There is far more to cooking than recipes and ingredients. It's essential to know which techniques to apply when, and it can be a tremendous help to have a collection of tips and tricks for reducing effort and getting the most out of an ingredient. Here's a partial collection of tips ranging from making a soufflé to cooking corn on the cob.
1. Successful Souffles
copyright 2008 Kevin D Weeks
Souffles really aren't difficult to make, but there are a few tricks that can produce a better soufflé.
2. Cooking Corn
Copyright 2008 Kevin D Weeks
It's almost a truism, particularly among professional chefs, that the microwave is an almost useless gadget and in particular should never be used for actual cooking. But the truth is it produces great corn on the cob.
3. Kitchen Thermometers
Courtesy of PriceGrabber
I just made a count and discovered that I have eight thermometers in my kitchen. There's a reason for that, and no, it's not because I have a thing for thermometers. Rather it's because no single gadget can so improve your cooking as precise control of heat - and cold.
4. Salad Days
Kevin D Weeks
At this time of year the farmers' markets are my savior. Too often the grocery stores around here sell vegetables in packages larger than I can eat before they begin to go stale. But at the farmers' markets I can usually buy no more than I need.
5. Using Your Freezer
Kevin D Weeks
When you're cooking for two the freezer is one of your greatest assets. Not only because sometimes you have to buy more of something than you need for a particular meal, but also because using your freezer is a great way of reducing the amount of cooking you have to do.
6. Cooking with Vermouth
The problem I face, and likely you do too, is that I don't always want to open a bottle of wine when I only need, say, half a cup in a sauce and I don't always want to drink a whole bottle.7. Knowing When to Splurge
Provided by Cuisinart
One of the most common questions I’m asked when I teach cooking classes is, "What kind of [knives, skillets, pots] should I buy?" And, as befits a frugal and thoughtful teacher, my response is, "It depends."
8. Fresh versus Dried Herbs
Beth Sheresh (blog.kitchenmage.com) Used with permission.
The great thing about the flavor of fresh herbs is their volatile oils and esters. But note, they're volatile. This means that if you add them to a something that cooks for any length of time such as a marinara sauce or braise the very thing that makes fresh herbs so special cooks off.
9. Be Careful Reducing Oil
Kevin D Weeks
In most instances scaling a recipe down from feeding four or six to two is simply a matter of dividing by two or three, but there are exceptions.
