25 November 2009
Most cakes, however delicious, are improved in appearance by being iced and decorated. The decoration need not be elaborate and many simple, attractive designs can be very effective. Traditionally, sandwich-type cakes are filled with jam or a filling such as Stork icing and the top and sides may be iced with Stork, Fudge or Glace icing, and decorated. Everyday cakes, Madeira cakes and Gingerbread are not usually iced but the very rich Fruit cakes normally made for occasions such as Weddings and Christmas are first covered with Almond Paste and then with Royal Icing and then some form of decoration.
Cheese is made and eaten in nearly every country in the world. Most is made from cow's milk, but goat and sheep cheeses are also widely available. Soya beans are used to produce a milk-free option. Alternative cheeses made with non-animal rennet are available for vegetarians.
There is a lot of truth in that old saying 'Breakfast like a king, lunch like a knave and dine like a pauper'. However, up to 17 per cent of school children skip breakfast before school. The first meal of the day is the most important as your child will probably have fasted for up to 12 hours. Our bodies release glucose from our stores shortly before we wake up to help us arise from bed.
Milk from the breast or bottle is the only food a baby needs in the first weeks of life. Solid foods should not be introduced too early - preferably not before 6 months - but some hungry babies will need to start solids before others. The first solid food given is often baby rice, mixed with the baby's usual milk, or pureed fruit or vegetables.
We begin a new cycle of publications connected with diets and healthy eating. In our materials you'll read about counting fat, carbohydrate and fibre. Learn to balance the amounts of fat, carbohydrate and fibre you consume daily, because your good health depends on them.
Always buy prime cuts of meat for microwaving; they should be roasted on no higher setting than medium and if a cut proves tougher than expected, braise it on low (or defrost), with extra vegetables, sliced in a little stock.
You can defrost and reheat food in microwave. Any type of food can be successfully defrosted in the microwave whether meat, fish, prepared dishes, soups, or vegetables. Full power is used and food is quickly heated through with very little effort. Do remember to allow it to stand for a few moments before serving, so that the residual heat spreads evenly throughout the food.
By the age of six months, your baby should be eating three meals a day. The quantity will vary from child to child but by this stage your baby is ready to enjoy a wide variety of tastes. This is a stage of quite rapid development and your baby will spend many more hours awake. Whereas a six-month-old baby still needs to be supported when you are feeding him, a nine-month-old is usually strong enough to sit in a high chair.
Different types of food heat up at different rates. Dense foods, as I have mentioned, will take longer to heat through than lighter-textured foods, and foods with a great deal of water, fat or sugar in them will heat up or cook though more quickly than foods without. (This is why, again, when reheating a mince pie, the filling gets very not before the pastry seems warm. Always test with a skewer.) Meat on the bone cooks quicker than meat off the bone. Thin ends cook more quickly than thicker ends.
Noodles are among the quickest foods to cook, and rice, while it takes a little longer, re-heats nicely and so can be prepared in advance. Indeed, some rice dishes require re-heated rice. Asian cities are filled with street stalls and wagons that sell the area's 'fast food', rice and noodles, for a quick meal or snack. These are warming and satisfying dishes, easy to serve and as easy to make. They are the perfect base for a one-dish meal.
All foods and their ingredients must be safe by law. When looking at labels do not be misled by thinking that E numbers are bad; on the contrary, E numbers mean the additive has been accepted as safe all over the European Union. Food additives such as preservatives help food to remain fresh by controlling the germs that cause food poisoning.
There are many important factors in brain development but no scientifically proven links with specific types of food. That said, a balanced and varied diet obviously ensures that all possible factors important for brain development are present and there are some foods that are better than others for stimulating the brain cells.
To grow properly and keep healthy, children need to eat a good balanced diet. The food guide pyramid has been desined to show quickly the different properties of each of the food groups that make up a balanced diet and children should aim to achieve this balance by the age of five. This information is generally depicted as a pyramid to show the proportion of foods.
Home baked bread is miles apart from bought bread. Yeast cookery takes some practice to achieve good results but it is well worth the effort involved. Do you know secrets of making bread? Read about such processes, as sponging, kneading, rising, proving, making short-time doughs. And also about different methods of adding yeast to flour.
Scones are made from a soft dough. The main ingredients are flour, raising agent a little milk and margarine. The raising agent consists of an acid (cream of tartar) and an alkali (bicarbonate of soda). A commercial baking powder usually consists of two parts acid and one part alkali.
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Cakes are basically made from fat, flour, sugar and eggs, with the exception of the sponge, which is fatless. The texture varies according to the method of preparation and the proportion of fat to flour. The richest cakes include equal proportions of the basic ingredients as in a Victoria Sandwich Cake, but additions can be made such as dried fruit nuts and spices as for a Christmas or Birthday Cake. Numerous flavourings can be included and these vary from chocolate and coffee to coconut, orange or lemon etc.
In both types of pastry, the dough rises in layers or flakes. In Flaky Pastry the dough contains all the flour and water but only a low proportion of fat In Rough Puff all the fat is added to the flour in small pieces, but is not rubbed-in. The water therefore comes in contact with the flour in both these pastries so that the gluten develops into long strands resulting in layers of pastry.
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