Best Sauces For Seafood

When people think of eating seafood and the types of sauces that go with it, the first thought usually comes to mind is cocktail sauce or tartar sauce. However, there are several different types of sauces for seafood. We put together a list of some of the best seafood sauces that will serve as an accompaniment for any seafood meal and make it more enjoyable. These sauces can be whipped up at home in just a few minutes and will definitely taste better than any store-bought brand. You can use them with your favorite seafood meals such as grilled salmon, pan-seared sea scallops, sauteed tilapia, and much more.

Hollandaise Sauce

This sauce is made with egg yolks, butter, and lemon juice as the main ingredients. It goes great with poached and grilled fish dishes.

Bercy Sauce

Named after a district located east of Paris, France, this sauce is perfect for many types of fish and seafood dishes. The sauce is made by reducing chopped shallots and white wine then simmering in a fish veloute sauce.

White Wine Sauce

This sauce is prepared using the reduction method like Bercy sauce. This sauce also serves as a base for other sauces for a variety of types of food dishes.

Normandy Sauce

A classical sauce for fish and seafood. It is prepared by adding chopped mushrooms to fish veloute and then thickening the sauce with a mixture of heavy cream and egg yolks.

Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Follows the recipe for white wine sauce except that sauteed mushrooms are added.

Anchovy Sauce Recipe

Similar to Normandy sauce but the difference is that Anchovy butter is added to the finished sauce.

Beurre Blanc Sauce

A butter-based emulsified sauce that is easy to make in minutes especially if you happen to run out of sauce and need more in a hurry. It is a basic sauce using wine and butter.

Herb Seafood Sauce

Another sauce that uses the white wine sauce as its base and also includes fresh herbs: chives, parsley, and tarragon. This sauce can actually include any type of herb you like.

Our list of sauces will definitely add some excitement to your next seafood meal. Whether you are grilling halibut or enjoying fresh steamed lobster, you and your family will enjoy these sauces as they take your tastes buds to the next level. To learn more, follow us for more articles and ideas for your kitchen and home.

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An Introduction To Capers

We like to think of them salty, tangy goodness. Seriously though, what are capers? Often seen in Mediterranean foods, capers come from the capparis spinosa; commonly known as the caper plant. This plant produces lovely purple and white flowers. However, if you pick the bud before it becomes a flower, you have yourself a caper. This bud is sun-dried, then cured.

Capers are typically grown in the Mediterranean; with some being grown in Australia and Asia. Pantelleria is generally thought of as the best source of high quality capers. Pantelleria is an Italian island located approximately 100km southwest of Sicily.

You will notice that capers come cured in a jar. The curing process brings out their fantastic flavor. Capers can be brined in salt and water, mixed with salt and vinegar, or just cured in dry salt. Capers range in size. The larger ones have a stronger flavor, but are less fragrant.
These little delights have a tangy flavor that is a perfect accompaniment to such Mediterranean dishes as caponata and pasta puttanesca.

Some would venture to say capers have a somewhat lemony flavor. This bit of acidity can be used to elevate dishes and give them complexity. People often use them in cooking for the added saltiness. They can be used as a topping for pizzas or salads. They even frequent many sauces.
If you have noticed caper berries at your grocery store, you will see they are larger than typical capers. Caper berries are a fruit that grows on the tree if the flower is allowed to mature and fall off. It essentially looks like an oblong olive. It tastes much like the bud; yet, more mellow.
Capers are not easy to harvest. They are too delicate and tiny to pick by harvesting machines. Therefore, they must be harvested by hand. The extra laborers and time spent harvesting result in a heftier price tag for us consumers.

So let’s remember what we have learned here! Larger capers have a stronger flavor, but are less fragrant. The curing process can be dry salt, salt and water, or vinegar and water. Caper berries are larger and more mellow in flavor than the typical caper. Capers have some saltiness to them. Depending on the curing process used, they can also have some acidity (when cured in salt and vinegar). We hope this information helps you choose the right caper for your needs. Follow The Family Dining Room for more articles and ideas for your kitchen and home.

A Quick Guide To Kitchen Knives

Chefs are only as good as the tools they use, so having access to quality knives is critical whether you are preparing food for an elegant dinner party or the next family meal. Purchasing knives can be challenging because of the large number of options available. While there are many different specialized knives designed for performing specific tasks, our basic kitchen knife guide addresses the three basic tools that can do it all.

Paring Knife

Most paring knives have a blade length of two to four inches. This is the ideal tool for small jobs, including chopping green onions, radishes, cherry tomatoes and other small vegetables. The sharp point is useful for removing eyes from potatoes, hulling strawberries, and other delicate jobs. Most chefs prefer a spear-shaped paring knife, although they are available in a variety of other shapes.

Bread Knife

The bread knife is from 10 to 12 inches long and is scalloped or serrated along the length of the blade. The teeth allow you to slice cleanly through foods that require you to use a sawing motion. In addition to cutting through bread without squashing it, you can use a bread knife to cut into pineapples and other fruits with hard rinds.

Chef’s Knife

Almost any professional cook will tell you that the chef’s knife is the workhorse of the kitchen. This type of knife can handle every other cutting task in your kitchen. Most chefs prefer a blade from eight to 10 inches but they can be as short as six inches or as long as 12 inches. Different designs are available to suit different cutting techniques. A Japanese-style knife has a straight edge and curved spine while a French-style knife has a thin, triangular blade especially designed for slicing.

You can go ahead and purchase an expensive butcher block full of specialty knives that you are never going to use, but you do not have to. You will receive more value for your money if you spend a little more on three high quality knives. With a paring knife, a bread knife and a chef’s knife, you are ready to tackle any cooking project, big or small.  Follow us for more articles and ideas for your kitchen and home.

5 Habits That Will Make Grocery Shopping So Easy

Of the many household chores you’re expected to do, do you love or hate grocery shopping. The people who love to grocery shop usually do because they have learned to do it in an organized manner.  If you’re still pushing a cart down the aisle and stuffing it with your favorite foods without a plan for how these foods will be used or how much you’re spending, then you need to begin by shopping with a plan.

Planning

1)  Begin with a general game plan for the week.  What meals will you be eating at home? Devise a menu for the week and check your cupboards for ingredients you may already have. This will help you decide what needs to be purchased and when.  You may not want to buy all you salad fixings for the week as fresh produce doesn’t always keep for seven days.  Maybe instead, you will plan a second trip to pick up additional fresh produce later in the week. This second trip will be less stressful as the only thing on the list will be perishable items, not frozen or canned foods.

Lists

2) Now it’s time to make a shopping list.  With the advent of Outlook and other mobile programs, you don’t have to depend on pen and paper.  If it’s more convenient use your tablet or phone to record your shopping list.  Make a list no matter how few or how many items you intend to buy.  This way you will not make trip and forget something important.

Organize

3) Organize your shopping list according to the type of food or category of items you’re purchasing.  Group breads together, fresh produce, meats, and other like items.  This will make your shopping go easier and possibly faster.

Impulses

4) Avoid impulse shopping.  Only buy the things on your list.  This will allow you to stay on budget and get the things you need to have the food you planned for the week.

Off-Peak Hours

5) Do yourself a favor.  Try to shop during off-peak hours.  You will enjoy your shopping experience more if you can move easily through the store.

Be sure to follow these five steps.  You’ll find shopping for groceries a better experience and maybe even an enjoyable one.

To Get More Helpful Tips On Everything For The Home, Read More From The Family Dining Room!

Require More Information On Furniture? Read This Article

If you’ve wanted to buy furniture recently but feel lost, join the club! Between regular stores and online venues, where do you turn? With all different prices and types of furniture along with newer options being presented, it can be hard to navigate your way. Instead of giving up and giving in, make some knowledgeable purchase decisions by utilizing the information you’re about to read.

If you have small children, you should avoid purchasing furniture with sharp edges. Little ones tend to trip and fall often which can result in a trip to the emergency room if your furniture has sharp edges. Instead, when shopping for sofa tables and end tables look for furniture with routered curved edges.

Before rushing out to buy furniture, make sure that you measure the doorways in your home. It would be a shame to pay a lot of money for furniture that is not able to fit into your home. While some movers will remove doors frames to get the furniture inside, others will insist on taking it back to the store.

Be conservative with your color choices. You may be totally into bright red right now, and a red couch is calling your name. But where will you be next year when that color is totally out of fashion? Furniture is costly to replace, so you’re better off opting for more neutral colors.

When shopping for wood furniture, especially antiques, check the inside as well as the outside surfaces. Inspect the undersides as well as the outside, especially if the item has drawers. Many times, this inspection is going to let you make a better assessment of the furniture than you’d get by simply inspecting the surface wood. Often called secondary woods, internal and underside surfaces give you a lot of clues as to true quality of construction and aging.

Don’t be afraid to haggle. In this way, furniture is like a car. There’s typically a lot of mark up in that price. You can normally get anywhere from 10% up to 20% off when you are a confident haggler. You may feel a little weird doing it, but it could save you hundreds of dollars.

Do you feel like you know what to do now when buying furniture? Remember all the great tips and advice that you’ve read here so that you know how to secure the deals you desire. You should feel excited as the furniture you buy is a major investment, and now you can make the right purchases.

Important Advice When It Comes To Furniture

Taste in furniture is something that is extremely personal and unique to each individual. The key to making smart choices when furnishing your home involves doing enough research to know what it is you really like and where to get it. The article below can help you do just that.

Always look on the underside of used furniture to ensure stability. Something can look good, but still have hidden problems. Older furniture can be plagued with things such as rust or even dry rot.

Use social media to find great deals on furniture. There are many online yard sale pages on Facebook where you can find gently used furniture at a small fraction of the price of new furniture. Search for yard sale groups in your area and begin looking for the perfect piece of furniture.

When you want to get new furniture for an office space in the home, see if you can find pieces that are going to be useful in many ways. Such pieces as a armoire can be used for clothing, office supplies or whatever your needs are. When your printer’s not in use, you can hide it out of sight by closing the door of the armoire.

Consider used furniture. A good, solid piece of furniture can be passed down for generations and still look great. Check thrift shops, moving sales, and estate sales. You may find a gem that not only will stand the test of time, but costs a fraction of the price of a new piece.

If you measure twice or more, you only have to buy once. While it is likely you can return a piece of furniture that doesn’t fit, that means moving more furniture than you want to. Know the measurements of both your overall room and where a piece will specifically go. Take a measuring tape to the showroom, just to make sure the listed dimensions are accurate.

Give close attention to furniture legs before you spend your money. They should be heavy, as well as joined at the frame. Legs made of plastic, rubber or metal aren’t as strong as wooden legs, and they may damage your flooring. The legs should be attached to the frame, not just tacked onto the bottom.

Make sure fabric is aligned correctly when you purchase a couch that has a pattern. If an item of upholstered furniture is cheap, you may find the pattern askew at the seams. If you are purchasing a more expensive sofa, find one with a pattern that is perfectly aligned. If the upholstery is not what looks good to you, then select something different.

Consider the other items you already own when you are deciding on what piece of new furniture to select. You need to make sure the new item blends well with the fabric, finish and materials of your existing pieces so that the whole room flows together. Planning ahead can help to avoid bringing home a new item that just does not work in the room.

Deciding what sort of furniture to buy for your home can be a daunting task indeed. By reading a bit about the subject and doing independent research, you can make the process much simpler indeed. Use the advice found above, and you will have what it takes to create rooms that represent your ow personal style.

We’ll Teach You All You Need To Know About Furniture

Have you ever been puzzled about how you go about selecting a new piece of furniture for your home. Where do you find the best deals on good quality furniture? The suggestions in this article will help you out so you can shop with confidence on your next furniture buying expedition.

When trying to find the best deal on furniture, look for furniture stores who are offering deep discounts on furniture. Many furniture stores offer a money back guarantee. If a piece of furniture is returned, it cannot be sold as new. Instead, they discount it and sell it as used.

If you want to purchase wood furniture, look for quality wood joinery. If a piece is glued together or if nails and screws are used to keep the piece of furniture together, it will not last very long. It is best to spend more to get a piece of furniture with some excellent wood joinery work on it.

When shopping for bedroom furniture, measure your bedroom before you go shopping. There is nothing worse than picking out the perfect set of furniture only to find out that it will not fit in your bedroom once you get it home. Instead, accurately measure your rooms dimensions before you go noting where door and windows are located.

Before rushing out to buy furniture, make sure that you measure the doorways in your home. It would be a shame to pay a lot of money for furniture that is not able to fit into your home. While some movers will remove doors frames to get the furniture inside, others will insist on taking it back to the store.

Try more than one store. Instead of heading into a store and picking whatever is there, commit to going to more than one store before you make a decision. This will allow you to get what you really want and will give you a few options so that you have more to choose from.

When looking for a comfortable chair, the feel is important. To ensure a good comfort level, you want a chair that feels soft yet offers great support. Avoid chairs that sink too much, as these will offer trouble when getting up. Also avoid overly firm chairs that are not comfortable over longer periods of sitting.

Armed with just a little knowledge, you can feel a lot more confident when you go furniture shopping. It is easier to feel like you know what you are doing when you have been warned about what to look out for and how to find bargains. Your next furniture shopping excursion should be a lot less stressful and a lot more enjoyable.

Look At This Before You Get Furniture

Your Grandma has a house full of it, and maybe she will pass some down to you. That said, when you need furniture, you can’t wait for family to give you theirs! You have to go out and shop, and this article will show you how to do it right.

Keep the future location of any piece of furniture in mind when shopping. This factor should affect the fabric colors you choose. Light color fabrics are ideal for bedrooms, foyers and even formal living rooms. On the other hand, any piece of furniture likely to be used frequently is better served with darker colors.

Pay attention to the legs of the piece of furniture you want to buy. Choose furniture with solid wooden legs. Make sure the legs are solidly connected to the piece of furniture and not simply glued. If you need a new sofa, try finding one with an additional leg in the middle for more support.

Avoid furniture with plastic or metal legs. These pieces of furniture are usually cheaper but they can actually damage your floors. If you leave a piece of plastic or metal furniture in the same spot for too long, it will probably leave a dark spot on your floor as well as a dent.

When purchasing a television stand, make sure that it is the correct size for your television. Many television stands are made for certain types of televisions. By knowing your televisions dimensions, you can ensure that it will fit in the television stand. You will also want to ensure that it has storage space for your components.

While you may get some priceless antiques from Grandma, today you need comfortable, durable pieces to get you through. That means investing in high quality pieces without breaking the bank. This article has given you the tips you need to shop smarter, so today is the day to venture out and do so.

Get Creative With Your Furniture Choices!

Hints And Tips On Finding Great Furniture

Getting furniture that matches with your home and who you are can be a little difficult if you’ve never gotten furniture before. Even if you’ve bought it before, you may not know what to look for when selecting furniture. Read through the tips presented here for information on what you’re looking for.

Don’t allow yourself to fall in love with a piece of furniture until you’ve read the special care instructions. A lot of lovely creations have crazy upkeep that can make having them a complete chore. Make sure washing, stain removal, polishing and preservation are all reasonably accomplished for the lifestyle you lead.

Choose your furniture in function of your lifestyle. If you have children or pets, you should buy furniture that is stain resistant. Choose darker colors so stains or scratches are less noticeable. If you do not have pets or children, do not hesitate to purchase some lighter colors if this is the style you want.

If the piece of furniture you are buying has doors or drawers, test them out. Drawers should slide smoothly and open completely. When you close them, they should line up evenly. For cabinet doors, once you open them, they should stay open. You should also make sure that they close and latch securely.

If you’re living somewhere with a yard and need outside furniture, near the end of summer time is the best time to buy. At the end of summer many retailers want to make room for winter items. Because of this, the prices of their summer furniture will decrease, allowing you to save more money.

It’s not going to be as stressful for you now when you need to get furniture for where you live. It just takes a little patience and you have to memorize the tips you learned above. When you finally decide on what you want you can be sure that you made the right choice.

Want To Learn About Furniture? This Article Will Teach You

You don’t really need to know too much about getting new furniture. All it takes is a few guidelines to help you make a wise purchase. This means you should read this article in its entirety. This will give you the best knowledge for making the best decisions when furniture shopping.

When trying to find the best deal on furniture, look for furniture stores who are offering deep discounts on furniture. Many furniture stores offer a money back guarantee. If a piece of furniture is returned, it cannot be sold as new. Instead, they discount it and sell it as used.

When you see something you like, wait to buy it for at least 24 hours. If it’s not the last item in stock, you have the time. You need to go home and see if the piece you’re considering would work in your space, and whether you really want to spend the money. Waiting will help.

Shop for used furniture to save money and get quality pieces. Many times you can find furniture that an individual no longer needs for a great price. You can either shop at used furniture stores, from the newspaper, on Craigslist or any other place where people sell the furniture they no longer want.

Finding free furniture is not as hard as you think. A lot of people get tired of their furniture and do not have enough room to store the pieces of furniture they do not use anymore. Let your friends and relatives know you are looking for furniture and check free ads on the Internet.

How do you become a furniture buying pro? Heading out to shop while keeping these tips in mind is the key. Then, you will see how easy and fun furniture shopping really can be. Turning things upside down can make all the difference.