Even with two decades of professional cooking under my belt, I never stop trying to be a better cook. Here are a few tips and tricks to improve your skills in the kitchen.
SHARP KNIVES: Dull knives bruise herbs, crush vegetables and shred meat. Contrary to popular belief, a steel doesn't actually sharpen a knife; it only briefly hones its edge.
To maintain a sharp blade, you need a whetstone and a lesson on how to use it. (Hello, YouTube.) There are also excellent knife skills classes at places such as the Good Egg (www.goodegg.ca) and Nella (www.nellacucina.ca).
FLEXIBLITY: Since good food requires good ingredients, be flexible when you're out shopping, especially this time of year, when most produce has travelled a great distance or spent a long sojourn in cold storage.
If you were planning on cooking rapini and the stuff at the supermarket is tired and floppy, either make the same dish with broccoli or cook something else.
DRY YOUR FOOD: While I'm generally ecologically responsible in the kitchen, I burn through paper towel like a Hummer consumes gas.
Here are a few reasons why: washed and thoroughly dried fresh herbs will last at least a week in the fridge; wet herbs will rot within days. Properly dried chicken will sear to a beautiful golden brown; wet chicken will splutter, splatter and steam. And wet vegetables will dilute vinaigrette and turn a salad into a bland, soggy mess.
ROOM TEMPERATURE: If you cook a roast straight from the fridge, it will be dry and overcooked on the outside before the centre is done to your liking.
If you let it come to room temperature first, it will cook more evenly, yielding superior results. Whether it's a thin filet of fish or a whole leg of lamb, let it come to room temperature before popping it in the oven.
WORK THAT BROILER: Ever wonder why your recipes rarely look as good as the glossy food porn in cookbooks?
That's because those dishes were assembled by a team of seasoned cooks and fluffed up by a food stylist.
There is one oft-ignored tool in your kitchen that can instantly transform a flabby, anaemic dish into something worthy of a cookbook. Whether it's crisping chicken, browning eggplant or giving a potato gratin a golden crust, the broiler has saved my rear end on many an occasion.
THINK AHEAD: When planning meals, it pays to think like a chef and always be two steps ahead.
Instead of washing parsley as you need it, wash it all at once. While chopping vegetables for today's pasta sauce, dice the vegetables for tomorrow's soup. With dishes like soups and stews, make extra when you can because doubling a recipe rarely involves double the work and they always taste better the next day.