'Cheffy' techniques that are useful in home cooking
Discussion
What are your 'cheffy' techniques that are useful and applicable in the domestic kitchen. High end restaurant cooking seems to be diverging from what is achievable in the domestic kitchen but are there techniques that whilst a bit fussy are within the scope of domestic level skill and equipment?
I offer 'salmis' method for small game birds and waterfowl.
Roasting these birds is a bit hit and miss; very difficult to get nice à point breast meat without undercooked legs; plating up and keeping the little birds hot is a PIA; many people don't like having to do microsurgery to extract meat from a chicken like carcase smaller than your fist.
Salmis method involves part roasting. Time depends on size of bird and browning first is a good idea. Letting the bird cool while you fry some stock veg in the roasting vessel. Take the legs and breasts off the birds and reserve them. Fry chopped carcases with the stock veg and then add wine and stock to make a sauce. Can then strain, cool, skim and reduce the sauce. All of this can be left overnight.
Then you just need to get together garnish eg. fried bacon and mushrooms. Gently reheat sauce and meat portions. Serve on croutons is the traditional way.
I offer 'salmis' method for small game birds and waterfowl.
Roasting these birds is a bit hit and miss; very difficult to get nice à point breast meat without undercooked legs; plating up and keeping the little birds hot is a PIA; many people don't like having to do microsurgery to extract meat from a chicken like carcase smaller than your fist.
Salmis method involves part roasting. Time depends on size of bird and browning first is a good idea. Letting the bird cool while you fry some stock veg in the roasting vessel. Take the legs and breasts off the birds and reserve them. Fry chopped carcases with the stock veg and then add wine and stock to make a sauce. Can then strain, cool, skim and reduce the sauce. All of this can be left overnight.
Then you just need to get together garnish eg. fried bacon and mushrooms. Gently reheat sauce and meat portions. Serve on croutons is the traditional way.
Edited by oddman on Friday 27th October 16:36
This isn't a fancy trick or anything, it's just what happens in most places, its applicable to every home cook and doesn't need any special equipment or skill.
Blanch-refresh
You blanch your (mainly) green veg in a large volume of heavily salted boiling water until barely cooked. For example, broccoli florets 4-5 minutes. Fine beans 5-6. Then straight out into ice cold water. It doesn't actually need to be iced just tap cold will do unless you are doing large volumes. And always work in small batches, although at home a small batch is enough for a family of 4 or 5 anyway. Once cold drain on paper or a cloth. If you cover properly with cling they are fine for 24 hours in the fridge.
When you want them just refresh them in boiling water or ping until hot. Bright green veg that will hold its colour and texture for ages.
No more grey greens.
Blanch-refresh
You blanch your (mainly) green veg in a large volume of heavily salted boiling water until barely cooked. For example, broccoli florets 4-5 minutes. Fine beans 5-6. Then straight out into ice cold water. It doesn't actually need to be iced just tap cold will do unless you are doing large volumes. And always work in small batches, although at home a small batch is enough for a family of 4 or 5 anyway. Once cold drain on paper or a cloth. If you cover properly with cling they are fine for 24 hours in the fridge.
When you want them just refresh them in boiling water or ping until hot. Bright green veg that will hold its colour and texture for ages.
No more grey greens.
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.
Totally… I have a plumbers blowtorch… so many uses and not just in the kitchen…Also a proper blow torch where you attach the fuel canister to the head. The 'kitchen' versions are hopeless.
baconsarney said:
May be off base here, but for me it’s sharp knives… I have two sets of knives, one being globals which I sharpen with a wet stone… samurai sharp knives transform food prep… other top tip is peel garlic with a teaspoon… oh, and stand up straight when chopping onions 
Someone on PH recommended holding a clove of garlic between thumb and finger at both ends, twist back and for the and the skin just falls off, it is amazing and transformed how I peel garlic.I use 21TonyK's method of boiling pork skin in salted water, removing the soft layer, cutting the skin up and then drying the pieces in a low oven. Then I freeze them and pop them in a very hot oven when needed - they take minutes to bubble up and turn into delicious crispy crackling. I can't find his original excellent instructions but they're somewhere on PH.
w1bbles said:
I use 21TonyK's method of boiling pork skin in salted water, removing the soft layer, cutting the skin up and then drying the pieces in a low oven. Then I freeze them and pop them in a very hot oven when needed - they take minutes to bubble up and turn into delicious crispy crackling. I can't find his original excellent instructions but they're somewhere on PH.
Its as you describe but you can shortcut by drying the quickly simmered skin in an oven at 120 for 2-3 hours then deep frying at 190+.I know he's not everyone's cup of tea but I think Ramsay is good in his videos of showing little cheffy techniques.
Like chopping with the 3 fingers and thumb tucked in, knuckle guiding the knife. He often re enforces that.
I always used to struggle with Hollandaise, when I watched him make he whisks in a couple of tablespoons of water which is missing from most recipes. He also showed how to fix it if it splits.
Laying meat away from in a pan so you don't get splashed with hot oil.
Like chopping with the 3 fingers and thumb tucked in, knuckle guiding the knife. He often re enforces that.
I always used to struggle with Hollandaise, when I watched him make he whisks in a couple of tablespoons of water which is missing from most recipes. He also showed how to fix it if it splits.
Laying meat away from in a pan so you don't get splashed with hot oil.
21TonyK said:
This isn't a fancy trick or anything, it's just what happens in most places, its applicable to every home cook and doesn't need any special equipment or skill.
Blanch-refresh
On the same line and really just the whole idea of mise en place, the idea of getting everything prepared ahead of time and then just finishing it to serve. Perhaps not necessary for a mid week supper but for a dinner party or Christmas lunch, it takes all the stress, rush and risk put of it. Prep as much as you can the day before. Blanch-refresh
- Blanch-refresh your veg
- Make mash potato
- Par boil and rough up your roast potatoes
- Make the sauce/gravy (chill it with cling film touching the sauce to stop a skin forming)
- For dauphinoise, make it day before. Chill and press it overnight and then portion it in the morning.
I recently ditched the none stick pans in favour of stainless and carbon steel. I was having real trouble frying eggs without them sticking. Youtube provided the answer in both seasoning the carbon steel pans and also getting them to the right temperature before putting in the oil. Basically heat the pan until when you drip water into the pan it balls up and skates around the pan rather than sizzling away, the Leidenfrost effect apparently.
My wife trained as a chef a long time ago but old habits die hard.
She screams at James Martin for using both hands in both bowls to egg wash then dip something in breadcrumbs, allegedly the correct cheffie way is to use one hand in the dry ingredients and the other for the wet, stops dragging over the wet ingredients into the dry.
She screams at James Martin for using both hands in both bowls to egg wash then dip something in breadcrumbs, allegedly the correct cheffie way is to use one hand in the dry ingredients and the other for the wet, stops dragging over the wet ingredients into the dry.
Whilst alot of these are not worth the faff, there is some good stuff in here
https://youtu.be/H_erG7HSK0A?si=hk2twCczDlhYOEN6
https://youtu.be/H_erG7HSK0A?si=hk2twCczDlhYOEN6
baconsarney said:
May be off base here, but for me it’s sharp knives… I have two sets of knives, one being globals which I sharpen with a wet stone… samurai sharp knives transform food prep… other top tip is peel garlic with a teaspoon… oh, and stand up straight when chopping onions
I've never tried peeling garlic with a teaspoon but it works a treat for peeling ginger. You can get round all the knobbly bits whilst keeping your fingers safe.Don't need a rice cooker, even I have learned to steam rice (clean the rice first with continual rinsing), boiling water just covers the rice, lid on, steamed, perfect.
Always amused me the original Chateaubriand recipe of discarding meat:
Wiki:
"Chateaubriand (sometimes called chateaubriand steak) is a dish that traditionally consists of a large front cut fillet of tenderloin grilled between two lesser pieces of meat that are discarded after cooking."
On the basis that restaurants these days surely don't discard meat it seems to be a good one to try at home.
Always amused me the original Chateaubriand recipe of discarding meat:
Wiki:
"Chateaubriand (sometimes called chateaubriand steak) is a dish that traditionally consists of a large front cut fillet of tenderloin grilled between two lesser pieces of meat that are discarded after cooking."
On the basis that restaurants these days surely don't discard meat it seems to be a good one to try at home.
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