10x kitchen hacks from professional chefs
Professional chefs shake their heads as they watch us muddle around in our ordinary little kitchens. Our everyday fumbling looks nothing like what a real cook does. But with a few tips from the pros, you might just become a little better at it.
Tip 1: clean up your mess
Every recipe says somewhere that you have to wait five minutes for the onions to turn translucent, or let something simmer for fifteen minutes. Use that downtime to clean up your mess. Seriously: look at that countertop. There are plates and bowls, knives lying around and, if possible, half-empty packages and peels scattered among them. If you have a few minutes to spare, put everything dirty in the dishwasher, throw waste in the bin and neatly put away anything you’re not using. Much better!
Tip 2: make sure your knives are sharp
The most dangerous kitchen tool? A dull kitchen knife. It slips off the onion, you can’t get any further than halfway through the pumpkin and you have to use extra force when cutting a cucumber. There’s a good chance you’ll take a finger along with you during that clumsy chopping.
Tip 3: cut calmly
The fact that professional chefs chop an onion in nanoseconds and can calmly look around while slicing spring onions doesn’t mean you should go wild with your knife set like a Duracell bunny. Take it easy and make sure you cut neatly. Speed comes later (or never).
Tip 4: taste, taste, taste
Don’t wait until just before serving everything to taste, but taste while cooking. Is there enough salt? Is something else missing from the flavor? Michiel van der Eerde emphasized it repeatedly in Hiske Versprille’s delicious podcast ‘Cheft’: taste, taste, TASTE!
Tip 5: if you’re baking, be a neurotic
Baking is different from cooking. Especially if you’re baking something you’ve never made before, you really have to follow the recipe to the letter. Baking is one big chemistry experiment; you can’t just wing it. Read the recipe and do exactly what it says, even if you think you know better (because you don’t).
Tip 6: add a splash of vinegar
Have you tasted your sauce or soup and feel that something is still missing, even though you’ve added enough salt and pepper? Try a little vinegar, or a squeeze of lemon. Something fresh creates a better, more interesting flavor.
Tip 7: tomatoes do not belong in the fridge
Apparently, this is a thing – and no one really knows why – there are people who keep tomatoes in the fridge, alongside their friends cucumber and parsley. That’s not where they belong. The cold from the refrigerator actually diminishes the flavor of tomatoes. So take them out of the vegetable drawer and put them somewhere at room temperature. Your reward: juicy, flavorful tomatoes.
Tip 8: preheat the pan
Another tip: heat the frying pan before adding oil or butter. Butter or oil in a cold pan produces a different flavor effect than a knob added to a hot pan. Let it sizzle!
Tip 9: room temperature really means room temperature
If you’re baking something and the ingredients need to be at room temperature, that’s no joke. Take the eggs out of the fridge well in advance, because the yolk of an egg at room temperature breaks more easily and mixes into the batter more easily. An ice-cold egg can cause lumps in the batter, because, for example, the butter becomes firm again when it gets too cold.
Tip 10: stirring often goes wrong
Stirring soup? Stirring sauce? You’re probably doing it wrong. If you simply stir in circles, you’re not doing it right. First stir in small circles along the edge of the pan, then move inward, as if you’re drawing a flower with petals. Then stir in figure eights. This way, you mix everything together properly. Stir a little from the bottom upward, as if you were using an oar; this distributes the heat through a dish fastest.
Read also:
- Step into the oven: culinary school in seven lessons
- 9 cooking terms you need to know
- Recipe: Yvette van Boven’s chocolate ice cream with salt
Source: Bored Panda
