Classic Food Deserves The Best Cookware

Buying cookware in the UK has never been easier, as ProCook offers a fantastic range of gourmet kitchenware. Iconic meals such as fish and chips, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding can be created using ProCook deep fat fryers and roasting tins. 

Who can resist mouth-watering apple pie and cream to follow your main course? It is a perfect dessert at this time of the year, and shops are full of newly harvested Bramley apples - the essential ingredient for the best apple pies. ProCook has a wonderful range of gourmet baking products that can be used to make this dish. All you need is a mixing bowl, rolling pin, sharp knife and a baking dish. Mix the flour, water and butter together, roll out the pastry into the dish and add your Bramley apples. Make a pastry lid, and place your ProCook tin in the oven. Leave to cook and when nicely browned, serve with lashings of cream. Delicious! An iconic desert that will delight everyone.

Why not practise for Bonfire Night with delicious grilled sweetcorn, hamburgers and jacket potatoes? All you need is a nice hot oven and some really good ProCook grill pans.

ProCook baking trays are perfect for scones and biscuits, as they conduct the heat to ensure all parts of the food are cooked to perfection. Or try a Victoria sponge using a springform cake tin.

Pancakes and crepes are irresistible but work best when cooked using ProCook frying pans and griddles. Welsh cakes also cook beautifully on a griddle.

Pizzas are one of the most popular meals served in the UK. Whether you are making your own or warming up a pre-made version, it is important to get the base cooked just right. If the heat is not conducted properly throughout the pizza, it may result in the pizza base becoming soggy or having a cold centre. Using a ProCook pizza stone solves the problem. 

As a ProCook spokesperson points out 'To get the best results for any iconic dish and make sure that every meal is one to remember; buying the best cookware is essential. Whether you are looking for frying pans, saute pans, baking trays, casserole dishes, woks or griddles, buying cookware in the UK is the best option. Quality is guaranteed. ProCook products help make iconic meals.'

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How To Choose The Right Cook’s Knife

Buying a quality knife set can be a great way of ensuring that you have the right cook's knife for the task in hand, so what are the basic knives and what are they used for?

Paring knife

A paring knife is a short knife used for delicate jobs, such as peeling garlic, trimming mushrooms, slicing smaller fruits, and coring. The blade is between 2-4 inches long. A contoured handle that fits well adds to the feeling of control.

Utility

A utility knife is handy for tackling all sorts of jobs in the kitchen, such as cutting cheese and chopping vegetables and fruit – it’s the multi-purpose knife you can’t do without. The blade is usually between 5-8 inches long. A contoured micarta handle is ideal, but wood, stainless steel or composite handles are also available.

Chef’s knife

Every home cook should have a good chef’s knife. The blade is from 6 inches and is usually slightly curved to allow a rocking motion as you cut – just like the chef’s do on TV! This knife is the one to use for achieving finely diced vegetables, cutting meat, fish, and herbs. The chef’s knife is a precision tool that makes chopping delicate herbs or thinly slicing cabbage a pleasure.

Serrated

Usually referred to as a bread knife, the blade is from 9 inches and the serrated edge means you cut through the surface without crushing the inside. A serrated knife is ideal for slicing bread (especially when it’s still warm), tomatoes, melons, pastry, and even frozen food. 

Santoku

A Japanese style knife, often with a wide, scalloped blade of 7 inches or more, the santoku is a great knife for slicing onions, fish or meat, with precision. The extra width of the blade adds weight and increases efficiency.

Boning

A sharp, thin bladed knife of 5-7 inches, the boning knife is used for cutting meat from the bone or trimming away fat. The flexible blade gives you more leverage and helps you to achieve really thin, delicate cuts.

Carving knife

A 10 inch carving knife, when paired with a fork – as a carving set – will help you to slice the Sunday roast to perfection. The long blade and fork takes the stress out of tackling even the largest roast turkey.

Cleaver

A cleaver is designed to make short work of cutting through sinew and smaller bones, such as in chicken thighs. These knives, with wide blades, are also great for chopping through hard vegetables, such as pumpkins or large squash.

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How To Season A Cast-Iron Griddle Pan

Seasoning a cast-iron grill pan helps protect it, stops it from rusting, and locks flavour into your cooking. Best of all you only have to do it once, and with some simple care and attention it will last forever. 

Well-seasoned, good-quality cast iron pans get passed down from parent to child for generations.

4 steps to season your cast-iron griddle:

1. Wash the griddle with soap and warm water
Using a rough-backed sponge, wash the griddle pan well all over. This is the only time you will ever use soap when washing the griddle, but it’s important to get it as clean as possible before you season it for the first time. 

2. Dry the pan 
Dry the pan with paper towels until it’s completely dry. 

3. Coat the entire pan with vegetable oil
Pour some vegetable oil on the griddle, and using paper towel, rub the oil over the whole griddle. Coat the inside, the outside, even the handle. Every inch of the griddle should be coated. 

4. Heat in the oven
Line the bottom of the oven in kitchen foil, to catch any drips, and pre-heat to 350F (180C). Once heated put the griddle in the oven upside-down and heat it for an hour, then turn off the oven and leave the griddle to cool inside before removing it. 

5. Enjoy your seasoned cast-iron pan
Once cooled take the pan out of the oven and enjoy.

Caring for your seasoned cast-iron griddle 

A seasoned cast-iron griddle is incredibly easy to look after. There are a few things to remember:

1. Don’t ever use soap to wash your seasoned griddle
Soap can take the patina off your griddle, and for that reason you should never wash it in soapy water. Instead, immediately after cooking rinse the griddle with warm water, and scrape off any stubborn residue with a scourer or stiff brush

2. Coat the cooking surface with vegetable oil after each use
Rub a little vegetable oil over the cooking surface using a paper towel before putting the griddle away. 

3. Cover the griddle with a cloth or kitchen towel when storing it to prevent it gathering dust. 

A good quality seasoned griddle will last you a lifetime, so long as you don’t skimp on caring for it. Season your griddle well and take care of it and it will provide you with brilliantly cooked meals for years to come.

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Frying Pans: Is Non-Stick Always The Best?

Non-stick frying pans have many benefits - they are inexpensive, widely available and do their job very well in preventing many food items from sticking to the pan. Watch a professional chef, however, and you'll very rarely see them using non-stick frying pans. Cast iron and steel are in constant use in a professional kitchen, so is non-stick always the best? 

As any good cook will tell you, it depends on a) what you're planning to cook in your frying pan, and b) how much heat you need to cook it. If you're not sure on which type of frying pan is best for your cooking job in hand, here's a brief way of deciding on non-stick or not: 

Non-stick frying pans

These are best for cooking on a low or medium heat. The reason for this is that the non-stick coating will start to break down at very high temperatures and becomes less effective. If you're frying an egg, making a Spanish omelette or re-heating a sauce, a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat will serve you better than traditional steel or iron cookware. Despite the fact that they are called "frying" pans, frying is something better suited to cast iron or steel pans as they are not good at conducting high-temperature heat. 

It's also worth pointing out that choosing to use non-stick frying pans depends on your chosen utensils. Wooden, plastic or silicone Kitchen utensils are all suitable for using with non-stick, however, metal ones may damage the surface. 

Cast iron or steel frying pans

For searing or sautéing, nothing beats a cast iron or stainlesssteel pan. They have excellent heat retention, thereby reducing the risk of any hot or cold spots along the surface. To obtain an excellent crust on a well-seared steak, very high, consistent temperatures are needed and only a cast iron or steel pan can achieve this. 

If you experience sticking on this type of pan, it usually means that you've not used enough fat, which acts as a barrier between the food and the pan, or haven't got the temperature high enough, thus closing the pores in the metal surface. Also, remember that a well-seasoned pan is essentially 'non-stick' by nature. 

No matter what your preferred cooking style, there should be a frying pan - non-stick or otherwise, to suit you.

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Three Unique Ways Of Cooking With Your Wok

Many households own a wok, but only tend to use it for the ubiquitous stir fry. Although this is one of the most popular uses for a wok, it's not the only cooking method available with this versatile piece of cookware. Here are three unique ways to use your wok that will make it one of your essential go-to items in the kitchen: 

1. Smoking food in the wok 

Many home cooks tend to presume that smoking food is only for professionals, and although countertop smoke boxes and dedicated equipment are available for those who love to smoke their own food regularly, the wok can offer a handy alternative and produce delicately smoked, delicious food. Seafood responds particularly well to smoking techniques in a wok. For example, for tea-smoked salmon, simply place some tea leaves (LapsangSouchong and Oolong are good choices), rice and sugar in the wok, heat until smoking and place the salmon fillet on a raised rack above the leaves. Cover with foil and in a few minutes the smoke will infuse the salmon with a delicious, delicate flavour.

2. Steaming in the wok

If you own a wok, you're probably already exploring the many Eastern dishes that can be made with it. A bamboo steamer can be used in conjunction with the wok to steam food to perfection. Place about an inch of water in the bottom of your wok, followed by the steamer containing the food of your choice (small vegetables or Chinese style dim sum work well). Cover, and the steam will gently cook the food within. To ensure you remove the food safely, it's best to use kitchen tongs when removing the lid and food, too.

3. Deep frying in the wok

You don't need a dedicated deep-fryer to achieve crisp, delicate fried food - you can use your wok for small deep-frying tasks such as tempura or small fritters. Fry your items as you would in a deep fryer - due to its roomy size, you can deep fry several items of food without crowding the pan (which usually leads to soggy fried food). You can also use less oil than usual, and deep-frying can help to keep your wok seasoned.

A good wok will repay you again and again with its many culinary uses in the kitchen - these three ways will hopefully inspire you to try more adventurous cooking methods with your wok.

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