Classic Lasagna Recipe

This lasagna recipe is made with layers of bechamel sauce (a basic white sauce) rather than the usual ricotta cheese, making it rich and flavorful without being too heavy.

It also features "no-boil" lasagna noodles. These are a huge time-saver over ordinary lasagna noodles that you have to boil and drain. With the no-boil variety, you just assemble the lasagna with the uncooked noodles, seal it tight with foil and bake. As the sauce simmers, the noodles cook all on their own.

You'll need about a pint of bechamel to make this lasagna, so here's a recipe for a basic bechamel sauce.

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Prepare the bechamel sauce.
Making the red sauce: Brown the ground beef and pork in a large skillet or heavy-bottomed saucepan. Drain excess fat (reserving 2 Tbsp for the next step), remove meat from pan and set aside.
Saute onion and garlic in reserved fat for 10 minutes or until the onion is translucent.
Add the mushrooms and cook until soft, another 5 minutes or so.
Return meat to the pan and add the sauce and dried herbs. Bring to a simmer and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, just until everything is heated through. Remove sauce from heat and season to taste with Kosher salt and black pepper.
Assembling the lasagna: Ladle enough red sauce to cover the bottom of a 3-qt ovenproof baking dish.
Arrange a layer of noodles atop the sauce, then another layer of sauce. Drizzle roughly one-third of the bechamel evenly atop the red sauce.
Repeat the previous step two more times — noodles, red sauce and bechamel — until you have three layers in place.
Spread the shredded mozzarella evenly atop the lasagna, then sprinkle on the grated parmesan.
Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes.
Remove foil and bake for about 10 more minutes, or until the cheese on top has browned slightly.
Remove lasagna from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.Makes 6 generous servings.

Stock Pot

Tall and deep, stock pots typically range in size from 8 to 16 quarts, large enough to boil water for potatoes, lobsters or pasta, simmer big batches of soup and stew, make large quantities of tomato sauce and, as its name would suggest, make stock. The stock pot has straight sides and is typically taller than it is wide, so that it can fit on one burner and minimize the surface of the liquid, to reduce evaporation. Look for two sturdy, easy-to-grip loop handles and a tight-fitting lid. Most home cooks will find an 8- to 10-quart size is ideal for their needs. An ideal stock pot is made of medium-grade anodized aluminum and stainless steel. Boiling potatoes and other vegetables such as corn or beets, making stock, cooking soup and stews, simmering large batches of tomato sauce Smashed Potatoes

Calphalon Contemporary Stainless Steel 8-Quart Stock Pot

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Skillet Cooking a Steak

Preheat Cast Iron Skillet

Regarding BBQ Inc.To make this whole process work you need a smoking hot cast iron (or heavy duty) skillet. When I say smoking hot, I mean smoking hot. It also needs to be clean and without any oil (other than what a good cast iron skillet is seasoned with) or cooking spray. All the oil you need is already on the surface of the steak.

To test the heat, place a single drop of water on the pan. If it dances for a second before disappearing, the pan is hot enough. Make sure to have the steak, a clean plate, a heavy duty grill mitt, a pat of butter and a pair of tongs ready. You won't have a chance to step away once you start the cooking process.

Top 10 BBQ Sauces

Regarding BBQ Inc.

This is a classic Carolina style Barbecue Sauce. Typically, served on smoked pork (at the table), this thin, vinegar based sauce has tons of flavor. This vinegar BBQ sauce comes from the region of the Carolinas north of the mustard belt. This sauce gives food a tangy flavor, perfect for pork, but simply put, a great sauce for almost anything.

Barbecue Ribs on the Grill

The number one mistake people make when trying to grill ribs is too much heat. Barbecue Ribs should not be cooked quickly over a high direct heat source but low and slow. Now there are several ways that you can make great barbecue ribs on a grill and avoid making charred meat sticks. Your basic strategy needs to watchful patience. After that there are a few different paths you can take to make it easier for you.

First there is straight grilling. Like I said you will want to grill indirectly, meaning that you have a fire on one side and the food on the other. Actually you want a four part cooking area. Imagine four boxes stacked with two on the bottom and two on the top. In the top left box are the ribs. Below the ribs is a large pan to catch the drippings. In the top right box is another large pan filled with water. This added the moisture to the environment that will keep the ribs from drying out. Below the water pan is your fire.

Of course there are variations to this basic layout and you probably need to do a little experimenting to determine what is going to work best for you and your grill. A couple of variations include using wood chips, soaked in water and added to the charcoal fire, if you are using a charcoal grill, or in a smoker box if you are using a gas grill. This will add a good smoky flavor to your barbecue ribs, giving them an authentic flavor.

You will need to cook your ribs like this for several hours. You want the inside of your grill to hold a temperature around 200 to 225 degrees F. The ribs should not over lap the fire or they will burn and dry out. If you want the smoke flavor you will probably have to add more wood every hour. This is particularly important in the first two hours. Your ribs will be done when they become tender and the meat is loose around the bones.

You can also precook your ribs to speed up the process or to increase the tenderness of the ribs. Ribs cooked on a barbecue smoker at a low temperature for several hours will be very tender. Ribs cooked on a grill, especially a gas grill, will not be as tender even cooked indirectly. To make your ribs tenderer you can precook by either boiling the ribs for about 30 minutes or by placing them in a slow cooker. This will get the ribs going and not dried out. Once you are ready to grill then you can season the ribs and cook them indirectly until done. The disadvantage of this is that the ribs will not absorb the flavor of the smoke very well and you can literally boil out the flavor of the meat. Remember, if you boil, slow cook, or oven roast ribs it must be at a low temperature, around 200 to 225 degrees F.

Now when it comes to seasoning ribs you want to be very conservative. Good ribs have a great flavor all to themselves. It is also important to avoid adding barbecue sauce to ribs early in the process. Most barbecue sauces, whether store bought or homemade, contain some kind of sugar (tomatoes contain sugar). This can cause your barbecue ribs to burn, even cooked indirectly. I suggest using a good rub before you grill and maybe a barbecue sauce after the grilling is done. However if you want to use a sauce, try using a mop. A mop is a thin barbecue sauce (mainly vinegar or water) that you brush on during grilling to help maintain moisture and to add flavor. Sometimes you will hear it referred to as a baste.

So remember, keep the temperature low. A good grilling temperature for barbecue ribs is about 225 degrees F. Also keep a close eye on your ribs. Once the surface of the meat starts to burn there's no going back. Another good tip is to fill a spray bottle with a thin barbecue sauce. By thin I mean practically water. I use a mixture of paprika, water and a few other seasonings. By spraying the ribs with this mixture during grilling you will add moisture, reduce burning and add flavor to your barbecue ribs.

Shrimp

Pair of Shrimp on Bamboo Skewers

Regarding BBQ Inc.Shrimp are the most popular shellfish in the world and nearly the most popular seafood. Modern production and shipping get more and more shrimp to people's table than ever before. Too bad most people don’t know how to cook them properly. Of course by cooking I mean grilling. Getting the shrimp ready for the grill is just as important as the actual grilling.

First of all there is the issue of deveining. Contrary to what some say you do not have to devein shrimp. As long as the shrimp are properly cooked the vein isn't going to cause any health risks. On the other hand it is more pleasing to remove it. The best method is to use a small paring knife to split the shrimp down the back and then pick out the vein. A little practice and you'll find it pretty easy. This opening in the shrimp that you create to remove the vein is the best place to apply flavor. Any seasoning needs to reach this part most. The skin of the shrimp prevents marinades and seasonings from penetrating the shrimp, but the open cut allows it to sink it.

Now you might notice that some shrimp has a certain smell to it. This doesn't necessarily mean that the shrimp isn't fresh enough. Actually almost any shrimp you buy so going to be frozen so do not trust anything that says the shrimp is fresh. If you buy unfrozen shrimp don't freeze it again. Refreezing is about the worse thing you can do to any kind of meat or seafood. The smell is probably iodine. Iodine is plentiful in the plankton that shrimp feed upon. To eliminate the smell, soak the shrimp for about 10 minutes in a mixture of 2 tablespoons of baking soda to 1 quart of water. Rinse in cold water afterwards. This draws out the smell and some of the iodine flavor that shrimp might have.

To properly grill shrimp it is best to place them on skewers no matter how big the shrimp. This makes them easier to control on the grill and easier to cook. There are several strategies to skewering shrimp. If you skewer them lengthwise you will reduce the natural curling of shrimp as they cook. This is good if you want your shrimp nice and straight. If you skewer each shrimp twice, once throw the top and then throw the bottom near the tail you will give the cooked shrimp a nice curved shape and make a more attractive kebab. If you use two skewers you will make a kebab that is easier to turn and hold onto the shrimp. As far as the cooking goes none of these really has an effect. The one thing to do is make sure you do not pack the shrimp tightly on the skewers. This will provide for more even cooking.

Shrimp are generally sold by weight and sized by the number of shrimp it takes to make a pound. So a 40 count shrimp gives you about 40 shrimp per pound. When it comes to portion sizes, if shrimp is the main course, plan on about 1/3 to 1/2 pound per person for shelled shrimp or 3/4 pound per person if the shells are still on. Which brings me to the final point. Grilling shrimp with the shells on will make them more difficult to skewer but helps them hold on to their natural shape better. However you will have the vein problem if you don’t remove the shells. Amongst many of the shrimp loving people of the world, it is considered a bad thing if you cook shrimp without the shells and without the heads. Shrimp that still have their heads are a better flavored shrimp. If you try it you’ll notice the difference. Of course, many people just don’t like the idea of a whole shrimp on their plate.

Now this brings us to the grilling. Shrimp are best grilled quickly but not over too high of a heat. This is especially true the smaller the shrimp. The worse thing you can do to a shrimp is to overcook it. If you are grilling small shrimp at high temperatures it will make it more difficult to get even cooking and to get them off the grill at the right time. Keep the heat about medium for your grill. You should be able to hold your hand over the heat for about 4 seconds.

Shrimp are done when the entire outside surface has changed color. There are a wide variety of shrimp and they do come in slightly different colors. Most shrimp you buy starts out gray, almost blue and turns pink as it cooks. Once the skin surface of the shrimp no longer shows any of its original color it is done. You need to remove shrimp from the heat the second it is done. Overcooked shrimp as a rubbery texture and loses a lot of its natural flavor.

Knife Skills 101

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