Kitchen Tips – Page 10

No yard? No Problem … Container Gardens to the Rescue

Posted on April 28, 2010 by Alison Ashton — 4 Comments ↓

By Alison Ashton

These days, home is a second-story condo with no yard. Instead, we have a sunny, south-facing balcony and a sizable deck, which means our urban farming must be done in containers. Which is all right by me. Even when I lived in houses with yards, I was still more inclined to garden in containers because I’m horticulturally challenged and lazy. Overseeing a few containers just seemed…easier. And it is; even I’ve managed to cultivate pots of vigorous herbs and sweet cherry tomatoes.

container-melange You can grow anything, from herbs to apple trees, in containers, says C. Darren Butler, a Los Angeles-based University of California Master Gardener, arborist, and landscape designer who teaches small-space gardening workshops and other horticultural classes. “The only thing I’d caution people that they shouldn’t try in a container is corn,” he says.

Here’s all you need to get started:

Location. “You need sun–five to six hours a day,” says Butler. “That’s the number one thing.” But that sun can be on a patio, balcony, deck, or stairway. If horizontal space is limited, a sun-drenched wall is ripe for vertical gardening.

Choose a container. “I don’t think there’s any one perfect container,” says Butler. Size and water retention are the main considerations. He recommends sustainably harvested wood, UV-treated recycled plastic, or simply reusing 5-gallon plastic nursery buckets. Glazed clay pots retain water well, Butler notes, but they can be expensive and breakable. Avoid terra cotta, he cautions, which tends to wick moisture away from plants.

Evangeline Heath Rubin, who documents her horticultural adventures in the blog Farm Apartment, got her apartment garden started with a self-watering EarthBox ($59.95), in which she grows a variety of salad greens. EarthBox kits come with a container, watering system, potting mix, and casters.

The depth of the container depends on the plant’s root system. Most plants need at least 8 to 12 inches, though baby lettuces, radishes and arugula can thrive in as little as 4 to 6 inches. Tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant and the like need a bit more depth–14 to 20 inches. You can even grow a lemon tree in a 5-gallon pot; you’ll just need to prune the roots every few years when the plant is dormant.

Soil. Butler recommends a mix of one-third coarse builder’s sand or washed plaster sand, one-third organic matter (compost or organic potting soil for vegetables), and one-third native soil (ask a neighbor to lend you some).

You’ll want to feed container plants to replenish nutrients that are washed away every time you water, says Heath Rubin. Compost or worm castings are ideal. Her solution for small-space composting has been vermiculture–using worms to compost kitchen scraps–in a compact Wriggly Ranch worm bin. “I give them the gourmet treatment,” boasts Heath Rubin, who purees vegetable scraps for her colony of red wigglers. “I think of them as my pets.”

Plants. “Don’t be afraid to start from seed,” says Heath Rubin. Butler recommends compact container varieties, which are available for just about any kind of fruit or vegetable. Organizations like Seed Savers Exchange and companies like Seeds of Change sell seeds for everything from bush cucumbers to cherry tomatoes to baby eggplant.

Hmm, with sun, decent soil, a hospitable container, and seeds even I can turn my concrete jungle into a verdant urban farm.

A longtime editor, writer, and recipe developer, Alison Ashton is a Cordon Bleu-trained chef and the Editorial Director for NOURISH Evolution. She has worked as a features editor for a national wire service and as senior food editor for a top food magazine. Her work has appeared in Cooking Light, Vegetarian Times, and Natural Health as well as on her blog, Eat Cheap, Eat Well, Eat Up.

Spring Pantry Cleaning Reinvigorates Your Cooking

Posted on April 24, 2010 by ldgourmet — No Comments ↓

By Jacqueline Church

The urge to do some serious spring cleaning has hit, and I wondered how many others shared my crazy pantry dilemma. I’d buy something on a whim—a block of belacan (Asian shrimp paste), a bottle of green peppercorns, a stash of fenugreek—then tuck it away in the pantry and forget about it. So I took a survey of NOURISH Evolution readers and Twitter followers and found that a theme emerged: The original inspiration to buy the now-buried-in-the-back-of-the-pantry-item was the desire to stretch in a new culinary direction. So I’ve put together a list of the three most common ingredients lurking in cupboards and included ideas for using them.

Lentils. These quick-cooking pulses are truly multipurpose. They can be used in soups and stews. They are terrific in cold salads for added protein and fiber. They can be cooked and mashed in veggie burgers or croquettes. They’re a lovely accompaniment to fish and poultry. If you have some on hand, try our All-Purpose French Lentils (it’s fine to substitute a different variety for the Lentilles de Puy in the recipe).

Dried black mushrooms. Dried shiitake, porcini, morel, and other varieties of mushrooms can seem daunting as they’re usually sold in large quantities. Fortunately, dried mushrooms are packed with nutrition and umami, and they last a long time. They add rich flavor and texture to soups, stews, risotto, and stir-fries. Soak them in hot water, and use the soaking liquid like any broth for a soup base or sauce. Use the stemmed and sliced mushrooms in all manner of recipes. Mushrooms are a perfect way to reduce saturated fat in dishes that call for ground or chopped meat; just replace some or all of the meat with mushrooms (try this with meatballs or substitute soaked and sauteed dried mushrooms for pork in Fumiko’s Gyoza).

Harissa. Two readers said they’d found a jar of harissa kicking around their pantries. Harissa is a pesto-like North African condiment made from chile peppers, garlic, olive oil, and spices. It adds a fiery punch to fish, grains, sauces, and dips. Think of it as revved-up ketchup. In fact, you can use harissa much like you would use ketchup, Tabasco, or Sriracha: on burgers, over scrambled eggs, in deviled eggs. Thin it with yogurt and serve it over fish, or as a dip for crudite. Thin it with olive oil for a rub for roast chicken.

Use your spring pantry cleaning energy, and these ideas, to rediscover the inspiration to try something new, whether it’s a new lentil salad, mushroom dumplings, or harissa-marinated fish.

Jacqueline Church is an independent writer whose work has appeared in Culture: the Word on Cheese, Edible Santa Barbara, and John Mariani’s Virtual Gourmet. She often writes about gourmet food, sustainability issues and the intersection of the two on her blog Leather District Gourmet. Currently, she’s at work on Pig Tales: a Love Story about heritage breed pigs and the farmers and chefs bringing them from farm to table.

Stretch Your Food Budget: Use Everything

Posted on April 14, 2010 by Alison Ashton — 1 Comment ↓

“Profits are measured in pennies,” one of my culinary school instructors often repeated to remind us of the importance of maximizing our use of ingredients. Smart chefs–those who want to stay in business–do this all the time and now, thanks to a stagnant economy, it’s a practice budget-conscious cooks are bringing home.

stretch-your-food-budget Here are a few suggestions to help you make the most of what you already have for inexpensive, healthy meals.

Make stock. This is a prime example of stretching your investment, especially if you’re spending a bit more on organic, heritage food. You can make stock from almost anything–vegetables, bones, shrimp or lobster shells. Vegetable stock is the easiest; you can use the trimmings for anything from aromatics (onions, leeks, and the like) to tough mushroom stems (try those in our Mushroom Stock). Avoid cruciferous veggies or dark leafy greens, which impart bitter taste. To make different stocks, use our Most Versatile Chicken Stock recipe as a guideline and substitute the main ingredient. The biggest difference is how long you simmer the stock: 30-45 minutes for vegetable or fish stock, three to four hours for chicken, and six to eight hours for beef. Of course, you can use other varieties of poultry (turkey or duck, for example) or meat bones (lamb, perhaps), but these have distinctive flavors that make their stock a bit less versatile.

Think whole. Although the trimmings from fruits and vegetables are a fine addition to the compost heap or (in the case of veggies) stock, using the entire thing will add new flavors and textures to your cooking. Beets and beet greens are a good example. The sweet beets are delicious boiled, roasted or steamed, while the greens are a delightful quick-cooking alternative to spinach. Try Mama Kourtesi’s Beet and Green Salad and you’ll be sold on this concept. You can use fennel in a similar way, using the bulb, along with the pretty fronds as a garnish (save the stalk for stock).

Even animal products can be utilized this way. Poultry is one of the few items home cooks can buy whole, and it’s likely to come with giblets (heart, liver, gizzard, and neck), especially if you purchase heritage birds. Use these (except for the liver) to flavor stock, soup or gravy; the liver can go toward pate, like our Chicken Liver Pate. You can freeze the raw giblets for up to four months. Of course, you’ll want to save the carcass to make stock.

Smart leftovers. Thrifty cooks pride themselves on recycling leftovers in entirely new dishes. Day-old bread hanging around? Make it into breadcrumbs or, even better, bread pudding. Turn extra cooked rice into fried rice or rice fritters (try rice in place of quinoa in our Curry Quinoa Cakes).

Keep the fat. Home cooks tend to discard the fat rendered while cooking some dishes—like Revelationary Duck Confit. But that fat is full of flavor and worth saving (on the open market, duck fat will run you about a dollar an ounce). Use a tablespoon of duck fat in lieu of olive oil for a special spin on sautéed potatoes, or a touch of pork fat to crisp up leftover carnitas.

Those are just a few ways I’ve been making better use of ingredients lately. Now it’s your turn. What are your strategies? Share here.

Natural Products Expo West: A world of organic

Posted on April 9, 2010 by Alison Ashton — 3 Comments ↓

By Alison Ashton

Turning 30 is a big deal, whether you’re a person or an event, and it was certainly cause for celebration last month at the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, California. Its monster size–1,700-plus exhibitors and 56,000 attendees–was a reflection of how all things organic and natural have moved into mainstream. I revisited some of our faves from the Fancy Food Show and discovered new goodies you’ll want to look for too:

expo-10-roundup

Revolutionary rice

Environment and flavor come together in Lotus Foods’ new SRI–One Seed Revolution rices. The company worked with Cornell University to introduce the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in Indonesia, Madagascar, and Cambodia, which allows farmers to use up to 90% less seed and half as much water than conventional rice while boosting yields up to 100%–with no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Varieties include Indonesian Volcano Rice (a nutrient-dense blend of brown and red rice), Madagascar Pink Rice (an endangered type that was preserved by one farmer), and Cambodian Mekong Flower Rice (prized for its floral fragrance). The rice is currently sold in 11-pound bulk bags ($31.79) and will be available in 15-ounce packages in the fall.

Gluten-free grows up

Expo aisles were chockablock with gluten-free everything, from cookies and crackers to pizza crust. Some still have all the appeal of a hockey puck, but many compare favorably with their traditional counterparts for texture and flavor. One winner was King Arthur Flour Company’s new line of gluten-free baking mixes for bread, cookies, brownies, cakes, muffins, and pizza crust ($6.95 each). The gluten-free chocolate cake was rich and moist with a light, tender crumb. Since gluten’s not a problem for me, I was also pleased to see King Arthur now offers unbleached cake flour ($4.50 for 2 pounds), which would work beautifully with our Chocolate Angel Food Cake.

Salty flavor, less sodium

NutraSalt Low-Sodium Salt ($3.99) hails from the Red Sea and Dead Sea. It’s 66% lower in sodium than conventional table or sea salt yet high in heart-healthy potassium, with an intensely salty taste. Since going to culinary school last year, I’ve been using a heavy hand with salt in my cooking. Now I can use this salt without sacrificing flavor.

Bag it

Now that you’ve made a habit of toting reusable grocery bags to the store, the next step is to focus on produce bags. Several companies make reusable produce bags, but I like the ones from 3B Bags ($7.50 for a three-bag set) made of a breathable mesh that’s fine enough to accommodate bulk-bin items, too. If you still use plastic trash bags and the occasional zip-top bag in the kitchen, look for Green Genius’s biodegradable bags; they’re priced competitively with national brands.

Label Lingo: A Guide to Eggs

Posted on April 7, 2010 by Alison Ashton — 5 Comments ↓

Buying eggs used to be so simple: Grab a carton off the shelf, open it to check for any cracked shells and go on your merry way. These days, however, you need to interpret a myriad of claims on the label before deciding which carton goes into your cart. What do they all mean? Read on . . . we’ve got answers with this guide to eggs.

egg-label-post

General Terms: There are a few terms that are found on the label of every carton:

Grade: Virtually all eggs sold in stores are graded for quality by the USDA. There are three grades: AA (firm, thick whites and high, round yolks with no defects); A (similar to AA, but whites are deemed “reasonably” firm); and B (thinner whites and wider, flatter yolks). Grade A is what’s typically found in stores.

Size: Size refers to the minimum weight per dozen eggs, as determined by the USDA, rather than the size of the individual eggs. Large (24 ounces per dozen) and extra large (27 ounces per dozen) are the most common.

Date: Most cartons include both pack and sell-by dates. The pack date (when the eggs were graded, washed and packed) appears as a three-digit code indicating the consecutive day of the year, while the sell-by date appears as an actual date. Eggs are good for three to five weeks past the sell-by date.

Color: Color is determined by the chicken’s breed, and eggs in stores are white or brown. Heritage-breed hens, like Araucana chickens, produce eggs in a rainbow of hues, from turquoise to coral. Color has little to do with flavor, which is determined by the hen’s diet.

Dietary Claims: When it comes to labels, sorting out a hen’s diet is almost as complex as defining our own:

Natural: “Natural,” according to the USDA, only means that a product may not contain any artificial ingredients or added coloring–essentially meaningless when it comes to eggs.

Organic: Eggs certified organic by the USDA means the hens’ feed is organic; in other words, free of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and animal byproducts, as well as chemical pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Organically raised hens also are antibiotic-free.

Hormone Free: You’ll often see eggs labeled hormone-free, but since the USDA prohibits the use of hormones in all poultry products, this applies to all eggs.

Antibiotic-Free: You’ll also find eggs labeled antibiotic-free. The USDA prohibits the use of prophylactic antibiotics in poultry, but some producers still treat sick hens. However, hens generally don’t produce eggs when sick.

Vegetarian: It seems odd that some eggs are labeled vegetarian, since it would seem all chickens are vegetarian. But conventional feed may include animal byproducts to boost the protein level in eggs, whereas vegetarian hens are fed food with no animal by-products. This label also helps strict vegetarians avoid omega-3-fortified eggs from chickens fed fish oil or marine algae.

Omega-3: Hens’ feed may include flaxseed, marine algae, or fish oil to enhance the omega-3 fatty acids in their eggs. Similarly, some producers add marigold extract to the feed to boost the lutein (good for eye health) in the yolks.

Pastured: Pastured is an emerging, unregulated term that producers are adopting to indicate their chickens have unfettered access to the outdoors, where they forage in the grass and supplement their diet with nutritious grubs, worms, and other goodies.

Treatment: There are also a handful of labels that speak to how a hen—and her eggs—were treated both before laying and after:

Cage-free: Cage-free means hens live indoors–in a henhouse–but are not caged. They may or may not have access to the outdoors, and still may live in overcrowded conditions.

Free Range: While the USDA defines “free range” for some poultry products, it’s a loose term that merely means the chickens have unspecified access to the outdoors. Another popular, undefined term: free-roaming.

Trimming: Chickens raised in crowded conditions will peck at each other; so many producers trim their beaks to prevent injury. Producers who don’t engage in this practice will tout “no beak trimming” on the label.

Humane: Humane Farm Animal Care’s Certified Humane program ensures hens have ample space to nest and perch. However, hens may be kept indoors and beak-trimming is allowed. The Animal Welfare Institute’s Animal Welfare Approved program is more generous with space and movement and prohibits beak-trimming.

Fertile: Fertile means there’s a rooster living amongst the hens, which some people prefer as more a more natural option. Some believe fertile eggs are more nutritious, which is not the case.

Pasteurized: Pasteurized eggs have been treated with heat to kill salmonella bacteria and are a good option for using raw eggs in uncooked applications like a salad dressing or if you’re fond of eating raw cookie dough.

By far our favorite choice for eggs though, and the least confusing of them all, is to find eggs from a local farmer (or, in Lia’s case, your own chicken coop). The taste and richness are unsurpassed.

A longtime editor, writer, and recipe developer, Alison Ashton is a Cordon Bleu-trained chef. She has worked as a features editor for a national wire service and as senior food editor for a top food magazine. Her work has appeared in Cooking Light, Vegetarian Times, and Natural Health as well as on her blog, Eat Cheap, Eat Well, Eat Up.

Dying Onion Easter Eggs – The Beauty of Imperfection

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Alison Ashton — 5 Comments ↓

If you’re of a certain age and grew up with garish Hanna-Barbera cartoons, you harbor some nostalgia for Easter eggs dyed in lavishly fake hues not found in nature. Bubblegum pink, say, or Tang orange. But aesthetics have changed since then, especially among those of us who have embraced sustainable living. We crave something more in tune with the earth using natural dyes and decorations, which is what Lia charged me to bring to you in this post.

Thankfully, there are plenty of resources for how to make dyes by boiling colorful ingredients (think beets, blueberries, and the like) to extract their pigments, which you then use to dye hard-cooked eggs (the egg-dying equivalent of using henna to color your hair). What’s Cooking America has clear instructions to make fruits, vegetables, and spices into dyes. Culinary Musings has groovy ideas for using rubber bands and tape to create batik-like patterns.

I admire people who have the patience and steady hands to turn everyday objects into works of art . . . but the truth is, I’m just not one of them. I tried to shift this assignment to one of my colleagues–Jackie, maybe, since her beautiful gyoza are edible works of art. But, no, Lia thought my Everywoman lack of handicraft skills made me an ideal candidate. If we found a project that I could master, anyone could succeed.

So off I went in search of the simple.

Luckily, Lia mentioned something about using onion skins to dye eggs. This requires nothing more than eggs, papery onion skins, cheesecloth, and kitchen twine. I loved the idea of using humble items that I had on hand to create subtly beautiful patterns reminiscent of marbled endpapers from old books. Even better, I could cook the raw eggs and dye them in one step.

The real beauty of this project is that it’s all about imperfection. The onion skins don’t have to be uniform sizes, and they needn’t be wrapped perfectly around the eggs. In fact, the more they overlap, and the less perfect they are, the more interesting the results.

Use white-shell eggs, so the subtle colors from the onion skins show up nicely. A combination of the papery skins from red and yellow onions will give the eggs a marbled yellow-and-brown pattern. Here’s what you need:

Selection of papery skins from red and yellow onions
White-shell eggs, at room temperature to prevent them from cracking when added to boiling water
Cheesecloth, cut into 6-inch squares (2 yards is plenty for 6-8 eggs)
Kitchen twine
Vegetable oil

Place skins in a bowl of warm water to soften them. Dip an egg in warm water. Drape pieces of skin around the egg (similar to doing papier mache). Wrap the egg in a double layer of cheesecloth; secure with kitchen twine. Repeat with as many eggs, onion skins, cloth, and twine as you like.

Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Gently lower eggs into pan. Cook 11 minutes. Transfer eggs to an ice bath. Unwrap eggs and gently wipe them dry with a clean towel. Dip a towel in oil and rub each egg to give it a pretty sheen.

What to do with those leftover onions? Sub them for the peppers in our Sweet Pepper Confit or Quick-Pickled Red Onions (which will work with any kind of onions) to serve with your Easter meal, or on a sandwich with leftovers.

A longtime editor, writer, and recipe developer, Alison Ashton is a Cordon Bleu-trained chef and NOURISH Evolution’s editorial director. She has worked as a features editor for a national wire service and as senior food editor for a top food magazine. Her work has appeared in Cooking Light, Vegetarian Times, and Natural Health.

The Cook’s Thesaurus: Lori Alden

Posted on February 26, 2010 by Alison Ashton — 5 Comments ↓

Those of us who work with food rely on a variety of reference tools. There’s a plethora of wonderful books to learn about culinary history, how to use ingredients, and smart substitutions. I love Food Lover’s Companion, for example, and Kurt recently sang the praises of Waverly Root’s classic Food: An Authoritative Visual History and Dictionary of the Foods of the World. Both deserve a place on your cookbook shelf.

Truth is, though, if you want to learn more about how to use an ingredient or find a substitution, you’ll probably start with the Internet. My first stop is The Cook’s Thesaurus, a site I learned about a few years ago from a colleague. It has a homey, unfussy design, a vast range of reliable food information, and great navigation. I’ve consulted it on my iPhone while at the farmers’ market and when I needed to make substitutions on the fly in a busy pastry kitchen. It’s rare that I don’t find what I seek in The Cook’s Thesaurus, and every time, I’m impressed anew by the site’s breadth and depth.

food-subs-post It’s also a remarkable labor of love. Founder Lori Alden created the site 1995, back in the early days of the Internet, as way to practice her HTML skills. An economist who spent 20 years teaching in the California State University system, Alden is also an adventuresome cook. She worked in kitchens as a student and did a short stint as a short-order cook, but it was during her time as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa that she became a pro at substituting one food for another. “We had to improvise all the time with limited ingredients,” she says.

Improvising is exactly what she designed The Cook’s Thesaurus to give novice cooks the confidence to do. The site was inspired by a friend who complained of searching high and low for hazelnuts, not realizing that they’re often labeled “filberts” and could be swapped for almonds, walnuts, macadamias, pecans or Brazil nuts. Alden approached the project with academic rigor, and the result is an online reference that covers everything from the Indian spice aamchur to the crisp bread zwieback–with all of their alternative names and potential substitutions. To round it out, Alden gathered ingredients, set up a home studio and snapped pictures of just about everything.

But you don’t have to be novice to benefit from Alden’s efforts. For example, I can never remember which types of potatoes are starchy and which are waxy. So, of course, I visited the site before developing this potato-leek soup and was reminded that a lovely medium-starch potato like the Yukon gold would work beautifully.

Thanks again, Lori.

Nourish Yourself in the New Year: Love Your Lists

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Lia Huber — 10 Comments ↓

Originally, I was just going to write about keeping a par stock list to keep track of your (fabulously efficient) pantry. But then I looked around my own kitchen and realized I have three lists working synergistically to help me keep the basics well-stocked and use what I have on hand to turn out healthy meals. Here’s how I use them and how they work together.

par-stock-lists-post 1. Par Stock — In professional kitchens, chefs keep what’s called a “par stock,” which basically means a minimum level of essential ingredients. I’ve adapted this practice for my own kitchen with a laminated list of the ingredients my family can’t do without: olive oil, garlic, milk, bread, etc.. Then I go through the list to check the status of each ingredient before heading out to the store. Working with a par stock virtually eliminates those annoying “uh, oh, we’re out of olive oil” trips.

2. Produce List – There’s always something in the fridge. If you’ve been to the farmers’ market, it’ll be full of veggies. If you’ve roasted a chicken over the weekend there might be some extra breast meat. The trick is keeping track of everything you have so you’ll use it before it spoils. I’m an out-of-sight, out-of-mind kind of person, so this was a real challenge for me before I found a simple solution . . . in black and white, right before my eyes: a chalkboard. Now, when I come back from the market or if I’ve just picked a crop from the garden, I jot down what I’ve put in the fridge on the blackboard by the kitchen. I love to sit down, sip a cup of tea and let my mind wander to concoct meals out of what’s written on the board.

3. Cupboard List — My grains, pulses and legumes are on a shelf above eye-level so, in the spirit of my produce chalkboard, I’ve added a white-board to the inside of the cupboard door to keep track of how much quinoa and rice and red lentils I’ve got stashed up there.

The idea is to form a system of lists that keeps your basics stocked while capturing the ever-changing contents of your fridge and cupboards so you know what you have to work with at a glance. The payoff? Big savings on time, money and effort come mealtime . . . and a healthier approach to boot.

Knife Skills 101: Choosing and Using a Knife

Posted on January 15, 2010 by Kurt Michael Friese — 13 Comments ↓

The knife: No other tool is so elemental, so representative of the cook than the well-honed blade. It is, in essence, the extension of a cook’s hand and in every culture a kitchen is simply not a kitchen without one. Yet few tools in the contemporary American home are treated so casually. If you’re one of those home cooks who has a handful of knives, purchased God-knows-when, stored in a drawer with the can opener and that gadget you got for Christmas, it’s time to change your ways.

Let’s get over the first hurdle right off the bat: yes, good knives are expensive. I suggest, though, that unless you happen to be a carpenter there will be no tool in your life that you will use more often, and that your knives should command a certain respect, even reverence. A well-made knife, well-cared for, is something you will leave to your grandchildren and they to theirs – a once in many lifetimes purchase.

knife-skills-post The Lineup

There is disagreement among chefs as to how many kitchen knives are absolutely necessary. One school holds that you need a different knife for each specific task. A few chefs believe they can do any job with just one or two. I fall squarely in the middle. While I own perhaps 30 knives, I consider just four of them to be indispensable and another to be nearly so:

Chef’s knife — The “chef’s” knife, or French knife, is the one that probably comes to mind when you think of a kitchen knife. It has a wide hilt and a straight, sharp edge that tapers to a point. Chef’s knives range in length from 6 to 14 inches, but an 8- to 10-inch blade is sufficient for nearly any task.

Boning Knife — A boning knife is smaller, with a 6-inch blade roughly as wide as the handle and a straight edge that curves up toward the tip.

Paring Knife — The paring knife is smaller still, 3 to 5 inches long and narrow as the handle, and is used for finer, more intricate work.

Serrated Knife — The serrated knife comes in many shapes and sizes, but I prefer one about 8 inches long that’s offset to prevent scraping one’s knuckles on the cutting board.

The Desert Island Knife — Then there’s the knife that has been essential in Asian kitchens for centuries and is now gaining is gaining popularity in the West. What the Japanese call a “santoku” has come to be known as a “snub” in professional American kitchens because of the rounded shape of the tip. It is versatile and light, and in the “desert island” scenario, this would be the knife I would choose.

The Brand

Saying, “A knife is a knife” is like saying, “a car is a car.” Sure the car will get you there, but how safely, how comfortably, how efficiently? Just as you choose a car that fits your needs and style, you’ll want to choose the brand of knife that’s right for you. In most professional kitchens you’ll find chefs who swear by one of three brands: Henkels, Wüsthof-Trident, or Global. Those who like the German knives, the Henkels and the Wüsthofs, like them for their classic style, their balance, their long lasting edge and their weight. These knives are fairly hefty and, for some, that’s a good thing. Conversely, the Japanese Globals are much lighter and thinner, and are made from one piece of steel from handle to tip. This not only adds strength, but is also more sanitary since there are no little crevices to hold bacteria. The folks at Wüsthof have recently followed suit with their Culinaire line, honed from single pieces of high carbon stainless steel.

In general, which of these three you choose is a matter of taste; try each and decide which feels best. (One important factor to keep in mind, though, is that while Henkels and Wüsthofs are guaranteed for life, the Globals have no guarantee at all.)

Keeping the Edge

Keeping a knife sharp is vital. I recommend using a three-stone sharpening system (my favorite is the one made by Norton Abrasives available, among other places, at JBPrince.com) and a good steel. The sharpening stones—one coarse, one medium and one fine—you’ll use every few months to really hone the edge. The steel, on the other hand (the metal stick you see chefs rubbing against their knives at the roast beef carving station during Sunday brunch), you’ll want to use every time you pull your knives out to removes the burrs and the wire edge that can be produced from hard use. Make sure you a steel coated with industrial diamond dust; it will last forever and all the care it needs is an occasional wash with warm soapy water.

Cutting Surfaces

Now that you’ve got nice, sharp knifes you need a suitable surface to cut on. I recommend hardwood because it gives the knives something meaty to bite into—which makes it safer for you and healthier for the knives. Hardwood does require a bit more care, though. After using, wash your board with an antibacterial soap (by hand, never in a machine) and dry it right away; a little water won’t hurt, but a lot of water and heat will ruin the wood. If the crevices on the board get too deep, give it a light sanding (once a year ought to do it) and you’ll have a fresh surface.

Holding

Once you’ve chosen the right blades and the right board, there’s the small matter of knowing how to use them. We’ll be back with Knife Skills 102: The Basic Cuts in a bit (you can also see videos of mincing and dicing in Kitchen Tips Video Clips), but for now let’s cover the basics of safe slicing. The golden rule is to curl your fingers back towards your palm and keep the blade of the knife flush up against the stretch of fingers between your first and second knuckles. It’s awkward at first, but with practice becomes almost second nature.

Kurt Michael Friese is the founding leader of Slow Food Iowa, serves on the Slow Food USA National Board of Directors, and is editor and publisher of the local food magazine Edible Iowa River Valley. He’s also Chef and co-owner of the Iowa City restaurant Devotay, a freelance food writer and photographer, and author of A Cook’s Journey: Slow Food in the Heartland.

Build a Healthy Pantry

Posted on January 12, 2010 by Lia Huber — 8 Comments ↓

Let’s be honest. Come 5:30, how many of us throw open the fridge and hope something will shout, “I’M YOUR DINNER!”? Then, disheartened, we close the door and resort to pizza or take-out or Lean Cuisine . . . again. Having a well-stocked pantry can help you break that cycle by giving you the ability to transform whatever looks back at you from the fridge into a wholesome, home-cooked meal. Here’s how to build a pantry to nourish a healthier you.

pantry-post Cooking oils. No matter whether it’s a head of broccoli or leftover chicken thighs in the fridge, a drizzle of oil in a hot sauté pan can transform it into something magnificent. Choose healthy oils like extra-virgin olive oil, expeller-pressed canola oil and peanut oil as your basics. Others, like walnut and toasted sesame oil, are great as finishing oils for adding depth of flavor.

A variety of vinegars. It may sound extravagant, but I heartily advocate for a half-dozen vinegars in your pantry. Sure it’s an investment initially, but the shelf-life of vinegar (unlike oils) is virtually infinite. My ideal spread includes good white and red wine vinegar, Champagne vinegar, balsamic vinegar, cider vinegar and sherry vinegar. You’ll be amazed how the variety zips up your vinaigrettes (and your desire to make homemade dressing). And don’t be afraid to use them in sauces or even as a braising liquid.

Whole grains and dried beans and legumes. Wholesome, quick-cooking starches like whole grain pasta and couscous, bulgur and farro make a substantial base for a variety of dishes in under half an hour. Dried beans can be soaked and cooked in about the same time using a pressure cooker, and many legumes, like lentils, cook in about 20 minutes on the stove top.

Canned beans and veggies. These are your secret weapon for rounding out a meal. Whip up a quick pasta sauce with diced tomatoes, turn a simple sauté into a hearty dish with canned beans, add a splash of coconut milk to a stir-fry to keep it from becoming ho-hum.

Stock. I go through about a quart of stock a week. I use it to deglaze sautés and stir-fries, I use it to stretch oil-based pasta sauces, I use it to braise anything from chicken to endive, and as a base for quick soups. I find having chicken, beef and mushroom stock (for vegetarian options, I prefer mushroom stock over vegetable stock, which can taste like smushed carrots to me) on hand leaves me well-prepared for whatever the fridge presents.

Basic aromatics. If you eschew the Champagne vinegar, fine. If you skip on the bulgur or mushroom stock, that’s OK. But don’t let your pantry go without at least one head of garlic, one onion and shallot, and a knob of fresh ginger at all times. Those are like the primary colors of your pantry palette.

Spices. If the aromatics are your primary colors, spices are the rest of the rainbow. Yes, grinding (and oftentimes toasting) your own spices is preferable to shaking them out of a jar, but in all honesty, I don’t do that unless I have an abundance of time. Instead, I rely on small jars (so they stay fresh) of basic spices like cumin, coriander, cayenne (I noticed when I was organizing my spices recently that a disproportionate number start with C . . . hmmm), chile flakes, cinnamon, curry powder, bay leaves, fennel seeds (which I do take time to crush in my mortar and pestle), nutmeg and oregano. If you want to expand a bit further you could include cardamom (like a heady, perfumed cinnamon), juniper berries (great with duck and pork), turmeric, fennel powder, five-spice, allspice and star anise. Beyond that there are a slew of other spices and mixes, like various chile powders, sumac and zaatar. As a general rule, if a spice smells musty or dusty, toss it.

Salt. I’m a sucker for salt. It may sound simplistic, but having a medium-grained crystal salt (like kosher salt) to cook with and a separate, coarser salt to sprinkle on almost as a condiment has changed everything in my kitchen. And I continue to learn about how different finishing salts—red Hawaiian, black Cyprus, pink Brittany—each have a distinct flavor and texture that can be used to enhance a dish. If your market carries various salts in bulk (which, pinch me, mine just started doing), I encourage you try a few. At the very least, stock kosher salt and a simple finishing salt like Maldon.

Nuts. Nuts, like beans, are another one of those satisfying, protein and fiber-packed add-ons. I like to keep peanuts, walnuts and pecans on hand, which can span from stir-fries to salads.

And . . . A few other also-nices are a jar of raw, unfiltered honey (a staple in many of our vinaigrettes); dried chiles and mushrooms; and a variety of cooking wines like dry red and white, marsala, mirin (sweet rice wine), sake and Shaoxing rice wine.