techniques

To sauté food is to cook it all the way through – and relatively quickly – in a hot pan with a little bit of fat, such as butter or oil. It helps when the pieces of food are all about the same size, sitting in a single layer, and not overlapping each other. The goal of sautéing is to cook the food while deepening its color and retaining its moisture and flavor.

Technically, sautéing requires a low, shallow pan with rounded edges, so you can easily move the food around without a spatula. But in a pinch, a frying pan will do just fine. Just make sure to keep the food moving. The difference between sautéing and frying, by the way, pretty much comes down to the amount of fat used (more for frying, less for sautéing), the cooking temperature (a tad hotter for frying than sautéing), and the movement of the food (shimmying for sautéing as opposed to flipping for frying).

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What do you get when you combine Super Mario Brothers, bento boxes and Anna The Red? A very cool and edible Yoshi.Inspired by her boyfriend's love of video games, Anna the Red worked her magic with some potato salad, carrots, lettuce, blueberries and more. The result was a lovely to look at and yummy to eat Yoshi and Super Mario mushrooms. Check out Anna The Red's blog for all the details.

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Nothin' creepy 'bout these crepes.

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Tags: videos, quick, techniques, breakfast

Need to eliminate the evidence of last night's dinner on a tablecloth without using CSI-strength chemicals. It's simple with a lemon and a handful of salt. (Warning: Don't try this with a sensitive fabric, as you might ruin it.) Anyway, first scrape off the foodstuff from the cloth. Next, turn the cloth OVER and squeeze and rub the juice from half a lemon on the BACKSIDE of the offending stain. (This way you're not rubbing it IN!) Now rinse the spot with cool water. If the pesky stain persists, rub a little salt on the stain, and then repeat the lemon juice process. You can see the whole process here on video from Chow.com.

Tags: quick, easy, techniques

Tags: videos, techniques