A lot of good cooking is in technique. What’s something that you discovered or was told that really changed something meaningful for you? For me, I had struggled a lot to make omelettes. They always wound up becoming scrambled eggs because I sucked at flipping them over to cook on the other side (I like my eggs cooked pretty well so this was important to me.) Finally, watching someone else make an omelette, I noticed they didn’t flip it. They put a lid on the pan, turned the heat down, and let the top cook that way. I tried it myself and now I make almost perfect omelettes every time. Have you had anything like this happen to you? If so, what was it?
the actual technique of using stainless steel pens changed everything for me. Proper pre-heating with minimal oiling and knowing to wait until SS cookware “lets go” of food, followed up by using liquids to separate “stuck” pieces and turning them into delicious sauces. I can fry a sunny side up egg on SS pan in a pinch, but prefer cast iron for that.
Making a proper (?) French omelette. Watched Julia Child do it on TV. Changed my Sunday morning breakfast game big time. Beat two eggs. Heat a 10" non stick pan over medium heat. Throw in a tbsp of butter. When the butter bubbles up, the pan is hot enough. Dump in the eggs. Shake the pan over the flame to move the eggs around. I also use a set of chopsticks to help stir it up good. The eggs set in about a minute or so. Once set, I use a spatula to flip (roll) the egg from the edge of the pan, 2 times. Then plate. Watching a video of her doing it probably makes more sense than my description. Multiple new techniques for me. It’s fast. They are light. Everyone likes them.
Buy a proper instant read meat thermometer and learn about carryover heat. Seriously, just cooking meat to where it needs to be and no more makes such a difference when cooking.
Along with that, learning when things need to be cooked to higher temps for structural reasons.
Finally, learning how to get good browning or crust formation. Its all prep and heat control but damn a steak with a good crust is life changing.
I’ve taken up bringing an instant read with me when I expect I may have to cook at someone’s house. Nothing worse than trying to make a prime rib at someone’s house, a getting handed one of those analog dial thermometers that doesn’t even have numbers on it, just “rare, medium, well done”.
Adding the same ingredient twice, for two different roles. A few examples:
- Tomato sauce: a single tomato, diced small, to add near the end, to improve the texture.
- Curry: half of the onion gets grated and goes in the roux, with a bit of baking soda (so it melts down). The other half is diced larger, and gets added near the end as a plain veg. As a result I get a thicker and tastier curry.
- Farofa: whatever filling I’m adding (pork rinds, bacon, banana, scrambled eggs…), I reserve some bits to add near the end as garnish. It’s both more pleasing to look and it allows people to pick a bit more of the filling if they so desire.
- Breaded anything: seasoning goes both in the marinade and the flour / breadcrumbs.
Farofa sounds like a very versatile food. I’m going to have to look it up
It is - the carb in it is typically fried yucca meal or maize meal*, but I’ve seen people doing it with breadcrumbs and even rolled oats. There’s a lot of freedom for the fillings too, although farofas made as side dish for meats tend to be simpler than the ones intended a as full meal.
Just as an example here’s my breakfast farofa. It’s enough for two people.
- a hard sausage, diced small
- 3 eggs, whisked with some salt and black pepper
- half onion, diced small
- a handful of maize meal (the amount is eyeballed)
- hot pepper sauce, veg oil, salt
- Brown the sausage on a non-stick large pan or wok, using a bit of veg oil. Reserve some if you want.
- Add onion, turn the fire to low, and let them cook until transparent.
- Add whisked eggs. Scramble them with a silicone spatula; they’ll stick to the other fillings but that’s OK.
- Add maize meal, salt, hot pepper sauce, and a bit more of veg oil if necessary. Mix it constantly. When the meal darkens just a bit, turn the fire off but keep mixing it (as the pan heat might otherwise burn it). Transfer to two bowls and, if you reserved some sausage, add it as “garnish”.
Now thinking, the salt here is also a nice example of using the same ingredient twice. You need to season the eggs and the meal separately.
*I’ll provide a pic because I don’t know how to call this type of cornmeal in English. It isn’t the same as polenta:
That’s probably most similar to what we’d call “flaked corn”, but it’s not something that we see commonly in stores (in America, at least). It is somewhat similar to “corn flakes” which are different.
It’s mainly used for brewing and distilling, and it’s made by taking dry corn, partially cooking it with water, putting it through a roller mill, and then drying it out.
Reading about farinha de milho, it actually might be similar to “corn flakes”, though. It’s a breakfast cereal made by taking ground corn and cooking it in water, and then drying it out in little sheets. It is super common to use as an ingredient in things like fried chicken batter, or as a topping to things you want to be crispy.
When sauteeing onions and mushrooms, when they’re almost done, pour a little red wine into the pan and boil it out. Makes them amazing.
I’ve done this once after seeing it in a Chinese recipe for chicken thighs, with Shaoxing wine. Apparently the alcohol does wonders to bring the flavour out of onions.
