Feb. 24th, 2009

coraa: (cooking)
Because several people have asked!

These are so fast and so easy and so crunchy and tasty, it's amazing. They do still taste like kale -- but like light, airy, toasty-browned kale, slightly oily and salty (but only slightly). Like potato chips in texture and munchability, but not so much in flavor. Right now, when there's a ton of kale at the farmer's market, they're fun to make.

Basically, the principle behind kale chips is that kale is a fairly stiff/firm green -- so it doesn't immediately wilt in a hot oven -- that is both thin enough and low-moisture enough to crisp up quickly in a hot oven. Unlike potatoes, carrots, parsnips, etc, which are thick and moist enough to be difficult to crisp in a home oven, kale chips are dead simple.

Be careful not to oversalt them, though. I did that, and wow, salty chips.

Kale Chips )
coraa: (tasty science)
This one isn't a recipe -- it's a method. Specifically, it's a method for making chicken or pork taste better, and it's so effective I use it almost every time I cook chicken or pork.

Those of you who cook regularly very likely already know about this one -- it's a means of making chicken and pork both taste better and be moister and be less prone to overcooking. (It also works for turkey, and cornish game hen. It doesn't work with beef, or fish, which tend to get mushy in brine. I don't know about lamb or duck or goose or venison or etc.) It requires a little advance planning, but not a whole lot (just half an hour to an hour before you're ready to cook for chicken -- more for a great big turkey, of course), and very little actual active time. And it's so worth it -- I basically always brine my chicken or pork these days, even for quick evening meals. Especially for quick evening meals, because it means I don't have to fret about overcooking the meat.

Vegetarians can pass on by this one, though. ;)

(And don't let my extremely verbose description scare you! It's really simple. I'm just... verbose about food.)

Brining Chicken or Pork )

EDIT: I just now, after years and years of cooking, realized that a quart is called a quart because it has four cups in it (and/or because it's a quarter of a gallon). I feel... kind of dumb, actually! I mean, I knew quart = 4 cups, but I didn't notice the etymology at all.

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