Lobster!

We are spoiled here on the coast of Maine. Lobster is always available and is fresh from a local lobster pound often right off the boat. No matter where you buy your lobster make sure they are fresh and lively and not lethargic. They should flap their tails when picked up out of the water.  

When you think of cooking lobsters, most think of a big pot of boiling water, when in reality steaming your lobsters (instead of boiling) results in a are more flavorful lobster, as well as takes less time to cook. All you need to do is fill a large pot with 2-inches of water and bring to a boil. Place the lobsters in backside down; this will trap the delicious juices in the shell. Cover and steam until bright red about 12 minutes for a 1-pounder and 20 minutes for a 2-pounder. To test if they are done, simply pull off one of the small legs. If it comes off easily it is done.

A 1 ½ pound lobster will yield about ½-pound or about 1 ½ cups lobster meat (less if it is a shedder).  Keep it simple when it comes to serving lobster. There is no need for fancy sauces or stuffing. The meat is delicious on its own and most enjoy it dipped in a little melted butter.

 

A few fun facts about lobsters

• Lobsters, like all crustaceans, molt when they outgrow their shells.  Typically this happens around mid-summer which is when you can find shedders. A tasty sweet tender treat, they are less expensive, but also have less meat. And although the hard shell lobsters often provide more meat, it does tend to be a little tougher.

• Interested in knowing whether the lobster is a female or male? Look on the underside at the base of the tail. There will be two feelers. If the feelers are hard it is a male and if they are feathery it is a female.

• A one pound lobster is typically about 5-7 years old

Enjoy the sweet, sweet taste of lobster!

Easter Tip - The Basics for Cooking & Serving Ham

Easter Sunday comes with all sorts of traditions, from egg hunts to Easter baskets and a nice big family meal.  Ham is popular main course here in the United States and because it is a meal many families only find themselves cooking once or twice a year, people find themselves intimidated by cooking and serving a ham that is just right.  Here are our tips for purchasing, cooking and serving a ham this Easter!

How much do I buy?
You should count on buying about 3/4 pound if the ham is bone-in.  If you choose a boneless ham, choose one that would allow for 1/3 pound per person. Of course, we love the leftovers, so be sure to account for that if you do too!

How long to I cook it?
Fully cooked hams can be served cold, but a glazed ham is delicious.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  Place ham in a large roasting pan.  Cover tightly with a lid or foil.  Cook approximately 15 minutes per pound.  Remove from oven 30 minutes before the end of the cook time.  Brush glaze on the surface of the ham.  Return to oven uncovered, brush with additional glaze one or two more times for the remainder of the cook time.  The internal temperature of the ham should be 160 degrees F.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Here is our favorite recipe for an easy Glazed Baked Ham.

What do I do with the leftovers?
Be sure to wrap your leftovers and store them in your refrigerator and then try one of these great recipes!

• Baked Herbed Eggs
• Breakfast Strata

The Perfect Hard-Boiled Egg

Whether you are boiling your eggs for Easter decorations or Easter brunch, it can often be a battle between not cooked enough and cooked too much!  Here are Kim's quick tips on how to cook the perfect hard-boiled egg.

Making the Perfect Hard-Boiled Egg

1. Make sure that the eggs are room temperature.  Speed this process up by placing the eggs in hot tap water.
2. Place eggs in a saucepan that can hold them in a single layer.  Add enough water to cover by 1-inch.
3. Bring water to a boil, remove pan from heat and cover.  Let sit 10 minutes.  Drain.
4. Place eggs in a bowl of ice water and cool completely.
5. Crack the shells by rolling the egg on the counter and peel under cold water.

There you have it!  An egg that has a yolk that is set, but not tinged with green (indicating your eggs are over cooked).  These will make the perfect deviled eggs, egg salad or eggs for decorating!

Salt... what's the difference?

When it comes to salt there are just so many choices these days! What are the differences between table, kosher and sea salts? When should you use them?

As one of our five basic tastes, it enhances the flavor of our food. It's also a nutrient that our body can't live without. But salt is still salt, right? All salt is sodium chloride, but it can differ in texture, size and mineral content. Salt occurs naturally either from rock deposits or evaporated seawater.

Table salt: 

"Common salt" is small, uniformly cube shaped crystals. This salt dissolves easily making it universally useful. It has additives to make it free flowing and sometimes is iodized which can have a chemical aftertaste. Iodine is an essential trace mineral that is crucial for our thyroid to function properly. If you prefer to not buy iodized salt, cranberries, organic yogurt and potatoes are also rich in iodine.

Kosher salt:

These coarse salt grains are formed by raking during the evaporation process. The shape of the crystal makes it easy to sprinkle on foods. It sticks nicely to meat, making it a "go to" salt for many cooks. 

Not only is most kosher salt certified kosher by a rabbi or authorized organization, it is also named after the process of "koshering meat." Koshering is the process by which the blood is removed from the flesh of meat and fowl before it is prepared for eating. Salt is sprinkled on raw meat, drawing blood out of the meat and then the salt and blood are rinsed off. 

Kosher salt has as much sodium by weight as table salt, but because kosher salt has larger crystals it has less sodium by volume. If a recipe calls for kosher salt and you want to substitute table salt, use half as much table salt. Rule of thumb: 1 teaspoon of kosher salt = 1/2 teaspoon table salt.

Sea Salt

Sea salt is made by evaporating seawater. This takes a long time, and therefore sea salt is quite expensive. The crystals are irregularly shaped and vary greatly in color. The minerals in the sea water impart a unique flavor. Sea salt, because of its expense, is better used to finish off a dish rather than using it in coking or baking.

Tips From The Kitchen: Following a Recipe

"Cream butter, sift flour, alternate adding dry ingredients with wet ingredients…" 

 

Really? Do I have to? 

We're going to explain why baking recipes instruct you to do these steps and the science behind it. After you’ve purchased and gathered all of your ingredients and are ready to bake your cake or cookie recipe, here are a few steps a recipe may call for. By following these steps correctly, you will be assured and happy with the outcome your baked good.

Why cream butter with sugar when baking cookies or cakes?

 

An important step in baking is to make sure that ingredients are well combined and aerated. Creaming butter and sugar together with an electric mixer is important to have a baked good rise high and have uniform texture.

When you cream butter with sugar small air pockets are formed. When the baking soda or powder produces gas during baking it gets trapped in the air pockets and expands, causing the cake/cookie to lift or rise.

It is important your butter is room temperature and soft, but not too soft. Butter should be around 60 degrees F and indent when pressed with your thumb. The butter is firm enough to crack if pressed hard. Once the sugar is incorporated into the butter with a mixer for several minutes, the batter will be light, fluffy and off-white in color. If the butter is too warm the butter will be too soft and look shiny and wet, resulting in a flat dense cake.

Why sift flour and dry ingredients?

Sometimes a recipe will ask that you sift flour and other times not. There are two reasons to sift flour. One is to aerate the flour and get rid of lumps. Often times in transportation the flour gets packed down and lumps can form due to moisture. Sifting will fluff the flour. Other times a recipe will ask that you sift flour with other dry ingredients (for example: sift flour with salt, baking powder and cocoa powder). This is a good way to evenly disperse the ingredients before adding them to the wet ingredients.

Why do some recipes ask that you alternately add dry ingredients with wet ingredients instead of just dumping everything in all at once?

Some recipes ask that you add your dry ingredients alternately with wet ingredients starting and ending with the wet ingredient. A cake batter is basically an emulsion. By adding the dry ingredients alternately with wet ingredients a uniform batter is formed and the result is fewer and smaller holes and a fine tender texture. If everything is added at once and mixed together the texture will be coarser with large.

There really are reasons why a recipe calls for you to do certain steps. When followed, you will have the best outcome. Happy Baking!

Avocado Tips, Tricks and Recipes!

Oh those delicious avocados!
The avocado is the fruit of a tall evergreen tree (Persea americana).  More specifically the avocado is a single seeded berry that is also known as the "alligator pear" due to its shape and rough leather like texture of the skin.

Why are avocados so healthy for you?
Did you know that an avocado is a great source of fiber and has more potassium and magnesium than a banana?  These nutrients are known to reduce blood pressure.

Although avocados are known to be high in fat (30%), it is a healthy fat.  Avocados are full of mono-unsaturated fat and vitamin E that can reduce bad cholesterol in your blood. Avocados can be used to replace fat in baked goods for a healthier snack. 

Avocados also contain little to no sugar or starch.

 

Speeding up the Ripening Process

 

An avocado commercially ripens after harvesting.  Unfortunately, right when  you want to make guacamole, most of the avocados in the store are hard as rocks.  A way to speed up the ripening process is to place your avocados in a brown paper bag with ripe bananas or apples.

 

The science behind this - Ripe fruit, such as bananas and apples, release a hormone ethylene.  This gas will speed up the ripening process of the avocados.  An avocado that is hard and not ripe placed in a brown paper bag will ripen in 3-6 days at room temperature while an avocado placed in a bag with an apple or bananas will ripen in 1-3 days.  Place ripe avocados in the refrigerator until ready to use.  Do not put an unripe avocado in the refrigerator as the cold damages the cell structure and it will never ripen.

 

Cutting an Avocado

 

To remove the flesh of the avocado;

• Run a knife around the avocado lengthwise.
• Twist the two halves and pull apart.
• Force a knife into the seed, twist and remove from flesh.
• Slice or dice the flesh with a dinner knife cutting down to the skin, but not through it.
• Remove flesh with a spoon running it close to the skin and gently remove the flesh.

If you are not comfortable with a knife, you can always pick up a gadget such as the Avocado Slicer that does the slicing and scooping for you!

 

Preventing browning of  your avocado or guacamole

 

When avocados are exposed to air they brown.  This starts to happen as soon as you cut into an avocado.  There are several things you can do to prevent browning.

• Adding acid, such as lemon or lime juice, prevents oxidation and therefore prevents browning.
• Cover guacamole with plastic wrap or spread a thin layer of mayonnaise over the top.  This eliminates the air.  When ready to serve, remove the plastic wrap or scrape off the layer of mayonnaise.
• Immerse sliced avocado in cold water.  They will stay fresh for up to 4 hours

The science behind this - Omega-3 fatty acids found in avocados are sensitive to light, air and heat and oxidize when exposed to them causing the avocados to brown and break down.

Avocados are available all year round.  Enjoy this healthy fruit on sandwiches, salads, in soups or as guacamole!  Here are a few of our favorite uses for this tasty fruit.

• Corn and Black Bean Salad
• Salsa Verde Guacamole
• Lobster, Avocado and Mango Salad
• Crostini with Tomato, Avocado, Red Onion and Balsamic Dressing
• Traditional Guacamole using our Guacamole Spice Mix





Spooky Halloween Recipes for your Halloween Party

Get into the spirit this Halloween with some of these spooky recipes!  These fun recipes are great whether you are hosting a party for adults, gathering the kids before trick-or-treating or looking to pack something fun in your child's lunch box.  Enjoy!

 

Mummy Pies

Makes about 6 mini pies

 

Ingredients

• One double pie crust recipe (or store bought prepared pie pastry)
• 1 jar Stonewall Kitchen Apple Pie Filling
• 12 Raisins

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Grease 6 wells of a 12-cup muffin tin.
3. Roll pie dough to be 1/8 inch thick.  Cut six, 4.5-inch circles.  Press dough circles into prepared muffin tin wells allowing extra dough to hang over lip of muffin tin well.
4. Fill each well with Apple Pie Filling.
5. Roll remaining pie dough into a circle and cut into 1/4 inch strips.  Place strips randomly over the top of each mini pie, covering entire surface.  Trim edges and crimp top to bottom crust.  Place two raisins on each mini pie for eyes.
6. Bake mini pies for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  Cool about 5 minutes and then gently remove Mummy Pies from pan.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

 

 

Spooky Sandwiches

Makes 12 spooky sandwiches

 

Ingredients

• 12 slices Dark Rye Bread (for cats or bats)
• 12 slices thin white bread (for ghosts)

For the sandwich spread

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup Stonewall Kitchen Old Farmhouse Chutney
• 2 Tablespoons scallion, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic, crushed
• Dash of salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup Colby cheese, shredded
• 1/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

 

Directions

1. Cut 24 spooky shapes from the bread with cookie cutters (the shapes are easier to cut if roll each slice gently with a rolling pin before cutting)
2. Combine all spread ingredients and mix until uniform
3. Evenly spread cream cheese mixture on 12 of the spooky bread shapes and top with remaining spooky bread shapes.  Garnish with sliced scallions to make eyes and mouths on sandwiches.

 

Also try our popular Jack-O-Lantern Layered Mexican Dip & Witch Finger Cookies!





Pizza Spirals for a great Back to School Lunch

It's always difficult to trade in those beach chairs and coolers for backpacks and lunch bags, but somehow September is upon us again and the kids are heading back to school.  As days get busier and time more valuable planning ahead is key.  Although we all love a good PB and J sandwich, surprise your children with a fun lunch in their lunch box such as these Pizza Spirals!

Pizza Spirals
Makes approximately 3 dozen spirals

Ingredients

• 1 box Stonewall Kitchen Pizza Crust Mix
• 1 jar Stonewall Kitchen Classic Pizza Sauce
• 1 cup fresh mozzarella, grated
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
• Olive Oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Make pizza dough according to box instructions.  Split evenly into two balls of dough.
3. Roll one ball of dough out on a generously floured surface into an 8x12-inch rectangle
4. Spread a thin layer of pizza sauce over dough.  Top with one half of the cheese and one half of the basil.  Roll dough into a spiraled log starting at the longest side.  Press and seal firmly.  Cut into 1/2-inch thick rounds.

5. Lightly grease a 12-well muffin tin with olive oil.  Place one spiral in each well. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the pizza dough is golden brown.

6. Repeat procedure with other pizza dough ball.
7. Pizza spirals can be served warm or room temperature.


Tips:

• If the cheese is too soft to grate place it in the freezer for about 15-30 minutes.  The partially frozen cheese will be easier to grate.
• Stack the basil leaves on top of each other and roll them up starting with the longer side of the leaf.  Chop along the roll forming thin strips of basil leaves.

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For more of our favorite Back to School recipes and products, visit our Back to School Pinterest Board!

Add a little spice to your cooking with fresh Ginger Root

Whether adding it to soups, sauces, stir fry or baked goods, fresh ginger is one of my favorite fresh spices to incorporate into my recipes!  Ginger root is the knobby and bumpy rhizome of a plant that grows in tropical and subtropical regions.  Its botanical name is Zinzibar officinale.  Most Ginger comes from Jamaica, India, Africa and China.  The flavor is peppery and slightly sweet and has a wonderful spicy and pungent aroma.

Ginger is available year round.  Spring ginger, also called young ginger, has a pale, thin skin that does not have to be peeled before using it.  Mature finger has a thick rough skin that should be peeled before using it.  Mature ginger is hotter and more fibrous than young ginger.  The flesh can be yellow, white or red depending on the variety.

 

When purchasing ginger root:
Look for smooth skin (wrinkles indicate that the root is dry and past its prime) with a fresh, spicy aroma.  The tubers should be firm and feel heavy.

Storing Ginger root:
Tightly wrap ginger in plastic wrap. This can be refrigerated for up to 3 weeks or frozen for up to 6 months.  You can also make candied ginger by cooking sliced ginger in a simply syrup until soft and then rolling the ginger in granulated sugar after it has cooled.  This is delicious to eat on its own or added to baked goods such as gingerbread or ginger cookies.  One of my favorite ginger cookie recipes calls for a combination of ground ginger, grated ginger and candied ginger...yum!

Tips:

• Use a spoon to peel the skin off gingerroot.  A peeler works well, but by scraping the tip of a spoon down the sides of the gingerroot it is easier to get the skin off around the knobs of the root.
• Use a microplane to grate the ginger.  It is much easier than mincing the root with a knife.  The stringy part of the ginger is removed and the fine grated ginger disperses nicely into your recipe.
• Sliced ginger rounds are a wonderful way to flavor oil before sauteing or a flavorful addition to soup broth.  For just a hint of ginger, remove ginger rounds before serving.

Love Ginger?  Try some of our ginger-y favorites!

• Fig & Ginger Jam
• Sesame Ginger Dressing
• Cranberry Ginger Dressing
• Sesame Ginger Teriyaki Sauce
• Pineapple Ginger Sauce
• Wasabi Ginger Sauce
• Ginger Garlic Sauce
• Ginger Molasses Cookie Mix - NEW!

Baking Tip: Creating a Parchment Paper Sling

Part of my job here at Stonewall Kitchen is preparing food for photographs. As you can imagine, the images we need for packaging or on our website need to look perfect as well as delicious. Here’s a little trick that I use that you may find useful too. When baking brownies, lemon bars, or basically any baked good cooked in a square or rectangular pan, I find that using a parchment sling makes it easier to cut the baked good and keep your pan from getting ruined by cut marks made by the knife.

Equipment needed:

• Baking pan
• Nonstick parchment paper (if not nonstick, grease this as well), or foil
• Bench scraper or knife
• Cutting board

Instructions:

1. Grease the pan.
2. Cut a piece of parchment paper as wide as the pan and long enough to overhang the edges of the pan by 2-inches. Some people like to use two slings placed perpendicular to each other in the pan, but I find one piece works well most often.
3. Make batter according to recipe instructions. Spread batter in pan without disturbing the parchment.
4. Bake according to recipe instructions. Cool.
5. Run knife or bench scraper along edge where the baked good touches the pan to loosen.
6. Gently remove the baked good out of the pan by holding onto the parchment paper and lifting. Place on a cutting board.
7. Cut baked good into squares using a knife or bench scraper.

Additional tips-

• If cutting something like fudge, cheesecake or lemon bars rinse the bench scraper or knife with warm water and dry with a towel several times during the process to assure a clean cut.
• If your baked good has cooled and is stuck in the pan and will not lift out turn your stove burner on low and run the bottom of the pan over the heat source in a circular motion for 5-10 seconds. Use oven mitts if the pan gets hot. The baked good will warm slightly and should lift out of the pan easily.

Do your eggs and butter really need to be room temperature for baking?

Why use room temperature butter and eggs when baking? Let’s look at the science behind it...

Have you ever gone to bake a batch of cookies or a cake and the recipe calls for room temperature butter or eggs? Does it really matter? Is it worth the time?

The main reason for using room temperature ingredients is you will get better “lift” in your cookies or cake. If you use cold butter and cold eggs your baked goods will be dense and less tender. When you cream your room temperature butter with sugar air bubbles are trapped and then expand when heated causing lift. Eggs whites get the most volume when whipped if they are warm.

What is room temperature?
Room temperature is about 65˚F. To test butter hold it in your hand and press firmly with your thumb, there should be a slight indentation. If the butter is too warm you will have a negative outcome.

In a hurry? There are a few ways you can speed up the process of bringing your ingredients to room temperature:
• Place your wrapped butter and eggs in warm water, not hot, for about 5 minutes.
• Cut butter into small cubes and leave on the counter. The greater surface area will warm faster.
• Microwave wrapped butter in 5 second intervals. Turn the stick one quarter each interval until the butter is softened, but not melted.
So enjoy your baking without having to wait for your butter and eggs to come to room temperature on the kitchen counter and make tender and delicious baked goods! Happy Baking!

Adorable Mini Pancake Stacks

In honor of National Pancake Day, we have created these adorable mini pancake stacks using some of our favorite products.  These are easily created using our pancake & waffle mixes.  Simply prepare the pancake mix according to the directions and spoon 3/4 tsp of batter onto the griddle, resulting in mini pancakes about the size of a quarter.  Stack them four high, top with a topping of your choice, add a little garnish, insert a toothpick through the middle and serve!

Buttermilk Pancake Mini Stacks

These adorable brunch-style stacks use our new Buttermilk Pancake & Waffle Mix, Lemon Curd, fresh berries, a mint leaf and a quick dusting of powdered sugar.  These would be great served at a wedding or baby shower or any weekend brunch.

Double Chocolate Raspberry Mini Stacks

Pancakes for dessert?  You bet! We used our Double Chocolate Pancake & Waffle Mix topped with a dollop of our Chocolate Raspberry Jam, fresh raspberries and a little powdered sugar for an easy bite-sized dessert.


Here are some other great combinations to try;

• Maple Pancakes topped with a small piece of bacon and a drizzle of Maine Maple Syrup
• Blueberry Pancakes topped with fresh blueberries and a little Wild Maine Blueberry Syrup
• Strawberry Pancakes topped with Chocolate Strawberry Jam and fresh strawberries
• Gluten Free Pancakes topped with your favorite flavored jam and/or syrup

What would your favorite combination be?

Safety Tips for your Thanksgiving Leftovers

Food safety is important any time of year but with the holidays come expansive menus, leftovers and the potential for food poisoning or foodborne illnesses. As part of your meal preparation, we recommend keeping the following food handling tips in mind this holiday season.

-    

        Follow the two-hour rule. Hot, perishable food that sits out longer than two hours is considered unsafe and in the “food danger zone” (between 40 and 140 F) when bacteria can quickly multiply.  Quickly refrigerate perishable foods, such as meat, poultry, fish, dairy and eggs. Uncooked foods, such as cold salads or sandwiches, also should be eaten or refrigerated promptly.

When storing leftovers, don’t overfill the refrigerator, cold air needs to circulate around the food. Also, the faster leftovers can cool, the better. The best way to decrease the cooling time for leftover turkey is cut it into smaller pieces to decrease the surface area that needs to be cooled and then store it in shallow pans or containers.

 Leftover turkey can keep for three to four days in the refrigerator and should be kept in airtight, leak proof containers or wraps. After four days risk of food poisoning increases. If you don't think you'll be able to eat leftovers within four days, freeze them immediately. In the freezer, leftovers should be eaten within six months.

     

 

    

      

       When you're ready to eat leftovers, reheat them on the stove, in the oven or in the microwave until the internal temperature reaches 165 F (74 C).

Sending leftovers home with guests is nice and lessens the amount of space taken up in your refrigerator but the two-hour rule should still apply. If your guests have a long drive ahead of them, suggest they use a cooler with some ice. 

Be aware that foodborne illnesses are caused by harmful organisms, such as bacteria in contaminated food. Because bacteria typically don't change the taste, smell or look of food, you can't tell whether the food is dangerous to eat. In short, if you're in doubt about a food's safety, it's best to just throw it out.

A few of our favorite recipes for your leftovers

Turkey Panini

Turkey and Broccoli Turnovers

Hot Open Faced Turkey Sandwich

Tips for Cooking a Perfect Turkey

As the centerpiece of the traditional Thanksgiving meal, the Turkey is usually the most intimidating thing to prepare, however, it can be the easiest!  Scott from our Cooking School has come up with this handy guide of "Turkey Tips" to ensure you present your guests with a golden, moist turkey.

Brining a Turkey
Why Brine your Turkey?
Soaking a turkey in a brining solution will help ensure a moist, juicy cooked meat.  The salt-water brine solution increases the juiciness of the meat by breaking down the protein structure.  Water and seasonings will be infused and absorbed into the meat during the cooking process.  The moisture and flavor is maintained during the cooking which leaves you with a juicy, moist turkey.

How to Brine a Turkey
Tip:  Only brine a turkey that has not been injected with a salt solution.  This will create an over salted turkey.

1. Remove giblets and place your turkey into a stockpot or bucket and make enough room on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator to ensure any spills will not contaminate foods below.
2. Create your brine using the following ratio (creating enough to fully cover your turkey in your stockpot or bucket)
• 2 cups Kosher Salt and 1 cup brown sugar to every two gallons of water (or you can use Stonewall Kitchen's Farmhouse Brine)
• Additional herbs & spices to your taste
3. Dissolve salt and sugar in two cups of hot water.  Stir in remaining gallon, plus 3 1/2 quarts of cold water.
4. Cover your turkey in the solution and refrigerate for at least 10 hours, but no longer than 24 hours.
5. When ready to cook, poor off your brine, rinse the turkey well with cool tap water and pat dry with paper towels.

Gravy Cooking Tip:  Remember, the turkey has already absorbed a significant amount of salt from the brining process, so be aware that the pan drippings you will use for gravy will have a high salt content.

Creating a Turkey that is Golden Brown

• Brush the skin with melted butter or oil prior to cooking. This makes for a more golden and crispy skin.
• Place the bird on a rack in a roasting pan and place into a preheated, 350 degree F oven.
• An unstuffed, 8-12 pound turkey should cook for about 20 minutes per pound
• An unstuffed, 13-16 pound turkey should cook for about 15 minutes per pound
• Bake until the skin is light golden color and then cover the bird loosely with a foil tent. During the last 45 minutes of baking, remove the foil tent to brown the skin. Basting the turkey is not necessary, but helps promote even browning.
• The turkey is done when the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F at the thigh. To get an accurate reading, insert the meat thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh. The thermometer should point towards the body and should not touch the bone.

Be sure to check out our Side Dish Tips as well as our Favorite Recipes for Thanksgiving!

Knife Tips, Collected at the Stonewall Kitchen Cooking School

As the summer marketing intern here at Stonewall Kitchen, I’m doing a lot of different things – from attending meetings, helping with research, and preparing for events, to attending some of the Cooking School classes to collect tips and useful kitchen information.  I was told these tips would be used for various aspects of the social media work done here.  I had no idea that would turn into me actually using some of them and later blogging about it.

According to Pat Bagg, guest chef instructor of the first Cooking School class I attended, knowing how to use a knife in the kitchen makes all the difference.  This was something I certainly did not know, and am only now starting to figure out.

A few weeks ago I happily agreed to help our Event Coordinator, Sarah, prep for the Taste of the Nation event in Portsmouth, NH.  My assumption was that I’d mostly be scooping things or just filling containers and getting food ready for transport.  Well, first I ended up cutting croissants into smaller pieces that would later be drizzled with Chocolate Raspberry Jam.  This was simple enough, but upon finishing, my new task was dicing a pepper.  I think previously the most complex thing I had done with a vegetable was peel it.  After that, I was given the task of cutting up some watermelon, another thing I had surprisingly never done before.  Luckily, I have slowly been accumulating a working knowledge of knives and how to use them, so I diced and cut away.  A grouping of tips I had learned became extremely helpful.  I’ll warn you now, we couldn’t show all of them in pictures, but I’ll do my best to describe the picture-less tips just as well for you!  

To start, I want to talk about your grip on the knife... No fickle finger!  This is pictured on the left, while the right picture would be a correct knife grip.  It’s potentially surprising, but keeping your finger wrapped around the handle with the rest of your hand, instead of trying to steady the knife with an outstretched finger, does actually give you much better control.

Next, when cutting peppers, cut on the fleshy side and not the shiny side.  The outside of the pepper, because of its shininess, is slippery.  I remembered this shortly after starting to cut on the shiny side and having slight difficulties.  This should also help with cutting even slices or even dicing because the blade won’t be skidding or slipping across the vegetable.

When you stop and think about it, you realize that everything in nature is round… And chasing something around a cutting board with your knife because it’s rolling all over the place is a great way to slice yourself, instead of the fruit.  Start by cutting your food in half and setting down on its flat side so it can no longer go anywhere.  If I had been continuing to cut this lime, you would have seen the lime sitting motionless and flat in the next picture.

Okay, last tip with pictures... Everyone is always afraid of cutting themselves, especially when getting into the idea of sharpening knives.  First and foremost, you should always be cautious when using knives however there are some ways you can make it more difficult to accidentally cut yourself.  The best way to do this is to cut using the claw method; your fingers will thank you later.  This is always a good position for your guide-hand, because you have no exposed fingertip to cut!  Here, I was cutting the rind off of this grapefruit (I had already cut the bottom so it would sit flat), by following the curve of the fruit with the knife.  As you can see in the first picture, when I started the blade was pretty close to my guide-hand fingers.  With such a sharp knife, the claw method may have saved my fingers, and at the very least made it a much more comfortable cut.

I love the way these pictures came out for me to share with you, but I do have a few more important tips that you'll have to rely simply on my description to understand.

• To cut efficiently, the tip of the knife should never leave the cutting board.  Whenever I got into a 'cutting groove,' especially when I was dicing peppers, it was because I had managed to do this.  This works best with some of the knives that have blades on the more curved side, and then it becomes kind of a rocking motion.  
• And last but not least: when scooping things off the cutting board with the knife, use the dull side instead of the sharp one.  This seems logical, but it’s also safer and easier to do so; not to mention, less scary for a knife handling novice like me.  I will admit, since first hearing this tip I have seen chefs do it both ways, but scooping food off the board works just as well with the dull side of the knife, so I see no reason not to do it that way! 

I hope these tips are as helpful to you as they were to me!  And if you've been cruising through a kitchen your entire life you may use these skills on a daily basis, but a review of the basics never hurt anyone, right?