Chinese Food Recipes and Cooking
Chinese food need never be a once-a-week-restaurant treat again!
Free mouth watering Chinese recipes, easy to follow & cook, Chinese cooking is simply rewarding!

Home
Chinese Recipes
Chinese Salad
Tasty Soup
Fluffy Rice
Squids & Crabs


Noodles Delight
Chicken Recipes
Succulent Pork
Beef Recipe
Fresh Fish
Lamb & Mutton
Seafood Platter
Crunchy Vegetables
Nutritious Tofu
Assorted Dim Sum
Delicious Eggs
Shrimps & Prawns

Soothing Chinese Tea
Sauces & Seasoning
Chinese Desserts
Snacks & Appetizers
Cooking Methods
Chinese Kitchen


Glossary of Ingredients
Glossary of Cooking Terms
Kitchen Guide & Tips
Measurement Conversion
Food Articles & Fun Stuff
Learn to Speak Chinese
Chinese Restaurants
International Recipes
Asian Recipes
Chinese Cook Book
Chinese Cooking Videos
   
 
 
 

Olives and Olive Oils - Any Time By Lydia Jensen

Olive Oil

Some olives are better as snacks, others are better for cooking.  Olives used in recipes should still be firm but give an added taste to the food. Ordinary olives do not have a flavor, therefore, you need to add the flavor to the olives.

When you buy plain olives, drain them and rinse them in cold water.   When you rinse the olives, you remove any preservatives or other ingredients added to the olives you buy.  Drain the olives and add a little, good olive oil, one or two large cloves pressed garlic, add a little lemon or lime juice, add a little fresh rosemary and/or fresh thyme, a couple of bay leaves (fresh ones are wonderful if you happen to have a bay tree) and a couple or more slices of fresh lemon  to give more flavor and color.

Olive oil is judged by taste, fragrance, color, bouquet and consistency. Olive oils can have a taste of artichokes, or a bitter and fruity taste which comes from ripe olives.  Olive oil can taste ³fresh² or green, it can have a bitter flavor, can taste spicy or can have a sharp taste at the tip of the tongue.

An olive oil of poor quality can taste of almond or have a very strong, bitter taste or rancid.  If an olive oil taste of cucumber, it is old; if it is cloudy or has particles in it, it will give an unpleasant smell or taste.  An olive oil will taste of "earth" if the olives have not been properly washed before pressing.  Olive oil can also have a peculiar taste if the olives were pressed after a frost.

If olive oil is cloudy, has solids, light green spots along the sides, it does not mean that it is a poor quality olive oil.  These are the results of olive oil stored in a cold place, which indicates that the olive oil is of a good quality.

A particularly good olive oil is not recommended for cooking because it tends to burn at high temperatures.  For frying you should use a less expensive olive oil, for example one that is pressed from olive pits.  This type of olive oil can tolerate the higher temperatures.  A particularly good olive oil is best in cold foods such as salads.  It may also be used instead of butter.  Instead of butter, use a little good, filtered olive oil and  dip a good French or Italian bread in it and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.  You could also mash an anchovy  and use it with the oil - either in the oil or spread on thinly spread on the bread and then dipped in olive oil.

Olive OilOlive oil is usually pressed from half ripe olives and ripe olives which gives the oils a variety of tastes and fragrances (smells).  The quality of the olive oil depends on how carefully the olives were picked, handled, transported and pressed.  The best and finest olive oil comes from the first cold pressing under mild pressure.  Olive oil decreases in quality after the first pressing, depending on the pressing and the temperature .  The lowest quality olive oil is used for soaps.  Color of olive oil can vary from light golden to dark green tones.  Color, however, does not indicate the taste or quality of the oil.  A green olive oil means that only green olives were used.  Virgin olive oil contains the greatest amount of aroma and has the best flavor.  A bit of the flavor is eliminated from refined, cheaper olive oils.  Extra Virgin oil is the best olive oil and should have the perfect taste and acid content under 1 percent.   Often olive oil is cold pressed, but this is not the only acceptable form of producing olive oil.

Article by: www.eclecticcooking.com . Do you know how to cook a juicy salmon? How to avoid crying when cutting onions? How to prevent avocados from turning black?  Visit The Eclectic Cooking Ezine, portal to cooking and nutrition featuring freelance writers, doctors, and authors. Free weekly newsletter subscription: update@eclecticcooking.com

More cooking guide

GO TO TOP

 
   

Custom Search
Bookmark and Share
Today's Tip/Quote
NEW ARTICLES
 
 
cheap China products on DHgate.com
Cheap China products on DHgate.com  
 
 

Home :: Links Exchange :: Contact Us :: Privacy Policy :: Terms of Use :: Sitemap
Asian Recipes

Copyright © 2022 Chinese Food Recipes.com. All Rights Reserved. Your ultimate Chinese food and Asian food recipes site.
Last Modified: 11/28/11.