Cooking for One: Part 2

Cooking for just one or even two people is not as simple as merely cutting a recipe into halves or fourths or whatever. Food preferences as well as cooking experience and preferred style of cooking all play roles in cooking whether for one or 10.

When I went away to college, I knew very little about cooking even though I was majoring in home economics. Sure, I had taken home economics in high school, but those courses were a far cry from deciding what and how much to buy, which utensil worked best and the list goes on from there. Many find themselves in this boat when leaving home for the first time or moving into their own place.

Gluten Free Dry Measures Made Simple

Hey! Listen up! I have a secret for you! Measuring gluten free products is no different than measuring gluten containing flours and products. I'm very serious; I would not kid you. 

Seems that the gluten free community takes a great deal of pride in making something as simple as measuring dry ingredients complicated. I am going to show you through a series of pictures exactly how I measure all of my gluten free dry ingredients. As a side point . . . my kitchen is totally gluten free with all dedicated gluten free equipment.

Ready? Okay; here we go!

 

Step 1

Step 1: Very gently spoon the dry ingredient into the correct measuring cup. Be sure to not tap the side of the measuring cup with the spoon. Why, you might be wondering? Tapping the side of the cup will cause the ingredient to settle, resulting in the amount in the cup being more than the desired amount.

Step 1, Continued

Step 1, Continued: Continue until the cup is filled to just a little be over the top.

Step 1, Continued

Step 2

Step 2: Using a flat spatula (the one I am using here was bought when I was a home economics education major at The University of Montevallo, Montevallo AL), make two to three cuts perpendicular through the dry ingredient, allowing the edge to come to rest on the sides of the cup. DO NOT TAP spatula against the sides of the measuring cup.

Step 3

Step 3: Place spatula across the back of the cup close to where your thumb would be resting. Gently slide spatula to the front of the cup while keeping spatula in contact with sides of the measuring cup. Be sure to have a container or piece of wax paper below the cup to catch the excess.

Now, that cover things that can be measured in measuring cups. What do you use and how do you measure dry ingredients in smaller amounts, say 1 tablespoon or less?


Simple, following the exact same process. Pictured below are snapshots of my measuring Xanthan Gum, which I keep in a small, air tight canister. The only difference--and I do mean the only difference--is that instead of spooning the ingredient into a cup, you simply use the measuring to scoop up the ingredient. Then, using your flat spatula, level the ingredient off.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 3, continued

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Back to Basics--Proper Measuring Equipment

At the risk of boring you to death with stuff you already know, please bear with me!! Daily I watch folks professional chefs measure ingredients incorrectly.  The finished product they show their viewers is always perfect, and it should be with enough photographic touch ups.

Teaching my high school home economics students how to measure correctly was the spot we always began semester after semester. We will revisit how to read and analyze recipes a little later. But, for now let's look at just the equipment needed.

There are three basic types of measures required for cooking:

1. Liquid
2. Dry
3. Weight

#1 For me, I relay on 3 basic liquid measuring cups: a 1-cup, a 2-cup and a 4 cup measure. I do have 8 and 12 cup batter bowls which look like a regular measuring cup on steroids, but the basic three are more than sufficient for the basic three. 

Basic 1-cup measure

Basic 2-cup measure

Basic 4-cup measure

What do you measure in liquid measuring cups? Just that, anything liquid. We will talk more about the correct way to do this in the next post. KEY POINT: Never, but never, measure anything that is dry in these cups.

#2 I rely on a 4-piece stainless steel set of dry measuring cups. Actually, I have several, but I cook a lot!

4-piece dry measure set

What type of ingredients can be measured in these? Anything that is dry--flours, meals, sugar, gluten free rolled oats, ground gluten free cookie crumbs and the list goes on and on and on. We will talk about this such as shortening, butter ad brown sugar in a later post. 

#3 I keep a set of accurate kitchen scales in my kitchen. Occasionally, a recipe will call for a specific weight, which is actually the most accurate method of measuring. Come on now--wouldn't 6-ounces of chopped onions be easier to measure accurately than say 1 small onion chopped, whatever that means.

Weight measure

#4 Measuring spoons are another tool required for accurate measure of dry OR liquid ingredients. For example, dry ingredients such spices and herbs, salt, leavening ingredients like baking powder or baking soda can be precisely measured as can liquid ingredients such as flavorings, olive oil and such. I prefer the longer handles, standard versions. 

Measuring Spoons

 The next post will describe with pictures how to use each of these, plus add a couple more measuring equipment that are needed to do a really good job.

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Back to Basics--Where Do I Start?

At the risk of boring you to death with stuff you already know, please bear with me!! Daily I watch professional chefs measure ingredients incorrectly. Being a retired Auburn University professor and home economist, watching such makes my skin crawl. 

I want to help those who are suddenly faced with having to cook at home from scratch because of eating a medically necessitated gluten free diet to learn the correct way to cook. Learning good habits from the beginning is so much easier than unlearning bad habits.

Every two or three days, I will have an educational post with a link to the post on my Back to Basics--Cooking 101 page ( tab located at the top of my blog).

Okay, let's get down to walking into the kitchen and knowing how to get started. These are the same steps I took my high school home economics students through during my earlier years of teaching. The same principles apply today and work equally well. These are the steps I go through every day at home, not just when I give demonstrations.

First, select the recipes you want to prepare.

Second, read each recipe thoroughly.

Third, make sure you have all the ingredients on hand. 

Third, get yourself organized.

How does the novice cook get organized? The same way that I do!!!

1. Read the recipe thoroughly, AGAIN. Line the ingredients up in the order used in a recipe.

2. Get all equipment together, i.e., measuring equipment, mixing bowls, spatulas, wooden spoons, mixers, or whatever.

3. Go to my post on Back to Basics--Let's Measure.

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