Since so many people ask me to share tricks of the trade I decided to make two short lists. The first consists of basic tricks any cook can use while the second list is techniques used by Chefs in kitchens around the world…
5 Basic Kitchen Tricks
1. Use acidulated water (water + lemon juice) to keep fruit like apples from oxidizing (Seen in picture above).
2. To keep your brown sugar from hardening like a rock, place a slice of apple in the bag and it will soften it. Also, add used vanilla beans to your sugars to create vanilla sugar.
3. Extra vegetable scraps? Add them to your stock for an extra punch of flavor.
4. Making cookies with the kids and don’t have the perfect size cookie cutter? No worries, use a shot glass, a juice glass or even a champagne flute. Just be sure to coat the rim in flour often so the dough does not stick to the glass.
5. Instead of cleaning a pan with soap and water, place it on high heat, add any alcohol and using a wooden spoon scrape it right off.
3 Chef Techniques
1. Caramelizing
Trying to caramelize vegetables or fruit? Start with a large pan on high heat. High heat and not overcrowding the pan allows you to maintain the temperature needed to caramelize any produce. Add a fat that will not burn (like olive or grape-seed oil) and once the pan is smoking add the ingredient. Do not start moving around or add salt immediately as it will cause the produce to emit water and thus steam instead of caramelize. Let the heat and pan do the cooking.
2. Butter Boosters
Butter is good but honey butter is better! Flavoring butter doesn’t just have to be sweet as many savory butters are now being created. Remember to always use unsalted butter so you can control the amount of salt. Try these three to start out…
Roasted garlic, sage, fresh pepper /// Mascarpone, thyme, sea salt /// Sriracha (Vietnamese hot sauce), green onions, sea salt
3. Quick Pickling
Most pickling is consistent with a long drawn out process. These days you’ll find chefs quick pickling almost any vegetable available. The advantage is you can keep them jarred as long as you want or start eating immediately once cooked.
Directions: Boil 1/2 cup red wine vinegar, 1 cup water, 2 tbsps sugar, 2 tsp salt, any herbs or spices like bay leaf or peppercorns until the salt and sugar dissolve. Add your favorite veggies and cook until almost tender or al dente. Once cooled eat at will or pour everything into a jar, cover and chill in the refrigerator.
As you can see, there are many tricks and techniques that can help the home cook as well as the restaurant chef. If you have any questions regarding this article or want more information regarding cooking classes and all my chef services, click here…
