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Easy Ways To Improve Your Cooking Skills

by admin on June 7, 2013

For many people, cooking serves many purposes. It allows people to test their creativity by constructing new culinary masterpieces, improve their skills as they become better chefs, or simply to eat their favorite dish. Whatever the reason is for you cooking, the tips found in the following article will help you with cooking.

If you are wanting to make a good sandwich, make sure you put the mayonnaise on from corner to corner. You don’t want to rush this step. Doing it this way will ensure that every bit is full of flavor. This will make the whole sandwich that much more tasty.

Your spices should be stored in any area that is dark and cool. When spices are exposed to light and heat, they lose their flavor and it reduces their storage life. You can preserve the flavor and freshness of your spices by storing them in a dark, cool spot. Using fresh spices will make your food taste better.

To increase the texture and quality of the pasta that you cook at night, make sure that you finish cooking with the pasta in the pan with sauce. This will help to absorb the sauce so that it blends in properly and tastes great when you sit down to the table and eat.

Use a heavy duty, zip-lock plastic bag to separate pan drippings. After roasting meat, pour the pan drippings into a zip-lock plastic bag. Let the fat rise to the top. Carefully snip off one of the bottom corners on the bag, and pour out the fat-free broth. The fat will stay in the plastic bag, and you will have a tasty broth as a base for gravy or a sauce.

To improve your level of convenience in the kitchen, one of the things that you can do is to freeze the excess sauces that you create, in ice cube trays. This will allow you to reheat them when you need sauce again and also to save money on the excess sauce that you kept.

Save sauces in ice cube trays. If you make several meals during a week, consider saving sauces from them in ice cube trays. This will allow you to add some interesting variety to any dishes you might be making later in the week. It will also make the process simple.

Ensure that your baked fish is moist and tender by cooking “en papillote”. This is a French technique that refers to fish baked in a parchment-paper packet. Place the fish and vegetables of your choice in the center of a large piece of parchment-paper. Bring the edges of the paper together, crease them tightly to form a seal, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 450 degrees. The fish and vegetables steam in the packet, keeping them moist and tender, and creating a tasty, healthy dish. (Clean-up is just as easy – simply throw away the paper after eating!)

As stated before, cooking serves many purposes. It tests creativity, improves skills, and delights your friends and family. The tips from the article above should help you with cooking, no matter the reason. You will be able to successfully create your favorite flavorful dishes, and have a wonderful time preparing and eating them too!

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Cooking Terms

50s instructional film on cooking terms which simultaneously tought you to “cream” the butter and the sugar while also tearing down your fragile self-esteem.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Becoming a better cook can be accomplished with a little time, patience and following a few simple steps. The basics of cooking are easy to master and accomplish. In order to cook meals and dishes that will make your friends and family say “Wow!” you need to try these simple steps and you can be on your way to being the best cook you can possibly be.

When cooking, the smaller the item the higher the cooking temperature can be. For instance, if you are cooking mini muffins they can be baked at 400, where as if the muffins are regular size the temperature should be no higher than 325. Cooking at the right temperature will optimize your cooking time and keep items from becoming dried out.

Having sharp knives when you are cooking is very important. Not only can it be difficult to cut with dull knives, but it is dangerous to use them too. With a dull knife it is easy to slip and cut yourself because it is harder to slice the food, but a knife that is sharp makes much smoother cuts.

If you are planning to sauté garlic, you will want to slice it instead of mincing it, which will reduce the chance for it to burn. Following certain procedures will not only improve the taste of your dishes in the kitchen but will increase your effectiveness and efficiency in getting the job done.

Take the guesswork out of reducing liquids. When a recipe calls for you to cook until the liquid is reduced by a certain amount, dip the handle of a wooden spoon into the liquid to mark the depth. This will leave a line on the wooden spoon. Later, you can dip the spoon again to see how much the liquid has actually reduced.

You want to cook healthier meals, and one place to consider with regard to changing your menus is in sauces and dressings. Rich, creamy dressings and sauces tend to be extremely unhealthy. You do not need to eliminate these meal-toppers entirely; simply learn how to make lighter, healthier alternatives. Healthier sauces and dressings can go a long way towards making your entire diet healthier.

Store your cheese in the fridge, wrapped tightly in plastic, and away from air. This will help to keep mold away. While a little mold is not harmful to cheese, excessive mold is dangerous to consume. It will certainly affect the quality of your cheese as well.

To discover when oil is really hot enough and ready for the food, look to its’ surface. If it is no longer completely smooth and appears to be shimmering it is hot enough. When oil is allowed to over-heat it actually starts breaking down and releasing unpleasant compounds and will begin to smoke, so know when to say when!

After trying these steps, you should be well on your way to being a much better cook. The great thing about these tips is that if they don’t work the first time keep trying and you are sure to get better. You should notice the difference right away and your friends and family will thank you.

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Fast And Easy Way On How To Be A Good Cook

by admin on April 9, 2013

Gordon Ramsay road tests Aldo Zilli’s cookery course under cover and fools him. From the Cookalong Live show. Subscribe Here: http://www.youtube.com/subscrip…
Video Rating: 4 / 5

It’s long been said that the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. But men aren’t the only ones who love a great meal. Cooking is not just a technical skill; it’s a life activity that you use every day. Here are a few tips to enhance your cooking skills and make you even better at it.

When you are going to be baking and the recipe calls for eggs, take them out of the refrigerator beforehand – the night before if you can. Using cold eggs may cause your batter to curdle. To quickly bring the eggs to room temperature soak them in a bowl of warm water.

If you want to add a unique touch to your dinner, use fruit as a side dish. Fruit will help to flush down the thick pieces of meat that you just ate and will serve to re-energize your body after consuming a lot of calories. Add oranges, pears and apples to your dinner to optimize your experience.

To clean your hands after cooking a recipe that includes garlic, vigorously rub your hands on your stainless steel sink or counter. Do this for 30 seconds to one minute, and then wash your hands. This will remove garlic odor from your fingers, and it will be as if you’d never touched it.

Pour off the grease from your browned hamburger before you add the rest of the ingredients. Your health will thank you for this small step and the meal is likely to taste much better without the unneeded fat. Keep an empty can or other container on your stove top expressly for that purpose.

A well-stocked pantry is a cook’s best friend! Never is that more true than when you are faced with unexpected company and you have nothing specifically planned to serve. Maintaining a pantry stocked with the basics gives you the flexibility to create easy meals at the last minute. For help in creating a great cook’s pantry, think hard about the items you go back to again and again. You can also find great tips on items for the pantry in most good cookbooks and online at cooking sites.

Taste your food as you go along. One of the biggest mistakes a cook can make is to not taste their own food! You should know how it tastes before you serve it to your guests. If you taste it frequently as you go along, you will be able to correct any missteps that occur before there is too much damage to the dish.

Don’t forget to clean your grill before you use it by scrubbing the grilling surface with a wire brush while it heats up. This way the removed food and grease burn off. Built up food on the grill doesn’t add flavor to the meat, but make the fresh food stick to the metal much easier.

A great, home-cooked meal is the kind of thing all of us remember. Using these tips to improve your cooking is the same as an athlete who keeps training–the more you do it, the better you get. learn as much as you can about cooking. The more tips you have, the better your meals will taste.

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Speed Cooking- serving live snake and fish

Chinese speed cooking. Cutting, preparing and cooking snake and fish and serving while still alive.
Video Rating: 2 / 5

No matter how good a cook you are, nobody has all the answers. Everyone can use some advice to make improvements from time to time. The tips in this article can help you to step up your game in the kitchen. Take a look and see which ones you can incorporate today.

To maximize the efficiency of the cooking that you do, always make your food in large quantities and when you are finished with the meal, store the meats in freezer bags. This will allow you to create a meal the next day for your family that is still fresh and tastes great.

Change from ordinary table salt when cooking, to sea salt or kosher salt. The latter will add a much better flavor to the recipe. While it is important not to over-salt food for health reasons, leaving salt out of a recipe altogether can result in a meal that tastes bland. So seek a middle ground when using this seasoning.

Are you trying to discover fast ways to cook meals that are nutritious for you and your family? For a quick and easy dish, cook frozen or fresh vegetables in the microwave. Add a small amount of water to bowl of corn, green beans, or broccoli to add a quick, side dish of steamed vegetables to your meal.

A coffee grinder isn’t just for coffee. A coffee grinder actually works just as well as a food processor for some jobs. This is especially true with small jobs when you don’t want the trouble of lugging out a huge processor and then having to wash all the parts. Nuts and peppercorns grind perfectly in a coffee grinder, even sugar if you need a quick substitute for powdered sugar in a recipe.

Cook correct portions. Many people cook much more food than they actually need or will even eat. Account for how many people will be eating and prepare the meal accordingly. This will not only save your household some money by cutting down on wasted leftovers, it can also help you eat healthier.

When preparing foods for picky kids, try changing up your presentation. Place foods in unexpected containers like muffin tins or silicone cupcake liners, or cut fruits, cheese and sandwiches into fun shapes to make them more enticing. Eggs can be cooked in a metal cookie cutter to make breakfast more interesting.

When it comes to cooking, try to do all of your preparatory work before you even start cooking. Not only will this make your cooking experience much more desirable and stress free, but you will also look a lot more professional to anybody that you may be trying to impress.

When it comes to cooking it is important to consider the dietary concerns of those who are going to be eating your food. Be sure to check if anybody has sodium or sugar concerns in order to prevent embarrassment on their part from having to refuse your otherwise delicious food.

There is always something more we can learn about food and cooking. The pointers shared in this article will no doubt prove useful to you as you continue to improve your cooking skills. Start trying some of these tips today, and enjoy the fruits of your labors in the kitchen.

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Easy Ways To Improve Your Cooking Skills

by admin on March 5, 2013

Finger bang that like button! Hope you guys are enjoying the marathon :) The good stuff – www.youtube.com Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com Become a Facebookie today: www.facebook.com Community Channel: www.youtube.com Real Life: www.youtube.com Music: Blackmill – Love At Heart Kevin Macleod
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Cooking can be a great way to save money in difficult economic times. By preparing meals and not eating out all the time you can put more money in your pocket and give less to fast food places and restaurants. This article can help you find ways to do more home cooking.

Whenever you make stock for soups or stews, make it in large quantities, and freeze the extra. That way, the next time you want to whip up a quick soup or stew, the most time-consuming part is already done. You just have to pull a bag from the freezer for a quick and delicious meal.

To add a little extra special flavor to a plain vanilla or yellow cake mix, use the liquid from any canned fruit that is packed in water instead of the plain water called for when making the mix. Most every variety of canned fruit around comes packed in syrup or water. Choose a water-packed can of fruit your family loves to make a plain cake extra tasty. Frost the cake using vanilla or butter cream and add the fruit chunks as decoration on top.

Instead of approaching cooking as an analytic process, you should try to maximize the amount of fun that you have in the kitchen. Put the music on loud and dance from time to time to enjoy what you are doing. Keeping something fun and casual will reduce errors from anxiety.

If you want to preserve fresh basil longer, keep the stems in water and store it at room temperature. This will considerably extend the usability time of the herb, preserving the taste and saving you money in the long run. You can do this with other fresh herbs as well.

Slice garlic when you sauté it. Many people mince garlic. If you plan to sauté it in a pan, this might not be the best idea. When you sauté minced garlic it is likely to burn. If you cut the garlic into slices it cooks more thoroughly and without burning.

Cutting onions does not have to be a crying matter. The keys to success with onions are easy to follow and minimize tears. Chill the onions first before cutting, use your sharpest knife for cutting and turn exposed cuts down on your board. As you cut, be efficient, quick and constantly turn the largest exposed cuts down against the board. Running your vent hood will help circulate air as you cut as well.

If your toaster’s slots are wide enough, use it to make a quick grilled cheese. Lay the toaster on its side, and place a slice of bread covered with a slice of cheese into each slot, cheese side up. When the bread finishes toasting, place the two slices together, cheesy sides facing.

Home cooking can save you money. Restaurant and fast food costs can quickly add up. By cooking in quantity and freezing leftovers for later, you can really save money. By using the tips in this article, you can add to your cooking repertoire, and put that extra money towards something you really need.

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Easy Ways To Improve Your Cooking Skills

by admin on March 3, 2013

Cooking your own meals is a great way to save money and to make your diet more nutritious. Food made from scratch is significantly cheaper than prepared foods and is much healthier. This article will give you the tips you need to start making delicious meals from the comfort of your own home.

Roast nuts briefly in the oven and then sprinkle some flour on them before using in a cake to prevent them from migrating to the bottom of the pan. Applying heat and coating lightly with flour keeps them in position in the cake batter and reduces the likelihood the nuts will settle before the cake is done baking.

When sauteing ingredients in a fry pan ensure that you don’t overcrowd the pan with too much food. Trying to cook too much at once will only lower the temperature of the pan and lead to steaming instead of browning. It is wiser to saute the ingredients in two separate batches, if necessary, and this will maintain the quality of cooking.

To make smooth and creamy mashed potatoes, place hot potatoes in a food ricer. After pushing them through, blend them with butter and hot milk. Finish up with an electric beater. This will keep your potatoes free of lumps, and will leave them tasting light and delicious. For extra creamy potatoes, add more butter.

When it comes to cooking a good habit to do after preparing garlic is to rub your hands on the stainless steel sink vigorously for about 30 seconds. This will remove the unwanted odor from your hands. Washing them less than 30 seconds will not take all the odor away.

If you cook using only recipes from your favorite cookbook, try something new. Getting a few new cookbooks of different varieties is the first step towards diversifying the meals you cook. Experimenting and playing around with your current recipes is the second step towards not just making new meals, but becoming a better cook.

Placing eggs in water can let you know if they are fresh. Eggs that lie on the bottom, on their side will be fresh. Eggs that stand upright in the bottom are losing freshness and should be used promptly within a day or two. Eggs that float on top of the water should be discarded immediately. Always check eggs for freshness before using.

Keep a supply of chopped onions all ready to go, in your freezer. It is easy to be dissuaded from cooking a particular recipe because you don’t want to go through the tears and smell of cutting up onions. When you are cutting one onion, you might as well take the time and cut up several of them. Put them in a baggie and freeze them!

Although it may be a little bit more expensive, it is wise to get a high-quality olive oil. Just a small amount can help to bring out the flavor meat, fish, pasta, pizza, or whatever else you are making. Cheaper olive oils usually give food a less than desirable flavor.

Even if you’re not an experienced chef, cooking your own meals is easy to do. Anyone can be a great cook, and if you’d like to be one too, the advice provided here will help you to do it.

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Join me as I re-introduce, an accomplished musician and author of the Lhasa Moon Cook Book, Tibetan Chef +Tsering Wangmo to the G+ Community. Come and watch as Tsering shows us how to make tasty authentic Tibetan food. We will also get a glimpse of the extraordinary beauty of her culture, through storytelling and song. This once-in-a-lifetime experience is scheduled to begin on Friday 14th at 6:00PM(PST) and Tsering will be preparing a Beef Tenthtuk Here is the link to this simple and delicious recipe: bit.ly . Here is a link to one of her previous videos: Learning How To Cook Tibetan with Tsering Wangmo – #02. You can also watch it LIVE on www.hangoutnetworks.com

Learning how to cook is a great way to take control of your life. Cooking skills can improve your health, shrink your food budget and impress friends and family. Whether you are a stranger to the kitchen or an experienced stove-top jockey, there are always new cooking tips and techniques to learn. This article has a few such tips to get you started on sharpening your cooking skills.

Whenever possible, avoid canned ingredients in your cooking. They have numerous disadvantages. Canned food has lost vital nutrients that you want in order to cook the healthiest possible meals. They also taste different – if not downright worse – than fresh ingredients, potentially ruining your recipes. Finally, canned foods have unhealthy additives – especially extra sodium – that you do not need in your food.

One of the best cooking tips for moist and flavorful meat is to take the time to marinate. The simple truth is that the longer you marinate your meat, the more intense and enjoyable the flavor will be. A good rule of thumb is to marinate overnight whenever possible ” longer is even better. For safety sake, be sure to keep food covered and chilled in the refrigerator as it marinates.

When you are deep frying foods, try not to fry too much food at once. Overcrowding the deep fryer, will cause the oil temperature to drop and the food will not be as crispy. The key to successful deep frying is to keep enough oil around the foods to keep up the temperature.

One of the things that you can do if you are cooking cauliflower is to add milk, which will help to brighten your vegetable. This will add to the aesthetic appeal of your food and will also maintain the freshness until you decide to serve it to your friends or family.

If your family tends to eat a lot of chicken and often, remember to always brine the poultry as it will lock in flavor. Otherwise you are left with a dry piece of chicken that merely has whatever spices and herbs you chose coated on the outside rather than penetrating every bite.

Invest in high quality cooking pans and tools. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go for the most expensive, but quality does make a huge difference when it comes to what we use to cook with. A high quality pan will be able to handle higher heats without warping. Quality tools will be able to do their job longer and more effectively than cheap brands. Check reviews before purchasing new items for your kitchen.

Feel free to make use of the tips that appeal to you. One of the greatest things about cooking for yourself is that it puts you in control of your diet. You are free to cook the way you want to. As you refine your cooking skills, keep looking for recipes and techniques that will help you to make the kind of food that you want to enjoy.

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Cooking Has Never Been This Easy Before!

by admin on February 19, 2013

There is a saying that the kitchen is the heart of the home. In most homes now, wives and mothers have little time or energy to cook after working all day. Boxed or prepared meals are time saving and have gotten more appetizing, but the nutritional value is probably not as good as home-cooked meals.

If you are following a recipe, make sure that you do not follow this religiously, as you should always add a personal spice to your meal. Instead of following a pizza recipe to the tee, add some red pepper to inject a punch into your dish to make it unique and individualized.

When preparing food in the kitchen, always remember to wash your hands with soap and warm water before touching food, or anytime you handle raw meat, fish or eggs. In addition, you never want to put cooked food on plates, counters or any other surface where these raw meats have been unless they have been washed with hot, soapy water.

When you open up a can of fruit cocktail and drain the juice off do not pour it down the sink! Save that juice in a cup and freeze for when you are baking. It is great to use in a recipe instead of water for some extra flavor in your goods.

When baking, here is a tip for eggs and butter. Let your eggs and butter set out overnight at room temperature. Doing so will soften the butter which will make it easier to spread, melt, and mix with other ingredients. The eggs will be easier to beat, and foaming egg whites will be easier as well.

If you envy the straightness of restaurant bacon, here’s an easy tip that will help you get the same effect. Simply dip each slice of bacon into cold water before you place it in the frying pan. This keeps the bacon strips from becoming curly and gives a straighter edge.

Store your cheese in the fridge, wrapped tightly in plastic, and away from air. This will help to keep mold away. While a little mold is not harmful to cheese, excessive mold is dangerous to consume. It will certainly affect the quality of your cheese as well.

You may or may not have heard of schmaltz, but it is a very useful component when cooking. Schmaltz, otherwise known as chicken fat, is very rich. The flavor of schmaltz is deeper than duck fat and can be used for many things, such as cooking meats or poaching fish.

For a more flavorful fried fish coating, replace the usual crackers with your favorite kind of chips. Salt and vinegar chips crush up just as nice as crackers while adding more depth to the final flavor of fish. You can also replace the usual milk dip with dressing for another pop of unexpected flavor.

Cooking is easier now than in the past, since appliances are available which can be timed to cook foods with preset programs. After the meal, it is easier to clean up with dishwashers, so no one has to stand by the sink for an hour washing dishes. An exhausted mother or even older children can make a meal with minimal effort.

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Cooking in a Pan
cooking

Image by ReneS
Cooking class at the Boston Center for Adult Education

Few things are more enjoyable than sitting down to a well-cooked meal at home. Few things are more appreciated. Here are some tips to help you raise your game a level in cooking. You will find tips here on technique, ingredients, cookware, ethnic dishes, time-saving methods and much more. Bon apetit!

Basic seasoning of the food you prepare goes a long way in proving your skills in the kitchen. Don’t be afraid to taste your food as you work and adjust seasonings accordingly. Typically, some of the most expensive cuts of meat, as well as many many varieties of seafood, are rather dull without some help. Your guests will appreciate a well-seasoned dish that they don’t need to shake salt on until their arms goes numb or twist the pepper mill over for an hour to make palatable.

Store your cooking spices in a cool dry place. This will ensure the longevity and potency of the flavors in your herbs and spices. A dark cabinet away from the stove is the ideal storage place. Spices kept in bright, hot environments usually fail to maintain their flavor long before any expiration date comes.

To check the temperature of oil prior to deep-frying, dip a wooden skewer or chopstick into the oil. Oil that’s ready for frying will bubble around the wood. If this does not occur, let it heat just a few minutes longer. Oil that is too cool will saturate your fried goods with oil, leaving them soggy instead of crispy.

If you are going on a picnic, put lettuce and other vegetables in separate containers from condiments. Condiments are not to make sandwiches soggy, so by separating them, you are ensuring your sandwich will taste fresh. Also, do not place any food items next to drinks inside of the basket.

Cook biscuits on a stick! You can use the dough from canned biscuits or homemade to make improvised bread over a campfire. Just stretch the dough out in to a thick string and wrap it around the end of a stick. Bake it slowly over the coals of a campfire just like you were roasting a marshmallow!

If you are having a lot of trouble with cooking, sign up for a cooking class with a friend. Here, you will not only learn the recipes that you desire to know but also the techniques to maximize your abilities as a cook. This will be an important skill to use for the rest of your life.

Keep whole, rather than ground, spices on hand. Unground cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, and peppercorns last much longer than their ground counterparts. Just use a fine grater or mortar and pestle to grate them into your dish when needed. Their flavors will stay fresh much longer and save you from the costs of replacing your spices.

These tips have served up a smorgasbord of new delights for you to attempt in the kitchen. They have suggested ways to improve your skills and get great results expeditiously and more economically. With these in hand you can make the food you serve your family more delicious and exciting than ever.

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Mostly Salads: Easy Recipes For Your Summer Table (Summer Recipes Series)

I have been saving and testing recipes for years and offered here are some of the best...lots of salads, savory dressings and favorite main dishes. There is nothing complicated in any recipe. Just plain good home food ideas.

Here are some bountiful salads and salad dressings, some sweet, some savory, and all well tested to come out as winners! I do hope you have fun with these recipes and share the fruits of your labors with family and friends.

Enjoy colorful photographs of

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Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Yummy in the tummy, June 12, 2012
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This review is from: Mostly Salads: Easy Recipes For Your Summer Table (Summer Recipes Series) (Kindle Edition)
I have had the good fortune to enjoy a number of Liz Davis's wonderful recipes. She is a true master chef. My mouth just can't stop watering every time I start to think about her delicious meals.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Mostly Salads: Easy Recipes For Your Summer Table, June 25, 2012
By 
Emily Ito Kanemaru (San Gabriel, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mostly Salads: Easy Recipes For Your Summer Table (Summer Recipes Series) (Kindle Edition)
If you like easy, healthy and tasty foods, than this is the recipe book for you! Includes many salad recipes but also included are recipes for main dishes as well as a few desserts. Like mangoes? Try the chilled mango dessert soup made in a blender or food processor. Refreshing and delightful, these recipes won't disappoint and are perfect for your summer gatherings.
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