The Recipes

These recipes are designed to guide you through all the steps from preparing your ingredients to the finished product. You'll learn basic cooking techniques as you go, when and why to use certain prodecures, and how to be innovative and create your own distinctive tastes and style.

Here are a few points that apply to all the recipes:

▪ Before you begin read the recipe all the way through. Make sure you have all the ingredients and understand the procedures.

▪ Using butter or margarine - Most of the recipes give you an option of using butter or margarine interchangeably, but there are differences and most notable is taste. The important thing to keep in mind when using butter is that it burns very easily, so always start with low heat and keep a close watch.

▪ Oven temperature - Actual oven temperatures may differ from the setting you use if the oven is not properly calibrated. It's a good idea to get an inexpensive oven thermometer so you can see what the actual heat level is compared to the setting. Then you will be able to compensate by changing the setting or altering cooking times, and your results will be much more predictable.

▪ Fruits and vegetables - Always wash them before using. There are no exceptions to this rule, even if the packaging indicates that they are already washed.

▪ Herbs and spices - Unless a recipe indicates otherwise you can assume that when herbs are listed as ingredients in a recipe it refers to dried herbs. You can substitute fresh herbs and the rule of thumb is to double the quantity. Spice measurements refer to ground spices, unless it is specified that you need whole seeds or another form. A few exceptions are:

▪ Parsley - Always use fresh parsley. Dried parsley is useless, and it's better to omit it if you don't have fresh parsley. You'll likely find two kinds available: the curly leaf and the flat leaf, also called Italian parsley. I prefer the latter for its stronger flavor. I like to keep a washed bunch of it in a glass of water in the refrigerator.

▪ Garlic - Always use fresh garlic. You can buy chopped fresh garlic in jars that you keep refrigerated. This is not as good as using fresh garlic cloves that you chop as you need, but it's not forbidden, either, if it works for you. Garlic powder and garlic salt should be avoided.

▪ Ginger - Fresh ginger is so much tastier than dried ginger, but doesn't keep well. You can keep fresh ginger root in the freezer and grate it as you need it. In addition, I advise keeping dried ginger on hand but purchasing fresh ginger when you know you are going to be using it soon.