1. There is no reason to boil your pasta water before you add the noodles, and there is no such thing as "over crowding your noodles." Put the noodles in the pot and cover them with water by an inch, and turn the heat on. They will be done quicker. And ALWAYS salt your water when you are cooking for others--it will season the noodles and make it so much better. If you are watching your sodium intake, I feel bad for you son. I got 99 problems but salt aint one.
2. You don't need a vegetable steamer. When you steam your vegetables, they turn a brighter color. When they turn bright, they are done. You can cheat by putting them in a bowl with some water and microwaving them.
3. When you poach an egg, make sure its fresh. This is what will make a perfect poached egg. If the egg sinks to the bottom of a cup of water, its fresh. When the egg gets old, the air pocket in the egg expands and will cause the egg to raise to the top of the water. That egg belongs in the garbage. Fresher eggs make better sunny side up/over easy/over medium eggs too.
Alton Brown says add salt and vinegar to the water and swirl it into a whirlpool motion. Thats not gonna work. The egg just needs to be fresh.
Disclaimer: its never going to look perfect. In fact, I would bet the eggs in the picture above were made for a photo shoot and are actually white modeling foam for kids with yellow dyed glue. Or something.
4. Putting a wooden spoon over a pot of boiling pasta will NOT PREVENT IT FROM BOILING OVER. This is complete bull s--- and I have no idea why its floating around the internet. Turn the heat down. Problem solved.
5. You cook differently on different types of pans.
Non stick:
-best for scrambled eggs
-.........and thats about it.
-kidding, kind of. for the average home cook (god don't I sound snobby?) you can use non stick. But any time my recipes talk about 'de-glazing,' its not really gonna work in a non stick pan. The point of deglazing is to get those delicious burned/stuck bits off that are STUCK to the pan. If its non stick, they won't get stuck.
-Heat your non stick pan up, THEN add oil/fat.
Stainless Steel:
-great for searing meats or boiling pasta/soups
-great for deglazing. cook some veggies, brown a chicken breast in there, take it out, pour in some white wine, beer, or chicken broth, scrape it with a whisk, stir, and turn the heat up. It will thicken and be delicious.
-put the oil/fat in THEN turn the heat on. This will help prevent the stuff from sticking.
Cast iron:
-best for literally everything once its well seasoned, except for acidic dishes
-best for cooking meats in the oven
-best for baking home made pizza in the oven
-best for home made mac n cheese that you finish in the oven
-you have to season it. google "seasoning cast iron" because I don't want to go over it....oh whatever I will.
-put any kind of fat in it, rub it around. make sure its a thin layer.
-find out what that fat's "smoke point" is. smoke point is the point at which the oil burns.
-put it in the oven, upside down, for an hour and a half at a temperature HIGHER than the smoke
point of the fat.
-this will cause the fat to burn and create carbon, which gives the pan a great non stick finish.
-dont use soap on it ever. scrub it out with coarse kosher salt.
confession: my cast iron is abysmal. I screwed it up so many times so I need to strip it and start over. To strip it I need an oven with a self cleaning mode. My oven doesnt have that. So I need to cook it over a fire til all the gunk burns out. Its 2 degrees outside. So I need to buy oven cleaning detergent. I can't find it anywhere. I give up, and good luck to you.
6. DO NOT use a metal whisk/spoon/spatula in your non-stick pans. It will scrape off the protective, non stick finish and you don't want what is underneath that getting heated and put into your food. Use wood or plastic.
non stick my butt.
7. When you make scrambled eggs, put them on LOW heat. It will take forever and it will be worth it. Stir them constantly, with chopsticks if you have them. You want to prevent "curds" from forming. Take them off the heat, stir, put them back on, take them off, stir, put them back on. Check out Gordon Ramsay's youtube video on the perfect scrambled eggs.
8. Foods that are high in water are going to release that water and get mushy when you cook them. Examples are egg plant and potatoes. Nuke them in the microwave before you cook them and it will help prevent them from getting soggy.
9. Invest in a zester. Adding lemon zest to anything makes it amazing--pasta sauce, butter, chicken breast, steamed veggies, grilled cheese (trust me on that one--put it on the bread with some parmesan cheese before you put it on the griddle)
10. MSG is not bad for you. It will not kill you. In fact, MSG (monosodium glutemate) is derived from glutemate acid and is harvested from sea kelp! It imparts the "umami" or "savory" flavor (also described as "meaty" or "earthy"), which is now thought to be a new, specific taste. You can buy MSG at the store in the spice aisle or you can find it in worcestershire sauce, shellfish, ripe tomatoes, ripe cheeses, and soybean products.
That being said, some people say it gives them headaches or stomach aches. Not me, thank god! (All you sushi lovers: its the MSG).
No comments:
Post a Comment