Let's cut to the chase

Knife purchasing is very easy yet complicated at the same time. Think of it like buying a new car. In your mind you have an idea of what type, what brand, how big, how small, etc. But you won't know if you really like it until you test drive it. It's the same thing with knives. You can look at customer reviews all you want. You get an idea of what steel is best, the different purposes of the knives, and how many is too many knives to own. But you won't get the full effect until you have a knife in your hand.

The first thing you need to ask yourself is "how often will I use these knives?" I mean actually use, not "oh well I use it to open boxes!” I mean cutting actual meat and vegetables. If you're only using your knives 2 or 3 times a month, then a 2pc knife set from Ikea would be perfect for you. Any brand new knife of any brand will always be sharp no matter what. Now, how long it'll stay sharp for is another story. The second thing you need to ask yourself is do you use a plate as a cutting board? If you use a plate to cut food on then buying a "nice" set of knives would be pointless.
Maintenance on knives is not complicated but is required. Here are 3 basic tips to getting the most out of your knives.

1) Dry after washing (by hand). Though most knives have some sort of coating to protect the knife from rusting, the coating will wear off over time and water will eventually start to rust it. After washing your knives always dry it off with a dry towel before putting it back in the knife block. Never let water sit on the knife in your dish rack. Muy malo para el cochillo.

2) Keep your knives sharp. Hunting stores sell a hand sharpener that works very well. Almost looks like the handle of a carpenter's stapler. You can run it on the blade 1 or 2 times before you put it away. Most accidents occur when using a dull knife rather than a sharp knife.

3) Always use a cutting board. Whether you're cutting a lime for your Corona or dicing beef cubes, using anything other than a cutting board will damage the knife. I suggest buying 3 boards. A small, medium, and a large board for all sizes of food you'll be cutting.

I was going to explain the importance of keeping a knife sharp but I figured a video would be more efficient (is that the word?) And plus I need to use all the features of this MacBook Pro. So here it is!

I know...I talk fast. I'll slow down next time...if there is a next time.

So now that you know the 2 basic questions of what you need to ask yourself, it becomes a lot easier from there. You can start shopping around, reading reviews, etc. But like I said before, you won't know if you like it until you test it out. Go to your local knife shop or William Sonoma and ask to see it. Hold it in your hand. Feel it. Touch it. Love it. Want it. Whatever. Just make sure you're comfortable with it. Is it too heavy? Is it too light? Do you like wooden handles? Do you like metal handles? I DON'T KNOW! All these questions will be answered with your own personal preference.

Personally, I like a soft and light metal with a wooden handle. Light because I'm a small guy and soft metal because it's easier to sharpen. And wooden handles just look better. But the down side to these are you need more "umph" when you're cutting something bigger because a lighter knife won't do it. Soft metals tend to dull faster and wooden handles are more prone to bacteria hiding in it. Like I said, it's all personal preference when it comes to knives. But if you're not going to take care of them or use them often don't bother buying a "nice" set. That 2 piece set from Ikea will work JUST FINE. I hope you guys enjoyed this one. It took me 3 months to write this! FACK!

Wok, Don't Run!

I know it looks really cool and all when you see a chef tossing food up in the air and shaking it around a pan but if you're not experienced please don't try it yourself. And I'm not saying this because I think you suck at cooking, but chances are you're probably not doing it for the right reason.

A lot times I see people moving the pan way too much. Why do you think chefs move the pan so much? Go ahead, think about it for a second. I'll wait................
If you answered "to look cool" then you're right! Just kidding. We shake and toss and flip for one reason, to move the food. It has nothing to do with faster cooking or adding air into it. It's just for moving the food, literally. If you put a handful of onions in, you want to flatten it out so it can cook evenly. So to flatten it out, you shake it. If you add some parsley to your vegetables you just sautéed and don't have a spoon, toss it around. I think you get my point. But please keep this in mind and I will try to explain this as simple as possible. In order to cook something, the product must be heated and the pan transfers heat directly into the product. Now if you keep tossing and shaking the pan the less time the product will spend touching the pan which means a long cooking time.

"What about those Asian chefs who use woks? They're always tossing food around." This is true but the reason they do this is because their wok is about 10 times hotter than the pan you use at home. Woks and the stoves they are heated on are designed for fast cooking. How do you think your Chinese food comes out so quick? Woks are made of a different metal to heat up fast and the shape is designed for hot spots and cooler spots.

So the next time you add a new ingredient into the pan, give it a quick shake to level everything out and let it cook. I briefly touched this subject in my mushroom post if you want to read back on it. Just remember though, the more movement, the longer the cooking time.

bien manger

-cwis

Soup: a lost art

Does anybody remember the story of the "stone soup?" Travelers were passing through a village with empty soup pots. As they arrived the villagers refused to give them anything to make soup with. Then they said, "screw this"...not literally. So they went down to the stream, filled up their biggest pot with water and dropped a large stone in it to cook. As they were cooking their soup one of the villagers came by with curiosity and asked what they were making. They said they were making stone soup and it tastes wonderful. But if they had a few other vegetables it would make it taste much better. So the one villager didn't mind parting with a few carrots he had. So a long story short, the other villagers heard about this "stone soup" and contributed with little vegetables they had and of course at the end of it all they all created this wonderful soup just from some random vegetables and...love.

I'm sure there's some type of meaning behind this story but this is my blog and I blog about food.

Soup to many people is kind of like Fried Rice to Asians. When you look in your refrigerator you see a little bit of this, half of that, leftovers from the other day and a week old container of something. So what do Asian people do with all of this? Make fried rice! Because we always have rice in our refrigerator. Same goes with soup. Soup is that one dish that really teaches you how understand food. How do I develop more flavor? Do I use water or broth? Did I use too much liquid? How do I make it thick? How do I make it thin? Should I season more? So there's so many factors in making soup "taste good."

As anal as I am about cooking, I will say this. There is NO WRONG WAY to make soup. BUT, there are better ways of making it. Instead of corn starch, use a roux. Instead of dumping food into boiling water, dump it into cold water and then turn it on. Instead of using water, use broth. Instead of using broth, use stock!  Haha!

Honestly though, making soup really is a lost art. With all these packages of chicken base where all you add is water and you get chicken broth...it's all garbage. These little packages are filled with all kind of stuff like MSG (monosodium glutamate), which has been banned from a few states, sodium and of course more stuff that you can't even pronounce. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy a Cup of Noodle once in awhile because I grew up on the stuff. But if you have any type of respect for yourself and the people you're serving then you can make me happy by staying within these few guidelines.

-Flavorful liquid.
Whether its chicken broth, veal stock, vegetable broth or even water. Please make sure there's as much flavor in it as possible. If you don't know how to do that then you can read back on my entry about stocks, read back on my risotto entry or just ask! The liquid is going make up about 70% of the soup. So keep that in mind.

-Make sure everything is the same size.  
When you cut your vegetables or meat for your soup make sure they are consistent. By doing this everything will cook evenly and your diner will be able to fit a little bit of everything on their spoon. Nobody wants to eat a BIG piece of potato and a small piece of chicken at the same time...nobody.

-Don't use so much oil.
If you think what you put in the pot isn't enough, then it's probably enough. A little bit of oil goes a long way. Remember, if you're cooking meat too, then there's a good chance that meat will give off some type of fat. There's nothing worse then oil floating at the top of your soup. If you notice that there's too much oil/fat in the pot before you add your liquid, there's a neat trick to get rid of it and give your soup some texture. Add a little bit of flour to the mix. The flour will soak up all fat and dry out your pot (which is good). And this of course creates a what? A ROUX! So if anything, it'll actually thicken your soup just a little bit.

-Cook your food before adding your liquid.
As I said before, there is no wrong way to make soup. Of course you can take your broth and dump and bunch of vegetables and meat in it and put it on the fire. I'm sure it'll taste fine. But if you saute your food before you add your broth, it'll be ten times better. I promise (I never promise). By cooking your vegetables and protein just a little before adding the liquid will break down cell walls in the food releasing natural oils and sugars that will go right into the soup. What do you like better? Caramelized onions or raw onions? I thought so.

-Do not boil your soup.
After you've added your liquid, bring it to a boil and immediately turn it down to a simmer. Don't let it boil for too long. You don't want your vegetables to turn into mush and you don't want to overcook your proteins. That's right, you can most definitely overcook meat in soup. Even though it's in a liquid, it can still get tough and rubbery. Seriously, don't let it boil.

-Let it cook.
You can't rush perfection. After it's come to a boil and you've turned it down to a simmer, let it cook for awhile. 10 minutes, 15 minutes...whatever you want. Just know the longer you cook it, the more flavor that will come out of the food and into the soup. Think of marinara sauce. Though it's not a soup, it's the same concept. Allowing it to cook for awhile marries all the flavors together. But unlike marinara, I do not recommend cooking your soup for more than 25 minutes after you've turned it down to a simmer. Anything after that, we're venturing off into stewing..and that's for a different entry.

-Don't use corn starch to thicken.
If you go back to my "Don't be so roux-ed"entry, that'll show you how to thicken properly. Corn starch makes things gummy. To me it doesn't thicken properly. Ever have chinese food and there's some type of thick sauce that looks a little runny? Almost %99.999 percent of the time they used a buttload of corn starch to thicken it. That's not how you want your soup to look like. Trust me.

It seems like a lot to remember. But if you follow at least one step every time you make soup you'll notice a difference. I promise.

Once you've got the hang of understanding soups and flavor development, etc...then you can pretty much apply that to anything that has liquid. Poaching, stewing, braising...you'll be a pro in no time. But remember, you won't get it the first time. Expect to fail to succeed.

bien manger

-cwis

'Tis the Seasoning

Attention: if there is some type pre-made seasoning that is available to you at this moment please get it now. Please do this before proceeding. Thank you.




McCormick, Lawry's, Mrs. Dash, Montreal...what do they all have in common? Garbage.

In the years that I've worked, I've encountered many different kinds of pre-made seasonings, rubs, blends, etc., and I've come to the conclusion that I'm absolutely against most of them. If it's a seasoning made with dried herbs then it smells and tastes like cardboard. Oh, and you shouldn't using dried herbs anyway. Shame on you! If it's a seasoning made from spices then probably 99% of the time it will be filled with mostly...well you'll find out. If it's a seasoning with both then you'll have nasty cardboard.

Did you know that the ingredients on the label are listed in that order for a reason?

Ingredient lists start with the largest amount of ingredient first and works its way down to the ingredient with the least amount. So right now, I want you to take a look at the ingredient list on the bottle of seasoning you have with you and tell me what the first ingredient is...go ahead. I'll wait here...

Most of you will probably say...SALT. "What's so bad about salt," you ask? Nothing except for when you use too much of it. Companies fill these seasonings up with salt because it's a cheap filler. Looks like you're getting more seasoning, but you're just getting a lot of salt. If you remember my blog about salt, it's there to bring flavor out. Not to make things salty. Some people like the flavor of these seasonings so they put more on thinking it'll taste better. It actually makes it worse because they're putting more salt on. When I make some type of seasoning, I keep that and salt separate. I always seasoning my food with salt and pepper first, then I seasoning with my mix. You want the salt to season the food and draw moisture out so that the moisture can mix with the seasoning and caramelize when it cooks.

Very rarely do I use any other seasonings besides salt, pepper, and granulated garlic. I believe that you should be able to taste the food rather than masking it with other flavors. Don't get me wrong, I do like a little bit of curry or cumin or paprika sometimes but most of the times, you'll only see me use salt and pepper. When I was living on my own (I now live with my mom and dad. (and I love it)) I always had a mix. It was a 2:2:1 ratio of garlic:salt:pepper. I used that more than anything else. Of course sometimes a dish need a little more salt or a little more pepper but I always had those on the side too. But the garlic is what puts it right over the top.

So all in all if I see pre-made seasoning at your house I'll probably get very angry inside and I won't do anything because well...at the end of the day, you are your own boss. Just know that I'll be staring at it and will empty it the second you turn around.

bien manger

-cwis

Slow and Steady Wins the Race...

A lot of people ask me, "What's your favorite thing to cook?" Usually, if it's a woman I say, "Anything you want." If it's a man I say, "Anything the customer wants."

...ok that was a bad joke.

I can remember the happiest day in culinary school (even happier than graduation). I walked into class with a binder in one hand and the best French coffee I've ever had in the other. This coffee was so good I used to drink it black with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. Yeah, that good.
Anyway...when I sat down I looked up at our daily menu and I saw (written in French) "Mango Risotto". My eyes lit up and I knew that today was going to be a good day.
I'll be honest, I don't remember the first time I ate risotto. I just remember that I loved it and that was probably the one dish I looked forward to learning how to cook. It's starchy, yet creamy. It's filling but not heavy. It'll take on whatever flavor you throw in with it. It's not the best looking, but it's definitely the best tasting. I remember scooping out little tiny balls of mango for the garnish. Even though it was only the side dish, it was the best part of the dish. In fact I don't remember what the protein and vegetable were...and I don't care!

If anybody remembers awhile back, I did a little culinary trivia contest where Shawn won a bottle of Truffle Oil. One of the questions was, "What's the difference between Risotto and Arborio Rice." The reason I asked this that there are a lot of people who don't know the answer to this question. So here it is. Risotto is a dish that is made of an Italian short grain rice called Arborio Rice. It comes from a town call Arborio (go figure). It has a very high starch content because it is not milled as much as the typical long grain rice. The starch is what gives it its creamy consistency. And just like pasta, it's cooked al dente, which means it should have a little bite.

When preparing risotto you need to understand that it's going to take a little while and a lot of love...seriously. Love is the main ingredient in all my dishes. Risotto cannot be rushed or you'll get really nasty mushy...I don't know what it'd be but I know it's not going to be good. It must be cooked at a medium to medium high heat. Never full blast. Make sure the liquid you are using to cook it has a lot of flavor. If it calls for chicken broth, make that Swansons or College Inn chicken broth awesome by buying chicken wing tips or chicken wings (they're cheap) at the super market, putting it in the broth and cooking (not boiling) it for 15-20 min. That'll give your broth a lot more flavor.

Moving forward. Make sure you have a pan or skillet. Something that low sides and a lot of surface area. There are 3 reasons for this.

1) Low sides promote fast evaporation (which is what we want). Ever wonder why stock pots have high sides? Because you don't want fast evaporation.
2) More surface area means fast heat transfer. The wider the pan the more metal to rice action will go on and it will cook faster.
3) If you see that it's starting to overcook you can turn off the heat and it will actually cool down faster.

If you look up a recipe for risotto I can almost guarantee you will see 6 cups of broth and it will tell you to add maybe 3/4 cup at a time every 2 or 3 min. This cooking technique is what makes risotto so delicious and I believe a lot of grains should be cooked like this. By adding small quantities of stock at a time it will reduce faster. Because broths are about 80% water and 20% flavor this process will take out the water and only leave the flavor. You're pretty much concentrating the flavor of the broth. The recipe will also tell you to constantly stir. Some may say every 45 seconds give it a stir and some may say stand there the whole time stirring. If you've never made risotto before, I suggest you stand there the whole time stirring. The starch that's cooked out rice will mix with the concentrated broth and give it it's creamy texture. But because there is so much starch in the pan it can easily burn if it sits too long.

You'll probably be stirring for about 14-18 min. Remember, you cannot rush risotto. Every so often, taste it. This is one the very few dishes I would say to wait till the end of the cooking to season it. Because you are concentrating so many layers of the broth that the flavor is going to change throughout the cooking process. Don't season at the beginning because it tastes bland. It will develop flavor as you add more broth. Like I said, you want to cook the risotto al dente. Once you've gotten your bite, stop adding broth and taste. Season as needed and you're done. The consistency of risotto should be thicker than pancake batter. When you spoon it onto the plate it should be able to fall by itself. It should never hold shape. If it does, then fix it.

Once risotto is cooked you really only have about 6-7 min to serve it without it stiffening up on you. Remember, it must fall by itself.

As much as I love risotto, I would never order it at a restaurant and most certainly never have it at a catered event. The way restaurants deal with risotto is that they partially cook a big batch half way and cool it down. When an order comes in they scoop out a portion and reheat it in a pan with broth. The problem with this is once you've cooked and cool risotto you've lost its "wow" factor. I'm not sure what happens but there's a huge difference between risotto being cooked in one shot and risotto that's been cooked, chilled, and cooked again.

I hope you learned a little something about risotto in this entry. Like I said, risotto is so versatile. Let your imagination go when you're making it. But please don't overcook it and don't serve it stiff. Or I will kick you in the face.

bien manger

-cwis

Will you Marry-nade me?

So a friend of mine, Heather S., is a big foodie just like most of you. She posted on my facebook an interesting topic for this blog entry. 


Heather - Another blog idea might be about meat and vinegar... ((Unless you have a definite opinion against using vinegar.)) 
My mom told me that the vinegar "tenderizes" the meat (or something like that). I need to Google the why and how questions... But I was wondering if you had any advice on the cooking aspect of it, flavour, etc. I know, K.I.S.S., and not overcooking beef/lamb/etc... But I've found I do like the "softening" effect. =)

Me - ok let's talk about marinades for a second. I was always taught that there had to be 3 main ingredients in ANY marinade. 

1) Oil
2) Flavoring
3) Acid

Oil to keep food moist
Flavoring to..well give the food flavor
Acid to break down cell walls/membranes of the meat.

that's why you see a lot of people will just use "dressings"...even though they are for salad they do have all 3 ingredients in them.

your mom is absolutely right. It does make the meat a little more tender, but only over time. You can't just dip a steak in some vinegar and cook it, that won't really do anything except leave a very acidic taste in your mouth.

Personally i'm not a fan of vinegar, i've never been a fan of vinegar. When i marinade i like to use fruit acid. Lemon, lime, orange, tomato, etc. That way you're adding your flavor as well as your acid.

I hope this helps!...i'm making this a blog.
----------------------------------------------------

Let me add just a little bit more to this...

By using fruit acid such as lemons, limes, oranges, kiwis, etc...you will get the natural sugars from the fruit. So when you sear, roast, fry...whatever your meat it'll naturally caramelize your meat leaving a nice little crust on the outside (crust depends on type of meat and cooking method). 

bien manger 

-cwis

Don't drown your mushrooms

Please people. When you're cleaning mushrooms, DO NOT soak them or run them under water. When you "cook" something you are extracting moisture with heat. Thats why when something like chicken is overcooked, it's dry. By adding water to the mushroom, you're actually prolonging the cooking process and chances are, you're probably going to BOIL your mushrooms. Mushrooms are sponges and they will absorb anything and everything. Has anybody ever told you to use more oil when cooking mushrooms? No? Well, that's why. 

If you want to take that little spec of dirt off the mushroom because you're a wuss then take a very lightly damp towel and brush it off. THAT'S IT. Now stop freaking out and get back to cooking.

bien manger

-cwis