Keep entertaining simple!

• Prepare anything you are able to ahead of time.
• Use quick cooking methods such as grilling, steaming.
• Keep food safe! Hot food hot! Cold food cold! Limit the amount of time food sits out! Keep it under 2 hours!

Food safety notes: Use separate cutting boards and utensils for meats and vegetables to avoid cross-contamination, and use a separate clean plate for cooked meat (not the same one that held the raw produce).

Cooking Methods

• Grilling
• Roasting
• Steaming
• Boiling
• Baking

• Stewing
• Sautéing
• Stir-Frying

Grilling

• Pre-heat grill on high. Keep cover closed!
• Always use clean grill!
• Don't over crowd grill! Cool in smaller batches to obtain best results!
• Season meat.
• Allow meat to cook!
• Do not turn until meat release from grates.
• Allow meat to rest for 4-5 minute before slicing (this will keep meat from drying out)

How to Grill with Indirect Heat:
Recommended for slow-cooking the flavor into larger cuts of meat. Shut off one side of the grill, after preheating about 15 minutes. For charcoal grills, make 2 piles of coals on either side with the middle empty.

Stewing

Sautéing

1. Make sure vegetables are dry. After washing, pat vegetables dry with paper towel.
Cut them into bite-size pieces or smaller.

2. Heat the pan. Turn the heat on medium and warm the pan for a few minutes. Place your hand a couple inches above the pan--if it is uncomfortably hot, you're ready for step 3.

3. Heat the fat. Put butter or oil in pan, and turn up heat. The pan should be hot enough that vegetables sizzle on contact.

4. Cook the vegetables. If sautéing more than one kind of vegetable, add the harder vegetables first. Lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. With spoon or spatula, mix the vegetables so that all the pieces get coated in oil or butter and cook evenly. If the pan gets too hot and the food starts to burn, remove the pan from the heat and let it cool down. Cook until vegetables reach desired doneness

The Vegetables: Nearly any vegetable is suitable for sautéing. However, some harder vegetables, such as carrots, broccoli, beans, and potatoes, work best if they are precooked first. Boiling or steaming beforehand cuts down on sautéing time and keeps the colors fresher. It also helps to blanch (cook briefly in salted water) certain greens like kale and mustard before sautéing, to remove bitterness

* Sautéing requires quick moves, so have all your ingredients cut, measured and in place near the stove before you begin.
* Give your vegetables plenty of room. An overcrowded pan will lower the temperature and draw more water from your vegetables so they steam instead of brown. Mushrooms in particular yield lots of liquid, so consider sautéing them in several small batches rather than a single large batch.
* Avoid the temptation to stir or flip vegetables immediately; instead, give them time to brown in place before moving.

Stir-frying

1. Preheat wok or pan on HIGH. Pan is hot enough when a drop of water sizzles and evaporates quickly. Drizzle approx 2 Tbsp oil (refer to recipe for exact amount) around sides of pan to warm it while it coats the pan. Tilt pan to distribute oil evenly.
2. Add protein (meat, chicken, seafood, tofu). If recipe calls for seasonings such as garlic or ginger, add to wok.
3. Stir & toss ingredients with a flat shovel-like spoon until cooked throughout. Keep things moving with a spatula, occasionally give pan a shake to break up any clumps of meat. And don't overcrowd the pan--food will steam instead of fry.
4. Add sauce. Stir to mix with protein, about 2 minutes.
5. Combine blanched vegetables with stir-fried protein in wok.
6. Stir fry to heat through, about 30 seconds.

Steaming

Boiling