Tips and Tricks from the Professionals
Preparation
Even the less-than-cautious among us still probably give their fruit and vegetables a quick rinse under the tap before eating them. That’s in an effort not only to wash off dirt and debris, but also to remove any pesticides. You might go even further by using a vegetable brush or a store-bought veggie wash. How …
Short answer: this is part of the seasoning process, to create a nonstick surface on the pan. Longer answer: new cast iron and carbon steel pans often have a protective coating on them that keeps them in good condition on the store shelf, but is not good for cooking. This must be removed before you …
Why burn new pans with salt before their first use? Read More »
File photo. © Benoit Tessier / Reuters The Swiss government has gone against the wishes of restaurateurs and banned the practice of boiling live lobsters. It comes as part of sweeping new animal protection legislation. The law, which dictates that live lobster and crayfish must be stunned before killing, was passed by the Federal Council …
Swiss govt bans boiling lobsters alive under new animal protection rules Read More »
Tonka beans have an intense flavour that chefs and food manufacturers have enthusiastically embraced. There’s just one problem – it contains a chemical that could, in large enough doses, kill you. It’s led to raids by law enforcement agencies and mass deaths in animals; in the United States, chefs have ‘dealers’ who smuggle it into …
Raw legumes may contain substances that are difficult to digest or are toxic. These substances are destroyed by heat so cooking is essential for improving their nutritional value and digestibility. Soaking is required to soften legumes and reduce their cooking time. It also helps to reduce the levels of substances in legumes that cause flatulence. …
Alex Lau BY ALYSE WHITNEY Slow cooker recipes can be mushy bombs sometimes, but they don’t have to. We’ve all had a watery, bland soup or an overcooked chicken “casserole”—and those dishes were victims of the “dump all the ingredients and walk away” method that most people associate with slow cookers. To better utilize the …
Why don’t chefs kill lobsters instead of boiling them alive? I know freezing them ruins the meat but why not just kill them quickly right before putting them into the boiling water? Janera Soloven, Trained chef And how exactly would you propose to do that, by cutting off its head? Time to learn a little …
John Oyagawa was born in Fiji and moved to New Zealand at the age of 21 to further his education. John and his sister Cherie Oyagawa-Smith own Cafe O — two cafes in Nadi, Fiji, and one in Auckland. He shows how to prepare fresh and flavoursome grated coconut flesh here. 1. Choose a heavy …
This method can be done by anyone, even children: Take the bare coconut in one hand and the hammer in the other. Easily hammer around the nut, describing a circle around the top of the nut. There is no need for hammering hard. After a few circles of hammering the coconut will begin to crack …
Step 1: Tools Step 2: Process Put the cherry on the top of the bottle and push through the cherry stone with the chopstick
Kale grows into deep beautiful colors — purplish red, glowing green and the warm blue lacinato — that get more brilliant with cooking. It isn’t as bitter as other winter greens. When cooked, the leaves hold their shape but go tender, making them perfect for long-simmering soups and stews. Step 1: Wash and dry the …
Step 1: Pop the top Use your paring knife to remove the flower from the top of the pomegranate. You want to cut at an angle, removing a cone of pith from below the flower without cutting into the seeds. Step 2: Score sides Now look down at your pomegranate. You’ll see that it’s not …
The popular belief that tearing lettuce stops its edges browning is based on the theory that it damages fewer cells and limits oxidisation. There’s nothing, however, to prove it’s any less destructive than cutting the leaves with a knife. Both will turn brown at the same rate.
Essential kitchen tool or a destroyer of garlic flavour? Anthony Bourdain calls the garlic crusher (otherwise known as a garlic press), which crushes garlic into a pulp, an “abomination”, but other chefs claim they enhance garlic by releasing the oils. Knife-cut garlic will caramelise in cooking, unlike pulp, although a crusher will quarantine the slightly …
I ate my share of lobsters while spending summers in Rhode Island. My family still talks about the 10-pounder we bought from a shop in Galilee. We spent an hour scouring the neighborhood looking for someone who owned a pot big enough to cook it. Lobster is still one of my favorite foods of summer …
You can cook live lobsters, but I prefer to kill them first. There are a lot of theories about the best way to do this, but I like the one recommended by Trevor Corson, seafood expert and author of “The Secret Life of Lobsters.” He chills the live lobsters in the freezer for 15 minutes …
Media captionRich Walker of Shadow Robotics tells Jonathan Amos how they developed the hands for the robo-chef A London-based company has launched a prototype “robo-chef” for the home. Moley Robotics is demonstrating its concept at this year’s Hannover Messe – a big trade fair for industrial technology held annually in Germany. The cooking machine learns …