Kitchen Tips

For Chopping and Molding

A chopping board is one of the most daily essentials. If you don’t own one, put it at the top of tomorrow’s shopping list. It should be a block two feet by ten inches and made like a ship’s deck so there are no joints or cracks for food to lodge in. it’s better to get unvarnished wood and treat it by rubbing with a little heated raw linseed oil. Let it dry overnight and It’ll never stain.

A large chopping knife of excellent quality is a lifelong friend. Every chef has a certain type he or she thinks superior.

All stirring should be done with a wooden spoon. Metal chemically affects some food. In pan frying, always get your pan hot first, then add the butter or oil. Meat-even eggs-wont stick if you use this method.

When dipping meat pieces into beaten egg and crumbs, use your left hand for applying the egg, your right for crimbs,to avoid getting your fingers gluey.

When unmolding hot foods, allow them to stand for five minutes before you turn them out on another dish.

When greasing pans or molds, use butter for hot dishes, oil for cold.

Seasonings

Garlic guides- never cook garlic fast; never cook it alone. Chop it in a little salt and the pieces wont stick to your knife or cutting board. Then pulverize it with the tip of the knife to make it dissolve. Don’t use a garlic press – you lose the best part of it. Garlic should be as fresh as your salad greens. If you let it sit around too long, it becomes dry and tasteless. To sweeten garlic-scented fingers, rub them with a ripe tomato which you can use later in salad. If the scent is very powerful, rub your fingers in coffee grounds.

Rub dry herbs between your fingers or rehydrate them with a little water to bring out their fragnance. Vanilla sugar, wonderful for flavouring, can be made by putting a vanilla bean in a jar of sugar.

Sauces

Add flour to melted butter off the heat for a smoother mixture. When adding any liquid to a sauce base, stir it in off the heat. Add hot sauce to cold sauce two tablespoons at a time so the cold warms up gradually and doesn’t curdle.