Last weekend, my husband and I took 40 minutes out of our Sunday to make croutons, cook bacon and rip lettuce to build enough Caesar salad kits to fill a week’s worth of lunchboxes. This was in an effort to keep me out of expensive school cafeterias and to keep my husband away from the ease of unhealthy lunches.
Both my husband and I have spent many years throughout high school and college working in professional kitchens, so neither of us bats an eye when the other opens a jar of homemade turkey stock and writes the date on the lid, pulls out a knife steel and swings a giant knife around it or scrubs every surface of the kitchen every time the dishes are done (at least once a day when you don’t own a dishwasher, or invite one over for dinner). However, we do get strange looks when we do these things in front of friends who have never worked in real restaurants. To help all home cooks run a cleaner, safer, more organized kitchen, my husband and I have compiled a list of skills and knowledge only learned working in a restaurant that every home cook should be using in their own kitchen.
Nothing strange about this at all.
A delicious dinner time quiche, the flavours blend nicely and the skim milk keeps the meal from becoming too rich. Cooking the tomatoes beforehand reduces their moisture, making for a crispier crust.
I love barbecue parties. Combining friends, food and the outdoors, they are quite possibly my favourite summer time activity. But by the time July rolls around, the same hamburgers, hot dogs and the occasional sausage with nothing to jazz them up but ketchup, mustard and relish start to feel a bit boring. As a host, it becomes difficult to plan a menu that will surprise and excite your friends and as a guest it becomes difficult to find new ways to compliment the same meal. The best way I have found to get around this barbecue party stimulation degradation is to prepare miniature versions of the classic fare and offer a vast array of novel, unusual or exotic toppings. This ensures that everyone can try out a few different combinations of new condiments. Continue reading
