Al dente – This term is often used with pasta and literally means “to the tooth/bite”. Boil the pasta until is is tender but still has some “bite”, not soggy and falling apart. Packet pasta usually takes 5-10 minutes in boiling water.

Baste – This term is often used when roasting chicken or cooking meat in a marinade. You will need to regularly “baste” the meat with the juices or sauce to keep it moist. For more details www.tailgating-recipe.com .You can use a spoon to spoon the juices or sauce over the meat or you can use a “baster” which is a bit like a syringe or bulb.

Beat – A term often used in cooking or baking. You may be instructed to beat and egg – simply crack an egg into a bowl and beat (stir rapidly) with a fork or whisk to combine the yolk and white. In cake recipes, you may be instructed to beat the margarine and sugar together – use an electric whisk or beater for ease.

Blanch – A recipe may call for blanching vegetable. This simply means to plunge them into boiling water for about a minute.

Chop – self explanatory but use a good sharp knife and try to chop vegetables etc. so that bits are uniform in size and thickness. Onions often have to be chopped finely so chop them as small as you can.

Cream – Cake recipes often instruct you to cream the butter or margarine with the sugar. Beat them together either with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until they are well combined and the mixture has turned a paler colour.

Dice – If you are instructed to dice meat or vegetables, it means that you should chop into uniform squares.

Fillet – This word can either be used as a noun or a verb. A meat fillet is a good quality piece of meat which has been “filleted”, had the bones removed. If a recipe asks you to fillet a piece of meat or fish, it means you need to remove the bones. This is tricky so buy fillet meat or ask your butcher or fishmonger to do it for you.

Fold – Cake recipes often tell you to fold in the flour after creaming the margarine and sugar and adding eggs. For more details www.apples-recipes.com .Add the flour a bit at a time using a metal spoon and a figure of eight movement to “fold” the flour into the mixture while retaining the air added by creaming or beating.

Julienne – This term is used with vegetables. Julienne carrots are carrots which have been chopped into matchsticks or strips.

Marinate – To coat a piece of meat or fish in a sauce usually overnight or for a few hours in the fridge. The meat will take on the flavours from the sauce.

Pare – Remove the skin from fruit or vegetables.

Peel – Remove the skin from fruit, vegetables or prawns.

Poach – To cook in liquid. Poached eggs are cooked in boiling water and poached fish is often cooked in hot milk.

Puree – To puree a vegetable or fruit is to blend it until it is as smooth as baby food. Use an electric blender.

Saute – You can saute vegetables and this means to fry in hot oil over a high heat for a short amount of time.

Season – To flavour with salt and pepper.

Simmer – This term is often used with sauces or recipes like curry or chilli. It means to bring a sauce to boiling and then turn down to a level where the sauce is bubbling but not boiling.

Stiff peaks – If you are instructed to beat cream or egg whites until stiff peaks are formed, then you need to whisk or beat until the mixture forms peaks which do not collapse and you could even turn the bowl upside down without the mixture immediately falling out.

Stir-fry – To stir-fry is to cook meat and/or vegetables in a wok at a high temperature. Stir-fry packs can be found in supermarkets and all you have to do is fry them briefly in hot oil in a wok, add sauce or spices and serve with noodles or rice.

Whisk – Use an electric whisk or a hand whisk to beat something like cream.

Hopefully these explanations will help you to feel more confident when using recipes.

Like most recipes, the higher the quality of ingredients you start with, the better the final product will be.  Although crab meat is not inexpensive, you will enjoy the taste you get with high quality crab meat.  Along with the quality of the crab meat, you will get better flavors from fresher ingredients.

The crab cakes recipe itself is very simple.  There are not many ingredients, which allows the flavor of the crab meat to come through, and not get buried by the other ingredients.  The recipe itself starts with the crab meat. This typically lump crab meat, although some recipes will have you mix lump and claw meat together.  This is mixed with saltine cracker crumbs, and a dressing made of eggs, salt, finely ground onion, and a dash of cayenne pepper.

These ingredients are carefully mixed together. You only need to mix the ingredients until they bind and you are able to form patties.  Over mixing will break up the crab meat too much, and you will lose much of the desired texture.

Once the ingredients are mixed, form them into patties that are about ¾ to 1-inch thick.  If you are making crabcakes for appetizers make a 2 ounce patty.  For an entrée, make 4 ounce patties.  When the patties are formed refrigerate them for about 2 hours before cooking so they will set and be firm enough not to fall apart when cooking.

In a frying pan or skillet you can sauté the crab cakes in clarified butter until they are golden brown.  You can make clarified butter by heating butter until it is almost to the boiling point, Separate the solids from the top, and use the clear butter at the bottom to cook with.  This allows you to sauté at a higher temperature without your butter burning in the pan.

Serve your crab cakes warm to your hungry guests and watch them enjoy this traditional American classic.  It is quick and easy, and best of all, it is delicious.

Grilled Steak Recipe:

Ingredients: 1 tablespoon Steak Seasoning 1 tablespoon brown sugar, light 1 teaspoon Onion Powder 1/2 teaspoon Oregano Leaves 1 1/2 pounds steakMethod: 1.Blend first four ingredients. 2.Rub over surface of steak. 3.Grill over indirect or medium heat until done.

Ingredients: 1 cup sugar 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 cup mayonnaise Beat all of these ingredients together until smooth and well blended.Add: 1 cup of cold water 2 cups of sifted flour 1 teaspoon vanillaMethod: 1.Beat again until well blended and smooth. 2.Pour into a well greased 9 x 13 baking pan or 2 nine inch cake pans. 3.Bake for about 30 minutes at 350F or until done to the touch. 4.Frost with your favorite frosting.

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