2010 May | Cookinghow.com

checklist: global chef's knife

Up until last year, the only chef’s knife I used was my mom’s old cleaver that I took from home when I left for college. I can’t imagine how long that cleaver has been in the family, but it has definitely been around for at least two generations. I sharpen it every couple months and it’s still versatile enough to slice tomatoes and cut through cartilage. It even doubles as a scraper to transfer chopped vegetables from the cutting board to the pan.

I [...]

checklist: silpat

Whenever a recipe calls for a lined baking sheet, I always turn to my trusty Silpat. It turns any pan into a non-stick surface without having to be greased down. Made in France by Demarle, these fiberglass-silicone baking mats are used by professional pastry chefs everywhere to make anything from cakes, cookies, and breads, to candy, like super sticky, yummy, salted caramels =) Back in culinary school, we brought them out to help us pull sugar since they can withstand ultra high temperatures… up to [...]

food finds: quail eggs

There’s something irresistibly enduring about miniaturized foods that always makes us coming back for more. Take, for example, the miniature version of a hamburger, the mighty slider. I have to admit, I can never eat just one =P And for some reason, the mini croissant at my favorite patisserie in LA, Amandine Cafe, is hands-down far superior in taste than their regular croissant, even though I’m sure they’re made from the same dough. Barilla Pasta has their Piccolini line of mini pasta shapes, and [...]

special ops: flame torch

For those special moments in time when you need to caramelize some sugar, melt a cheese topping, or toast meringue to a golden brown, you can always pop the thing in the oven, pre-set to broil, but hey, what’s the fun in that? Nothing beats a spectacle at the end of a meal quite like caramelizing the sugar on top of creme brulee with a flame torch right in front of your guests. If you really want to put on a show and play with fire, [...]

favorite things: ramekins

There’s something about getting your own individual dessert at the end of a meal that makes everybody at the table giddy. Perhaps it’s the warm feeling we get just thinking about devouring the entire thing by ourselves… or, for all of us romantics out there, we’d like to think the dessert was made especially just for us by the chef. Secretly though, on the inside, we’re just excited we don’t have to share

Thank goodness for these little individual baking dishes that can hold both [...]