn out just the way they are supposed to instead of turning out to be surprises (often unpleasant ones).  We provide you here with a basic cooking equipment guide. This is stuff that every fully operational kitchen should have. You can go on adding equipments based on the kind of cooking that you do and the recipes you make.

Pots and Pans: Having the right type and the right size of cooking utensils is extremely important since they influence both the cooking time and the taste of your food. The list of essentials is as follows:

· One large, one medium and one small pot, with lids
· A medium sized saucepan with lid
· One large and one small frying pan, preferably non stick
· Two to three oven proof baking dishes in different sizes. Or buy at least two of the same size.
· Buy a pie pan and a cake pan –both medium sizes—if you plan to bake
· A set of different sized microwave proof bowls for storing and heating leftovers.
· A roasting pan and rack if you are into roasts

Knives: Most people do not pay as much attention to knives as they deserve. Buy the right kind of knives, good quality ones, and they will not only increase the quality of your output, they will also increase your efficiency in the kitchen.

· One chef’s knife 8 or 10 inches long
· One bread knife
· One paring knife
· One serrated knife
· One vegetable peeler

Spoons and Ladles: Having the right kind of spoons makes cooking very convenient. So make sure that you have the right ones for every process.

· Wooden spoons- with long and short handles
· Slotted spoons for deep frying- for non stick as well as regular pans
· Ladles
· Spatulas of different sizes

If you have non stick pans, then make sure that you buy spoons suited for such pans. This will save money since wood and plastic spoons can also be used with regular pans and pots.

Other Utensils and Accessories: No kitchen is complete without these necessities, so read on for more basic equipment that you need to stock your kitchen with.

· Grater with different hole sizes and some other basic functions
· Rolling pin
· Mixing bowls
· Measuring cups –one for liquids and one for dry items

With the kind of lifestyle that we are leading nowadays, time has actually become the most precious commodity. If you have to cook when you get back from work, then you must have wished a number of times how you could have used the same time soaking in a hot bath or relaxing on the couch in front of a TV instead of slaving over the stove. While no amount of tips and tricks can actually save you from going into the kitchen, these tips will definitely ensure that you spend lesser time there.

Keep stuff ready for cooking. We might not realize it but defrosting and washing food takes quite a lot of time. In order to save up on this, plan a little ahead and save yourself the hassle of defrosting. If you are planning to cook some meat from your freezer for dinner, take it out of the freezer and keep it into the fridge around the time that you have breakfast. Take care to keep it in a vessel that will take the leaks and save your fridge from getting dirty. This way, you will find that your meat is thawed and ready to cook in the evening. No microwaving and no running under the water. All you have to do is put it into the pan and you are done.

Defrost fast. You can defrost frozen vegetables in no time at all by putting them in a bowl full of warm, instead of cold water. By the time you pan is ready, your vegetables will be as soft as fresh.
 
Use the right equipment. Machinery and equipment have been created in order to increase human efficiency and to save on time. So if you want to spend lesser time in the kitchen, make sure that you have all the correct equipment ready. Keep a set of good knives and chopping block so that you can deal with all your cutting needs efficiently. A simple knife is simply not enough for all your needs, and every kitchen should have at least a peeler, a chef’s knife, a serrated knife, a paring knife and a bread knife. If you can afford it, go ahead and buy a food processor, and you will be able to chop your vegetables in seconds instead of hours. Invest in some non-stick pots and pans, since they also cut down cooking time considerably and you do not have to keep stirring food continuously when using one. This means you can easily go and catch snippets of your favorite soap instead of being glued to the stove.

Multitask. Many people first prepare all the stuff needed for cooking—chop vegetables, assemble spices and sauces, wash and chop meat and only then put on the pans and pots on the stoves. With a little thought and planning, you can start cooking the moment your first ingredient is ready for cooking and keep on preparing and adding the others as and when the time comes.

There used to be a time when cooking with wines was left either for cordon bleu chefs or our Italian and French cousins. However, the scene is no longer the same with the average American using different types of wines to flavor food in his or her kitchen. Cooking with wine imparts foods a very distinct taste and flavor that cannot be achieved otherwise. If you use wine properly with your food, your cooking skills are bound to get noticed and complimented by your friends and family. However, cooking with wine, though not tough, is certainly a little tricky to say the least. But with our tips for easy and fast cooking with wines, you will become an expert very soon.

· One misconception that we should get rid of at the earliest is that your food tastes better with cooking wines. No, it does not. This is because your food tastes better with wines, not ‘cooking wines’. Cooking wines generally have a high sodium content and do not taste as good as the real thing. On the other hand, if you do not like the flavor it gives your food, you cannot even use it for drinking. Use only drinking wines for flavoring your food also. A little quantity of a good drinking wine, when added to food can impart great taste and aroma.

· The easiest and safest way of adding wine to your food is by putting it in a marinade. This would impart your meats a distinct flavor without your having to slave over it. The trick to remember here is to use just a little wine, instead of a lot and your dish will come up tops.

· When using wines in your non-vegetarian dishes, in marinades or for gravies, remember the wine and meat pairing rules. Use red wines for flavoring red meat and white wines for flavoring white meat, poultry and fish. As far as the quantity of wine to add is concerned, start with adding only a little and go along to please your taste buds. You can also use white wines to add acidity to white sauces and gravies.

· If you have never cooked with wine before, then you should start with using it in marinades and gravies. Many people start cooking with wine by adding it in place of water and you can also do the same. All you need to do in this case is add wine equal to the quantity of water. Try to use this procedure in dishes that do not require too much water though. This is not because the wine will intoxicate people who eat your dish (it will not, since most alcohol content evaporates with cooking and wine hardly has a lot to start with), but because you might not want to part too much with a good and expensive drinking wine.

· At the cost of repetition, we once again stress that you use only good quality drinking wines for cooking. Do not use sherry and sweet wines, unless specified in

There used to be a time when dinner was a leisurely affair where family members got together and shared information about their day. Alas, with everything being dictated nowadays by a shortage of time, both dinner and its preparation have become rushed. We hardly have time to cook after a hectic day at work and supermarket casseroles, frozen dinners and take outs comprise dinner for a large number of families more often than not. However, with a little planning, you can make delicious home cooked dinners within a very short time. All you need to do is follow these simple tips to cut your time in the kitchen without compromising on health and nutrition.

· When you go grocery shopping, it would help if you have planned your meals in advance and buy all the ingredients that you would need for cooking in the coming week. A lot of times, we forget to buy a crucial ingredient for a meal which results in that particular dish never being prepared as we go back to our dependence on take outs and frozen dinners bought from the supermarket.

· Spend an extra hour in the kitchen on a weekend and you can find yourself saving at least half an hour everyday. Whenever you have some free time to spare, or when you get your vegetables from the market, chop them up first before putting them in the fridge. Take out your food processor and chop all the vegetables that you have bought. Store different vegetables in different boxes. Keep the ones you are planning to use within a day or two in the fridge and the rest in the freezer. This way, you would save yourself the hassle of washing your food processor everyday and chopping vegetables. All you need to do is take out the required box from the fridge and pop the already chopped veggies into your pan. Just make sure that you do not mix your raw veggies, otherwise they might turn bad.

· Another method of saving time spent in the kitchen is by washing and cleaning up as you work instead of piling up all the stuff that you get dirty to be washed up later. This way, at the end of the meal, you only have to wash plates and serving utensils. You can ask your family members to wash their plates and one serving utensil each if you want to and you will also have to wash just two pieces after dinner instead of tackling a huge load of dirty plates and pots.

· Before storing fresh meat in your freezer, divide it into portions, making one portion for every meal that you plan to make. This way, when you want to cook that meat, you will have to defrost only the required portion instead of the whole stuff.

· Defrosting meat also takes up a lot of time. You can avoid the delay created by this by taking out the meat that you plan to cook out of the freezer and keeping it in a bowl in the fridge while making breakfast. This way, you meat will be thawed and ready to cook by evening.

A lot of people are taking to cooking at home in their quest to get well balanced, tasty and nutritious meals. However, as a result of too much reliance on takeouts, supermarket frozen dinners and all kinds of meats, we are used to diets that are unhealthy and fattening. Most of us who are non-vegetarians shy away from vegetables and fruits while stuffing ourselves with sugary and fatty food. However, nutritionists and doctors have declared that it is important to eat a minimum of five to seven servings of fruits and vegetables in order to have a healthy diet. Eating such a large amount of fruits and veggies is quite difficult, not to say distasteful for a number of non-vegetarians. However, with our easy tips on making meals tasty and nutritious, you will soon start loving healthy eating.

· When we look at an average American’s diet, there are three things that are drastically wrong with it. Too much fat, excessive sugar and too little fiber. In order to remedy this situation, you will first have to look at your own diet and weight and think of the changes that you really need to make to your diet. The best way of adding fiber to your diet is by eating more fruits, vegetables and whole grain cereals. The best way to start this is by incorporating a small salad into every meal. This would not only add three to four portions of fruits and veggies to your diet, it will also add the fiber required to convert your diet into a healthy one.

· Coming to salads, while most salads are healthy, some salads drenched in heavy dressing contain fat that should be avoided if you are overweight. Try going for salads that have been tossed in transparent and light dressings instead of going for creamy dressings.

· Start having fruit salads. You can start substituting your desserts with fruits and fruit salads. This will have multiple benefits. Not only will this save you from consuming the excessive amount of sugar that you do with normal desserts, it will also add the required amount of fiber to your diet. Fruits are very rich in anti-oxidants and therefore help in controlling aging and increasing your immunity.

· If you find chopping vegetables a big chore, then you can always start using your food processor to do it. You can avoid cleaning your food processor every day by spending an extra hour in the kitchen on a weekend and chopping up all your vegetables one by one in your food processor. Store chopped fruits and vegetables in separate plastic containers; otherwise they might turn bad sooner than later. Unfortunately, you cannot cut and store apples, bananas, eggplants and potatoes etcetera since they oxidize very fast and will turn brown within minutes of being chopped.
· Start adding chopped fruits and vegetables to all the dishes that can take them. They will not only enhance their flavor, but also make them more nutritious. Try different fruit and vegetable mixes for your salads to add flavor and variety.

Vegetarianism is finally coming into its own with more and more people turning vegetarian everyday due to health as well as moral reasons. Even if you are not a complete vegetarian, you should try adding vegetables to your diet since at least five to seven fruit and vegetable portions per day are required for a healthy and balanced diet. People who have never been staunch vegetarians before generally find it tough to make vegetarian dishes. If you are also one of those people whose entire repertoire of vegetarian cooking begins with salads and ends with baked potatoes with nothing in between, then you can get started with these tips and tricks that will help you get the hang of vegetarian cooking.

• First of all you need to equip your kitchen with vegetable friendly equipment. This is because the right equipment and utensils ensure that you can make great vegetarian dishes within no time at all. A good food processor is a necessary addition to a vegetarian kitchen since you can chop vegetables real fast using one, cutting your preparation time by at least half.

• Otherwise you can also make do with a good chef’s knife for chopping and dicing vegetables. A nice, sharp serrated knife will help you with soft vegetables like tomatoes and are perfect for cutting thin slices. Buy a wok if you do not already have one, because you can easily make hundreds of vegetarian dishes in a wok. A wok also saves loads of cooking time for a lot of dishes when compared to regular frying pans and saucepans.

• Once you have the right equipment, stock your kitchen with the right food items. Fresh fruits and vegetables are the best, but having packs of frozen corn, peas and carrots will very often come in handy. Always keep ginger, garlic, green chillies, onions, tomatoes and potatoes handy and you are all set to prepare a number of great tasting veggie dishes as and when you want.

• As far as keeping processed stuff is concerned, stock your kitchen with soy sauce, tomato ketchup and puree, tamari, vinegar and pepper powder. With these ingredients in hand, you can always face and feed a mob full of hungry vegetarians.

• Now that you are all set with your ingredients and equipment, some simple tips to make great tasting veggies:

Learn to stir fry. You can always create a stir fried dish within minutes. Apart from being fast and easy to make, stir fries are extremely tasty. Heat you wok and put in some oil. Keep chopped vegetables ready, adding the harder ones first and then the soft ones. Great combinations can be made with hard veggies like carrots, peas, cauliflowers and potatoes with softer ones like bell peppers, tomatoes and onions. Add salt and pepper for flavor and your stir fried vegetables are ready to eat.

Start using substitutes: Substitute tofu, seitan and tempeh in your meat and chicken dishes and you can create a whole range of tasty vegetarian dishes that taste very much like the original non vegetarian ones.

Cooking is generally time consuming and tedious, and most people with busy jobs and busier lifestyles really do not fancy cooking much. At the same time, we all get fed up of eaten store bought frozen food or calling for takeaways all the time. Nothing equals home cooking when it comes to taste and nutrition, and eventually we all have to end up spending time in the kitchen. However, you can easily shorten your time in the kitchen by using the microwave for cooking instead of just using it as a heating and defrosting device. Modern microwaves with convection and grill make it possible to prepare delicious food in a short span of time. Apart from making the usual steamed vegetables, instant noodles or rice in your microwave, you can also use it to prepare finger licking good meat. Just follow these simple microwave cooking tips for cooking meat and you will start using your oven more and more often for making non vegetarian food.

• The first thing that you should pay attention to when cooking in the microwave is the kind of container you use for your food. While plastic containers that are microwave safe are usually good enough to heat food, use only utensils that are specially manufactured for microwave cooking if you really plan to cook. Glass and good quality microwave proof plastics are best for microwave cooking. Using any other material, including cheaper quality of plastics might lead to chemical transmission into your food, which will not only spoil its taste, but also make it dangerous for consumption.

• When you plan to cook meat in the microwave, it is a good idea to defrost it by keeping it in the fridge twenty four to twelve hours before cooking. This is because when you defrost meat in the microwave, it gets partially cooked in places. On top of this, defrosting takes almost as much time as cooking, so you won’t save much cooking time if you defrost in the microwave. 

• The microwave oven is most suitable for making dry meat dishes instead of stews and gravies. In order to make your chicken, lamb or beef soft and tasty, you should always marinate it before putting it in the microwave. Dishes that use marinades or sauces turn out best in the microwave because the spices and flavors have already permeated the food before you put it in the oven. Pierce the meat to be cooked with a fork or a sharp knife all over and then coat it with salt, spices or sauces—whatever you plan to cook it in—at least four hours before cooking. Leaving it overnight in the fridge will give you the best results, however. Once the meat is marinated, all you need to do is take it out and put it in the microwave.

• Remember that turning and moving around meat in the microwave is important if you want your meat to be thoroughly cooked all over. Keep turning meat pieces every ten minutes or so and move them around in their container so that they are thoroughly cooked.

• Always keep your container covered with cling film till the meat gets tender. Once it is three fourths cooked, you can remove the plastic covering and let the excess moisture vaporize. This would ensure that your meat is not hard and dry when cooked.

Olive oil has generally been declared as being the healthiest cooking oil. No wonder then, this light and fragrant oil is finding its way into everybody’s kitchen shelves. Apart from being healthy, olive oil is also one of the tastiest cooking mediums and definitely adds lovely flavor to your food. Since most of us are new to cooking with olive oil, unlike many of our European cousins, we can definitely do with some tips about using olive oil in cooking.

• Since we know that extra virgin olive oil is the best, almost all of us who can afford it have started using it for all our cooking needs. However, you might have noticed that this oil fails to give you the same flavor it does in salads and dressings when you use it for frying. This is because extra virgin olive oil, being of a very light consistency, smokes very fast and is not suitable at all for deep frying and cooking under high heat. So if you want your food to taste as good as possible, use regular (or mixed) olive oil for deep frying. This will not only save you money, it will also give you better taste.

• Now that you know where not to use extra virgin olive oil, let’s talk about where exactly you should use it. Extra virgin olive oil is a delight when used in dressings, salads and vinaigrettes. You can also sprinkle a little on top of your Italian pizzas and pastas before baking and relish the instant improvement in flavor.

• If from the above two tips, you have not already gathered that you should keep at least two kinds of olive oil to cater to your cooking needs, then let us spell it out. Keep at least one regular olive oil in large quantities-this can be a cheaper variety (but not too cheap either)-and a good quality extra virgin olive oil in your kitchen at all times.

• Special care is involved in storing olive oil if you want it to retain its flavor. It is best to keep your olive oil in a cool, dark place. This is because both heat and light are like absolute poison for your olive oil and will spoil it sooner than later. So do not store your oil near or above your cooking range, like you do with other cooking oils. Keep it in a cupboard instead, since it might spoil due to condensation if kept in the fridge. Make sure that your bottle of olive oil is tightly capped to prevent it from aeration.

• Olive oil, unlike other oils turns rancid quite fast. This is especially true of cheaper varieties of olive oil. In order to judge whether your oil is rancid or not, taste it. If it tastes buttery, that means it has already turned rancid. In some cases, you might find that a new bottle tastes rancid. While you can use rancid olive oil for cooking, it will not taste as good as fresh oil. The trick here is to taste your oil before buying if possible. Once you have bought your oil, keep it tightly capped and use it within 6 to 8 months, extending to a maximum of one year at the most. Olive oil stays best in tinted glass bottles, so transfer your oil into these if you have some. Green or brown wine bottles with light caps, which have been properly washed and dried, will do just fine.

Different people will tell you about different temperatures and times for the roasting of meat. And you might find that there are huge differences in the information people give you, leaving you not just confused, but thoroughly flummoxed if you actually want to know how to cook that perfect roast you had at your favorite restaurant last week yet have no clue how to go about it. First things first, you can make roast meat at about every temperature possible, it is just that every temperature and time possible will not give you perfect results. Secondly, cooking is more of an art than a science and people also appreciate the results as an art rather than a science most of the time. So what could be perfect roast for you could be slightly rare for my taste and what would be perfect roast for me could be overcooked for you. That said, however, the temperatures and times for perfect roasting of meat given here should let you roast meat the way it is done in good restaurants, but if even this is not good enough for you, then you might have to go back to asking some more.

Let us discuss cooking times first and foremost. In order to cook chicken or other poultry so that it is thoroughly and nicely cooked, you should roast it at a constant temperature of 160C or 325F. In case your oven marks by numbers, then this would be 3 in a gas oven. If you want to roast beef so that it is well done on the outside and rare on the inside, then a temperature of 180C or 350F should do it. This is around gas mark 4 in a gas oven. If you are roasting pork using these temperatures, while it will be cooked, it will look slightly pink. The same might happen in the case of lamb, but if you keep your meat in the oven long enough, that is at least thirty minutes per pound, you will be able to eat it without any danger since by this time, all the harmful bacteria would have been killed.

Coming to cooking times, while I have mentioned earlier that you should at least roast your meat for thirty minutes per pound, meaning you should keep it in for an hour if you are roasting two pounds, let me tell you at the outset that this cannot be sacrosanct. The reason behind this is that cooking times vary a lot based on the kind of oven that you use and its size. So while a gas oven would generally take a shorter time than an electric one, a larger oven would take a longer time than an oven with a smaller cavity. However, the time provided should give you a general idea of when your roast is about to be done. In order to make sure with your own oven, you can keep checking the results at approximately the same time and after one or two attempts, you will easily be able to determine the time period for roasting meat perfectly in your oven.