Seven Helpful Hints While You're in the Kitchen

Cooking is equally an art and a science. Nailing down the science offers you more time to actually concentrate on the creative nature of what you are doing. After decades of culinary experience and two degrees, what I have learned is that just about everything in the hospitality field is done for a very specific and more often than not, a purely logical reason. For instance, an ice bath is readied in order to shock the vegetables the very moment that they come out the boiling water. This is in order to halt the cooking process. In the Front of the House, the purpose for what is done in the way that it is done is often even more straightforward than that. Notice the table settings the next time that you go to a banquet. Each piece of silverware is placed in a logical sequence in concurrence with the course that is served in order that the server may simply serve you more efficiently. As with anything, there are always certain things that you can keep in mind that will make you work easier. Here are seven helpful hints while you are in the kitchen.

1) A pint is a pound the world around. Always remember that a pint of water, stock, or any liquid with the same weight as water, weighs a pound. Knowing that you will need a 2 t o 1 ratio of water or stock to rice makes this a no brainier.

2) When cooking vegetables remember this: If it grows under the soil (potatoes), you start in cold water. If it grows on top of the soil (broccoli), you start in hot (boiling) water. Don't forget to keep you ice bath nearby.

3) Speaking of potatoes. Remember that Chef (sometimes called All Purpose) Potatoes have more starch and thus cook better with moist heat. Baking Potatoes are just the opposite. They have more water and less starch and thus cook better with dry heat.

4) This one is very straightforward. Remember that salt raises the freezing point and lowers the boiling point. Add to ice and it melts slower. Add to water and it comes to a boil quicker.

5) To Sauté means - High Heat / Low Fat. In other words you need only coat the pan with a little bit of oil or butter and you will be applying the most rapid cooking method. Remember to make sure that the pan is hot before you begin the cooking process. If you don't hear szzzzzzz!, you are not sautéing.

6) Here are 6 'Ss' used to make a cream soup or a compound cream sauce.

1. Sautee

2. Sweat - Turn down heat, cover, and allow the juices to migrate.

3. Singer - French word that means 'to dust with flour'. You are basically making a roux in the pan.

4. Stock

5.Simmer

6.Season

7) Here is the process for making yeast bread. If you bake a lot, you might want to memorize this one. Scale - Mix - Ferment - Divide - Round - Rest - Shape - Pan - Proof - Bake.