Archive for September, 2006

Defining Cooking Methods

Friday, September 15th, 2006

There are a limited number of different ways to cook your food. Everything that you can possibly make, no matter how simple or complicated, will fall within (at least) one of twelve categories, though some dishes incorporate multiple techniques.

The twelve categories can be divided into two basic groups: moist heat, and dry heat. Moist heat, as the name implies, involves cooking with water or some variation on water (stock, wine, beer, etc.). Dry heat involves non-aquatic heat transfer methods, thus, somewhat counter-intuitively, deep frying is classified as dry heat because oil, while liquid, contains no water.

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Dice Carrots with Celerity!

Thursday, September 14th, 2006

Three steps to make quick work of your roots

Most knife skills books will have you square your carrot off, slice exact planks, segment the planks into sticks, and finally cut them down to a precisely diced finish. It’s a painstaking, time-consuming process even with the sharpest of knives. The results that method yields are undeniable, and if you’ve got lots of time and exactitude of your finished vegetables is important to your presentation, it makes sense to follow the long way.

These results in less time than you think possible!

For most purposes, though, it just doesn’t make sense to labor over perfecting each orange box into exact 1/4-inch cubehood. So, why bother? Get 96% of the results while spending just 23% of the time by following these three easy steps. Your salads will look better, your stews will cook more uniformly, and you’ll get out of the kitchen sooner—it’s a win-win-win situation.

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When to Add the Herbs?

Wednesday, September 13th, 2006

yo yo yo jesse,

i finally thought of a question that would probably benefit a lot of us who read your blog. it kind of takes off from your first advice column about sauteeing with pepper. i’ve never really known when the best time to add herbs to something i’m cooking (or if, and how much, this varies depending on the dish). as examples, i commonly use basil, oregano and rosemary, but i’ve never been consistent about when in the process i should add them to the pot. i could probably stand to be similarly schooled on some of the spices out there too. thanks!

justin

Deciding when to add the herbs depends in large part on whether the herbs you’re using are fresh or dried. In general, fresh herbs should be added later in the cooking process so their flavor doesn’t fade away, whereas dried herbs should be added earlier so that their flavor has a chance to develop.
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Favorite Food Hoax?

Tuesday, September 12th, 2006

Dear Mr. Corduroy,

This is a strange question. I recently read somewhere that depending on the hand you use to eat with, food tastes differently. If you are right handed, and normally eat with your right hand, then by switching and using your left hand to eat with, it will open different taste pathways by using the other hemisphere of your brain. After testing this, I have come to the conclusion that it is a hoax. I was wondering what was the most ridiculous hoax you had heard of concerning food/eating.

Ambidextrous Andy

Dear Andy:

I’ve got to admit, I’ve never heard anything like that before. The concept seems somewhat preposterous, especially since hands are quite often used interchangeably when eating. Think about when you’re cutting a steak: you probably hold the fork in your left hand and the knife in your right hand. Once you’ve cut a chunk off, you may or may not lay the knife down, switch the hand you’re using for the fork, and then eat the piece of steak. Then again, you might not, especially if you’re European, where the general consensus on table manners is that there’s no sense in playing patty-cake with your fork, thus they maintain the fork in their left hand and the knife in their right, just as the utensils are laid out for them before the meal (they’re so pragmatic!).

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Stop, Drop, and Roll?

Saturday, September 9th, 2006

Dear C. Orange,

Sometimes when I cut onions my eyes hurt so bad that I consider chopping with my eyes closed. Do you have suggestions for preventing this? I’ve heard a few but I forgot what they were!

Thanks,
M. Y. Eyesonfire

I’ve heard of a few suggestions, too—though I don’t know how well any of them work. Peel the onion underwater; chew gum while you’re working with it; freeze the knife before you cut the onion…. Personally, I don’t pay much mind to any of the suggestions and my eyes aren’t usually bothered unless my knife is dull, though if I’m planning on drilling a hole through an onion, I will wear eye protection.
Wear eye protection when drilling holes through onions.

Really, the best way to cut an onion without crying is to improve your technique when slicing onions. The fewer cell walls you break while you’re preparing your onion, the less juice is released; the less juice released, the easier on your eyes. Make sure your knife is sharp. That way, you’ll make a clean incision and have fewer burst cells.

Follow these easy steps to cut your onions while shedding nary a tear: (more…)

Eating Well on the Road

Friday, September 8th, 2006

My job has me living on the road most of the year, and becasue of this I don’t always have the best eating habits. Do you have suggestions on better ways for me to follow the food pyramid while living out of a hotel room?

thanks!

hungry in ohio

HIO–

First things first, let’s forget about the food pyramid. That device was designed by a committee and it shows. Instead of concentrating on meeting the requirements poorly laid out in a jumbled chart, instead think about your diet with some common sense. Realize that your nutritional intake is tantamount to your life—-the only thing you’ve got going for you at any particular time is the sum total of what you’ve eaten lately. Because your diet is of consummate consequence, make the quality of your edibles to be of utmost importance.

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Knife Skills Teaser

Tuesday, September 5th, 2006

I will have much more knife skills instructional material up quite soon. I’ve got reams of photos and I’m writing the descriptive text that will give you some insight into how to wield your knife with utmost efficiency. In the meantime, however, here’s a short video to whet your appetite.

dicing a potato

In it, I’m cutting battonet-cut potatoes (think french fries) down to become small-diced potatoes. Notice how I have the stack of battonets neatly arranged as if they were still part of a whole potato. Keeping your vegetables stacked neatly is one of the keys of cutting them efficiently because it allows you to maintain better control over them.

If you’d like personalized instruction to help you achieve the same results in your own kitchen, I still have a couple of spaces open for my first knife skills training this Sunday, September 10, at 2:30 PM. The cost is $10 to cover materials and equipment. We’ll eat a meal cooked with everything we cut. If you register, please let me know if you’ll need to borrow a knife (recommended if you don’t have a high carbon, stainless steel knife of your own).

The Difference Between Farm Eggs and Factory Eggs

Monday, September 4th, 2006

It really does matter, and proof is as easy as a picture.

Eggs come in several colors–not just brown and white, but pink and even green. That’s because different breeds of chicken lay different colors of egg.

A range of shell colors

Crack them open and notice the yolk color: Farm eggs have a much more vibrant yolk than do supermarket eggs. Seeing the two of them next to each other really drives the difference home.

compare the colors of the yolks

The difference isn’t just visual, either–it’s a taste difference, too. The fresher, farm raised eggs are richer and eggier. Not to mention the health difference: the farm eggs are free of hormones and antibiotics. One supplier of farm fresh eggs to the Pittsburgh area is Silver Wheel Farm. Read more about them in the article I wrote for the East End Co-op newsletter.

Choosing a Cutting Board

Friday, September 1st, 2006

Howdy! I have a question for you: What kind of cutting board to use? I’ve heard that using a plastic board can dull a knife more quickly than a wooden board, but isn’t plastic more resistant to bacteria than wood? Perhaps you can share your thoughts on the merits and drawbacks of each and what you recommend for folks. Also, do you have any experience with bamboo cutting boards?

At my house, I never have an issue with which cutting board to use. Thanks to my brother, and to the fact that I got married, most of the time I’m using a handsome Boos Block Maple Butcher’s Block.

butcher's blockcutting surface
I have no complaints about this cutting board. It’s well made, attractive, and useful. For those who don’t have space for the freestanding version, Boos also makes smaller cutting boards that store easily in a cupboard. Because I never cut raw meat on it, I don’t have any concerns about bacterial growth; however, just to be certain, I will occasionally wipe it down with a diluted bleach solution. Classy and durable, its only drawback is that it comes from trees. (more…)

Black Beans for 80?

Friday, September 1st, 2006

What’s the best way for me to make a massive quantity of black beans and white rice without burning the contents? At Camp EPP, I made a big batch of black beans, but burned the beans on the bottom, giving it a burny flavor. I’m anticipating around 80 for the party.

If you’re going to cook beans for that many people, you’re going to need a big pot. Heavy-bottomed, if possible. The thinner the material between the food and the flame, the easier it is for the food to scorch.

When you’re cooking indoors, though, you’ve got an advantage over cooking on a campfire: easily regulated temperature. Soak your beans overnight. Then, I’d recommend sauteeing some onions and some garlic in the bottom of your pot, along with a little pepper and whatever other spices you’re using. Then, add your liquid (3-4 cups per pound of dried beans) and your beans, and bring the mixture to a boil. Once it boils, reduce the heat and let it simmer slowly for several hours (a few small bubbles gently breaking the surface.) Adjust the heat as necessary to keep the pot at a steady simmer. Stir it regularly to keep the beans from burning to the bottom of the pan. You’ll need to stir more often as the beans get closer to finishing, because as the cooking liquid thickens, there’s less water to evaporate and the heat becomes less forgiving. If, by unfortunate chance, you do wind up having some beans scorch to the bottom of the pan, don’t scrape them off the bottom when you stir! If you leave them there, they will not have too much of an effect on the finished dish, but if you dredge them up, they will mingle with everything else, lending their bitterness to all the beans.

Have a cooking question? Email me! I’ll respond in a future post.