I took a few recreational cooking classes before finally taking the plunge and attending a professional culinary school.
Now you could too.
Add a squeeze of lemon or spoonful of vinegar.
Photo:Ilya Rocket/ Getty Images
Drizzle on some olive oil.
The point is, youll never know what it needs unless you taste it.
You spent time on this food; do it proud on the plate.
For pasta, it can be a little less salty, but not much.
The instructor would shrug and say, I dont know.
It was frustrating, but also made total sense.
Use the times as a general guide and rely more heavily on the other cues.
But, guess what?
This is also extremely useful if youre living with other people, so they know what things are too.
Maybe theyll even label things!
Chopping broccoli on a small or even medium-sizedcutting boardis a recipe for disorganization and mess.
Instead, as we did in culinary school, just use a big board.
A dull knife is more apt to skid into your thumb while youre chopping an onion, for example.
But a razor-sharp one will penetrate the onion with barely any pressure from you.
Its a win-win: intact fingers and easier, almost effortless, chopping.
In culinary school we learned to sharpen and hone our own knives.
I admit I have not kept up with that practice.
Instead, I regularly take my knives to be sharpened, and so should you.
Kitchen supply stores are often a good bet.
Skip the Oven Mitts
There are no oven mitts in culinary school.
Just like in restaurants, students use (dry!
dish towels to remove roasting pans from the oven or grab the handle of a sizzling cast iron pan.
Since Ive had that training, oven mitts drive me bananas.
What a waste of time, pulling them on like gloves!
I want to just grab and go.
(Dont bother with a square pot holder.
It’s too easy to get burned.)
Aroma, of course, and also texture.
Think about a plain butternut squash soup and then butternut squash soup topped with toasted pepitas.
Or Romaine lettuce tossed inCaesar dressingand then that same salad with crispy croutons mixed in.
