Tips and Tricks from the Professionals
Proteins
Preparing chicken dishes in the 21st century is easy, Especially with chicken pieces and chicken stock readily available in grocery stores. So why bother cutting up your own chicken? Two reasons, according to Paul Bringas, a chef instructor at Joliet Junior College’s culinary arts program. It’s cheaper to buy an entire chicken and cut it …
Who doesn’t like eggs? Home cooks post long-awaited Boomerangs to celebrate slicing into their first perfect poach. Whole 30 devotees binge on paleo-friendly devilled eggs. Michelin-starred chefs top silky French-style scrambles with caviar and fresh chives. In 2014, Michael Ruhlman waxed rhapsodic about the humble egg for 256 pages in his cleverly titled book Egg. …
When we think of pastrami, we tend to think of the cured beef you might find on a sandwich from Katz’s in NYC. But chefs are starting to use that same curing technique on lamb, fish, and even vegetables. It’s not entirely wrong to think of pastrami as American. The classic New York …
Two opah caught in San Diego, California. JOHN GIBBINS/SDU-T/ZUMA PRESS/ ALAMY MARK SABAJ’S SUBARU HAD BROKEN down on the way to the mechanic. So as he and his girlfriend, Shinobu Habauchi, waited for AAA on the shoulder of I-76 West, she pulled out her phone. In what had become something of a habit in their …
How Fish Meant for Market Might End Up in a Museum Read More »
A big haul from the grocery store requires some careful triage: you should probably cook the fresh veggies before the frozen ones, eat the fresh fruit before the packaged snacks, and prepare a fish dinner before one that uses the chicken or beef. What is it about seafood that makes it so easy to go …
Visiting a new country always means new sights, sounds, flavors, and aromas. When it comes to Iceland, you can make that “stenches.” Hákarl is a national dish of Iceland that has brought the likes of Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay to their knees. Why? It’s essentially rotten Greenland shark. One Man’s Trash Icelanders don’t eat …
Hákarl is the Icelandic Delicacy Gordon Ramsay Can’t Stomach Read More »
A local holdout in a touristy town, where the fishermen catch—and cook—your meal. For the last two summers, I’ve been attempting to fry the perfect piece of fish. My holy grail is the basket of fish n’ chips at Montauk’s Inlet Seafood. To visualize Inlet’s version, picture your average fried fish—mushy and tasteless with an …
The domestic goddess takes a break from putting the MasterChef Australia contestants through their paces for a quick cooking tip. Believe it or not, there are some parts of cooking that make Nigella Lawson hesitant. Like poaching eggs. “I am afraid to say I have spent a lifetime being nervous of poaching eggs,” she admits. …
Nigella Lawson reveals how to poach the perfect egg Read More »
The bright red tuna on sale in many New Zealand sushi shops looks fresh — but it could be months old. A treatment process used on some imported tuna means it can be up to two years between when the fish is caught and when it’s eaten. The tuna is exposed to carbon monoxide through an …
Questions over carbon monoxide treatment leaving frozen fish looking fresh Read More »
Dry-ageing makes a steak taste delicious, but it is a very slow and very expensive process. The good news is there may be a way to do it with fish sauce and something called an umami bomb. Check out this weeks episode of You Can Do This! to see if it’s possible to speed up …
Omakase heads to luxury 10-seat sushi restaurant Suzuki, where they use a freezer to age fish before serving it.
Fish and dairy can make for a delicious mix, despite popular belief. ALL ILLUSTRATIONS: AÏDA AMER IN A RECENT EPISODE OF Top Chef, a team of contestants puts forth a dish featuring lightly smoked trout and a grated hard, salty cheese. The reaction from the judges is as predictable as it is—to me, at least—completely …
Where Did the Prohibition on Combining Seafood and Cheese Come From? Read More »
Every half hour, the fisherman and horse return to the shore to rest and sort through the catch. DAVID EDGAR/CC BY-SA 3.0 DOMINIQUE VANDENDRIESSCHE HAS SHRIMP FISHING in his blood. Now in his twenties, Vandendriessche lives and works on the Belgian coast, in the small town of Oostduinkerke, where he is one of the last …
The Dying Art of Fishing for Shrimp on Horseback Read More »
Sometimes it’s hard to pick out the perfect fish! For those of you who wonder what a fresh fish should look and smell like, we have five tips for you from Executive Chef John Critchley from Siren by Robert Wiedmaier! 1. It’s all about the eyes If you’re thinking about buying fish, a good tip to knowing if …
Why, after cooking a steak or other meat in a frying pan, does a chef put the steak in the oven to “finish” it? What does this add to the dish? Steaks are cooked at high heat to sear the exterior and develop a flavorful crust. Sometimes people want their steaks cooked completely to the …
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 »
As a retired chef (13 good restaurants over 3 global sites)..with no illusions, I have an ‘essential’ view. It’s easy. Save ALL cut-offs from vegetables except cucumber, celery leaves (bitter), potato peels (rot) , or anything you don’t want to ‘enhance’ you flavor with….say, cinnamon. Save ALL bones, no matter what carcass – they will …
7 other Christmas dinner mistakes we’ve ALL been making, by celebrity chef John Quilter The Christmas dinner is probably the most stressful meal you’ll cook all year – but there are some common mistakes we’ve all been making. From cooking the turkey whole to leaving the veg until last, celebrity chef John Quilter, the man …
Don’t cook your turkey whole… and 7 other Christmas dinner mistakes Read More »