The next best option is to use the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s nutrient database values for stock, and focus your efforts on the other ingredients in the recipe.

Remember that Stocks and Broths Are Not the Same!

Typically stock has no added salt because salt may be added when the stock is used for a soup or sauce, while a traditional broth is seasoned stock. A recipe that calls for broth may have higher sodium values than one using stock. If a recipe uses the terms interchangeably, clarify with the developer which should be used.

Why an Oven's Fuel Source Matters

There are two main fuel sources for ovens: electric and gas. Electric ovens are usually considered better at distributing heat evenly, but with a dryer heat. Gas ovens, on the other hand, tend to heat and cool quicker than electric and provide a moister heat. Whereas there once were significant performance differences between the two types of fuels, technological advances have brought them closer.

Wood, one of the original sources of heat in ovens, is regaining status as the popularity of wood-fired brick ovens increases. Once found only in trendy restaurants, wood ovens are branching out beyond commercial kitchens and allowing anyone to become a backyard pizzaiolo! Just keep in mind that this fuel source takes time and patience to heat and control.

The sun is another source of fuel for ovens, particularly where other resources are scarce. But solar ovens aren’t just for the camping crowd… Well-constructed solar ovens can easily reach needed baking temperatures; however, cooking times can vary depending on cloud cover.

5 Types of Ovens to Choose From

Conventional Oven
The conventional oven has been the mainstay in homes for decades, and can be used for nearly all types of baking including pies, cakes, roasts, vegetables and delicate items like soufflés or meringues.

Not only is it versatile, but it’s the least expensive and can be found with a range or as a separate wall oven. Wall ovens are often stacked, giving the cook extra baking space, especially useful at Thanksgiving.

Convection Oven
The convection oven uses a fan to circulate hot air in the oven, allowing foods to cook more evenly, at a lower temperature and in less time. Bakers especially rave about the way breads and cookies bake crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. Generally, foods will cook about 25 percent faster in a convection oven than in a conventional oven, and you can fill it without the worry of cool spots because the hot air is moving all around. Look for convection ovens with three heating elements: at the top of the oven, the bottom of the oven and one near the fan in the back. This ensures that hot air is blown into the entire oven cavity. Turn off the fan when baking foods such as muffins, for which the forced air would cause peaks.

Combi Oven
The darling of the foodservice industry for many years, the combi is essentially a convection oven that includes the added ability to inject steam, baking foods faster and more evenly. In recent years, countertop and range models have been introduced for the home kitchen, enabling recreational cooks to steam, proof, incubate, dehydrate and bake foods with one appliance. The combi also makes quick work of reheating leftovers without the mushy side effects of a microwave.

Brick Ovens
As ovens evolve through technology, many professional chefs and home cooks have developed a fondness for the original baking vessels. Wood-fired brick ovens found in backyard kitchens are contemporary versions of early ovens made of brick or stone, in which food was placed directly on a hot slab or against the oven wall. The allures of these ovens are many. Intense heat of up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit allows for baking a thin, crispy pizza crust; smoky flavor infused from the chosen wood (maple, applewood or pecan wood are favorites) makes any roast delicious; and breads have a crunchy exterior but chewy interior. Variations of the wood-fired brick or clay ovens also are found across culinary cultures, from the clay tandoor ovens of India to Native American horno, made of mud brick and perfect for baking traditional Pueblo or Adobe bread.

Dutch Oven
While not an oven in the traditional sense, the Dutch oven (also called a camp oven) is a thick-walled cooking vessel with a tight-fitting lid that retains heat like a clay or brick oven and can be used for baking exceptional bread. The enclosed space retains the moisture from the dough resulting in a crispy exterior and chewy interior in each loaf. Whatever oven you choose, remember that just opening the oven door for a peek inside can drop the temperature by 25 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and leaving the door open for 30 seconds while you rearrange racks or rotate batches can cause a temperature drop of 100 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Now fire up your oven and slide in your favorite bread loaf, casserole, roast or sweet treats for cozy nights as the winter weather rolls in.

At the heart of sous vide cooking is exacting control, and the allure of this method is perfectly cooked food. The water bath temperature is set at the desired internal temperature of the finished product, and the process is complete when the food hits that exact degree — no more, no less.

Temperatures for sous vide cooking range from 115 degrees to 190 degrees Fahrenheit and cooking times can be from minutes (for certain vegetables) up to 48 hours for tough cuts of meat.

Another notable benefit is enhanced flavors since all of the juices, vapors, herbs and oils stay in the sealed pouch. Vacuum-sealing the pouch before cooking further develops flavor components.

This style of cooking needs no added fat, and because of the intense flavors, little salt is needed. Of course, cooking meats in a sealed plastic pouch submerged in water eliminates the Maillard reaction that occurs with browning, so some cooks will sear the cooked meat prior to serving. Cooking at lower temperatures and in a sealed bag reduces moisture loss and product shrinkage, resulting in a higher product yield. And because of its system of packaging and storage, little food is wasted in sous vide cooking.

Another advantage to this method is reliability, particularly in a facility where consistency is critical. Sous vide ensures culinary quality and consistency no matter who places the pouch in the water bath. For example, health-care foodservice operations with room service or restaurant-style menus could benefit from adopting this cooking method to enhance consistency and accommodate menu flexibility, especially for individual servings.

The two basic components of a sous vide cooking set-up are sealing a thin layer of food in a heat-stable, food-grade plastic pouch — removing air improves heat transfer and also allows for various texture manipulations — and inserting it into a temperature-controlled water bath.

Commercial or professional foodservice operations use a chamber vacuum-packing machine to seal food, while many home cooks use home-style food sealers, which can do the job but do not achieve the same level of vacuum pressure. Also, it is recommended to use pouches designed for sous vide; some home cooks use food storage bags, but these are not usually graded for cooking and may leak.

The pouches are cooked in a temperature-controlled unit. Professional kitchens use a thermal immersion circulator to heat and circulate the water. Convection steam ovens also can be used and allow for larger volumes of food to be cooked, but they lack the precision of a circulating water bath and require more monitoring.

In addition to home mode sous vide appliances, home cooks can use a rice cooker, slow cooker or counter-top roaster equipped with a PID controller (a device to maintain the temperature of the water).

The most important aspect of sous vide cooking is food safety, and two factors — extended cooking time in the danger zone and reduced oxygen packaging — necessitate special vigilance with food handling. Food safety consultant Jamie Stamey, MS, RDN, LDN, CP-FS, suggests focusing on food safety basics: proper food handling, clean surfaces, cooking foods to safe temperatures, cooling foods efficiently and proper storage.

Meanwhile, as the foodservice industry and casual culinarians alike explore sous vide, the future may hold even more creative applications for precision cooking.

Cooking Methods
Fruit can be cooked using moist- or dry-heat methods. Poaching, stewing and other moist-heat methods are wonderful for dressing up plain fruit. Sauces and compotes are usually made using moist-heat cooking.

Follow these tips for cooking fruit using moist-heat methods:
• Pears, apples, peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots are commonly poached fruits.
• Figs, grapes, quince and bananas will also poach nicely.
• Use just enough liquid to cover the fruit.
• Keep fruit pieces uniform in size for even cooking.
• Let fruit rest in poaching liquid for 20 minutes after cooking to allow the flavor to be absorbed.
• Some fruits, such as berries, will not hold their shape after poaching or stewing, but they make a good hot fruit sauce.

Dry-heat methods that enhance fruit include grilling or broiling, roasting or baking, and sautéing. No matter what method you use, take care not to overcook fruit. Exposure to heat breaks down fruits’ cell walls, which results in water loss. The less time fruit is exposed to heat, the better it retains its shape. Quick cooking methods are best for ripe fruit.

If roasting, grilling or sautéing fruit, follow these tips:
• Apples, apricots, bananas, pineapples, peaches, plums, pears, cherries and figs are excellent fruits for dry cooking.
• Keep pieces uniform in size for even cooking.
• Be careful not to overcook the fruit or it will become mushy.

Selecting Ingredients
Almost any fruit can be cooked. Ripe, sweet fruit needs little or no added sugar. Slightly underripe fruits are less sweet, but firmer and perfect for poaching.

Use spices to enhance the natural sweetness of cooked fruit dishes. Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, star anise, ginger, cardamom, black pepper, chilies, vanilla and saffron are commonly paired with fruits.

Herbs like mint also complement many fruits. Rosemary and sage work well with cooked fruits paired with meats — for example, sage with apples and chicken. Lemon verbena and lavender are flavorful additions to a poaching liquid. Other herb and fruit combinations include oranges with thyme, peaches with rosemary and strawberries with sage.

Wines, spirits such as rum, whiskey or fruit brandies, and fruit juices used in combination with water and sugar add flavor to poaching and stewing liquids. Flavored liquids can also be used to deglaze the pan after sautéing fruits to make a delicious sauce.

With dry-heat cooking methods, added sugars are used primarily to add sweetness. In poaching or stewing fruit, however, sugar also helps retain the shape of the fruit. The standard ratio for a poaching liquid is 1⁄3 to 1⁄2 cup of sugar to 1 cup of liquid. Light poaching liquid is made with 1⁄4 cup of sugar to 1 cup of liquid and is used for firm or slightly underripe fruit. Heavy syrup made of 2⁄3 cup of sugar to 1 cup of liquid is needed for poaching very ripe or soft fruit.

When making a fruit sauce like applesauce or pear sauce, sugar is used for sweetness and should be added at the end.

Serving Cooked Fruits
Panna cotta with blackberry compote. Roasted cherries over frozen yogurt. Peaches poached in lemon verbena and lavender. These dishes are a far cry from the stewed prunes vintage cookbooks tell us were popular in the 1800s.

Cooked fruit goes way beyond dessert today, appearing in salads, side dishes and main courses. Serve whole-grain pancakes or waffles with a flavorful fruit compote instead of syrup. Try banana-pecan compote, peach and cherry sauce or a warm berry compote. Cooked fruits are also at home with main dishes. Pork medallions with apple-raisin cinnamon compote, citrus chicken with grilled tropical fruit, and cod with orange and fennel compote are flavorful ways to showcase fruit and to fit more servings into a daily diet.

Cooked fruits also make excellent side dishes. Try fresh gingered pear sauce or grilled pineapple, nectarine or pear as a side dish or in a salad. Even pizza can be topped with fruits such as pears or figs with goat cheese.

Spiced Grilled Pineapple

Developed by Catharine Powers

Serves 6

Ingredients
1 large fresh pineapple, peeled
1/2 cup spiced rum
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 cup frozen vanilla yogurt or vanilla ice cream
3 tablespoons pistachios, toasted and chopped

Instructions

1. Slice the pineapple into 1/2- to 3/4-inch-thick rings. Remove the core; a corer or melon baller is useful. In a shallow glass dish, combine rum, honey, cardamom, ginger and black pepper. Add pineapple and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap. Marinate pineapple rings in the mixture for 1 to 2 hours.
2. Preheat a charcoal, gas or electric grill. Make sure that the grill grate is clean. Place pineapple rings on the grates and grill for about 4 minutes per side. Continue to brush with marinade mixture while grilling.
3. To serve, top with a small scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt. Top with chopped pistachios. Serve immediately.

Note
If you have any extra grilled pineapple, use it to make a salsa or toss in a rice salad.

Nutrition Info
1.5 slices pineapple, 1/4 cup frozen yogurt, 1 1/2 teaspoons pistachios. Calories: 156; Total fat: 4g; Sat. fat: 1g; Chol.: 1mg; Sodium: 49mg; Carb.: 30g; Fiber: 3g; Sugars: 24g; Protein: 3g; Potassium: 280mg; Phosphorus: 77mg