THE NIBBLE BLOG: Products, Recipes & Trends In Specialty Foods


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TIP OF THE DAY: Cooking A Ham

April 8, 2012 at 5:00 am · Filed under Cooking & Baking, Easter, Meat & Poultry, Tip Of The Day


Don’t overheat your ham! Photo courtesy Snake River Farms.

   Cured hams come fully cooked, but need to be heated (that is, if you want your meat to be warm or hot).

Micheale Muse, culinary expert for Snake River Farms, producers of “the world’s best” Kurobuta hams, shares this advice:

  • USE MODERATE HEAT. To ensure that your ham stays succulent, heat it in a moderate oven (325°F) in a shallow roasting pan until it reaches an internal temperature of 140°F on a meat thermometer.
  • TAKE IT SLOW. Don’t be tempted to rush this process: A higher oven temperature will dry out a ham and the marbling and sweet rich flavor will be lost.
  • USE FOIL. If your ham starts getting too dark on the surface while heating, simply place a tented piece of foil over the top of it. Do not cover the ham tightly with the foil, however; keep it loose.
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    The final tip:

  • SHARPEN YOUR KNIVES. Always carve your ham with a sharp knife for beautiful, juicy slices. If you don’t have a knife sharpener, pick one up—they’re not expensive.

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    TIP OF THE DAY: Better-For-You Easter Baskets

    April 7, 2012 at 5:00 am · Filed under Easter, Giftable, Tip Of The Day

    If you’re running out today to buy all the fixings for Easter baskets, here’s some advice:

    Buy half the amount of candy and fill up the other half of the basket, bag or box with Easter- and spring-themed non-edibles. The temptation is to give a filled-to-the-brim basket of Easter sweets, but no one needs that much sugar.

    We love delicious Easter candy as much as anyone, but know that we aren’t doing anyone a favor by overloading someone with it.

    So here are some additional ways to fill the Easter basket.

    SUGAR-SAVING IDEAS

  • Smaller baskets. There’s no need for Titanic-size gifts.
  • Hollow chocolate bunnies and eggs instead of solid ones.
  • Peanut butter-filled eggs instead of less nutritious fillings.
  • Easter-color beverages, like bottles of specialty diet sodas (look for Boylan’s) and Vitamin Water.
  • Sugar-Free jelly beans (available from Jelly Belly and Russell Stover).
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    Instead of an open Easter basket that shows how much it holds, look for boxes or other containers to hold the Easter loot. This bunny box is from The Art Of Appreciation.
     

  • Mini fruits like clementines, miniature bananas and pineapples (kids love miniature fruits). Pomegranates are fun, too.
  • Nuts and dried fruits in grab-and-go bags (check out Peeled Snacks).
  • Easter themed apparel: socks, tee shirts and whatever else you find.
  • Kids’ favorite booty, such as stickers, soap bubbles and stuffed animals.

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    Who says the Easter Bunny only brings candy!

      

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    PASSOVER: Our Favorite Treat For Everyone

    April 6, 2012 at 3:15 pm · Filed under Kosher Nibbles, Passover, Recipes

    Matzo “toffee”: white chocolate with pistachios and dark chocolate with almonds. Photo courtesy MysteryLoversKitchen.com.

    		   Passover food and beverages (including wine) are a $2.5 billion to $3 billion industry. It sounds unbelievable, but according to KosherToday.com, some 30,000 different kosher-for-Passover products were produced specifically for Passover 2012. You may see shelves at the supermarket filled with a few dozen items—matzos, matzo meal, coconut macaroons, chocolate-coated jelly rings and other foods. But the ingredients for every kosher-for-Passover food recipe is also included among the 30,000.

    There are approximately six million Jews in America, of whom an estimated 70% celebrate the holiday. Jewish law forbids the consumption of fermented grain products and related foods. For the eight days of Passover, there are no bread products except matzo and potato bread, no pasta, no beer, no year-round favorite treats.

     
    Except that we do have a favorite Passover treat that can be enjoyed year-round. Variously called Matzo* Brittle, Matzo Buttercrunch and Matzo Toffee, it transforms bland boards of matzo, an unleavened flatbread, into a crunchy chocolate confection.
     
    Here are two variations:

  • Cookbook author (A Treasury Of Jewish Holiday Baking) Marcy Goldman’s iconic recipe, which she calls Vanilla Matzoh Caramel Buttercrunch
  • A variation by Cindy Coyle, who calls it “Passover Crack for Easter,” an interfaith treat.

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    We recommend making more than one batch: one for the home, one for a seder gift, one to treat friends and co-workers who have never tasted this addictive confection—which of course, can be made year-round.
    *Variously spelled matzo, matza, matzoh or matzah.
      

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