'Cheffy' techniques that are useful in home cooking
Discussion
Discendo Discimus said:
I look forward to chopping veg now. A sharp knife also prevents onions from hurting your eyes as it doesn't bruise the onion as you cut, meaning less of the evil acid gets thrown out.
"interesting" fact - the vapour emitted by the onions combines with the water in your eyes to make H2s04 which is why it hurts!
Discendo Discimus said:
The best tip a chef ever taught me, and it's something that is taught on week one of culinary school is something called the seasoning triangle.
It's how a chef balances a dish and determines if it needs salt, sugar or acid. The image above replaces salt for Umami but it's the same concept.
If you put too much salt into a dish, balance it with sugar or an acid such as lemon juice or vinegar.
If you look up SortedFood on Youtube, Ben Ebberel talks about it all the time and it works really well.
Also - a sharp knife, sharpened on a whetstone is such a joy to use. I look forward to chopping veg now. A sharp knife also prevents onions from hurting your eyes as it doesn't bruise the onion as you cut, meaning less of the evil acid gets thrown out.
That's exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for when making the post.It's how a chef balances a dish and determines if it needs salt, sugar or acid. The image above replaces salt for Umami but it's the same concept.
If you put too much salt into a dish, balance it with sugar or an acid such as lemon juice or vinegar.
If you look up SortedFood on Youtube, Ben Ebberel talks about it all the time and it works really well.
Also - a sharp knife, sharpened on a whetstone is such a joy to use. I look forward to chopping veg now. A sharp knife also prevents onions from hurting your eyes as it doesn't bruise the onion as you cut, meaning less of the evil acid gets thrown out.
I've done this over years, correcting sauces by tasting and adding lemon juice or something sweet usually honey, redcurrant jelly or the like depending on what it needs, but never seen it expressed this way. Thanks
oddman said:
Discendo Discimus said:
The best tip a chef ever taught me, and it's something that is taught on week one of culinary school is something called the seasoning triangle.
It's how a chef balances a dish and determines if it needs salt, sugar or acid. The image above replaces salt for Umami but it's the same concept.
If you put too much salt into a dish, balance it with sugar or an acid such as lemon juice or vinegar.
If you look up SortedFood on Youtube, Ben Ebberel talks about it all the time and it works really well.
Also - a sharp knife, sharpened on a whetstone is such a joy to use. I look forward to chopping veg now. A sharp knife also prevents onions from hurting your eyes as it doesn't bruise the onion as you cut, meaning less of the evil acid gets thrown out.
That's exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for when making the post.It's how a chef balances a dish and determines if it needs salt, sugar or acid. The image above replaces salt for Umami but it's the same concept.
If you put too much salt into a dish, balance it with sugar or an acid such as lemon juice or vinegar.
If you look up SortedFood on Youtube, Ben Ebberel talks about it all the time and it works really well.
Also - a sharp knife, sharpened on a whetstone is such a joy to use. I look forward to chopping veg now. A sharp knife also prevents onions from hurting your eyes as it doesn't bruise the onion as you cut, meaning less of the evil acid gets thrown out.
I've done this over years, correcting sauces by tasting and adding lemon juice or something sweet usually honey, redcurrant jelly or the like depending on what it needs, but never seen it expressed this way. Thanks
And yes, I have ended up with 20 litres of stock rather than 10 because "some idiot"
doubled up on stuff when not paying attention.Useful reminder about h2so4, I will relay that to the KPs next week when they have 25kg of onions to shred for soup
Quick mayo:
Ustensiles :
1 jug
1 stick blender
Ingredients:
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 pinch of salt
Around 250ml of oil, depend of the egg size.
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Method:
Poor all ingredients in a jug. Blitz with the stick blender. Depending of the size of the egg, you might want to add more oil.
Add any flavour you want:
wasabi
Soy sauce
Kimchi
Old grain mustard
Ketchup and worcestershire sauce
Sriracha
XO sauce
BBQ sauce
Herbs
Lime and Chii.
Have fun!
Use the skin of boiled potatoes and boiled Jerusalem artichokes to make fantastic crisps (drop them in hot oil until crispy) Flavour them with a mix of roast cumin, coriander powder, salt pepper and a little bit of sesame seeds.
Perfect for dipping in one of the mayo mix above.
Ustensiles :
1 jug
1 stick blender
Ingredients:
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 pinch of salt
Around 250ml of oil, depend of the egg size.
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Method:
Poor all ingredients in a jug. Blitz with the stick blender. Depending of the size of the egg, you might want to add more oil.
Add any flavour you want:
wasabi
Soy sauce
Kimchi
Old grain mustard
Ketchup and worcestershire sauce
Sriracha
XO sauce
BBQ sauce
Herbs
Lime and Chii.
Have fun!
Use the skin of boiled potatoes and boiled Jerusalem artichokes to make fantastic crisps (drop them in hot oil until crispy) Flavour them with a mix of roast cumin, coriander powder, salt pepper and a little bit of sesame seeds.
Perfect for dipping in one of the mayo mix above.
21TonyK said:
While this works to a degree adding more of one does not reduce the effect of another other than by masking it with a stronger flavour. It's a bit like piling more of one on top of another. The only real way to reduce the effect of one ingredient is to increase all others to reduce its % in the overall volume.
And yes, I have ended up with 20 litres of stock rather than 10 because "some idiot" doubled up on stuff when not paying attention.
Useful reminder about h2so4, I will relay that to the KPs next week when they have 25kg of onions to shred for soup
Yes. If you've put too much salt into something, adding sugar isn't going to do anything but make it salty sweet.And yes, I have ended up with 20 litres of stock rather than 10 because "some idiot"
doubled up on stuff when not paying attention.Useful reminder about h2so4, I will relay that to the KPs next week when they have 25kg of onions to shred for soup
vtgts300kw said:
Yes. If you've put too much salt into something, adding sugar isn't going to do anything but make it salty sweet.
I don't have any qualifications to allow me to disagree with any weight behind my argument, but you know when you get those horrible microwave ready meals and you notice the amount of sugar and salt in them? Same with some tinned soups. You'd never know by actually tasting them, because they've been balanced, but they have tablespoons of salt and sugar in them sometimes. I slipped whilst seasoning a spag bol the other night and ended up with a load of salt in the dish. I thought it was ruined (and to be honest, I shouldn't have eaten it) but I added sugar and some red wine vinegar and it made it hardly noticeable. It definitely works, but I understand that some people will take more convincing.
21TonyK said:
While this works to a degree adding more of one does not reduce the effect of another other than by masking it with a stronger flavour. It's a bit like piling more of one on top of another. The only real way to reduce the effect of one ingredient is to increase all others to reduce its % in the overall volume.
And yes, I have ended up with 20 litres of stock rather than 10 because "some idiot" doubled up on stuff when not paying attention.
Useful reminder about h2so4, I will relay that to the KPs next week when they have 25kg of onions to shred for soup
I know you are a proper chef Tony (so please don’t shout at me) but there is a small effect of adding salt to reducing the perception of sour/bitterness.And yes, I have ended up with 20 litres of stock rather than 10 because "some idiot"
doubled up on stuff when not paying attention.Useful reminder about h2so4, I will relay that to the KPs next week when they have 25kg of onions to shred for soup
Salt enhance the perception of sweetness (fact), likely by enhancing the ability of glucose transport proteins (well supported hypothesis)!
(The bit that is just speculation): I would suspect this only true up to a ‘threshold’ salt concentration, above that no effect may be seen.
Edited by PlywoodPascal on Friday 24th November 10:02
Edited by PlywoodPascal on Friday 24th November 10:02
OUI CHEF!PlywoodPascal said:
I know you are a proper chef Tony ....
been faking it since day one... seriously though, plenty of others on here with as much or greater experience and knowledge professionals or not. My job however involves a lot of R&D in food as well as the practicalities of cooking so I do spend an extraordinary amount of my time on "science stuff". Discendo Discimus said:
Oh pants, I actually disagreed with a chef. Sorry Tony, thanks for the insight, point taken and I'll bear it in mind when cooking in future.
Hey, you are completely right about balancing flavours, 100% and yes salt will enhance the perception of other flavours for most people. But, as you say only by a small amount and very soon salty becomes salty.Despite having spent at least 10 years working on development and I still learn new things every day. I have recently been working with and training Turkish, Thai and Sri Lankan chefs. Picked up loads of things which are useful.
FWIW I never shout in the kitchen. By the nature of the kitchens I run it rarely goes wrong but if I go quiet they worry.
ETA: I've got to get this in somewhere... f*ck humble brag
I am a chef, a proper one in the sense that I formally studied for 3 years. Ran my own restaurant, Telegraph, guardian reviews etc etc all that cr*p. But, you are only as good as your team and employing good chefs was the real secret.
But... think of probably the worlds most recognised chef, the one with countless stars, TV programmes, books etc The one who just had another daughter.
Who was trusted with cooking for his Mum last week?
Edited by 21TonyK on Friday 24th November 11:49
CharlesdeGaulle said:
21TonyK said:
FWIW I never shout in the kitchen. By the nature of the kitchens I run it rarely goes wrong but if I go quiet they worry.
I shout in the kitchen quite a lot, mainly at the chef, and the language gets fruity. I live and cook alone!21TonyK said:
Hey, you are completely right about balancing flavours, 100% and yes salt will enhance the perception of other flavours for most people. But, as you say only by a small amount and very soon salty becomes salty.
Despite having spent at least 10 years working on development and I still learn new things every day. I have recently been working with and training Turkish, Thai and Sri Lankan chefs. Picked up loads of things which are useful.
FWIW I never shout in the kitchen. By the nature of the kitchens I run it rarely goes wrong but if I go quiet they worry.
ETA: I've got to get this in somewhere... f*ck humble brag
I am a chef, a proper one in the sense that I formally studied for 3 years. Ran my own restaurant, Telegraph, guardian reviews etc etc all that cr*p. But, you are only as good as your team and employing good chefs was the real secret.
But... think of probably the worlds most recognised chef, the one with countless stars, TV programmes, books etc The one who just had another daughter.
Who was trusted with cooking for his Mum last week?
Humble brag indeed Despite having spent at least 10 years working on development and I still learn new things every day. I have recently been working with and training Turkish, Thai and Sri Lankan chefs. Picked up loads of things which are useful.
FWIW I never shout in the kitchen. By the nature of the kitchens I run it rarely goes wrong but if I go quiet they worry.
ETA: I've got to get this in somewhere... f*ck humble brag
I am a chef, a proper one in the sense that I formally studied for 3 years. Ran my own restaurant, Telegraph, guardian reviews etc etc all that cr*p. But, you are only as good as your team and employing good chefs was the real secret.
But... think of probably the worlds most recognised chef, the one with countless stars, TV programmes, books etc The one who just had another daughter.
Who was trusted with cooking for his Mum last week?
Edited by 21TonyK on Friday 24th November 11:49
- What did you cook for her?Mobile Chicane said:
Get your tweezer game on. 30 cm stainless steel tweezers are so useful for turning, stirring, serving, eating.
Also a proper blow torch where you attach the fuel canister to the head. The 'kitchen' versions are hopeless.
Can confirm. This is a suckling pig cooked on my Weber rotisserie, finished with a bit of blowntorch for proper crackling. Also a proper blow torch where you attach the fuel canister to the head. The 'kitchen' versions are hopeless.
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