The nutlet can be presented to Cinderella or sent to the kitchen. By the way, that's where he belongs. Valuable product with amazing composition and delicate aroma amazingly emphasizes the taste of other products. You can use it not only in desserts, but also in snacks, meats, sauces, and what delicious salads with nuts! You just need to choose and prepare the ingredient.
What nuts are used in cooking
In fact, there are many more nuts than we know. But not all species are used in food. Some of them do not have a good taste or do not have a pleasant aroma, therefore, they are used only in cosmetology and medicine.
Most popular nuts:
- Walnut. The King among the nuts, the most popular and affordable kind, is distinguished by its noble aroma and deep taste.
- Almond. This nut is a bone with a rich composition and elegant taste. Almond nut is used in cooking, medicine and cosmetology. It goes well with sweets.
- Hazelnuts. He is a hazelnut. Often sold in shell, has a small size and rounded shape. It is used in desserts, sometimes in main dishes.
- Pistachios. Often they are compared to seeds because of the valves. This nut is not only different in appearance, but also in shade. Pistachio color for several seasons does not go out of fashion.
- Peanuts. This nut grows underground and is cheap. The price of peanuts is much lower than any other species.
- Pine Nuts. Smallest nucleoli. They have a very delicate structure and exquisite taste.
There are nutmeg, but it is more used as a spice. Also on the shelves you can find pecans, brazil nuts, cashews, but in cooking they are used much less frequently than the above species.
The secrets of using nuts
Nuts contain a lot of fat, they are difficult and long digested by the body, so they are rarely used in large quantities. But even a small handful requires an attentive attitude. Just pour the nuts in a bowl with salad or on the cake will not work.
How to prepare nuts:
- Wash? Naturally! Nuts that are bought on the market or in a store without a shell must be washed, there is a huge amount of dust and dirt on the cores. Do not wash only peeled roasted and salted nuts, which are self-contained snacks.
- Dry? Yes! Drying and frying is the easiest way to improve the taste and flavor of the nut. After such preparation, it is revealed. Usually dried in the oven or pan. It is important to do this at a low temperature so that the kernels are also fried.
- Clean? Desirable. This is not about the shell. Skin is removed from the almond. Usually it is simply poured with hot water for five minutes, then rinsed. Peanuts are fried, then rinsed. Walnuts are also sometimes cleared.
- Grind? If needed. Nuts can be ground or used in whole kernel form. Usually crushed after frying. For grinding use a knife, grater, blender, or just a rolling pin, depending on the size of the pieces.
Inshell nuts are beautifully stored at room temperature, you just need to pour them into a box or a box, you can use a canvas bag. Purified kernels capricious, can be damp and gray. For this reason, they are not kept in a polyethylene and a tightly closed jar; they must be dried and periodically aired. Roasted nuts should not be stored, it is desirable to use them within a week.
Resuscitation of nuts
If the nuts are moldy, then nothing can be done with them, feel free to throw it away. Sometimes the kernels inside the shell dry out. In this case, they can be reanimated.
To do this, just soak it in water, sometimes pour it with salt. This technique, along with roasting helps get rid of inhibitors.
Inhibitors are contained in raw nuts, prevent the germination of kernels, are not harmful to humans, but inhibit digestion. In addition, soaked nuts are better absorbed, give less stress on the gastrointestinal tract and liver.
Unsweetened nutty dishes
Nuts can be a separate ingredient, for example, popular peanut butter is prepared from them. But more often nucleoli are added to other products.
Meat and poultry with nuts are friends in second courses.
You can sprinkle with the kernels salads, decorate sandwiches. The crushed nuts will add healthy fat to the paste and perfectly replace the butter. The famous “Pesto” sauce cannot be cooked without this ingredient. Frequent errors:
- A large number of spices, spicy greens. They will simply interrupt the taste and aroma of nuts. Meat and fish dishes just enough salt, you can add a little pepper.
- High fat. You can make bacon with nuts or bake the pork knuckle, but there will be a frank search for fats. It is more reasonable to cook lean types of meat and fish with nuts or sauces based on them.
- Mixing multiple species. If the cake can be sprinkled with nutty platter, then in salads and second courses it is better to limit one type.
Important! If the nuts are burned during frying, then in no case do not add them to the dish. Sauce and meat will have bitterness. You can loop or trim the black areas.
Nuts in desserts
Walnut cakes and pastries, sweet pastas, ice cream and creams are fabulous desserts that are often prepared at home. But they do not always do it right.
Frequent errors:
- Use raw nuts. They are tasteless, have no pronounced flavor, so only spoil the dessert. Be sure to dry or fry.
- Pre-mixing. If you add nuts to a cream or other wet mass in advance, they will swell, become like raw beans. Most of the product is desirable to use for decoration, and not to lay inside.
- Adding to the cream. If you still want to add a nut to the cream, then we fry it and grind it, try not to leave large pieces, it is better to decorate the dessert with the top. Also, do not forget to peel, which gives bitterness.
- Brandy will help emphasize the taste of the nut. Add to dough or cream.
- You do not need to fry the nuts for the dough, but you can lightly dry them in the oven.
It is also important not to forget the quantity. Nuts are very fat and high-calorie, they need to be added carefully to the cream. Otherwise, we get a very heavy dessert, which will not be pleased with neither the stomach nor the figure.
