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Authors: Corey Mintz
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cooked, but if you’re garnishing with it, chop at the last minute if you want it to remain green. Same with tarragon, which darkens, rather than browns. Oregano leaves are small and should only be separated, not chopped.
6. CITRUS JUICES TASTE THEIR BEST WHEN THEY ARE FRESHLY SQUEEZED. If you’re making ceviche, squeeze that lime straight onto the fish.
7. DON’T OVERCROWD YOUR PAN. The concept of overcrowding the table translates to cooking as well. If the recipe says to brown meat in batches, it means that the surface area of metal must be on a high heat to achieve the proper colour and flavour. That browning is called a Maillard reaction. Put too much in the pan at once and the temperature drops. The meat turns grey instead of brown.
8. DON’T FUSS. Once at work I was tossing something in a pan because I’d just learned to confidently flip and I wanted to show off. My chef reminded me that every time I shake or move the pan, I’m taking it off the heat. Keep your pan on the heat. Move it only when you have to. And in the name of Zeus, leave a searing piece of meat alone. If you’ve placed a piece of animal flesh in a hot pan with some fat, it will stick to the surface. When seared, it will release. Bother it before that, and the flesh will tear.
9. THINK TWICE ABOUT SLICING A ROAST AT THE TABLE. The juices will run everywhere and of course you never know if it’s cooked the way you want until it’s been sliced into. When a roast is done, bring it to the table so everyone can see. It needs to rest before being carved. When it’s ready, you’ll find it easier to bring it back to the kitchen, slice it up, and assemble on the platter.
10. TASTE EVERYTHING, AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY. Short of raw chicken, you should poke your finger and dig a spoon into everything as you go. Unless you have the sixth or seventh senses of telepathy or precognition, use the five senses you have. When you taste a sauce or salad as each ingredient is added, you will know when and where you went right or wrong.
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What’s great about deli cups is that they’re uniform in shape, cheap, and disposable. Once we convert to these for storage, we don’t have to play fridge Jenga, trying to stack our Dirty Dozen ragtag group of misfit plastic containers so that there is room for a six-pack of beer. Because they are all the same and can be bought for about twenty-five cents apiece, we don’t mind giving them away with leftovers.
In my home they’re on my shelf, storing dry ingredients (cumin, guajillo chili, black pepper, pumpkin seeds, raisins). They’re in my fridge, storing leftovers (salsa, guacamole), with strips of masking tape that clearly label or date duck fat, pickled onions, or canned chipotles (you were not going to throw the tin in the fridge with cling wrap over the top). My freezer is stacked top to bottom with them, making it easy to shift things around when I need a serving of parsnip purée or mole, chicken stock or tomato sauce.
As they come in sizes roughly equal to 1, 2, or 4 cups (250 mL, 500 mL, or 1 L), they’re good for estimating amounts as well. When I’m prepping for dinner, rather than a mess of bowls, each filled with a little garlic, onion, or parsley, the 1 cup (250 mL) containers allow me to keep all my prep separate, all the ingredients for one dish piled in a neat column.
I could tell you to do as many things simultaneously as possible or I could caution you against doing too much at once. Both are true. A good cook is efficient, doing as much at once as possible, wasting no time. Waiting for something to boil? Peel the next thing on the list. Waiting for something to cool? Wash the dirty pots.
But a good cook also doesn’t attempt to do so much at once that food is forgotten and burns or, worse, they have an accident with knives. Know your limits and work within them. Many of us are forgetful of what’s not in front of us. If you need to, set a timer for foods in the oven.
As I write this,
6. CITRUS JUICES TASTE THEIR BEST WHEN THEY ARE FRESHLY SQUEEZED. If you’re making ceviche, squeeze that lime straight onto the fish.
7. DON’T OVERCROWD YOUR PAN. The concept of overcrowding the table translates to cooking as well. If the recipe says to brown meat in batches, it means that the surface area of metal must be on a high heat to achieve the proper colour and flavour. That browning is called a Maillard reaction. Put too much in the pan at once and the temperature drops. The meat turns grey instead of brown.
8. DON’T FUSS. Once at work I was tossing something in a pan because I’d just learned to confidently flip and I wanted to show off. My chef reminded me that every time I shake or move the pan, I’m taking it off the heat. Keep your pan on the heat. Move it only when you have to. And in the name of Zeus, leave a searing piece of meat alone. If you’ve placed a piece of animal flesh in a hot pan with some fat, it will stick to the surface. When seared, it will release. Bother it before that, and the flesh will tear.
9. THINK TWICE ABOUT SLICING A ROAST AT THE TABLE. The juices will run everywhere and of course you never know if it’s cooked the way you want until it’s been sliced into. When a roast is done, bring it to the table so everyone can see. It needs to rest before being carved. When it’s ready, you’ll find it easier to bring it back to the kitchen, slice it up, and assemble on the platter.
10. TASTE EVERYTHING, AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY. Short of raw chicken, you should poke your finger and dig a spoon into everything as you go. Unless you have the sixth or seventh senses of telepathy or precognition, use the five senses you have. When you taste a sauce or salad as each ingredient is added, you will know when and where you went right or wrong.
----
What’s great about deli cups is that they’re uniform in shape, cheap, and disposable. Once we convert to these for storage, we don’t have to play fridge Jenga, trying to stack our Dirty Dozen ragtag group of misfit plastic containers so that there is room for a six-pack of beer. Because they are all the same and can be bought for about twenty-five cents apiece, we don’t mind giving them away with leftovers.
In my home they’re on my shelf, storing dry ingredients (cumin, guajillo chili, black pepper, pumpkin seeds, raisins). They’re in my fridge, storing leftovers (salsa, guacamole), with strips of masking tape that clearly label or date duck fat, pickled onions, or canned chipotles (you were not going to throw the tin in the fridge with cling wrap over the top). My freezer is stacked top to bottom with them, making it easy to shift things around when I need a serving of parsnip purée or mole, chicken stock or tomato sauce.
As they come in sizes roughly equal to 1, 2, or 4 cups (250 mL, 500 mL, or 1 L), they’re good for estimating amounts as well. When I’m prepping for dinner, rather than a mess of bowls, each filled with a little garlic, onion, or parsley, the 1 cup (250 mL) containers allow me to keep all my prep separate, all the ingredients for one dish piled in a neat column.
I could tell you to do as many things simultaneously as possible or I could caution you against doing too much at once. Both are true. A good cook is efficient, doing as much at once as possible, wasting no time. Waiting for something to boil? Peel the next thing on the list. Waiting for something to cool? Wash the dirty pots.
But a good cook also doesn’t attempt to do so much at once that food is forgotten and burns or, worse, they have an accident with knives. Know your limits and work within them. Many of us are forgetful of what’s not in front of us. If you need to, set a timer for foods in the oven.
As I write this,
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