The Perfect Sunny-Side Up Fried Egg

Even if you don't cook much, it's not hard to fry an egg, right? Yes and no. It's the simple things that get us pretty heated about the best technique. It is possible to prepare a sunny-side up egg to perfection (tender cooked-through white and runny yolk). Here are five tips to get there:

1. Squash your impatience; go zen. Sunny-side up eggs need slow cooking over low heat.

2. Use medium heat to get the pan hot. If using cast-iron, heat it dry, then add olive oil and butter (for nonstick, heat the pan with the fat in it).

3. Turn the heat low and crack the egg in. If it splutters noisily, cool the pan off the heat briefly. Cover the skillet and cook the egg slowly, about 2 minutes. No browning. Check it. If the white around the yolk looks loose, cook it, covered, another 30 to 60 seconds, but check often, because you don't want the thin film of white covering the yolk to turn milky white.

4. Some pros recommend basting the whites with fat from the pan to help cook them through. That's fine, but tilting the pan to scoop up some hot fat makes the egg slide, too.

5. To make landing the egg foolproof, hold the skillet over the plate (hopefully with a piece of toast waiting for it).

Other Benefits of Ginger

It helps to Soothe an upset stomach, fight arthritis pain. Ginger has a well-deserved reputation for relieving an unsettled stomach. Studies show ginger extracts can help reduce nausea caused by morning sickness or following surgery or chemotherapy, though it's less effective for motion sickness.

But ginger is also packed with inflammation-fighting compounds, such as gingerols, which some experts believe may hold promise in fighting some cancers and may reduce the aches of osteoarthritis and soothe sore muscles. In a recent study, people who took ginger capsules daily for 11 days reported 25 percent less muscle pain when they performed exercises designed to strain their muscles (compared with a similar group taking placebo capsules).

Another study found that ginger-extract injections helped relieve osteoarthritis pain of the knee.

How to Make a Perfect Scramble Eggs

For two eggs, add two tablespoons of water and two tablespoons of heavy cream, season with salt and fresh-cracked black pepper, and whip the hell out of them with a whisk until frothy.

Melt some butter over medium heat and cook the eggs, not touching them until they are partially set. Then start some light stirring until they're almost finished, and turn the heat off. They will finish cooking because the pan is still hot.

Oversalting Your Food

The best method to avoid oversalting is to taste your food that is before adding salt to your food. But even if you have taken these precautions and your food still tastes like a salt lick, there are a couple of things you can do to make your food seem less salty.

First, try to trick your tongue into thinking the food is less salty by adding acids like vinegar or lemon juice to your food. Another trick is to add a little sugar to your food. If you are making soups or broth, adding water will help. Do not bother trying to add potatoes to salty dishes because it does not work and picking potatoes out of your tomato sauce is not fun.

How to Easily Remove Egg Shells Dropped into Eggs

It happens to all of us: You crack open an egg and a tiny piece of its shell falls into the bowl along with the raw egg. If you’ve tried to get it out with your finger or a spoon, you know the slippery dilemma you face.

Next time, wet your finger with water before attempting to fish it out. You’ll be shocked at how easily it can be grabbed and eliminated.

Crisping Chicken Skin

This is how to get a crispy chicken skin. First peel the skin carefully from the thigh or breast, and use a knife to scrape most of the fat off the underside until the skin becomes somewhat translucent.

Then drape the skin back over the thigh or breast, and tuck it under the meat. When it cooks, the skin will become crisp.

How to Cook a Lobster

Use water that's as close to seawater as it can be — extremely salty or, better yet, seawater itself. And don't use much: Put three or four inches in the pot, and when the water is steaming like mad, add the lobster.

A pound-and-a-quarter lobster takes about nine minutes. Afterward, don't shock it in ice water. That makes the meat tougher. Just let it cool down.

Cooking Tips: Unevenly Grilled Meat

When you grill, pull your steaks [or other meat] out of the refrigerator one hour ahead of time so they can come to room temperature.

Best Protein Choices for the Environment

Here are 5 Best Protein Choices for the Environment:

1. Milk
On the abbreviated top 10 list, milk came in with the lowest carbon footprint (lentils were lowest on the list of 20). However, the EWG looked at the carbon footprint of 4 ounces of milk—that’s only half a serving. So a full cup would be twice as high.

2. Beans
Beans are a smart protein choice. They give you fiber and healthy nutrients, such as folate and iron, and are very low in saturated fat. They’re also one of the best choices for the planet. Unlike animal-based proteins, beans have fewer carbon inputs and outputs (with animal proteins, growing crops just to feed the animals significantly adds to their carbon footprint).

3. Tofu
Tofu’s carbon footprint (roughly one-third that of beef) largely comes from growing the soybeans and then processing it into tofu. Please keep in mind that if the label doesn’t say it is 100% USDA Certified Organic or non-GMO, there is a good chance it was made from genetically modified soybeans.

4. Eggs
Feeding chickens, and the energy used on poultry farms, adds to the carbon footprint of eggs. But as far as animal proteins go, eggs’ carbon footprint is relatively low. In addition to protein, eggs give you some vitamin D and lutein and zeaxanthin, which are good for eye health. Although eggs contain some saturated fat and cholesterol, eating one a day shouldn’t raise your cholesterol levels.

5. Chicken
Chicken is the best meat choice, but on the full list of 20 foods, chicken ranks 6th meaning that its carbon footprint is still higher than plant foods and tuna. From an environmental and health perspective, though, eating chicken is better than eating beef.

How long can you freeze food?

How long will that casserole or whole chicken last in the freezer? According to the Food Safety and Inspection Service, food stored in a freezer set at 0 degrees Fahrenheit will stay safe indefinitely. But that doesn't mean the taste and texture will remain the same.

Here is a guide to how long you can freeze foods before you sacrifice quality. Keep in mind that quality does deteriorate the longer food sits in your freezer, so aim to defrost sooner rather than later.

Bacon: 1 to 2 months
Breads: 2 to 3 months
Casseroles: 2 to 3 months
Cooked beef and pork: 2 to 3 months
Cooked poultry: 4 months
Cookie dough: 3 months
Fruit: 8 to 12 months
Frozen dinners: 3 to 4 months
Hot dogs: 1 to 2 months
Lunch meats: 1 to 2 months
Sausage: 1 to 2 months
Soups and stews: 2 to 3 months
Uncooked chicken (parts): 9 months
Uncooked chicken (whole): 1 year
Uncooked steaks, chops, or roasts: 4 to 12 months
Uncooked ground meat: 3 to 4 months
Vegetables: 8 to 12 months

Fried Banana (Pisang Goreng)

5 medium bananas
1 cup (160 g) rice flour
2/3 cup (150 ml) water
½ tspn sea salt
Oil for frying

Place rice flour in deep mixing bowl. Make a well in middle of the flour, and add water and salt. Whisk vigorously until batter is evenly smooth for coating and not too thin (if too thin, add more rice flour).

Peel bananas and cut in half length wise. Dip into batter to coat generously. Heat oil in wok or deep fryer until moderately hot. Add bananas and fry slowly until golden brown and crispy.

Slow frying technique used in this recipe ensures that the bananas remain crisp after cooking, so this will take about 15 minute. Remove bananas from oil, drain on paper napkins and dry well.

About Lelaki Memasak

Dear Friends,

Lelaki Memasak means the man who loves cooking! Yes, I love to eat and I love preparing dishes.

My name is Lelaki which is “man” in English. Don’t ask me why I was given the name “man”. My grand grand father gave me this name and my parents just accept it. I thought it was because they have too many children so they don’t really focus on their names but how to feed each of us, we are twelve brothers and sisters!

Thanks God, my mom love to cook and we all love to eat! But can you imagine cooking for 14 people, 3 times a day? Linda McCartney once said that “Cooking for six people every day is like having a café” and my mom have to cook for 14, that's including my mom and dad.

What happened back there was we all help her in kitchen. That’s why all of her children can cook now, that’s including me!

This is a bit about me, I love to share and I hope I can get your responses back too, including your recipes if you care to share! If you have any suggestion to improve my recipes so my dishes can taste better, please let me know by dropping your comments on related article. Many thanks.

Sincerely,
Lelaki Memasak

Lelaki Memasak

This is my journal, to be exact my culinary journey!

I love to eat and prepare my own dishes, here in this blog I am going to share most of my recipes, my friends recipes *of course with their permission* and all free recipes generously contributed by people who love to share in the internet.

Bon appetit!
Lelaki Memasak