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Archive for May, 2009

Gourmet Sauces & Marinades

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Marinades are just a simple way to prepare certain foods that you want to have an extra kick to. Marinades to meats, serve two different purposes to tenderize and to give more flavor. Less fatty foods have a blander taste than most steaks and such. Marinades are just an easy way to tenderize and add a lot more flavor.

To make a marinade you need something of acidic base with herbs and vinegar to make the meats tasty. A marinade with a little bit of chili powder, garlic and oregano with give the food you are a making sort of a Mexican taste. Maybe for an Asian marinade some ginger and sesame seeds with a little soy sauce and hot sauce. A lot of sodas give great taste as well such as sprite goes good with chicken and coca cola is another.

The different foods you may be making are different from each other so you might need a couple of different sauces. Marinades with an acidic base give both flavor and tenderization. These marinades with acidic bases tenderize by unraveling the protein strands in the meats and fish in which you are marinating. When you are using an acidic base marinade never use aluminum or such because it will cause discoloration in the food and might cause it to have a bad taste so just use glass or other plates rather than aluminum.

The other type of marinade is dry marinade. These types are usually made of dry spices and can be rubbed right into the meats which you are trying to add flavor to. This will enhance the flavor but will not do to good as a tenderizer.

Yes, most marinades have a secret ingredient which the chefs refuse to reveal. And marinades without the secret ingredient simply taste bland. Now, when there are hundreds of marinade companies out there, why would you want to try making your own marinade?

Simply log on to any search engine and look for marinades. You will come across hundreds of websites selling these marinades. Wine Country Chef is a good website you should consider when buying marinades online. It is a place where a sense of time and place is skillfully blended with fresh and flavorful ingredients to capture the essence of the wine country. Gourmet marinade with fresh local ingredients and a flavor that captures the essence of the wine country to be enjoyed with chicken and beef.

Wine Country Chef’s mission is simple: to provide the best products and service to customers. Wine Country Chef takes great pride in what it do, the commitment to customer service and in the products it sells. The online store is designed to provide you with a safe and secure environment to browse the product catalog.

The longer you leave food and meats to marinade the more flavor and tender your food is going to be. If you have steaks it is good to either buy a 30 minute marinade or get a better marinade and let it sit and soak in the marinade all night until the next day.

Leftover marinades are useful for sauces but they need to be cooked to a heat that will kill any bacteria that grew over night. These sauces are good to add to fish steak and other foods. Just be sure to kill all the bacteria before you use the leftover marinades.

How To Buy a Restaurant

Monday, May 25th, 2009

Before you start looking around, evaluate what it is that you want. Is there a particular type of restaurant you want to own? Are you leaning towards a chain operation where everyone is familiar with what they will get? Are you interested in something that is uniquely yours to fit a need? Some people want to buy a restaurant that is small and casual. Others are looking for something large and upscale.

How much money can you reasonably invest in that business. This is one of the biggest issues with how to buy a restaurant that you want to pay attention to. Don’t set yourself up for something much bigger than you can take on. If you are just out there looking at every price range what you fall in love with may be out of your price reach. At that point you either will be disappointed or you will do anything you can to get your hands on money you may not be able to repay.

The location of a restaurant is important as well. Are you willing to relocate from where you are now to get a great business opportunity? Not everyone is ready to just pack up and start all over again in new territory. If you are looking for something local your options may be limited. Regardless, you also need to evaluate the location in regards to the amount of traffic in the area that can easily access it.

Part of how to buy a restaurant is keeping your options open. You can work with a local real estate agent for guidance. You can also go online and easily find plenty of great restaurants for sale. Since you already have taken a close look at what you want you can narrow down what is offered. Once you find something of interest schedule an appointment to take a close look at it.

This process involves having every inch of the restaurant inspected. You don’t want any costly repairs to crop up down the road due to not taking a close enough look. You also want to look at the financial statements for the business over the past few years. Anyone that really wants to sell their restaurant is going to be willing to provide such information.

Before you sign any paperwork, make sure you carefully cover everything. You definitely want to make sure buying that particular restaurant is right for you. If you see any red flags then bow out gracefully and keep on looking. When you know how to buy a restaurant the right way it will save you lots of headaches and additional expenses later on.