The Basic Basics Home Freezing Handbook

The ultimate how-to guide to storing food in your freezer—how long to store, how to prepare for storage, and how to thaw out over 200 kinds of foodstuffs. In this sequel to her Basic Basics Combination & Microwave Handbook, Carol Bowen offers more handy kitchen and culinary advice with an easy to follow, encyclopedic layout. Simply look up the fruit, vegetable, fish, meat, sauces, cakes, or herbs of your choice to find the correct guidelines on freezing each type of food. Bowen also explains the technical aspects of how freezers work, gives advice on choosing and positioning your freezer, and covers topics such as freezer insurance, cleaning, maintenance, emergencies, packaging, and accessories. You will also learn techniques for freezing, defrosting, refreezing, and thawing, as well as storage times. These days, making the most of your food budget is more important than ever. And with The Basic Basics Home Freezing Handbook, you’ll save both food and money with any meal!

A guide to successful freezing and handy reference to which foods freeze best.

Marguerite Patten, doyenne of British cookery, shares her wealth of knowledge and her tried and tested recipes for cakes, large and small, biscuits, breads, pizzas and pastries. Baking is Marguerite's most natural culinary territory and she starts by explaining the equipment and the basic techniques, as well as what to do if things go wrong. She covers not only family favorites such as walnut cake, teacakes and buns but more modern popular cakes such as muffins. The book has been planned to introduce the pleasures of baking in such a way that even a beginner should achieve successful results under the expert guidance of Marguerite Patten.

A descriptive compendium of just about everything we eat and how we cook it—selected as “one of the greatest cookbooks of all time” (Waitrose Food Illustrated). Arranged alphabetically from Abalone to Zampone, Cook’s Encyclopedia covers the majority of foods and processes used in cooking. Hundreds of ingredients are described, with English and foreign synonyms and scientific names; recipes are given in many cases to illustrate the use of the foodstuff in question. Cooking processes—including bottling, brewing, brining, curing, smoking, and vacuuming—are explained in great and illuminating detail. The aim is to both entertain and to instruct—in particular, to give a sense of the essence and individuality of each ingredient. Tom Stobart traveled widely, both as an explorer and a filmmaker, and his book was informed by an eye for telling details. Many fans say they would be lost without this book, which segues effortlessly between exhaustive reference work and handy recipe book, and back again. It explains the world of the kitchen, whether you’re a beginner or an old hand, revealing the facts behind foods, equipment, and techniques. Stobart describes how baking powder works, for instance, the temperature at which bacteria grow, and how to make your own tomato ketchup, so every time you dip into this book, you’ll be better equipped to return to the stove. “A MUST, comprehensive, well-organized and well-written . . . a serious and important work of reference.” —Alan Davidson, author of The Oxford Companion to Food

Anyone who wants to learn basic living skills—the kind employed by our forefathers—need look no further than this eminently useful, full-color guide. Dye your own wool, raise chickens, weave a rug, make jam and cheese, and much, much more! With hundreds of projects, step-by-step sequences, photographs, charts, and illustrations, The Back to Basics Handbook will help you dye your own wool with plant pigments, graft trees, raise chickens, craft a hutch table with hand tools, and make treats such as blueberry peach jam and cheddar cheese. The truly ambitious will find instructions on how to build a log cabin or an adobe brick homestead. More than just practical advice, this is also a book for dreamers—even if you live in a city apartment you will find your imagination sparked, and there’s no reason why you can’t, for example, make a loom and weave a rag rug. Complete with tips for old-fashioned fun (square dancing calls, homemade toys, and kayaking tips), this is the ultimate concise guide to voluntary simplicity.

Resource added for the Culinary Specialist program 313162.