A Kitchen Lab

Protect Yourself Now From This Most Common Food Bug For decades, food poisoning has been a common occurrence globally. In the U.S. alone --- based on data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) --- from January 1, 2009, through December 31, 2010, there were 1,527 foodborne disease outbreaks resulting in 29,444 cases of illness, 1,184 hospitalizations, and 23 deaths. Of the 790 outbreaks with a laboratory-confirmed illness, norovirus was the most commonly reported infection outbreak, followed by Salmonella. What is Salmonella Salmonella is one of the most common causes of food poisoning in the United States. It is usually caused by foods that include contaminated eggs, poultry, meat, unpasteurized milk or juice, cheese, contaminated raw fruits and vegetables such as alfalfa sprouts and melons. Other sources include spices and nuts. Usually, symptoms last for a few days, and most people can recover without treatment. However, Salmonella can cause more severe illn...

Did You Know This About Cancer? When we prepare our meals, we shouldn’t only prepare food just to satisfy our hunger. We should also try as much as possible to select food items that are very nutritious and can help to reduce the risk of certain illnesses, such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and others.  Because cancer is by far the most deadly of all medical conditions mentioned above, it’s of paramount importance that we fully grasp the co-relations between nutrition and cancer and the actions we can take to reduce the risk of becoming a victim of this illness. Fighting Cancer No doubt that the most effective approach in the fight against cancer is health education, such as educating ourselves on the importance of negative lifestyle modifications. Since nutrition is believed to be one of the primary causes of cancer, in this post, we will be focusing mainly on a few recommended dietary changes that can help tremendously to minimize the likeli...

How To Pick Healthier Foods You shouldn't only learn how to cook and know what food to cook. It's more important that you know what food items you should prepare based on their nutritional value. Selecting foods based on their nutritional value can be a rather challenging task, primarily because of two reasons. First, there are many food items available to choose from, and of course, the prices vary. Secondly, the nutrients differ from one food item to another. Despite this sometimes daunting and time-consuming task, shoppers should always ensure they get the best nutritional value for their money, not just a bargain. When you are trying to decide on which supermarket you should shop, you should ask yourself this simple yet very important question: "Will I be able to get the best quality fruits, vegetables, and meats and a wide selection of foods?" No doubt, this question should be sufficient to help you with your final decision.   Last but not least, ...

There are several common terms often used in cooking. The goal of this post is to  provide you with a few of these terms along with their definitions:  Smoking Smoking is cooking food indirectly in the presence of a fire. This is done much more slowly than grilling. Meats that are less tender benefit more from this method. Below are two different ways you can smoke meats: Smoking can be done in a covered grill with a pan of water placed beneath the meat or poultry on the grill. This method allows a natural smoke flavor to permeate the meat. You may use a "smoker," which is an outdoor cooker especially designed for smoking foods. The temperature in the smoker should be kept at 250 to 300 °F for safety.  Pit Roasting  This is a technique used to cook meat in a large, level hole dug in the earth.  First, a hardwood fire is built in the pit, with wood about 2½ times the volume of the pit. The fire is then allowed to burn until it reduces to burnin...

In order for anyone to prepare healthy meals they have to first know what are some healthy foods, where and how to shop for healthy foods, then finally, how to prepare healthy foods. The reason for saying this is simply because even though you might purchase the healthiest food items, such as a potato, it can be made unhealthy after it has been baked, by adding things to it, such as sour cream, butter etc. How to Shop Healthier Have you ever taken the time to look at the way food items are usually arranged in most supermarkets? If you haven’t, this is how they are arranged most of the times:- When you enter a supermarket, the first thing you will notice is that there are several rows of canned, frozen, and packaged goods. These products are usually stocked in the center of the store. What you will find along the walls are foods that have not been highly processed such as meats, poultry, and fish; vegetables and fruits; and milk and dairy products.  Today, more and mor...

The Truth About Grilling In the U.S., grilling is one popular method of preparing food, especially meat, during the summertime. In fact, today, there is hardly a home without a grill or two. However, grilling over a high open flame for too long allegedly increases the risk of cancer. Why Grilling Might be Unsafe According to some researchers, there may be a cancer risk related to consuming food cooked by high-heat source techniques --- such as pan-frying or grilling directly over an open flame --- for too long (especially above 300 °F). They believe chemicals formed when amino acids (the building blocks of proteins), sugars, and creatine (a substance found in muscle meat) react at high temperatures; these chemicals then drip on the charcoal, causing a flare-up of flames. These flames containing these chemicals then adhere to the surface of the meat.   How to Play it Safe Based on present research, eating moderate amounts of grilled meats, for example, fish, meat, and p...