For the last decade, Iā€™ve been brining my Thanksgiving turkeys in champagne. The technique has produced delicious, consistent results from campsites in Big Sur, California, and Baja, Mexicoā€”and in everything from frying oil to pellet grills to standard home ovens. To prove champagne’s efficacy in producing a juicy, tender bird, I tested a champagne brine against a typical water-based one.

Last weekend, I drove over to our local supermarket in Bozeman, Montana, and picked up two of their cheapest $2.99-a-pound turkeys, as close in weight to each other as I could find. I wanted to design this experiment I wanted to design this experiment in a way that controlled for as many variables as possible and set up a worst-case scenario, in which the brine would be the only flavor factor in the roasted turkey.

Turkey is a difficult bird to cook. Not only are turkeys largeā€”each of the birds I bought was 14 poundsā€”but they also contain both light and dark meat. Tender, more exposed meat in the breast will cook faster than the tougher, tucked-away meat in the legs and thighs, which creates a significant risk of overcooking the white meat while you wait for the dark stuff to come up to temperature. That dries out the breasts and results in the chewy, flavorless bites of turkey weā€™ve all come to associate with Thanksgiving.

Why Brine a Turkey?

Salt breaks down the proteins in meat, making the textureĢżmore tender. At the same time, a brine can help infuse a bird with flavor, and adding liquids can help keep it moist while cooking.

There areĢżtwo main methods of brining a turkey: wet and dry.

A dry brine involves rubbing the outside and cavity of a turkey with kosher salt, dried herbs, and spices. ItĢżdraws moisture out of the meat, where it mixes with the salt, which is then transported back into the meat as the moisture is reabsorbed from the surface. Dry brining. produces a crispy skin and takes less effort than a wet brine, but it also struggles to fully infuse all parts of a big turkey with moisture and flavor.

To make a wet brine, dissolve kosher salt in boiling water, along with fresh aromatics like fruit peels, garlic, and herbs. You then submerge the turkey in the liquid at room temperature, and and place it in the refrigerator or outdoors if it’s cold enough for anywhere from 12 to 24 hours. This bath permeates all parts of the meat with salt, breaking down those proteins and infusing flavor throughout the turkey. Pat the bird dry and let it drain, then roast. Don’t worry: lots of this liquid remains present during the cook, adding steam and the additional moisture and flavor it brings to an otherwise dry oven or grill.

How Does Champagne Affect a Turkey?

Brining a turkey in champagneĢżdoes three things. Alcohol helps tenderize meat by breaking down collagen. Champagneā€™s mild fruit flavors also infuse the meat, pairing well with turkey itself along with the herbs, vegetables, and stuffing you use for seasoning and sides. Plus, the champagneĢżhelps create flavorful drippings you can use to make a better gravy. Finally, champagne is acidic. That acid is yet another tenderizer that leads to a flavorful roast turkey.

Thereā€™s no reason to use anything other than the cheapest champagne you can find. The less subtle flavors and greater acidity will actually work better than the nice stuff. I used AndrĆ©ĢżBrut simply because, at $7.39 a bottle, it was the most affordable stuff on the shelves at my grocery store. AndrĆ© comes from California and not the champagne region of France and cannot technically be called champagne, it does the job just fine.

How Do You Wet Brine a Turkey?

First, make sure you donā€™t buy a pre-brined turkey. This should be prominently labeled on the packaging, or is something you should ask your butcher about if youā€™re buying a bird straight from a meat counter. The words, ā€œkosher,ā€ ā€œenhanced,ā€ or self-basting,ā€ can also be understood to mean pre-brined.

You can find pre-made brining kits for turkeys which contain measured portions of salts, spices, and herbs that you just add to boiling water. But fresh ingredients are always going to taste better, and making your own brine allows you to to tailor it to your own unique tastes.

The most important step is dissolving salt in water. To do that, you just need to start with a ratio of four parts of water to one part kosher salt. This will give us a base brine to which we can add our champagne or water later. Bring that water to a boil, pour in the salt, let it return to a boil, then turn the heat off and let the solution cool to room temperature. You donā€™t want to submerge a bird in hot water; doing so can lead to bacteria growth.

For this taste test, I kept the brine simple. To that base brine, I just added orange and lemon peels, garlic cloves, peppercorns, and some chopped-up sage and bay leafs. Once thatā€™d cooled, I placed the turkeys in a brining bag, rested them in their foil roasting trays to support the weight and catch any leaks, then poured additional water on one turkey and champagne over the other until each was fully submerged. When you add enough water (or champagne) to fully submerge the turkeys and further dilute your brine, you should end with a salt-to-water ratio of around 1:16.

The only variable here is that one turkey was submerged in brine and water, and the other was submerged in brine and champagne. It took five bottles of champagne to fully submerge one of the turkeys. I simply put the other bird under a cold kitchen sink tap in its brining bag, and didnā€™t measure how much water it took to fully cover it.

You can (and should!) add more stuff to your brine. Ingredients from Worcestershire sauce to chicken broth, herbs, and spices are all common, and will all add flavor to your end result. Again, I tried to keep this cook as simple as possible so nothing else was working to mask the effect of the different liquids.

What Cooking Methods Work with a Champagne Brine?

The answer to that is simple: Every method I’ve tried works well with a champagne brine. When I prepare a turkey in camp, I prefer to use a propane-fueled fryer, simply because itā€™s the easiest thing to transport and use outdoors. If youā€™re frying, just take extra care to fully dry the bird, inside and out, before sticking it in the hot oil. The wet brine should help ensure the turkey is defrosted, and can be transported to a campsite or patio in a small cooler or lidded five-gallon bucket.

At home, I prefer to use a pellet grill due to the controlled level of moisture present in quality wood pellets. But Iā€™ve also cooked champagne-brined turkey on my Big Green Egg using lump charcoal with excellent results.

For this cook, with the goal of testing champagneā€™s effectiveness in the worst possible circumstances, I simply used the ovens in my kitchen. I pre-heated both ovens to 350 degreesĢżFahrenheitĢż(without any convection), filled the cavities with wedges of the leftover fruit, brushed a stick of melted butter over the top of each, and baked them until done.

Prior to 2008, the USDA recommended cooking turkeys until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reached 180 degrees Fahrenheit. But that recommendation was updated in 2008 to 165 degrees. That lower temperature should result in a moister bird, but I cooked both turkeys through to 180 degrees to account for a worst-case scenario.

The mad scientist in me was pleased when the probes in both birds registered 180 degrees at the exact same time. That meant both ovens were heating consistently with each other,Ģżan indication that Iā€™d managed to remove one more variable from the result.

Can a Champagne Brine Really Produce a Juicier Bird?

I pulled the turkeys out of the oven, and rested them on my stove top for 15 minutes before carving. One difference was immediately apparent: the skin on the water-brined bird was noticeably crisper, and more deeply browned. My theory there is that the champagne broke down the skin on its bird that much more. While irrelevant toĢżflavor, this did represent less than ideal presentation. If oven cooking a champagne-brined bird, it may be a good idea to add some honey to the melted butter before you brush it on the bird, which should help its skin crisp up and look a little darker.

But that one downside disappeared as soon as I sliced into the breasts. There, the water-brined bird displayed noticeably more separation between muscle fibersĢżand was visibly less juicy. Biting into that water-brined bird took more effort, and the bite contained less flavor.

In contrast, the champagne-brined turkey was visibly juicy, with no separation between muscle fibers. The bite was tender, and was noticeably moreĢżflavorful.

While the dark meat in both birds was similar in appearance, the tenderness and flavor was again far superior on the champagne-brined turkey.

I ended up throwing out the water-brined turkey, but carved and saved the champagne-brined one. Iā€™ll make a turkey sandwich for lunch after finishing this article. Even with such a basic cooking method, in which no additional flavoring from herbs or spices was added, the champagne brine produced a turkey Iā€™d be happy serving to dinner guests. Its level of tenderness was as good as I expect from better equipment and more elaborate recipes, and its nice, but somewhat bland flavor could have been masked with a good gravy.

Can You Serve a Champagne-Brined Turkey to Children?

As with other cooking methods that include wine, beer, cider, or liquor, the alcohol cooks off with temperature and time. There should be no alcohol content remaining in the final dish.

Can You Taste the Champagne?

Flavor-wise, there were some faint notes of fruitiness in the meat of the champagne-brined turkey that werenā€™t present in the water-brined one. But that could be explained as much by the champagne better transporting the flavor of the orange and lemon peels into the juicier meat as it could by anything remaining of the booze. I certainly couldn’t detect any strong flavor of champagne or alcohol.

By spending $37 on champagne, I meaningfully increased the quality of my Thanksgiving turkeyā€”without relying on my preferred cooking methods or added seasoning. Consider a champagne brine as an additional step to your favorite recipe. Paired with a superior cooking method like grilling or frying, a champagne-brine can help elevate your results to new levels.

The post The Secret to a Perfectly Juicy Thanksgiving Turkey? Cheap Champagne. appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.

Whatā€™s the best way to grill a steak? Thereā€™s no one answer, but to me, thereā€™s always been a wrong one. Iā€™ve long considered grilling with gas to be heresy, but it occurred to me that Iā€™d never actually done a back-to-back taste test between gas and charcoal. Earlier this week, with very excited dogs, I fired up my grills and got down to work.

What’s the difference? Temperature, smoke, and convenience. While natural lump charcoal is able to get much hotter than natural gas or propane, and produces delicious wood smoke, it also takes time to light and bring up to temperature, is messy to use, and can be challenging for beginners to precisely control. In comparison, on a gas grill you simply turn dials and push a button to ignite the flame.

The Experiment: How to Grill a Steak

To control for variables as much as possible, I bought four identical choice-grade New York strip steaks. Not the expensive ribeyes I normally cook, they were maybe half-an-inch thick, and not terribly well marbled. Then, I set out to conduct two tests. First, a cook using the most basic methods possible. I wanted to eliminate any flavor difference created by ultra-hot sears, and just experience the difference in flavor, if any, between fuels. Then, I wanted to take advantage of charcoal’s high temperatures to see if the end result really is superior.

Pulling two steaks out of the butcher paper, I liberally coated each in kosher salt, then set them aside to come up to room temperature. According to Bon AppĆ©tit, before cooking results in a more even temperatureĢżand juicier results.

Grilling Steak: Gas Versus Charcoal

I fired up both burners on my patioā€™s built-in Viking grill (it came with the house), and let it heat up on full blast for 15 minutes. 550 degrees was the highest achievable temperature, so I inserted my Meater+ wireless thermometer in the steak, and threw it on the grill, being careful to leave the hood open. The wired probe on my Dot thermometer was throwing error codes and needs to be replaced, and the hottest ambient temperature the Meater+ can withstand is 500 degrees. Leaving the hood open may have allowed some heat to escape, but it also allowed me to monitor the steakā€™s internal temperature precisely.

When the steak reached 110-degrees internal, I flipped it over, then pulled it off at 125, setting it aside to rest while I heated up my Big Green Egg (BGE). To make things fair, I also set it to 550 degrees, and left the lid open while I followed the same method.

And the Winner Is…

I actually think I overcooked the BGEā€™s steak slightly. While resting, the gas steak reached a high temperature of 132. The BGEā€™s reached 136. And you can see that in the side-by-side shots, where the gas steak looks a little more evenly pink throughout.

The difference was stark upon tasting. While an unpleasantly sour taste pervaded every bite of the steak grilled on the Viking, the one grilled on natural lump charcoal just tasted like salt, fat, and heat. Iā€™d have needed dollops of sauce to finish the gas steak, but could have eaten the charcoal one on its own with a reasonable level of enjoyment.

While that natural gas or propane grills burn their fuels without odor, Iā€™ve never found the taste they produce in steaks palatable. I donā€™t know if thatā€™s simply because I prefer the taste of wood-smoke in steak to steak without the smoke, but I do know I can taste a difference.

With the aid of a leaf blower, Iā€™m able to take my BGE above 1,500 degrees (this is also very dangerous and is best left to experienced grillers). Of course, thatā€™s only with natural lump charcoal, which contains nothing but carbonized wood, rather than the compacted sawdust briquettes that are filled with chemical additives. You donā€™t necessarily need a multi-hundred-dollar Egg to achieve a perfect steak; just burning natural lump in a standard kettle grill will elevate your flavors, while also facilitating higher temperatures.

Would results differ if I used a more elaborate method, and is it possible to hide the flavor of gas? My go-to grilling method for steakĢżis to do the hottest-possible sear on the front end, rest the steaks for at least 20 minutes, then put them back on at a low temperature to cook through. At home, I use that Big Green Egg for the sear, then rely on the more consistent temperatures of a pellet grill for the slow cook through. But that method often works just as well on lesser equipment.

Don’t Have a Charcoal Grill? Fear Not.

Because butter withstands higher temperatures than olive oil, and also because I was hoping its sweet flavor could mask the sour aftertaste created on the gas grill, I first salted then seared one of the steaks on my 24,000 BTU Viking range burner, using a Staub enameled cast iron pan. With that pre-heated as hot as possible, I melted some butter, then cooked the steak for a minute on each side, before moving it to a cool cutting board to rest.

To sear on the Big Green Egg, I simply point a leaf blower at the intake from a few feet away, then watch the thermometer dial spin around as a wall of flame emerges from the top. 30 seconds on each side produced a very crispy sear on this strip. I also rubbed the steak with a good quality olive oilĢżfirst, to seal in moisture.

After allowing both steaks to rest for 20 minutes, I threw them back on their respective grills, with both of those set at 250 degrees, to cook through to 125. Then rested each again for 10 minutes to come up to something north of 130 before slicing. I again think I slightly overdid the steak on the Egg, simply because Iā€™m not used to cooking such thin pieces of beef.

The Bottom Line: Just Avoid Gas

With this method, the gas grill produced a more predictable result, but the sear was lackluster and the flavor of the gas was not dissipated at all, even with all that butter. The charcoal steak was a little overdone, but a lot more palatable anyways.

Iā€™ll go back to reserving my gas grill for occasional vegetable-only duty during big dinner parties, and keep my meats as far away from gas-fired grills as possible. Still, the dogs didnā€™t seem to care which steak they were given. All four disappeared in only a few quick chomps.

The post How to Grill Steak the Right Way appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.

This hearty combo tastes even better in the woods than it does in the diner. Whip it up over a campfire, and youā€™ll not only impress your buddiesā€“youā€™ll have a no-pot meal with zero cleanup (eat right out of the bag!). The paper wonā€™t ignite if you make sure itā€™s wet before cookingā€“here, bacon grease does the trickā€“but it might smoke a bit. Try it with these two techniques: one for the trailhead, one for the trail.

Car Camping

Ingredients:Ģż 4 thick bacon slices, 2 eggs, 1 brown paper lunch bag

• At home, pack eggs and bacon in a cooler.
• In camp, cook one serving per bag. Place the bacon inside the bag, wiping the insides generously with grease (the more you coat the bag, the better). Crack eggs on top of the bacon. Fold the bag down several times, then poke a three-foot stick (green pine wonā€™t burn) through it so that the bag hangs at one end.
• Holding the stickā€™s other end, suspend the bag over hot coals (not flames), heating all sides evenly until done (seven to 10 minutes).

Backpacking

Ingredients: 4 frozen bacon slices, 2 eggs, 1 brown paper lunch bag

• At home, crack eggs into a bowl and beat. Pour into a Lexan bottle or zip-top bag and freeze. Wrap the bottle or bag with foil, then place in your pack with the bacon. Both will thaw in time for breakfast the next day.
• Cook over your campfire, using the method described above.

Tip: If youā€™re in an area where fires are banned but charcoal grills are permitted, these techniques work over those too.

Adapted from , by Richard Wiese ($19, Harper Collins).

Originally published in 2009; updated in January 2022

The post Cooking Bacon and Eggs in a Paper Bag Is Your New Camping Party Trick appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.

Want to have a successful camping trip? Make good food.

But cooking in camp can involve challenges: weather, darkness, unfamiliar equipment, and sanitation can build a barricade between you and a full stomach. And thatā€™s before you figure in fussy eaters or food allergies. But on a recent 1,000-mile camping trip through Mexico, I think I may have experienced a revelation. Any and all of those problems can be addressed deliciously by a single food: the humble quesadilla.

A camp meal should be easy to make. And to make a quesadilla, all you do is put some cheese on a tortilla, stick that on a hot pan, and flip it once one side is crispy. There’s not even any need for cooking oil, the tortillas should already have enough fat in them to crisp up nicely.

Nor is there need for tools beyond a hot surface to cook on. Counting ounces? Fold up some foil and lay that on a bed of coals. Sure, a spatula, knife, cutting board, bowls, plates, and all that might be nice, but they aren’t necessities. Fingers can flip and press tortillas just fine, so long as you’re careful.

You also need that meal to be nutritious. And while a pile of melted cheese delivered to your mouth via tortilla isnā€™t the type of recipe youā€™re going to find in most weight-loss diets, it does offer a lot of satisfying calories if those are all youā€™re looking for after a long day on the trail.

Add fiber and vitamins in the form of veggies. Just slice up some bell peppers, jalapeƱos, and onions ahead of time, season them with some salt, pepper, cumin and garlic powder, then sautĆ© them in your pan before you make the quesadillas. No need to clean the pan in between, youā€™re just adding more flavor. Add even more protein (and more fiber) cheaply and easily by squeezing a pack of frijoles on top of the melting cheese. Have more time and budget, plus the ability to bring along fresh meat? Grab a lid for your pan, and follow my guaranteed method for cooking tender, safe chicken breasts. Use a packet of pre-made taco seasoning to make things even simpler.

Notice that none of the above ingredients will spill, break, or bruise.

Celiac? Grab corn tortillas. Those tend to be small, so I like to make quesadillas with them by simply laying the tortillas flat in a hot pan, and piling cheese and other ingredients on top, before adding another corn tortilla, pressing down on it to create adhesion, then flipping the whole thing over. Larger flour tortillas can simply be folded in half around the fillings, and two then form a perfect circle inside your pan, doubling your cooking speed.

Cooking for family or friends with mixed tastes? Prep the veggies and protein ahead of time, put them in bowls, and let everyone build their own quesadillas as you go. Vegetarians can squeeze on beans instead of chicken. Vegans can use alternative cheeses. And kids can get a cooking lesson using safe, already cooked-through ingredients.

Build-your-own quesadillas also address the biggest challenge in preparing group meals: timing. Even if the toppings get cold, theyā€™ll warm right back up while the cheese melts and the tortillas crisp. A good camp meal is a warm camp meal. And every quesadilla comes off the pan ready to eat, with everything inside piping hot. Eat as you go.

Add even more flavor by dipping your quesadilla in salsa or sour cream. Experiment with different types of cheese, especially local ones youā€™ve never tried before. Mix different types of cheese together. Cut up some cilantro. Squeeze a lime on top. Add an avocado.

And quesadillas donā€™t just need to be for dinner. Fry bacon, scramble eggs, pile those in with your cheese, and youā€™ve got a quick, easy, hot breakfast ready to go, even if people wake up at different times.

In the mood for Italian? Use mozzarella cheese instead, and add toppings like sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus or artichoke hearts. With a quesadilla, thereā€™s no limit to whatā€™s possible.

But when you’re camping, the nicest thing about a quesadilla isnā€™t just that itā€™s delicious. Itā€™s that once all that melted cheese has you feeling fat and happy, thereā€™s not really any clean up to worry about. Scrape any loose cheese that burned off the pan into your campfire or trash bag, put that pan some place where it wonā€™t attract critters, then crawl into bed. With all those calories to burn off, youā€™ll sleep warmer. Thereā€™s no campout that canā€™t be improved by the quesadilla.

The post Looking for the Perfect Camping Meal? Consider the Quesadilla. appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.

This Turkey Day recipe brings the comforts of a holiday home-cooked meal on the trail. Classically-trained chef, avid hiker, and recipe developer, says stuffing is his favorite Thanksgiving side, and making in the great outdoors makes it that much tastier.ĢżĢż

ā€œWhat I love about this turkey stuffing recipe is itā€™s a combination of all the great parts of a Thanksgiving plate, all cooked up in an easy-to-shop-for-and-quick-to-cook trail meal,ā€ Corso says. ā€œItā€™s also easy to prep for one portion, or for your whole trail crew, in any size camping pot.ā€

Note: While you can use canned chicken in this recipe, Corso loves Ģżas a vegan option because of the flavor and heartiness. These sausages can be carried in your backpack, unrefrigerated, for two days.

On-the-Trail Turkey Stuffing Bowl

The post On-the-Trail Turkey Stuffing Bowl appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.

If youā€™ve never heard of sweet potato bark, donā€™t worry because before we met , an outdoor lifestyle writer and Washington Trail Association Guide Correspondent, we hadnā€™t either. Leader lives in the Greater Seattle area in Washington and tackles hikes across the Pacific Northwest. This, of course, requires plenty of on-the-go fuel, like Leaderā€™s favorite dried sweet potato bark.

The bark is dehydrated sweet potato puree thatā€™s spread onto parchment paper into thin pieces and sprinkled with spices. Itā€™s sweet, salty, and highly nutritious. ā€œA sweet potato makes a great trail food because itā€™s a basic ingredient packed with fiber and vitamins,ā€ Leader says. ā€œPlus, you can eat it both as bark for a snack or rehydrate it back into hot water for mashed potatoes or soup.ā€

Leaderā€™s bark recipe came about when she became fixated on ras el hanout, a North African spice blend. In Arabic, ras el hanout roughly translates to ā€œhead of the shop,ā€ because in places like Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia where itā€™s regularly sold, this blend is made of the best spices the store has to offer. Thereā€™s no single recipe for the blend, but the most common flavor profile includes cardamom, cumin, coriander, peppercorn, sweet paprika, dried turmeric, and cinnamon. Traditionally, ras el hanout is used for stews and grilled meats, but it can be used for about anything, including sweet potatoes.Ģż

ā€œOnce you make a batch of ras el hanout, you’ll find yourself sprinkling it on everything!ā€ Leader says. ā€œI even gave it away as Christmas presents one year.ā€

Ras El Hanout Sweet Potato Bark

The post Peppermint Bark? Nah, Try Sweet Potato Bark. appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.

This article originally appeared on . Ģż

Sweet potato pie is a Thanksgiving staple, but unluckily for your backcountry Friendsgiving, it doesnā€™t travel well unless youā€™re a fan of baby food. Instead, sub it out for this ingenious creation from reader Shelli Snyder, which uses a combo of graham crackers, instant sweet potatoes, marshmallows, and fall spices to recreate all the flavor you love in a significantly more hike-friendly package.

The post This Sweet Potato Pizza Pie Is the Most Ingenious Fall Camping Dessert appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.

Weā€™d all like to be organized enough to start a slow cooker in the morning and come back to a home-cooked meal at night. But letā€™s be honest: youā€™re probably scrambling to get ready for work, sneak in some exercise, or get the kids to school with just enough time to slam a cup of coffee on your way out the door.

But thanks to the Instant Pot, , you can reap many of the same benefits without asĢżmuch advanced planning. Itā€™s an active personā€™s godsend. Here are a few easy recipes from the kitchens of professional athletes to let simmer during your afternoon workout.

If You Have 2 Hours: Pulled Pork

Pulled pork is one of Rally Cycling racer favorite picks for a weeknight meal. The 20-year-old loves spending time in the kitchen when heā€™s not out riding. ā€œPulled pork is great because you can put it in the Instant Pot at 4 p.m. and be ready for dinner soon after,ā€ he says. To make it, simply stick a pork shoulder in the Instant Pot with about an inch of water in the bottom, set it to ā€œmeat,ā€ and seal. (If you want to add some carbs to your meal, throw in a couple halved potatoes.) When itā€™s done, use two forks to shred the now-tender meat. Add barbecue sauce to taste, toss it on a bed of greens, and youā€™re ready to go.

Pro Tip: Weekly meal prep makes for even easier Instant Pot dinners. Pre-chop ingredients, combine in a plastic Ziploc, and stash it in the fridge or freezer. To cook, just plop the bag of ingredients into the Instant Pot and press the start button.

If You Have 1 Hour: Tomatillo Avocado Chicken

Chicken cooks quickly and stays moist and tender in a pressure cooker. Cyclocrosser ā€™s go-to recipe is simple. ā€œI combine a premade tomatillo salsa with a couple slices of avocado (for creaminess), a few chicken breasts, plus whatever vegetables I have in the fridge,ā€ she says. Add water or chicken broth so thereā€™s about an inch of liquid covering the bottom, then program the pot to the manual setting on high for 15 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally, and set the pot to stay warm when finished so you can do your full workout without dinner getting cold. When youā€™re ready to eat, use two forks to shred the chicken. Top it with fresh cilantro and a spritz of fresh lime and enjoy. Serve atop tortilla chips with a bit of melted Monterey Jack cheese for a healthier take on nachos.

Pro Tip: Experiment! ā€œThe Instant Pot has become one of my favorite ways to make food for the week,ā€ Noble says. ā€œSometimes I make specific recipes, or Iā€™ll just throw in whateverā€™s in the fridge that needs to be used up and make a ton of delicious food for the week.ā€ (Ellsay is also a fan of the ā€œeverything but the kitchen sinkā€ stew.)

If You Have 30 Minutes: Rice Bowl

Noble and Ellsay both admit that they primarily use the Instant Pot to make rice in record time. Unlike a rice cooker, the Instant Potā€™s correct ratio of rice to water is 1:1. The pot has a rice setting and will take between five and 25 minutes, depending on the type of rice youā€™re cooking. Before a race, Noble likes to top a bowl of rice with almond milk, jam or maple syrup, and almond butter. For a more savory option, add canned black beans, chunks of avocado, and plenty of greens and fresh salsa for a do-it-yourself burrito bowl.

Pro Tip: If youā€™re a fan of heartier, more nutrient-dense grains, the Instant Pot reduces the cook time of farro from 20 to 40 minutes on the stovetop to just ten minutes. Pearl barley, which traditionally takes nearly an hour, is done in just 25 minutes.

The post 2 Athlete’s Favorite Instant Pot Recipes appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.

This article was originally published in .Ģż

Fall is in full swing, and you foodies know what that means. No, not pumpkin spice lattes: Itā€™s time to start cooking the harvest seasonā€™s bounty up with this apple crisp. The recipe uses simple ingredients including apples, granola (make your own if you want to go all-in) and nuts to create a sweet-and-spiced concoction that is tasty enough for dessert but hearty and wholesome enough to start your day. Tip: Donā€™t have a dehydrator? Prop your ovenā€™s door open and turn it on low.

The post Spiced Apple Crisp Is the Fall Backpacking Dessert You Can Eat for Breakfast appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.

Two James Beard-Award winners have come together to write a cookbook that will elevate your favorite recipes with flavors from around the world. co-written by Ann Taylor Pittman and Scott Mowbray, explores the use of ā€œpantry treasuresā€ (concentrated flavors like oils, sauces, and spices) in everyday cooking. From miso and gochujang to oyster sauce and Mexican chorizo, the book takes unfamiliar ingredients from intimidating to inspirational. All the recipes are written with basic instructions and ingredients so simple you can take them on the road or camping. recipes When pulling out the campfire grate, elevate a classic hamburger steak by brushing it with miso or marinate short ribs with an umami-rich fish sauce before grilling. Wake up in a tent and know you can still easily whip up a bowl of creamy, cheesy grits with southern red-eye gravy. The opportunities to elevate your adventure fuel are endless.

Pittman is Korean on her motherā€™s side, but grew up in the Mississippi Delta where she says the flavors were ā€œsouthern and simple.ā€ Her grandparents owned a 10-acre farm, so many family dinners were farm-to-table style and very vegetable forward.

However, her mother kept their Korean culture alive and well in the kitchen.

ā€œWe lived in these small towns, so my mother couldnā€™t get a lot of ingredients nearby,ā€ Pittman says. ā€œSo we would make special trips once a month to Memphis to shop at specialty stores. Weā€™d go from eating simple beans, summer squashes, and tomatoes to these salty, sweet, spicy favors that were anything but subtle.ā€

It was common for Pittmanā€™s mother to improvise while cooking Korean food because there wasnā€™t always access to every ingredient needed. For instance, sheā€™d make a riff on bibimbapā€”a Korean dish consisting of rice topped with various vegetables and a little bit of meat. But because she didnā€™t always have the traditional ingredients, she might use a little Jimmy Dean sausage, because thatā€™s what was available.

ā€œIā€™ve been blending these flavors ever since,ā€ Pittman says. ā€œI feel like the Southern and Korean flavors have an affinity for each other.ā€

What Constitutes a Global Flavor?

The Global Pantry Cookbook has a collection of what Pittman and Mowbray call ā€œpantry treasures,ā€ or products that are concentrated, fermented, ground, or cooked down to create flavor-packed boosters.

ā€œWe tried to choose ingredients that have longevity,ā€ Pittman says. ā€œYou can hang onto them and play with them at your cooking leisure without feeling a ton of pressure to use them right away.ā€

The Global Pantry Cookbookā€™s dedicated pantry treasures come from a plethora of geographically diverse traditions, from Indian to Korean to Middle Eastern and many others. Pittmanā€™s pantry go-to is oyster sauce, a thin sauce made out of oyster extract, salt, water, corn starch, and sugar. It originated in China, but is now used in a number of Asian countries.

ā€œItā€™s thick and glossy and has this savory depth that I love,ā€ Pittman says.

She and Mowbray donā€™t always agree on the ā€œbestā€ brands, however, as Pittman always chooses Megachef oyster sauce while he prefers Lee Kum Kee Premium.

Another one of Pittmanā€™s favorite staples is Banyuls Traditional Red Wine Vinegar from the southwest of France. It offers a more complex flavor than other vinegars, but you donā€™t have to use a lot to get a big kick.

ā€œOh, and masala spices were a revelation to me,ā€ Pittman adds. ā€œBack in the day, we had generic curry powder we used as a catch-all, but there are all kinds of specified masalas like butter chicken masala, China masala, or fish masala. If Iā€™m running low on butter chicken masala, I start panicking because I have to have it.ā€

Becoming Familiar with the Unfamiliar

When Pittman was younger, she avoided eating Korean foods around her friends for fear of being judged. She was afraid her bowls of spicy kimchi-jjigae and fishy gimbap ā€“ filled with unfamiliar scents ā€“ would raise eyebrows.

ā€œIn my small town in the 1970s, people did not know what kimchi or dried fish wasā€”it was completely exotic to them,ā€ she says. ā€œThere was always kimchi at my house, and even I was horrified by the smell and how different it was. It seemed to declare itself at a time when I wanted to hide that part of me.ā€

When she was a teenager, though, Pittman had a breakthrough. One night, she had a few friends spend the night and decided to make them japchae noodles, one of her favorite Korean dishes. At first, the translucent noodles scared her friends, but once they tasted them, the delicious flavors were undeniable.

ā€œThat was a turning point,ā€ Pittman says. ā€œThat experience gave me more confidence in being open to that side of who I am and understanding that good food is good food, period, and itā€™s also a huge part of my identity.ā€

Itā€™s this fear, this intimidation, that Pittman says keeps people from experimenting with global flavors. Thereā€™s a lack of familiarity, which makes even sourcing the ingredients daunting. For this reason, The Global Pantry Cookbook slips these new flavors into simple dishes. A good example is Pittmanā€™s stuffed cabbage roll recipe, made with an Asian-style riff by using a brown broth made with a base of oyster sauce in lieu of tomato sauce.

Umami, Heat & Brightness

While The Global Pantry Cookbook has pages and pages of concentrated global flavors, Pittman doesnā€™t think people need to buy every pantry treasure at once. She recommends starting with an umami builder, like fish sauce.

ā€œI want people to get over the pungent aromaā€”because itā€™s no more smelly than some aged cheese!ā€ She says. ā€œA little bit goes a long way. Just brush it onto a steak before grilling it and itā€™ll bring so much flavor.ā€

Another beginnerā€™s staple is a source of heat like gojuchang. This condiment is thick and well-balanced, so itā€™s not pure heat, but also has fermented flavor and sweetness.

ā€œThe way that this book is successful is if people feel comfortable cooking from it,ā€ Pittman says. ā€œThere are certain complex dishes that are phenomenal, but it takes the confidence to keep it simpleā€”simple with global flavors.ā€

The post Two of the Most Brilliant Food Minds Wrote a New Cookbook that Promises to Improve Your Everyday Cooking appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.