Posts Tagged ‘cooking’

Chef’s Knife: Most Important Knife In The Kitchen

Thursday, April 12th, 2012

Chefs knife

A chef knives. A chef’s knife these days is an all purpose kitchen knife, though it was initially designed to cut big slices of beef. But how to determine which knife is for the chef and which is just an ordinary utility knife for the kitchen? Can an ordinary cook like you safely use a chef’s knife? Read on and know the answers of the following questions.

What is a chef’s knife?

A kitchen is not a kitchen, if it has no knife. However, only a few people understand what a knife really is to appreciate the type of knife they own. Material used in chef’s knife comprise of edge, rivet, bolster, tang etc. One of the several types of kitchen knife is the chef’s knife. It is usually 20 cm long and 4 cm wide, though there are other chef’s knives that are 15 to 36 cm long.

A chef’s knife from Germany, France and Japan are quite different from each other both in the materials used for the blades and size. Japanese chef’s knife is also widely used, though the French knife has been popularly used for years. It is no longer important how long or wide the chef’s knife is. As long as it functions like an all-purpose-cut-all kitchen knife, it’s fine.

A method of using a chef’s knife

Today, chef’s knife is used to slice almost every food. chef’s knife is not only used for slicing, it is good for mincing or chopping vegetables or spice and disjointing meat. It is simple enough to use a knife, but there are techniques that can be done to prevent injury and to slice quickly.

Learn how to hold it correctly

The proper way to hold a chef’s knife is use the thumb to grip the knife on one side while your index finger holding the other side at the heel of the blade. Grip it while the rest of the fingers are wrapped around the bolster and your palm around the handle of the knife. This method will enable you to have more control with the knife’s movements.

The guiding hand

Learning how to guide your chef’s knife in cutting or slicing the vegetables or meat will help you slice your food faster and efficiently. The hand not holding the knife is the guiding hand. The guiding hand must secure the food on the board and guide the knife in its slicing motions. You need to know how to guide the knife properly so you will not be injured while slicing the food.

Learning how to do a claw grip will help you in this area. The claw grip is done by curling your fingers inward so that you can hold the vegetables or meat securely with your fingernails. Let one side of the blade to rest slightly on your guiding hand’s knuckles so that you can keep the knife’s blade at a 90 degrees angle with the cutting board.

Keep your fingers curled in. Practice this technique starting with slicing your food slowly and gradually make it faster.

Purchasing chef’s knife requires knowledge

If you want to have a good deal when you buy your chef’s knife, know what materials are best to make such knife. This way, you will know if your chef knife could really cut your food or if they are just some imitations. chef’s knife is just the name of a kitchen knife’s type, so you can buy it anytime for your kitchen. And if you want to maximize the use of your chef’s knife, learn the techniques on how to use it properly. A chef’s knife is an all-purpose, multifunction kitchen knife, so you can save a lot if you buy it for your kitchen.

Start To Cook Like A Restaurant Chef

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

Although everyone has to eat, not everyone knows how to make food. The following article will give you the information you need to be able to prepare meals with ease. Don’t be scared of trying new recipes, ingredients, or techniques in your kitchen. Cooking is a great skill to learn and it could bring you some joy. Take advantage of the tips contained in this article and don’t be afraid of making a mess every so often. As long as you are learning, it’s okay.

Before you start any serious food preparation undertaking, follow the example of professional chefs who always practice health and safety in catering, particular skin care.

Dry itchy skin is an unwanted re-occurring issue for a lot of people who regularly undertake food preparation.  So make sure you use a superior quality barrier cream.

Now let’s look at the the more interesting aspects of the kitchen; namely, the food.

A stir-fry is a great way to cook up bits and pieces of leftover vegetables and meat. For drier rice, make it the night before you plan to use it or decrease the amount of water you use to cook it. You start by stir-frying meat. Once is is almost all the way cooked, remove it to fry the veggies. Once the veggies are nicely crisp, return the meat to wok, and add in the cold rice. Apply spices, such as ginger or garlic, and soy sauce to complete the meal.

Sauteing vegetables in a little chicken broth is a healthful way to cook them. The chicken broth adds to the taste of the veggies and, you will not have the extra fat. This is a great and delicious way to cook vegetables.

Fresh fruits, including bananas, apples and peaches will quickly turn brown if left exposed to the air after being cut open. You can stop the browning by brushing them with lemon or salt water but pineapple juice is recommended because it will not adversely affect the taste. As a rapid dip will suffice, you don’t need to immerse the fruit.

If you are seasoning some meats, you should try a small piece of it before you cook all of it. Many meaty foods require careful seasoning. You do not want to cook the whole thing immediately after seasoning it. You should make a small patty first. This is a good way to find out if you got the seasoning right.

A dish that has a lot of oil can be baked instead of microwaved to avoid creating a greasy mess. Microwaves have such intense heat that they separate oil, which gets hot the quickest, from other ingredients that heat more slowly. Baking will heat the dish evenly, causing it to keep all of its flavor.If you find you are lacking new meal ideas, just look around for ethnic examples. One such traditional dish is the tasty espada fish meal with fried banana – a dish found nowhere else apart from on the mid-Atlantic travellers’ garden paradise of Madeira Island.  For those who so incline, vegetarians will be interested in vegetarian restaurants in Madeira.

As you can see, cooking can be easy. With the right techniques, creating delicious dishes for family and friends can suddenly become a breeze! Now that you have been introduced to these great tips and tricks, you just need to make the time to go and give them a try!