John Davidson

Introduction to Gravies and Sauces - Add Taste to Your Meals Table of Contents Introduction Gravy Classic sauces - The Mother Sauces How to Make the Perfect Sauce Starch Thickened sauces Roux Flour and Butter Thickeners Liquids used in making Sauces Why "Season to Taste?" B chamel Sauce Veloute Sauce Tomato Sauce Tomato Chutney Tomato Sauce - Bottled Variety French dressing -Vinaigrette Cream Cheese Salad Dressing Spiced Tomato Chutney/Sauce Allemande Sauce Butter-based and Egg Thickened Sauces Sauce Has Separated? Traditional Hollandaise Sauce Blender Mayonnaise A oli sauce How to Make Traditional Gravy Conclusion Author Bio Publisher Introduction Why would anybody want to write a book on gravies and sauces, you may ask? After all, you know everything about sauces, there is tomato sauce, soybean sauce and chili sauce readily available in the market. And gravies are what you make to thicken up a dish and give it more body. Well, the interesting thing about gravies and sauces are that for millenniums, they have been used in cookery to add body, spice and flavor to otherwise bland dishes. In fact, the world-famous Worcestershire sauce also managed to be "discovered" or as you may say "invented" through sheer chance. It seems during the time of the British stay in India, one of these sahibs enjoyed a sauce which the locals made. It had vinegar, molasses, spices and other ingredients added to it. So when he went back to England, he took the recipe along with him, and asked one of the grocers to make up that sauce and place it in a wooden cask. The sauce was very strong, when he tasted it. Being very disappointed in the end result, he went back to India, where he would eat the original sauce to his heart's content, and wonder where he went wrong. And the sauce kept mellowing in the wooden cask, all this while. When the Sahib came home on his next leave the grocer asked him what he wanted done with that cask. "You mean you have not thrown it out, man?" He said, and asked for another taste. And to his great astonishment and wonder, the sauce was exactly right, spicy and delicious. And so the famous Worcestershire sauce was born, to make them both very prosperous. This is the sauce, which has been marketed so successfully by Lea and Perrin for the last 200 years. All right, let me tell you the secret of many of the ingredients put in the original sauce, which went into the making of Worcestershire sauce. These included tamarind pulp soaked in molasses, vinegar, garlic, chilies, cloves, onions and shallots, and sugar, among other exotic Eastern herbs and spices. Tamarind is a flavor used extensively in the Western and southern part of the Indian subcontinent. So I would not be surprised if the Sahib asked his grocer about the traditional recipe for that particular chutney, and was answered by "Laats aaf tamrind Sahib, you know, very so-wer." This particular taste cannot be obtained from lemons. Of course we cannot allow our sauces to mellow for a year or more, in this day and age to get a product which may possibly be, not what we set out to make in the first place. This is the world of Hurry and scurry because many of us are so pressed for time. That is why we are going to go to the nearest supermarket and take the first sauce, which catches our eyes. Fresh herbs and spices have long been in use in the making of sauces and gravies. And with so many marketing brands from which to choose, we are often spoilt for choice. Really good fresh food does not need sauce, but it is a very pleasant addition to many dishes, including fish, poultry and meat. The best sauce is not going to be very thick. Nor is it going to be very thin. It is going to be served piping hot.

Sweet & Simple Garden Crafts - Making Things For & From your Garden Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1: Garden Accessories Rainbow wind chimes Silver Bells The Old-fashioned Scarecrow Sweet Tea A Pretty Garden Path Not-so-ordinary Mulch Bird Feeders and Bird Baths Chapter 2: Crafty Garden Containers Create your own faux cement pots Chapter 3: Getting Crafty With What You Grow The Apple Head Doll Corn Husk Dolls Wreaths Bookmarks Bird feeders Soaps and lotions Nature Stencils Pumpkin carving Chapter 4: Edible Garden Crafts Flavored oils and vinegars Butters Dried fruits and veggies Jams and jellies Conclusion Author Bio Publisher Introduction Watching your garden grow and knowing you had a hand in making all that beauty and deliciousness happen is enough to put a great big smile on the face of every gardener. But what if we were to tell you your smile can grow even larger by creating any number of simple, delightful garden accessories to make your garden even more of a masterpiece that it already is? And what if we told you that you can pass that smile on to others by giving your family and friends uniquely crafted gifts from your garden-gifts you can easily make yourself? That's what this book is all about. By investing a small amount of time, purchasing a few inexpensive items, using the food and flowers you grow and following the instructions we've provided for you, you can add a wow-factor to your gift giving and to your garden and home d cor.

The Magic of the Mangosteen - Garcinia Cambogia for Good Health Table of Contents Introduction to the Mangosteen Eating a Mangosteen How Does the Mangosteen Taste? Nutritional Value of a Mangosteen How to Grow Mangosteens Harvesting of Mangosteens Mangosteens in Native Medicine Healthy Mangosteen Recipes Mangosteen Tea Mangosteen Jam Mangosteen Sorbet Can Mangosteens Help You Lose Weight? Getting Rid of Stubborn Mangosteen Stains Lesser-Known Tips about the Mangosteen Conclusion Author Bio Publisher Introduction to the Mangosteen When you think of tropical fruits, - those fruits which are cultivated in warm climates - what comes to your mind immediately? Avocado, breadfruit, a ai berry, custard apples, gooseberry, bananas, figs, sweet oranges, jackfruit, Papayas, watermelon, lemons, sweet pepper, and musk melons immediately come to mind, because they are easily available on your supermarket shelves. Among the more popular tropical fruits, which have suddenly been discovered by the West as the best ways to control weight, including the a ai berry - here is the newest kid on the block - the Mangosteen. This plant was also known as the Malabar tamarind, and Garcinia gummi gutta. Just like the Durian, this comes in the exotic fruit category. The encyclopedia Britannica considers it to be a native to Southeast Asia, called men-gu in Burma, and yielding about 1000 fruit per healthy plant every year. Just like the mango and many other tropical trees, this plant also has glossy and dark green leaves. The flowers are rose pink and large. The fruit are about the size of a small orange. The rind may be read or it may be purple. Depending on the Mangosteen variety, it can be flattened or it can be round on the ends. Since ancient times, this fruit has been considered to be an exotic delicacy, especially because of its juicy and delicate texture. In the West, it is served as a gourmet dish much prized by gourmands. You can add the juice, to a citrus dessert or jelly.

Learn How to Airbrush Reptiles and Amphibians For the Beginners TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: Materials: Colors Terms Maintenance and Troubleshooting Tips How to Hold an Airbrush: Basic Airbrush Exercises: Airbrushing a Line Connecting Dots Gradation Effects Airbrush Exercises: Albino Rattlesnake Turtle Red-Eyed Tree Frog Komodo Dragon Toad Author Bio Publisher Introduction: First I want to congratulate you in advance, for picking up this eBook, secondhere is good news, anyone can learn how to use an Airbrush, if this is your first time to learn the tool, don't worry, as I explain everything right here. You just need to learn and practice all the hand control exercises in the Basic Airbrush exercises, don't worry at first if this goes like crazy and messy, in a long run I assure you will have the skill to be a good airbrush artist. Third I have to tell you that you need to invest in a good airbrush and also an air compressor, to start an airbrush artwork, I listed it on the Materials below for the type of Airbrush and other materials needed. I also have to mention you need a lot of patience when dealing with an airbrush especially if this is your first time, so please bear with me, as you read along you will learn the type of airbrush the suits you- best bet Top feed or Side feed type for Illustration that's a big tip for you for starters and as well professionals. So let's start learning about airbrush by reading this, and doing the exercises to acquire this airbrush skill- "Hand Control coordination and that Trigger Finger", and remember have fun with it.

Introduction to Healthy Vegetable Cooking Table of Contents Introduction Vegetables Classification Essential Nutrients in Vegetables Dietetic Value of Vegetables Choosing and Purchasing Vegetables What Happens When Vegetables Are Cooked So Why Cook Vegetables? Different Cooking Methods General rules for cooking And Serving Vegetables Preparation for Cooking Different vegetables - Washing and Rinsing Green Leafy Vegetables Boiling Vegetables Roots and Tubers Green Vegetables Approximate Time for Boiling Vegetables. Steaming vegetables Stewing Braising Mirepoix Frying Vegetables Baking Vegetables Conservative Method Vegetable Pur es Vegetable Economy Tips Serving Potatoes Boiled Potatoes Steamed potatoes Boiled Potatoes in Jackets Baked Potatoes Roasted Potatoes Potato Croquettes Potato Ribbons Potato Chips Potato Straws Conclusion Author Bio Publisher Introduction Many people picking up this book are going to wonder why I would want to write a book on healthy vegetable cooking. After all, everybody knows how to cook vegetables. You either steam or bake them or broil them, or fry them, or grill them or eat them raw. Well, luckily for us, we have begun to fully understand the importance of vegetables in our daily diet. Until more recent years, the use of vegetables in our diet was much neglected. Their dietetic importance was insufficiently appreciated. The method of cooking was wasteful and also inferior in many parts of the world when compared to cuisines where vegetable cooking was that part of the daily routine Due to a worldwide appreciation of the importance of vegetables to keep you healthy and strong, more and more people are insisting on home grown vegetables grown the organic way. Greater attention and encouragement is being given to such enterprising gardeners. Such growers for the markets are being human, better facilities. Along with better marketing locations and opportunities, with plenty of their produce being imported, vegetable foods are gaining importance globally as one of the best sources of income. With the growth of vegetarianism as a way of living and of the habit of eating less meat, greater attention is also being given to this branch of cookery. However, many people still think vegetable cooking to be boring, because there is a lack of variety in the food itself. There is plenty of waste before cooking. Leftover vegetables' being put into one dish, cooked in a monotonous method and then served up has given vegetables a bad press throughout the years. In fact, up to 20 years ago, cooks in many parts of the world still cooked vegetables, the traditional way, followed by their ancestors with absolutely no change. That was to dump it in boiling water, and allow it to over boil and become a complete hash and mash. And then it was dished up on a platter in a rather sloppy and sloven fashion, where you could either eat it or leave it. The diners often left it. They survived on the accompanying meat. That is why they decided that meat was a much better lunch and dinner item than vegetables. And they transmitted this attitude on to the people around well as well as to their children. That is why the art of vegetable cookery never got the chance to spread its wings and flourish. Also vegetables in addition to being accompaniments to meat dishes were also served as side dishes or as a separate course altogether in the menu. So if you did not like vegetables, you could skip that particular course. Luckily, now vegetables are being used as a major part of the main meal's course as a contrast to other dishes or as tasty dishes on their own.

A Beginner's Guide to Edible Fungi Mushrooms Table of Contents Introduction Knowing more about Mushrooms Mushrooms in Medicine Cultivated varieties Of Mushrooms Types of Popular Mushrooms in Cuisine Morels Chanterelles Cantharellus cibarius or trumpet mushrooms Black Trumpets Porcini Shitake or Golden oak mushrooms Oyster Mushrooms Enoki Mushrooms Portobello Mushrooms Truffles Hon- Shimeji- Beech Mushroom The Death Cap - Amanita phalloides Fly Agaric- Amanita muscaria How to Avoid the After Effects of Inedible Mushrooms Tips Precautions while Hunting Mushrooms in the Wild Cultivating Mushrooms in Your Home Conclusion Author Bio Publisher Introduction For millenniums, mankind has been looking towards nature to find easily available food supplements. While animals and birds provided him with protein, he also looked towards the plant kingdom to provide you with herbs, spices, and other edible means of food. Out of these mushrooms and all their varieties have been an integral part of his cuisine down the centuries, all over the world. In ancient China mushrooms were used in alternative medicine more than 3000 years ago. They are still used to cure a number of ailments, along with problems related to the nerves, mind and psyche. The mushrooms used here in minute quantities have psychoactive and psychedelic properties. That is why ancient medicine men normally gave them to patients, who believed that they had gone through a spiritual trance which was life defining. These psychedelic trance inducing mushrooms are now called shrooms and even though they are illegal in many parts of the world, they are eaten by people who want a "fix". Edible mushrooms are called mushrooms, while the poisonous varieties were called toadstools. Only very experienced "mushroomists" know the difference between an edible variety and a poisonous variety. And this comes only with proper training from older experienced mushroom collectors.

A Beginner's Guide to Winter Food Preservation - Storing What You Have Grown Table of Contents Introduction Sauerkraut Kimchi-or Fermented Radish/Cabbage Salting Beans Preparing The Beans for Preserving Using Preserved Salted Beans Preserving Tomatoes in Pur e Spiced Fruits Spiced Crabapples. Spiced Peaches Traditional Red/Green Tomato Chutney Fruit Cheeses and Butters Rules for Making Fruit Cheeses and Butters Potting Apple Cheese Herbal Butters Apple and Plum Butter Fruit Syrups Soft fruit Juice Extraction Hard Fruit Juice Extraction Making a Jelly after Juice Extraction Soft Berry Syrups Elderflower syrup Rose Hip Syrup Conclusion Author Bio Publisher Introduction Millenniums ago, human beings began to evolve from hunters into settlers. That is when they began to grow food, instead of searching for it and handing it down. Then came the knowledge and understanding of the seasons, which would appear periodically, as a natural part of life and nature. So after spring, summer and autumn, came the harsh winter, when they might have found them snowbound, depending on the area in which they lived. And so the irresponsible and elders of the tribe, decided that there should be some method in which the food collected during the spring and summer could be preserved for use in the winter. And so down the ages, many processes, including using salt to preserve food came into existence. Apart from making jams, jellies, and chutneys, preserving fruit and vegetables, fresh from the garden in salt, or in brine or in vinegars, syrups and oil became a tradition of everyday life. Up to the 19th century, a housewife - who was only interested in caring about her family and household, instead of getting sidetracked with careers and trying to juggle both of them at the same time - could concentrate on preserving the harvest. So, East or West, here are some traditional ways and means in which you can preserve food for winter use.