Essential Cooking Tips, by Ben.
Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2004 10:11 pm
Welcome to "Essential Cooking Tips, by Ben", in which I, Ben, give you essential cooking tips. I find myself to be the most qualified to host this series, due to the fact that my name is Ben, and also, I have failed more often and achieved success less frequently than anyone who ever picked up a pan and put knife to cutting board.
My goal with this series is to give you not recipes or specific meal plans, but overall, general cooking tips which have taken me countless years and pointless hours watching Food TV to learn on my own. These are hardcore tips, to be taken to heart and used virtually every single time you try to prepare food. Seriously, this is the shit.
Here is the number one hint, which every amateur cook learns eventually, at the cost of a thousand unpleasant experiences in the kitchen. The "Golden Rule", if you will:
TURN UP THE GODDAMN HEAT.
However high you've turned up the stove, or how long you've left the burner on, turn it up higher or let it heat up longer. Everyone knows that the lack of proper heat is what causes the most problems in the kitchen, but even hearing it, it will still take time to train yourself to believe it. You're going to be afraid of burning everything. Certain things, you will burn (garlic, mainly). But you gotta turn the heat up. Do it.
Now, here's your second hint, which is not in the "how to not fail" vain, but instead in the "how to be a better cook than your prick friends". Ready? The key word is "butter". The key sentence is:
USE TONS OF BUTTER IN EVERYTHING.
Particularly, finish like everything with butter. Sauces. Vegetables. Meats. Everything. Butter is the chef's friend. Anthony Bourdain said it best, "It's why my shit is better than yours. Every time you go to a restaurant, even if you're ordering off the 'low-fat' menu, you're eating a ton of butter." You've heard the term "restaurant-quality"? Well, that's one of the big secrets. Load that shit in there. And it's really not that bad for you.
Stay tuned for more: Essential Cooking Tips, by Ben!
My goal with this series is to give you not recipes or specific meal plans, but overall, general cooking tips which have taken me countless years and pointless hours watching Food TV to learn on my own. These are hardcore tips, to be taken to heart and used virtually every single time you try to prepare food. Seriously, this is the shit.
Here is the number one hint, which every amateur cook learns eventually, at the cost of a thousand unpleasant experiences in the kitchen. The "Golden Rule", if you will:
TURN UP THE GODDAMN HEAT.
However high you've turned up the stove, or how long you've left the burner on, turn it up higher or let it heat up longer. Everyone knows that the lack of proper heat is what causes the most problems in the kitchen, but even hearing it, it will still take time to train yourself to believe it. You're going to be afraid of burning everything. Certain things, you will burn (garlic, mainly). But you gotta turn the heat up. Do it.
Now, here's your second hint, which is not in the "how to not fail" vain, but instead in the "how to be a better cook than your prick friends". Ready? The key word is "butter". The key sentence is:
USE TONS OF BUTTER IN EVERYTHING.
Particularly, finish like everything with butter. Sauces. Vegetables. Meats. Everything. Butter is the chef's friend. Anthony Bourdain said it best, "It's why my shit is better than yours. Every time you go to a restaurant, even if you're ordering off the 'low-fat' menu, you're eating a ton of butter." You've heard the term "restaurant-quality"? Well, that's one of the big secrets. Load that shit in there. And it's really not that bad for you.
Stay tuned for more: Essential Cooking Tips, by Ben!