There are a great variety of cabbages out there which are great for making salads.

The most common is coleslaw but Curtis has a few more ideas for you.

First up salt your chopped cabbage with a teaspoon or two or salt which removes some of the moisture and intensifies the flavour.

Once you’ve done that give it a rinse and dry before using as a salad with a drizzle of white wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.

Curtis also shows you have to make a quick fresh coleslaw using a couple varieties of cabbage, spring onions, coriander and carrots along with a mayo dressing with poppy seeds (you can use any variety of dressings).

How to make salads with cabbage with Curtis Stone first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

If you are of an inquisitive disposition you will love this video from “Mental Floss” which explores the origin of some very popular dishes and who they are named after.

For example German Chocolate Cake is not German at all, Eggs Benedict has it’s origins in a night of heavy drinking and the most common of all, the sandwich, has it’s origins in a night of heavy gambling.

Watch “28 Foods Named After People” for a whole whack of “QI”.

Foods named after people, like Eggs Benedict, Melba Toast and Margherita Pizza. first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

Are you stuck with how to cook Aubergines, eggplant or brinjals… all the same thing.

The best thing to do is either salt them, by slicing them up and sprinkling some salt on or roast them well burning the skin, whole.

The second method is perfect on a braai.

How to cook eggplant / aubergines with Curtis Stone first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

Lemongrass is most often used with Asian style recipes. There are a variety of different ways you can use lemongrass as Curtis explains.

The most common use is to make tea by pounding the roots before chopping them up into smaller pieces and steep in boiling water with some mint.

Another idea from Curtis is to make a fish soup with coconut cream, ginger, coriander and some lemongrass.

The best idea is to use it as a skewer, great for fragrant braai days.

Lemongrass is native to India and tropical Asia, has a subtle citrus flavour and can be dried and powdered, or used fresh.

Lemongrass is also suitable for poultry, fish, beef, and seafood.

Different ways to use Lemongrass with Curtis Stone first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

This is a quirky solution to quickly ripen avocados in ten minutes.

Wrap the avocado in aluminium foil and pop it in the oven at 90°C (190°F) for 10 minutes

The process involves trapping the ethylene gas that an avocado releases and allows it to be re-absorbed by the avocado, speeding up the ripening process.

Other methods include keeping them in a brown paper bag with a ripe banana, tomato or apple. This process however will take a couple of days and if you were hoping to use your avocado for dinner it’s not really going to be much good.

You could speed up the process a bit by adding more apples, tomatoes or bananas to the bag to produce more ethylene gas.

A little wiki about avocados

The avocado  is a tree native to Central Mexico, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae along with cinnamon, camphor and bay laurel. Avocado or alligator pear also refers to the fruit (botanically a large berry that contains a single seedof the tree, which may be pear-shaped, egg-shaped or spherical.

The avocado, originated in the state of Puebla, Mexico. The native, undomesticated variety is known as a criollo, and is small, with dark black skin, and contains a large seed.The oldest evidence of avocado use was found in a cave located in Coxcatlán, Puebla, Mexico, that dates to around 10,000 BC. The avocado tree also has a long history of cultivation in Central and South America; a water jar shaped like an avocado, dating to AD 900, was discovered in the pre-Incan city of Chan Chan.

The earliest known written account of the avocado in Europe is that of Martín Fernández de Enciso (c.1470–c.1528) in 1518 or 1519 in his book, Suma De Geographia Que Trata De Todas Las Partidas Y Provincias Del Mundo.The first written record in English of the use of the word ‘avocado‘ was by Hans Sloane in a 1696 index of Jamaican plants. The plant was introduced to Indonesia in 1750, Brazil in 1809, the Levant in 1908, and South Africa and Australia in the late 19th century.

The word “avocado” comes from the Spanish aguacate which in turn comes from the Nahuatl word ahuácatl (testicle, a reference to the shape of the fruit). Avocados were known by the Aztecs as ‘the fertility fruit’. In some countries of South America, such as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay, the avocado is known by its Quechua name, palta. In other Spanish-speaking countries it is known by the Mexican name and in Portuguese it is abacate. The fruit is sometimes called an avocado pear or alligator pear (due to its shape and the rough green skin of some cultivars). The Nahuatl ahuacatl can be compounded with other words, as in ahuacamolli, meaning avocado soup or sauce, from which the Spanish word guacamole derives.

The modern English name derives from the Spanish form avocado, “advocate”, which was formed as a folk etymology that substituted (and obscured) the Nahuatl origins of the word. The earliest known written use in English is attested from 1697 as “Avogato Pear”, a term which was later corrupted as “alligator pear”.

How to ripen avocados in 10 minutes first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

Heston Blumenthal goes with the grain when it comes to carving up a leg of lamb.

Watch this quick video and carving lamb will never be the same.

How to carve a leg of lamb the Heston Blumenthal way! first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

A new craze in the UK is Oak Smoked Water which has Heston Blumenthal lapping it up.

The water comes straight out of the tap and is then smoked for four days in an oak smokery.

Alison Lea-Wilson, of the Anglesey Sea Salt company, which produces the Halen Môn smoked water, says;

It adds an incredible depth of flavour to a dish and it’s completely natural.

It is perfect for risotto stock, or used in mashed potato, fish pies, with pieces of chicken or steak, or to marinate meat or fish.

Heston Blumenthal is one of the company’s customers, buying the water for his Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, Berkshire.

A 150ml sachet will set you back R40.

Oak Smoked Water… are things getting a little out of hand? first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

Roy Webb a retired design engineer in the UK with time on his hands and a spot of creativity developed a very simple and easy to make edible spoon.

It is essentially a piece of flat bread fashioned with a spoon shaped mould.

The spoon shaped bread is perfect for canapés holding savoury pate’s or sweet desserts.

He made the spoon shaped cutter and used it to stamp out thick white bread which had been flattened with a rolling pin.

He then placed the bread on metal spoon moulds and baked them in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes until they were golden brown.

The edible spoons can also be made from short crust pastry and covered in cream or yoghurt with fruit toppings, or dipped in chocolate and set in the fridge.

He has set up his own company selling edible spoon making kits for £25 each from www.ediblespoons.co.uk

The big advantage is no washing up although making them will cause quite a mess so we do not see that as being a big advantage.

Orders have been coming in from all over the world, from Australia, Spain, Canada, Italy, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and mostly from America.

Is anyone going to add South Africa to that list?

Via: Mail Online

Edible spoons, a novel way to present snacks first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

If you like the occasional cup of Iced Coffee, here are a few quick tips for making a perfect cup at home.

These tips a best when used with a filter coffee machine.

Pour left over coffee into an ice cube tray and pop it into the freezer. If you like it sweet add some sugar to the pot.
When you want to ice your coffee simply add the iced coffee cubes and you won’t be watering your coffee down with straight forward ice cubes.

Another method is to use an ice cream maker bowl… if you have one.
Keep it in the freezer and pour your coffee directly into it, it will be ice cold in minutes.

Finally make an extra strong pot of coffee, Add 12 scoops of coffee to the coffee pot.
Add ice cubes.
Place on the coffee machine and filter through 1 1/2 cups of water.
Swirl to melt the coffee.

How to make Iced Coffee with three quick tips first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

The art to braaing prawns lies in the way you skewer them according to Jamie Purvience

When skewering your prawns skewer the first one through the tail and then the head, skewer the second one straight through the head and the same for each one after, leaving no space in between, creating one big prawn.

Use good quality olive oil.

Brush on some spices of your choice.

When braaing make sure you get it up to a high heat.

If you hear the sizzle it means that they are caramelising and developing flavour.

They will be ready when the outer skin has turned orange and the meat is pearly white.

More: Prawn Cooking Tips | Prawn Braai Recipes

The best way to braai prawns first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

The other week I finally bought myself a pizza stone. It has long been on my kitchen wish list thanks to some fond memories at my ex-girlfriends sister’s house on Friday evenings when the whole family would gather to make pizza’s accompanied by a few glasses of wine & beer.

As family dinners go making pizza’s is as fully interactive as it gets, the kids have fun making their own, strategically placing the ingredients to make faces and an assortment of other images that only a psychiatrist could decipher. The adults take turns coming up with their own creations, some making gratuitous use of garlic while others would take a more tempered approach.

For my first run I bought some pizza dough from my local pizzeria and had to resort to using a plate to cut out a perfectly round shape, to be honest I’m still using that method. Used some Ina Paarman pasta sauce for the base and liberally applied the mozzarella and my favourite toppings, anchovies, capers, mushrooms and olives.

I had the pizza stone in the oven to preheat for 15 minutes, you need the heat to give you that crispy base and when ready slid in my first pizza. Six minutes later I was eating the best pizza I’d ever had with all the right toppings in all the right quantities and all the right places.

Once I’d used up the dough that I’d bought from the pizzeria I set about making my own. Flour, water, salt, honey and a touch of yeast is all it took. Made a batch and froze what I didn’t use for next time.

What makes the Emile Henry pizza stone so perfect for the task is that it is not a giant lumbering piece of granite that some people use. It is light, thin and heats up very quickly. It’s made of organic materials using Emile Henry’s proprietary Flame technology that can stand high oven temperatures. The glaze is micro-crazed which contributes to crispy crusts and it provides a non-stick surface that still allows you to slice the pizza while it’s on the pizza stone so you are not faced with the task of trying to scoop it off with a pizza spade.

“But that’s not all”, as they say in the classic infomercials. The best thing about the Emile Henry pizza stone is that you can also use it on the braai; gas, charcoal or wood! So if you’re looking for more stuff to do on your braai, you can add pizza and a variety of flat breads to that list.

Visit Culinary Equipment at www.culinary.co.za, on Twitter @culinarysa, or Facebook

And at these stores

Lanseria

Lanseria Centre, Pelindaba Rd (R512), c/o Airport Rd, Lanseria

Tel: 010 003 3199

Morningside

Morningside Shopping Centre, Rivonia Rd, Morningside, Sandton

Tel: 011 022 3164

Hyde Park

Shop 10a, Lower Level, Hyde Park Corner

Tel: 010 003 3198

Winelands

Valerida Centre, Piet Retief St, Stellenbosch

Tel: 021 887 7206

Cape Quarter

The Square, Cape Quarter, 27 Somerset Rd, Green Pont, Cape Town

Tel: 021 802 4233

Make your pizza at home, in the oven or on the braai, just how you like it every time. first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

If you would like to try something different on your braai why not try pizza.

It is very easy to do while being quite different to making a pizza in a pizza oven.

First of all you must toast the pizza dough before loading up with toppings and make sure you have the dough nice and thin, which is the traditional South African way of making pizza.

Brush on a little oil to both sides of the dough, toast one side and then add your favourite toppings to the toasted side.

Pop it make on the braai for about 4-5 minutes and you should be done.

You could have a whole variety of toppings available and let everyone make their own pizza!

How to braai pizza first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

The most obvious ingredient is water, 98% of your regular cup of coffee but what makes up the other 2%?

Wired magazine decided to find out and most of it is made up of ingredients you would struggle to pronounce and spell if they were not already in front of you.

Things like 2-ethylphenol, dimethyl disulfide, acetylmethylcarbinol, trigonelline and 3,5 dicaffeoylqunic acid which protects your brain against free radical damage which makes coffee an anti oxidant.

Finally there is the all important caffeine without which nobody would drink it.

What’s inside a cup of coffee? first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

You may not have ever wondered what happens when you mix milk with detergent but some people most certainly have.

Pour regular full cream milk into a bowl and wait for it to settle down and still before adding drops of food colouring.

Use a cotton bud, dip it in the dish washing soap, place the tip in one of the food colours and see what happens as the milk begins to move and radiate out.

The fat molecules in the milk get agitated, binding with the detergent molecules and that is what causes the milk to move.

By adding the food colouring it is there for all to see with magical effect.

This colourful food experiment demonstrates how soap works and produces a little food art at the same time.

It isn’t recommended that you drink the milk afterwards, doesn’t taste too good thanks to the dish washing liquid. which is a pity.

What happens when you mix milk with dish washing soap… first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

How to confit duck, which means to cooking something in it’s own fat, with Curtis Stone.

You can confit any range of meat, chicken, pork, duck and even rabbit.

The key to conift cooking is to cook for a long time at a low temperature.

Curtis starts off with a pot of duck fat and adds some flavour to it in the form of juniper berries, peppercorns, cinnamon, bay leaves and some citrus zest.

He then brings the temperature up, but not too hot you do not want to boil the fat.

Cover with a lid and into the oven for 3-4 hours at 160°C.

You can cook the duck for a second time in a dry frying pan which will release some of the fat and leave you with a nicely browned piece of duck.

Curtis Stone also shows you how to confit tomatoes.

How to confit duck or any other meat and confit tomatoes. first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

When dining out on a rack of lamb at a restaurant they are always neatly trimmed along the bone, this is called Frenching.

Curtis Stone shows you how to this at home by slicing off excess fat and pieces of meat leaving you with a neatly trimmed, attractive looking rack of lamb.

Wrap some foil around the exposed bones which will prevent them from charring keeping them nice and clean.

The best thing about a ‘Frenched” Rack of Lamb is that it creates its own handle.

You can also serve a rack up as chops on the braai using the same principle.

How to trim and French a Rack of Lamb first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

Curtis Stones explains how to cream butter and sugar properly to make perfect biscuits.

You start of with a mixture of white and brown sugar and combine with some soft butter.

In effect you are dissolving the sugar while introducing a little air into the mix.

Once you have creamed the butter and sugar continue to add the rest of the ingredients.

The net result will be the best biscuits you have ever made although Curtis likes to have the shapes a little imperfect so that everyone will know he cooked them himself.

How to cream butter and sugar for perfect biscuits. first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

Curtis Stone shows us how to prepare a fillet ensuring that you serve perfect steaks.

You can use different parts of the fillet for different cooking methods, the thick end is ideal for roasting while the thinner trims are perfect for steaks and the tail is ideal for stir fries.

A restaurant trick for retaining the integrity of a steaks shape tie some string around the border and for roasting wrap the string around the meat.

How to prepare and cook a fillet steak with Curtis Stone. first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

If you ever felt a little challenged when dealing with a lobster here is a video on how to remove the meat by Great British Chefs.

How to remove the meat from a cooked lobster first appeared first on Gourmet Guys

I’m sure that this has happened to quite a few people, a recipe calls for molasses and you don’t have any.

This is not a problem according to CHOW, all you have do to is substitute 3/4 cup brown sugar for every cup of molasses the recipe calls for.

In reverse if you need brown sugar but only have white and have some molasses in the pantry you simply add 1 tablespoon of molasses to 1 cup of sugar and mix it all together.

Problem solved.

What is molasses?
Molasses is a a by-product of the refining of sugarcane, grapes, or sugar beets into sugar. The word comes from the Portuguese melaço, ultimately derived from mel, the Latin word for “honey”. The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the source plant, the amount of sugar extracted, and the method employed.

How to substitute molasses in a recipe and in reverse how to make brown sugar. first appeared first on Gourmet Guys