There's no crying in cookering!

Oh man you look terrible. What did you get in a knife fight or something? Seriously? Who gets in knife fights? Okay who did you get in a knife fight with? A vegetable!? I am not listening anymore, it is time for you to get educated in the craft of the kitchen knife cuz damn. Having good knife skills is one of the greatest attributes you can have in a kitchen or while cooking. If you have honed (!) your skills you will take less time in preparation and more importantly your items will cook evenly and predictably. Oh and your hands will not look like you hand feed bears little smokies.

There are as many ways to cut an onion as there are stars in the sky (10). This post is going to focus on two of the handiest to have available in your tool box as it were. The first is good for when you want the onion in relatively big even slices. So things like stir frys and caramelized onions. The second is just a dice which is good for things that either will only be sweated or not cooked at all. So sauce and salsas.

Remember, a sharp knife is your friend especially in the case of onions. A dull knife will jack up your situation. The first thing to do in either situation is to get the onion ready. In this case you should cut the top and the bottom off the onion maybe a 1/4 to 1/2 an inch from each end. Then cut the whole operation in half latitudely.


Then get in there with your fingers, well what you have left of them, and peel of the papery skin of the onion. Depending on the onion this might require removing the first layer. Just try to leave some of the onion on there.Next put the onion cut side down on your board. Then starting from whichever side you are more comfortable with, slice along the curved edge of the onion towards where the center of the onion touches the board. Then move a little higher and repeat all the while keeping your fingers clear and aiming for where the center of the onion meets the board.


Continue this way until you make it all the way around. The slices should look something like this.


So there you have slices. Look for the side by side comparison at the end. Now on to the dice. Start with the same halved deskinned onion. Put it cut side down and make a slice parallel to the board through the top or bottom about a third of the way towards the top from the bottom. DO NOT CUT ALL THE WAY THROUGH. SERIOUSLY. Cut until you are just shy of the other side. This will keep the onion held together and make your life much easier later. Then move up another third and make another slice and then do the last third.


Next slice along the curved side of the onion perpendicular to your previous cuts and the board. AGAIN, DO NOT CUT ALL THE WAY THROUGH. Leave the side you left connected earlier still connected. Once again this will make your life easier and make you look like a pimp/pimptress when the time comes.


Now make cuts the last direction perpendicular to the last cut leaving you with a beautiful dice. CUT ALL THE WAY THROUGH NOW. When you get close to the still connected side flip that part over and cut it up separately. Notice the fingers curled under as to avoid getting cut. When you get more comfortable you can actually have the flat side of the knife rest against your knuckles while you cut.


There you have it. Both styles ready to roll. Hey, look whose not bleeding anymore! Now go and practice.

What was that? No. This is not some exercise that prepares you for fighting like in the karate kid. This shows you how to cut an onion. So that you can cut an onion.


Now use these to make something tasty and make it happen in your tum tum.

Skills to come in handy in a knife fight...or meal time.

So there you are hanging out with your boys, you know the "gang," and you all start feeling a little...anxious.

'nuff said

You know, ready to throw down. Ready to mix it up and test your mettle. Ready to find another group of boys or "gang" and have a good old fashioned knife fight.

A good friend of the Workshop Nico defending his toon's honor against the shirtless wonder

Sadly though you can only find a chef's knife to wield and a bunch of veggies to fight. However, those veggies should not be underestimated. If you go after them unprepared you just might come out of it with a few shorter fingers and some horribly bloody tasting stir fry. Oh but your ego has decided to write some checks that your body can't cash.

I am giving you your dream shot

Now look at you. Take a look at those veggie cuts and those fings (!). You just got your a$$ kicked by something that cannot even move on its own. What you need is some knowledge and some training. You need a montage. Well the Workshop does not have that kind of technology so what you get instead is a series of short posts showing how to cut some stuff up. Each one shows a couple different ways to go so that your ingredients can cook evenly and your fingers can maintain their current length and blood content. Stay tuned for the knowledge bomb, but you might want to take off your shoes because when your socks going fly off at that kind of speed your shoes will be destroyed.

Cool, Cool, Cool...Cool Tools

If you have ever spent a sleepless night watching infomercials then you have no doubt seen some amazing kitchen gadgets that are supposed to make your life easier. That is not to say that these gadgets do not work or do not make your life easier, they just might do that. The main problem with most of the items pushed is that their uses are limited and they take up a bunch of space. It would be great to have a juicer than can juice a shoe so you can wake up every morning to a tall glass of fresh juiced shoe, but seriously, how big is your kitchen? You honestly have room for the juicer, the chopomatic, the dehydrator, the magic bullet, and the Chef Tony knives? The Workshop is not that big. Keep in mind, these things are not a waste of money and can do what they do very well. The point that is being driven to is that these things can never replace the old standards, and that it it better to have a solid base of equipment and the knowldege to use it.

So what kind of stuff should you get in 3 easy payments? Basic stuff that can be used to make myriad things well. Things that people have been using to make food for centuries. You ever see an elderly woman with a face that looks like a well worn bomber jacket using a Magic Bullet to make her great grand mothers recipe? No, you have not. She is using a machete that gives the phantom pain of a tetanus shot just looking at it and a block of wood that must have had heads/hands chopped off on it.

The following is a general list of equipment that it is good to have in a kitchen. If you do not have these do not freak out. Take these with a grain of salt. This list is sort of a desert island proposition, that is to say what things you might want if starting from nothing on a fixed budget.



The first thing that you should have? A knife you say? That is a good idea for sure, however you can actually prepare more stuff with just a big old heavy pot than you can with just a knife. So the first thing you should get is a good heavy dutch oven kind of thing. These things range in price like you would not believe. You want to pay $600 for one? Sure. Oh, you said $60? Sure, you're covered too. You can even find some that are made out of cast iron and will outlast you and cost next to nothing. Now, why should you have this before a knife? Versatility. In this same pot you can boil stuff, broil stuff, saute stuff, braise stuff, pan fry stuff, deep fry stuff, steam stuff, sear stuff, or break things (it is heavy). Most things that you cook in a dutch oven are cooked by moist heat, the main exception being sauteing and frying which can be considered dry heat. So it takes care of half of the cooking methods. So in other words, if it involves cooking you can basically do it with one of these. Look for the heaviest, thickest one you can to promote good heat distribution and make sure it is oven safe with a tight fitting lid.



Now it is time to bring in the knife. With this little guy you can now control more of what you cook. You can ensure more uniform cooking times by adjusting the sizes of things and you can peel things that need to be peeled to be tasty. You should get the knife that fits your budget and feels best in you hand. A decent knife, if cared for, will last you forever. Also, remember to pick up a honing steel to keep your knife sharp. There was a huge long thing about knives last post, so check that out if you have more questions.



The Cooker loves to grill so that comes next. If you have a grill, be it a gas (indoors or outdoors), wood, charcoal, or even Foreman you can create a whole bunch more fun things. The grill will take care of your dry heat cooking needs. There are flavors that you simply cannot recreate any other way than with a grill. Plus, if you talk to someone that has grilled a long time, you will have a hard time stumping them on how to use the grill to cook just about anything. I bet they could even make a good soup directly on the grill if need be. When looking for a grill, the biggest thing that you will need to decide is how you want to generate the heat. This will depend on if you have access to a backyard type of area or not. If not go with an indoor grill or even a Foreman grill if that is the best you can do. The best thing to grill on is a real wood burning grill, however this not only requires the most attention and skill, but also requires the most time to get going. Gas grills are somewhere in the middle of those. The Workshop uses a charcoal grill as it has a nice blend of flavor and convenience. Just never use lighter fluid with anything, it tastes nasty. Especially on the Foreman Grill.


Better get a cutting board next. With this apparatus you can now do more precision cutting and slicing. Never use anything harder than your knife for a cutting board, i.e. glass. Wood is great for veggies and a plastic composite is great for meats. Aside from that you decide what you like. If it is plastic get the biggest that fits in your dishwasher. If it is wood, get the biggest that you do not mind lugging around or keeping on your counter.



The next thing to get would be a saute pan, 10" should be good. A saute pan differs from a fry pan in that the saute pan has straight sides and the fry pan has sloping sides. This allows you to do a couple more things in the saute pan than you can in the fry pan. This will allow the searing of meats and veggies, shallow braising, sauteing of course, and risotto making. When buying a saute pan get the thickest, heaviest pan that you can. The metals involved in the pan can start getting involved at this point. Generally speaking multi-metal "clad" pans are better than single metal pans. They are also more expensive so get what you can. As far as the size is concerned, go for a 10" pan as it will give you some good size to sear off big things but not be so big that you can't cook small amounts of things in it.


This is the point where everything starts blending together. If you have the previously mentioned items you can make just about anything that is not baking related. The following list is another set of kitchen essentials but they are not as important as the previously mentioned ones. They have more specific uses but are nonetheless used quite a bit. If a description seems necessary then it will be added of course.

Vegetable Peeler (the ceramic ones are worth the money)
A box grater, to make short work of cheese, taters, citrus zest, etc.
Bread Knife
Paring Knife
Whisk (any kind works fine)
Non Stick Fry Pan, look for non-stick pans that are oven safe. Older non stick pans give off a cancer chemical when used over high heat or used in the oven. That is not to say that you are going to get nose cancer from smelling the fumes, it just means that it could be a good idea to get a pan that doesn't add more to your daily carcinogen consumption.
Assorted Pans, take a look at the kind of things that you cook most often and go from there as far as which pans you get. The alternative is to buy a pan set which works just fine too.
Food Processor, if you get a good one it will last you forever. However, take a look at how much you will actually use the thing because the Workshop's gets used maybe once a month or so depending on what is being made. Oh there is a cool one that is a food processor and a blender, which means taking up less room.
Food Mill, this is awesome for making purees of things, be it the world's best mashed potatoes or red pepper coulis.

That seems to be enough for right now. Questions? Ask in the comments section and the Workshop will drop some knowledge on you.

Meet the friend that just may save your life one day

A knife can be your best friend or your worst enemy. If you treat the knife with respect it will be your best friend for life. Your BFF. Your bosom buddy. Your sidekick. Your soul sister. Your brochacho. The only thing that won't leave you when the world is cold and gray...Might have gotten a little off track there. However, if you do not treat the knife with respect it will ruin you. It will knock-up your wife and your daughter. It will shiv you in the shower. It will take your Grandmother out for a nice steak dinner and then never call her again. It will make you train your replacement at your very recently former job... Moving on.


So here is you new friend. Not so scary right? Let us take a closer look. This is a Santouko knife, which is sometimes referred to as an Asian Chef's knife. This is the main knife used in the Workshop, as it is the most comfortable for the Cooker. This is a personal preference type of thing.


The image above is a diagram of the various key points of a knife. If you would like a more detailed description of each part let the Workshop know.


Here you have the handle. Most knife handles come in maybe 4 different materials, metal, plastic, rubber and wood. There are of course plusses and minusses to each one and it will depend ultimately on which one feels the most comfortable in your hand. Here are some things to consider for each material.

The metal handles are typically one piece with knife itself. The Workshop has found these knives to be slippery when wet, which is a little scary sometimes. Here is an example of a metal handled knife. The benfit to a knife like that though is that you will never have to worry about the handle coming loose or getting broken or cracked.

The plastic handled knives are by far the most common. The benefit is that they can be molded into ergonomic designs for ease of use. The downside is that they can crack, chip and actually break off if you really jack it up. Here is an example of a plastic handled knife.

The rubber handled knives are a relatively recent development and are mainly used by professional cooks to ease the hand strain from chopping stuff for hours everyday. The good part is that they are very comfortable to hold and use. The bad part is that they get pretty nasty looking after a little while and can get rubbed down. Here is an example of a rubber handled knife.

The wood handle looks the best in the opinion of this Cooker and has the nicest feel. However, the handle can get discolored easily, warp and generally get nasty looking more quickly than the others if it is not cared for. Here is an example of a wooden handled knife.

No matter what kind of knife you like, make sure that it has what is referred to a full tang. This means that the metal of the knife runs throughout the handle of the knife. This adds better weight distribution and added strength.

The business end. This is a Santouko shape with a "hollow" edge. The shape will dictate what the knife is good for, in this case veggies. Each knife shape will lend itself to different types of preparations. The most universal is the classic French Chef's knife. Which can be used as a paring knife, carving knife, butchers knife and shell cracker. So if you have just one get a French Chef's knife. The knife in the diagram picture is a French Chef's knife. Long and skinny blades are better for slicing. Short and wide knives are better for chopping and breaking things. Short narrow knives are better for peeling things. Serrated is better for very soft, squishy things and bread.

There are a few different types of metals that this knives are made from. The thing to take note of is the carbon content. The higher the carbon content, the sharper the knife can get but the more often it would need to be sharpened and honed. This will be a personal preference for you. The Workshop prefers a slightly lower carbon knife as it stays sharper longer, but it is up to you.

The arty shot here is basically a picture of a honing steel. There is a difference between honing and sharpening. Honing is straightening out the edge of the blade and sharpening is creating a new edge. Honing should be doen every time you use the knife to maintain the sharp edge of the knife. Sharpening should only be done when honing no longer brings the edge back. A honing steel straightens out the blade. There are two general types of honing steels: one is called a steel, this realigns the edge; the other is a diamond coated steel which removes metal from the knife, basically sharpening it. Here is a funny gif of honing. Here is a kind of weird video of honing. One thing about the video though, do not do more than about 10 strokes with the honing steel, more than that is unnecessary and will cause your knife to dull more quickly over time.

A sharp knife is more safe than a dull knife. The Cooker's fingers and knuckles can attest to that. A sharp knife cuts exactly where you tell it to and does not jump through anything unexpectedly. A dull knife requires more effort to cut, jumps like crazy and goes where it wants to. So keep your knife sharp so that you can keep your fingers. Plus, cutting your fingers with a sharp knife feels way better than cutting yourself with a dull knife.

Okay time for the speech about knives that goes to any worker in the Workshop or any of the employees that work for the Cooker at "the Job." You will cut yourself with your knife. It will happen. When is up to you and how much respect you give the knife. If you take care of your knife, keeping it clean and sharp, and keep your fingers out of the way, you will be fine. If you understand and respect the fact that you are holding something that cuts through the skin and bone of formerly living things and understand that you are made of the same stuff, you will be fine.

Image property of Danilo Alfaro

Hold the knife confidently in your dominant hand. The image above is the catch all way to hold a chef's knife. You can also keep your entire hand on the handle. It all depends on what you are cutting. Holding it as in the image is good for delicate to medium work. Using the whole handle is for heavy work or work that is going to require some grunt and sweat.

Image property of Danilo Alfaro

Notice that the person in the image has their fingies out of the way of the knife. This is the way a person who respects the knife holds the food to be cut. You will notice that the knife is resting against their knuckles guiding the knife. This is something that takes a little getting used to. The important thing is to make sure that you fingers are curled. Curled fingers = 4 fingers + 1 Thumb. Uncurled fingers = < 4 fingers + 1 Thumb. Oh, and keep that damn thumb out of there.

Does that cover everything? Need more. Let us know in the comments.

General Notes for the Workshop

This post will go over some things that are always good to keep in mind while in your workshop. The discussion might get somewhat philosophical at times but only as necessary. This post is also the answer to Mr. Ward's request for information "What are the fundamental principles that a good chef always follows and practices?" Brace yourself, because this baby is looooonnngg.

The first thing to remember is that cooking is, above all else, a craft. That is to say, it is a skill that can be learned. Of course some people are going to be better at performing this craft just like any other but always remember that anyone can be a great cook. With that in mind, think of cooking as being a series of tasks that when completed, yields delicious food. The rest of these fundamentals are all based upon that notion, that cooking is a craft that can be learned.

Fundamentals to live by in the kitchen:
"You ain't done cookin' 'til you done cleanin'," - Unknown Chef
How in the world are you going to create a delightful little something if your kitchen looks like it should be on Clean House. The easiest way to keep your kitchen clean is to work cleanly and efficiently and clean as you go.
So what are some tips to doing that?

• Start with a clean kitchen.
  
• Organize yourself before you start cutting things and actually cooking things. If you have a lot to prepare or you have trouble knowing what should be done next, create a prep list or have the recipe that you are working from easily available.
  
• Collect all the equipment that you will need for your dish and have it waiting on you. Put the pans on the stove and start them heating at low heat. Have your cutting board out and knives sharpened and ready to go. Have someplace for your prepped items to go while waiting for the next step.
  
• Assemble all your ingredients that can hang out at room temperature for 30 minutes, i.e. meats, veggies, canned items, broths etc.
  
• Work in stages, do all your washing, then all your cutting, then all your cooking, then all your plating, etc.
  
• Find a warm place in your kitchen that finished items can hang out until the whole thing is done. Maybe it is a warming drawer, a low oven, the back of the stove, hot window sill in the desert.
• Keep an old plastic grocery bag in your prep area for waste and scrapes. Most everyone has about ten thousand plastic bags lying around with nowhere to go, put them to work for you. That way you can keep your prep area free of clutter and reuse those plastic bags. Another great thing is that when have finished you can just tie up the bag and throw it in your trash, making the stinks take a little longer to get out. Oh and if anyone uses Rachel Ray's garbage bowl, you will hear a knock on your door and it will be common sense coming to your house to punch you in the face. Why would you buy a bowl to put trash in before you put it in the trash can that you then have to wash. Plus the bowl is super ugly.
• Fill up one side of your sink with hot soapy water to put your pans in right after your are finished using them. This helps to loosen the cooked on bits and speeds up your cleaning time.
• Do the dishes right after you finish your meal. If you wait you will not do them and then next time your are ready to cook you will have to wash them before you can even start.

• The more organized and cleanly that you work, the more time and attention you can spend making the food taste good. If you are running around like crazy in a dirty kitchen you will get nothing done, take longer to do it and make food that tastes marginal at best. The best cooks always look cool ,calm and collected while cooking and their food reflects that. Working clean and being organized is something that chefs are judged on in professional cooking competitions as well as what culinary students are graded on while taking their exams.

Classics are Classics for a reason:

• Cooking has been around for ever. You will never create a truly unique dish. Someone, somewhere, did it 500 years ago in a village somewhere. It might not have been identical but it was close enough. Depressing? Not really. Take advantage of that long history. Those villagers have taken care of the research for you. They tasted the things that did not go together. They caught the diarrhea so that you could learn from their story. So look at the dishes that cultures become famous for and notice the flavor combinations that they use. Notice how they choose to prepare those ingredients. Learn from them.
• When you cannot think of something to make or what a dish needs to make it taste right, look back to the classics for the answers.
• Learn the classic from as many different cultures as you can. This will give your cooking, your diet, and your mind a wide diversity. Plus, you might find that you like the flavor profiles of a particular country better and you might start using those to build your dishes instead. Epicurious has a list of classic recipes from around the world so you can try just that.

Use the best that your budgets allow:

• Sometimes quality costs more. There will be times when you are going to have to decide whether to splurge or sacrifice. This is true for your pocket book as well as your wrist watch. You will have to decide where you should spend your time and money on your dish. Will it be the protein, the side dish, the dessert, the beverage accompaniment? Is it a special occasion that calls for privacy and indulgence or is the 4th of July and the neighborhood is coming over to your house?
• Try to find someplace in your city that sells consistently good produce. More so than anything else, this will make the biggest difference in the quality of your average dishes.
• If you are going to make fish at home, pay the money and get some good stuff. If you are going to risk making your house sell fishy you better be cooking some quality fish and you better take care to not overcook it.

Proper Preparation trumps everything:

• If you can learn to prepare things to the correct level of doneness, you are 75% of the way to the great cook promised land.
• Performing the basic things correctly will make a huge difference in your final product. So if you are searing something, sear the ever loving hell out of it. Do not be timid, make it happen. Put some damn color on whatever you are searing. If you are sauteing then you should be sauteing and not steaming or sweating. This goes for every technique and everything.
• This also plays to a more philosophical level as well. If you are going to prepare something that so many people have worked so hard to get to you the cook, then you should do your best not to waste their efforts.

Start simple and work up from there:

• Almost every accomplished chef spends much of the early part of their career finding their style. This usually ends up with them creating these incredibly elaborate dishes that no one understands but them and half the time the dishes are not even that good. The flavors do not meld real well or the there is just a lot of superfluous stuff there. Then something happens along the way and they start removing things from their dishes. They take their dishes to the basic level that they can and still have it work. Then maybe they build it back up and maybe they don't.
• Everything you make should taste like what you are making. Sounds stupid right? Think about it this way, how many times have you had carrots that tasted like something far from carrots. Chicken should taste like chicken with complimentary flavors. Carrots should taste like carrots with complimentary flavors. So on and so on.
• People have been making food for centuries and it has only been recently that we started getting purpose built gadgets. Steer clear of most one dimensional gadgets, they will clutter your kitchen and keep you from learning how to do things the right way. The simplest way to prepare something is most often times the best way.

Always be a student of your craft:

• Great cooks are always paying attention to what they are doing. They always want to know why doing something makes the end result taste a certain way. Talking to a great chef about why they prepare a dish a certain way can be intimidating. They will talk about little nuances about the preparation that you would never have looked for. They are always striving to know exactly why everything works so that they can increase their skills.
• Researching cooking can lead you to new inspirations. You can learn about a dish from the past that makes you look at something today a whole new way. Look at cookbooks and restaurant menus and keep your eyes open for new ways of doing things.
  

To summarize the things that a good chef always practices:

• Always work organized, clean, efficiently, and with forethought
• Be familiar with as many classic dishes and flavor combinations as possible
• Work with the best ingredients that you can
  
• Prepare everything with as much respect and care as possible
• Keep your preparations simple, add complexity with the combinations
• Stay a student of your craft, it will only better your cooking

Wow that was a lot of writing. Congrats if you made it through the whole thing. Sorry about the typos.

The Basics to start considering

The next few posts are going to be covering some very basic things so that all 8 of you who follow this blog with an almost obsessive dedication can have things to refer to if needed. The other fun thing is that these techniques can be linked back to through the subsequent posts. If you are already familiar with these then witness the mastery that is the Cooker's.

In no particular order so far.
Using the tools in your kitchen the right way, and knowing which ones to have
Choosing the right pan or pot for the job
Getting friendly with your friend the knife (your new friend)

Techniques:
Saute
Pan-Fry
Roast
Braise
Bake
Steam
Boil
Poach
Simmer
Broil
Grill

Those techniques will take us right into a whole bunch of other wonderful things as well, however that list is looking daunting enough as it is.

On the Workbench...The Basics

The Workshop had a realization. This Workshop has a shoddy foundation. Shoddy at best. How can a quality establishment that can withstand all that is thrown at possibly stand for long without a rock solid foundation? This house of cards need to be rebuilt with Legos...or something stronger.

With that in mind the Workshop humbly and with a whiff of embarrassment presents for exploration...The Basics. Basic preparations that can be applied to anything will be explored such that this Workshop can be rebuilt proud and tall. Who knows, it might even be LEED qualified when all is said and done.

Furthermore, if there is some basic ingredient preparation that you are feeling uneasy about or feel that it could use some fine tuning, drop a line in the comments section.