With Turkey Day quickly approaching, there has been a lot of talk on the web about whether or not you should brine your bird. Although there are good arguments from both camps, I think it is first important that the science of brining is understood before making any decisions.

A traditional brine is a water based liquid that contains between 3-6% salt by weight. Along with salt, a brine will contain aromatic herbs, spices and sometimes vegetables (usually mirepoix, garlic, etc).

So Why Would You Brine Meat?
continue reading "The Science Behind Brining"

Popularity: 15% [?]

Roasting Garlic is a great way to bring out the savory and sweet flavors of garlic, at the same time making the strong “bite” that fresh garlic normally has, much more subtle. The process is extremely simple, and roasted garlic can be used in any number of applications including tomato sauce, salads or simply just spread on some good crusty bread.

• Start by preheating your oven to 450 degrees F (about 230 degrees Celsius).
• Lay out a large sheet of aluminum foil, and place raw, peeled garlic cloves in the center.
• Season garlic cloves generously with olive oil, kosher salt, and fresh ground pepper.
• Bring the corners of the foil together in the middle and crimp into the shape of a garlic bulb. Wrap with two more sheets of foil to ensure even heating and roasting.
• Place in the oven and allow to roast for at 1-1 1/2 hours.
• Note: Place the foil package directly on the oven rack. Do not use a pan. The pan will create hot spots, and make your garlic roast unevenly.
• Enjoy!

Popularity: 18% [?]

Roux is a thickening agent made of equal parts flour and fat that is used in classical French cooking. Roux is fairly simple to make, as long as you follow a couple of guidelines.

Guidelines for Roux

• Don’t use margarine or shortening. Yes they’re cheap, but margerine tastes horrible and shortening adds no flavor; not to mention it can give you a bit of a fuzzy mouth feel.
• Use clarified butter, oil or animal fat.
• Don’t use whole butter. Whole butter is about 15% water and will give you a less consistent product than a roux made with pure fat.
• A good roux is paste like and is not runny or pourable. A roux that has too much fat and is too runny is called a slack roux. Excessive fat in your roux will be released into your sauce, making it greasy and forcing you to spend extra time skimming and de-fating your sauce.
• Cake flour has about 20% more thickening power than bread or AP (All Purpose) flour. However, since bread and AP flower are more common than cake flour, most recipes that call for a roux assume that you will be using AP flour.

Making Roux

The process for making roux is extremely simple. Just place equal parts of flower and fat, (traditionally clarified butter), in a sauce pan and cook over medium heat. How long do you cook it for? Well that depends on what kind of roux you wish to make.

There are basically three types of roux which are differentiated by the degree to which the roux is cooked.

White Roux

White roux is really more of a yellow roux that you basically cook for just a few minutes until the fat and flour are evenly mixed together and start to froth. You want to cook out the raw taste of the flour, but stop cooking the roux before it starts to turn color. White rouxs are used for white sauces that are cream and milk based such as bechamel and alfredo.

Blond Roux

Blond roux is cooked a little longer than your white roux, just until it starts to slightly turn color. Blond roux is used for white sauces that are stock based, such as veloutes.

Brown Roux

Brown roux is traditionally used for brown sauces, which are sauces based upon brown roasted stocks such as the mother sauce Espagnole. The key to a good brown roux is to cook it over low heat so that it browns evenly without scorching. Some chefs will even dry roast their flower in the oven first before making it into roux.

A good brown roux will have a rich and nutty aroma, and is great for thickening brown sauces and gravies. Just remember that a dark brown roux will have about a third of the thickening power of a blond or white roux.

Incorporating Roux Into a Sauce or Soup

Roux can be added to a sauce either warm or cold, but never hot. A sizzling hot roux will separate and break when it hits a cold sauce, causing lumps and the loss of the roux’s thickening power.

Once the roux is added into the liquid you wish to thicken, whisk vigorously to incorporate and bring sauce to a simmer. Most roux thickened sauces are simmered for at least 20 minutes to cook out any starchy taste created by the flour. During this simmering, it is a perfect time to skim off any scum or fat that rises to the top.

Now what kind of ratio and proportions should you use when thickening with a roux? It’s as easy as 3,4,5 & 6.

• 3 ounces of roux per quart of liquid will thicken a sauce to a thin or light consistency.
• 4 ounces of roux per quart = medium body sauce.
• 5 ounces of roux per quart = thick sauce.
• 6 ounces of roux per quart = heavy gravy.

Unfortunately, the ratio isn’t quite so easy for my metric friends. If you have any easier way to remember these ratios in metric, leave a comment below, but here is the direct conversion.

• 85 grams of roux per liter for a thin or light sauce consistency.
• 113 grams + 1 liter = medium body sauce.
• 141 grams + 1 liter = thick sauce.
• 170 grams + 1 liter = heavy gravy.

For more information on how to properly make and use rouxs, listen to The Free Culinary School Podcast Eipsode 9.

Popularity: 29% [?]

There are few things better in life than the simplicity of a perfectly poached egg. Although it is most commonly served as a component in breakfast, a poached egg goes great in salads, on top of terrines or a slice of blood sausage, and can even be used as a course in a fancy tasting menu.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to properly poaching an egg. The first is the traditional method and the second is the restaurant method.

Traditional Method for Poaching An Egg

To poach an egg using the traditional method, first start with a shallow pan of water on your stove stop. The water should be about 3-4″ deep, or at least deep enough to completely submerge the egg. Add a little vinegar and salt at the rate of 1 tablespoon each per one quart of water. The salt and the vinegar will help your egg whites to coagulate and thus stay together.

Heat your pan of water to about 180 degrees Fahrenheit. A good visual guide is that bubbles will start to form on the bottom of your pan but will not break the water’s surface.

Crack a whole egg into a shallow bowl (a regular cereal bowl will work just fine), and gently slide into your poaching water. Cook for 3-5 minutes depending on how done you want your poached egg and remove with a slotted spoon.

Dab off any excess moisture with a paper towel and serve.

Restaurant Method For Poaching an Egg

The restaurant method for poaching an egg works well at home, but is really the only way to go in a professional kitchen environment that poaches a lot of eggs to order. In this method, instead of using a shallow pan of water you instead will be using a deep stock pot. The real trick to this method is to make sure that your stock pot is at a rolling boil.

For every quart of water you have in your stock pot, add a 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar and 1 tablespoon of salt. Bring your water to a rolling boil.

Once your water is boiling, crack your egg into a shallow bowl and gently slide into your boiling stock pot. The egg will sink to the bottom, and in about 3 minutes will float back up to the top of the pot when it is done.

This technique is possible because the vinegar reacts with the bicarbonate in the egg whites to form little bubbles of carbon dioxide trapped in the coagulated proteins of the egg. The salt raises the density in the water just enough to allow the egg to float after 3 minutes worth of bubble formation.

This allows cooks to drop eggs to order and have an automatic timer built in to the egg itself. When it floats its done, not to mention you know exaclty how long its going to take for the egg to poach.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Poaching is a great way to cook delicate proteins such as fish. It is a moist method of cooking that gently and evenly cooks a protein without allowing the protein molecules to coagulate to quickly which can result in the finished product becoming chewy.

Basic Technique For Poaching

• Heat poaching liquid (usually stock, wine, or court bouillon), to anywhere between 160-180 degrees Fahrenheit. A good visual guide is when bubbles start forming on the bottom of the pan but do not break the surface.
• Some chefs will heat their poaching liquid to upwards of 200 degrees to counteract the cooling that will occur when the protein is placed in the liquid.
• Monitor the temperature of your poaching liquid with a good thermometer to make sure that the temperature remains consistent.
• Poach your protein to the desired finished temperature (about 130-135 degrees for fish and 135-140 for meat).
• Remove protein and allow to rest for about 5-10 minutes depending on size and weight.

For more information on proper poaching technique, listen to The Free Culinary School Podcast Episode 6.

Popularity: 24% [?]