I first fell in love with salsify when working at a French Restaurant in San Francisco. The edible root portion most commonly served in restaurants, looks like a dirty tree branch but when properly prepared, has an extremely unique flavor and texture that closely resembles a cross between parsnip and potato. A member of the sunflower family, salsify is a tuber that can be used just like any other common root vegetable.
This video will teach you the best method for properly washing and storing salad greens.
Fruit trays are a great way to welcome guests to a party or event and can add a festive, visual "pop" when done correctly. Demonstrated in this video is an easy and efficient method for laying our a fruit platter or mirror. I chose to make the above video part of the "Kitchen Prep Series" because as a prep cook, your value will be greatly increased if you can properly prep and compose a fruit tray.
Clarified butter, (aka drawn butter), is whole, unsalted butter that is melted down and allowed to separate so that the milk solids can be removed. This clarification process raises the smoke point and makes it great for cooking.
The easiest way to clarify butter is over a water bath or double boiler. This allows you to gently heat the butter to the boiling point (212°F/100°C at sea level). What happens next is the water bubbles up out of the butter and evaporates, and the whey proteins form a "foam" on top.
Blanched garlic is a great way to remove the harsh, bitter bite of raw garlic while still keeping the floral, garlic aroma and flavor. In Thomas Keller's The French Laundry Cookbook, his technique calls for the use of milk instead of water. I've found that for most purposes, water can achieve fairly comparable results and it's more cost effective.
Blanching can mean a few different things depending on who’s using the word and what application you’re talking about. In the most basic use of the term, blanching refers to very briefly par cooking an item for later use, usually using boiling water or hot fat as a cooking medium.
Blanching and peeling fava beans is a spring "right of passage" for many cooks. Labor intensive and somewhat time consuming, when prepped properly you're rewarded with meaty little green morsels that are well worth the work.
This video will teach you how to properly prepare baby carrots.
This video will teach you how to peel and blanch asparagus. After blanching, the asparagus is now ready to be finished with a high heat cooking method including grilling, sauting, roasting, etc.This video will teach you how to peel and blanch asparagus. After blanching, the asparagus is now ready to be finished with a high heat cooking method including grilling, sauting, roasting, etc.
Learn how to prepare broccoli stem and florets.