Cooking Web

Cooking Tips That Go A-Ha!

November 9, 2005

BY MAUREEN JENKINS Staff Reporter

Even great home cooks sometimes need a bit of guidance in the kitchen. After all, no matter how many emergencies you've run into or how many jams you've substituted your way through, there's always another you haven't yet tackled.

How to Break an Egg: 1,453 Kitchen Tips, Food Fixes, Emergency Substitutions and Handy Techniques (The Taunton Press, $19.95) from the editors, contributors and readers of Fine Cooking magazine addresses all these and more for everyone from restaurant-ready cooks to folks who need to learn how to separate a yolk from the whites.

The book is designed as an empowering reference to help readers become better cooks, as "a little bit of knowledge goes a long way," said Fine Cooking Editor Susie Middleton during a recent stop in Chicago. In the book's Introduction, Middleton wrote, and not facetiously, How to Break an Egg makes "great bedtime reading" for cooks who can't get enough of its time- and face-saving cooking tips. They range from the simple (peel garlic with wet fingers to prevent sticking peels; keep brown sugar soft with a few pieces of apple peel) to the offbeat-but-still-useful (cut goat cheese logs and cake layers with dental floss; use your iron's steam/spray function to ensure a shiny, crisp crust on bread).

"We talk about readers getting in a zone when they read Fine Cooking, and the book is the same way," she said. "They're surrounded by all these ideas that help them succeed at their passion."

And those ideas don't all come from so-called experts. About half the book's content comes from Fine Cooking readers. Middleton said the monthly Readers' Tips feature is the magazine's most popular. "Fine Cooking is a community of cooks," she said, "and we think our readers have the greatest ideas because they're doing the cooking and spending all this time in the kitchen. Fine Cooking is about 10 years old, and we just have a wealth of information."

It's the magazine's mission, Middleton said, "to be like a friend in the kitchen. We don't talk down to our readers, but don't assume a certain level of expertise. To enjoy cooking, you want to be successful." That's why Fine Cooking's regular and special issues are chock-full of the "tools, techniques, the recipes, ingredient information and the beautiful visual photography. What we try to do as editors is translate for our readers what really great cooks do."

Because the magazine draws its writers and experts from across the country (some from Chicago include Tru executive pastry chef and partner Gale Gand and restaurateur Charlie Trotter), Middleton is visiting Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas and Seattle to share

its straight-forward message with cooks at all levels. And she's touting the same message with How to Break an Egg.

"The organization is based on what people care most about," Middleton said, "and that's tools, ingredients and techniques." The book's first chapter contains tips that recognize the importance of proper cookware and utensils in a kitchen. Especially appropriate with the winter holidays approaching are sections for bakers with chapters like "Pie Pitfalls and Tart Tribulations" and "Cookie Chaos and Brownie Blunders."

Here are some of my favorite cooking tips that are included with my recipes as well as those that I've picked up from cookbooks and magazines. If you have a good one, please send it along.

Cooking a turkey

Prepare what you need before you start. It¡¯s how the pros do it and it simplifies the process when you are scrambling to put it all together.

When using a broiler to cook steaks, pre-heat oven until it's really hot. This will sear the outside of the meat and keep the juices in. And don¡¯t use a fork to turn the steaks, use thongs or a spatula to prevent juices from leaking out.

Buy yourself a potato ricer for mashed potatoes. It a great gadget to have in your kitchen, it looks like a giant garlic press, costs about six bucks, but there¡¯s nothing better for smooth airy mashed potatoes.

A folding steamer platform that sits in almost any pot works great for your steamed veggies. Important, be careful not to overcook the broccoli, you want it to be crisp but tender.

Invest in a salad spinner. They¡¯re inexpensive and work great. There¡¯s nothing more unappealing than soggy lettuce. And speaking of lettuce, you may have grown up on iceberg, but try some red or green leaf lettuce for a little diversity.

Never cook with any wine you wouldn't drink!

You can substitute 1 tbl. of fresh rosemary leaves with 1 tsp. of dried, but fresh is better.

Try using a spray olive oil to coat your roasting pan.

Any brine-cured black olives can be substituted for Kalmata and remember to tell your guests there are pits so they don't break a tooth.

To roast garlic, sprinkle the bulb with a little olive oil and white wine, salt and pepper, wrap it in tin foil and roast in a 350 degree oven for approximately one hour.

Try using a hand blender to puree the soup....it's easier than transferring to food processor.

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