You're
a good cook. Or maybe just an OK one. But the truth is, you would
kill for a list of tips that you could use to really light a fire
every time you turn on the stove. How do the pros do it? They learn
things in culinary school that just aren't in that darn recipe you're
staring at so intently as you simmer and stir.
But thanks to Linda Carucci, author of the brand-new Cooking
School Secrets for Real World Cooks (Chronicle Books, 2005), you
too can be in the know. Here, Carucci shares the top 10 secrets
from her book, gleaned from her years of experience in the world
of food. Her résumé includes a stint as the dean of the California
Culinary Academy and being named the 2002 winner of the Cooking
Teacher of the Year award from the International Association of
Culinary Professionals. The Montclair resident is currently the
Julia Child Curator of Food Arts at Copia in Napa.
So, next time you have a dinner party, be prepared. There
will be no polite, "Oh, this is delicious, Sharon." You are gonna
rock.
When I cook, I'm on a mission. My goal is to bring out the absolute
best flavor. Here are 10 easy tips that will do just that.
1. Taste as you cook. Cooking without tasting is like slapping new
tires on a car and driving off without an alignment. As you taste,
season with salt to bring out the inherent flavors in the food,
amplifying them and bringing them into balance-and making you look
like a culinary genius. Use Diamond Crystal Kosher salt. I love
its pure, clean flavor.
2. When preparing meat, poultry, and fish, season with salt, spices,
and herbs before cooking. You'll be rewarded with incomparable flavor
and restaurant quality savoriness. Experiment by salting a chop
or burger before cooking and another after cooking. I promise you'll
taste the difference.
3. To boil more flavorful pasta or potatoes, blanch tastier broccoli
or green beans, or poach more succulent chicken or shellfish, salt
the cooking water until it tastes like the ocean to season the food
as it cooks.
4. Cook with the seasons. Veggies and fruits are naturally more
flavorful and vibrant tasting-and less expensive-when they're in
season. We may be able to find fresh corn on the cob in stores in
the middle of December or brussels sprouts in July, but the time
it takes to get them from the field to your kitchen translates into
diminished-and sometimes bitter-flavor.
5. Buy organic. If you haven't compared the taste of freshly harvested
organic carrots or broccoli with their conventionally grown counterparts,
you're in for a pleasant surprise. The same goes for poultry, lamb,
and pork. (An added benefit: Organically grown produce packs more
nutrients, thanks to the rich soil it's grown in and the absence
of nutrient-depleting pesticides and herbicides.)
6. When a recipe directs you to sauté onions, don't take any shortcuts
to hasten the process. Take a few extra minutes to slowly coax out
the natural sugars-or caramelize-in the onions over lower heat until
they're meltingly soft and lightly browned. They'll provide an incomparable
foundation of flavor for your soups, stew, braises, sauces, risottos,
and curries.
7. Add butter. To finish soups, sauces, and stews with great flavor
and the light-catching sheen you see on sauces in fine French restaurants,
use a technique called monter au beurre ("mohn-tay oh burr"): whisk
in a knob of butter when the cooking is complete.
8. Make sure it's unsalted butter. Salt is used in butter both as
a preservative and to mask any undesirable flavors in the cream;
unsalted butter is made from the freshest cream and has a cleaner
flavor. Whole Foods 365 organic unsalted butter is priced right
and tastes great.
9. Take a tip from Mediterranean cooks and drizzle a splash of extra
virgin olive oil over a bowl of pasta or beans just before serving.
If you're trying to cut back on fat, you'll get more flavor from
the olive oil (or butter, for that matter) if you use less early
on in the recipe and add it just before serving, instead.
10. And make sure it's high-quality olive oil. Use a mild-tasting
extra virgin olive oil-Bariani is my workhorse oil-in cooking and
to prepare delicate sauces like pesto or mayonnaise. A bold-tasting,
Tuscan-style oil is better suited for dressing salads and vegetables
or for drizzling over a finished dish.
