Basic Culinary Knife Cuts

Developing your knife skills will help to improve the quality of your food.  Food cooks at all different speeds and to ensure even cooking it is important that your food is all cut the same size.  Sloppy knife work also leads to sloppy dishes.  No one wants to eat food that looks unappetizing on the plate.  The first impression is everything.  Skilled knife work indicates a cook who takes pride in their work and doesn't take shortcuts. It's a way of paying a compliment to whoever you're serving the dish to — saying to them, in effect, "You're worth the trouble."

EXAMPLE

Large pieces of vegetables take longer to cook than smaller ones. So if you're sauteing carrots that are cut to different sizes and shapes, you'll either overcook the smaller pieces by the time the bigger ones are done, or you'll cook the smaller pieces properly but leave the bigger ones undercooked. Consistent cutting technique ensures your food is cooked to a uniform degree of doneness.

9 BASIC KNIFE CUTS

Large Dice - The large dice is a culinary knife cut measuring ¾ inch × ¾ inch × ¾ inch.

The Batonnet - measures ½ inch × ½ inch × 2½-3 inches. It is also the starting point for another cut, the medium dice.

The Medium Dice  - measures ½ inch × ½ inch × ½ inch.

The Allumette - Measuring ¼ inch × ¼ inch × 2½-3 inches, the allumette is sometimes referred to as the "matchstick cut." It's also the starting point for the small dice.

The Small Dice - measures ¼ inch × ¼ inch × ¼ inch and is produced by slicing the allumette into ¼ inch sections.

The Julienne - cut measures 1/8 inch × 1/8 inch × 2½ inches.

The Brunoise - (pronounced BROON-wah) measures 1/8 inch × 1/8 inch × 1/8 inch.

The Fine Julienne - measures 1/16 inch × 1/16 inch × 2 inches. It's also the starting point for the fine brunoise cut

The Fine Brunoise - (pronounced BROON-wah) measures 1/16 inch × 1/16 inch × 1/16 inch. Tiny!

Stuffed Bell Peppers

INGREDIENTS

3 Green Bell Peppers
1 Pound Ground Beef
1 Cup Cooked Rice
2 Cups of Water or Beef Stock
1 Yellow Onion
2 Garlic Cloves
2 Small Cans Tomato Sauce
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 Small Can Beef or Chicken Stock
1 Teaspoon Italian Seasoning (Basil, Marjoram, Oregano, Rosemary, Thyme)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt And Pepper

Serves 3 people

DIRECTIONS

Pour rice into a pot and add the two cups of water or beef stock.  Cook for 20 minutes or until soft.

Proper Mise en place

Chop up half of a large yellow onion or entire small onion. Chop up two cloves of garlic.  Cut the tops off of your peppers, split in half and remove the seeds.  Place the peppers in a glass baking dish.  Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a large skillet and lightly coat the bottom of the pan with Extra Virgin Olive Oil (two turns of the pan.) Add 1 to 2 handfuls of the chopped onions to the pan and all of the garlic.  Cook until the onions and garlic begin to soften.  Add 1 pound of hamburger meat, Italian Seasoning and Worcestershire sauce to the onions and garlic.  Cook until the meat is brown. Salt and Pepper to taste.  Add half can of tomato sauce to the mixture and turn off the heat.  Slowly mix in the rice so you have a nice meat and rice ratio (half and half.)

Stuff your peppers by filling each pepper with the mixture.  Pack the mixture into each pepper.  Spoon tomato sauce onto each pepper.  Pour a slight amount of chicken or beef stock (about 1/4 cup) into the baking dish.  This is used to steam the peppers as they are cooking. Lightly cover the dish with tin foil.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

REVIEW

Absolutely delicious.  I actually only had 1 small can of tomato sauce so I used it to top the pepper and omitted it from the meat mixture.  It was still very yummy!  The peppers were cooked perfectly, with a nice soft bite to them.  If you feel the meat is too bland you can add 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce to the meat mixture as you are browning the meat.  I didn't have any so I omitted it.

Bechamel Sauce

Three Cheese Ravioli in a Bechamel sauce

Bechamel Sauce - also known as white sauce, is one of the Mother sauces of French cuisine and is used in many recipes of the Italian cuisine.  It is used as the base for other sauces, such as Mornay Sauce, which is Bechamel with cheese.  It is traditionally made by whisking scalded milk gradually into a white flour-butter roux.  The thickness of the final sauce depends on the proportions of milk and flour.

INGREDIENTS (Mario Batali)

• 5 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 cups milk
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Yields 3 cups

DIRECTIONS

In a medium saucepan, heat the butter over medium-low heat until melted. Add the flour and stir until smooth. Over medium heat, cook until the mixture turns a light, golden sandy color, about 6 to 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a separate pan until just about to boil. Add the hot milk to the butter mixture 1 cup at a time, whisking continuously until very smooth. Bring to a boil. Cook 10 minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from heat. Season with salt and nutmeg, and set aside until ready to use.

REVIEW

This was my first time making this sauce and I actually found it to be very simple.  My sauce came out a tad too thick and next time would add just a little bit more milk to thin it out.  At first taste, it was very bland and I started to panic.  However, after adding the salt and nutmeg it ended up tasting pretty good. It's very rich, at least for my taste.  I do not recommend serving this sauce on just plain pasta as I did.  You need to add something to it such as  Blackend Chicken, shrimp or Mushrooms. 

Overall it was very tasty.  Side note, a little goes a long way as it is very rich.  I can't wait to make it again and put my own twist on it. 

The 5 Mother Sauces

When a sauce is used on a food, it is the first thing to touch the tongue. A sauce is only as good as the ingredients you put into it and the care you take while preparing it

In French cuisine there are 5 basic "Mother Sauces" that provide the foundation for most of the sauces we are familiar with today.

Use them as a base for all sorts of deliciousness.  Enrich them with cream, add in some cheese, stock or wine.  Toss in veggies, meats and herbs. 

THE 5 SAUCES

Bechamel
Veloute
Espagnole
Hollandaise / Mayonnaise
Vinaigrette

BECHAMEL - Your classic white sauce.  The KING of all sauces is often referred to as a cream sauce because of its appearance.  It is probably the most frequently used sauce in all types of dishes.  Made by stirring milk into a butter-flour roux, the thickness of the sauce depends on the proportion of flour and butter to milk.

VELOUTE - Meaning velvety, is a stock-based white sauce thickend with a white roux.  It can be made from chicken, veal or fish stock.  Enrichments such as egg yolks or cream are sometimes added.

ESPAGNOLE - Brown sauce.  This sauce is traditionally made of rich meat stock, a mirepoix of browned vegetables (mixture of diced onion, carrots and celery) nicely browned roux, herbs and sometimes tomato paste.

HOLLANDAISE - Emulsion of egg yolks and fat. Made with butter, egg yolks and lemon juice usually in a double broiler to prevent overheating and served warm.  It is generally used to embellish vegetables, fish and egg dishes.
MAYONNAISE - Emulsion of vegetable oil, egg yolks, lemon juice or vinegar and seasonings.  It's widely used as a spread, a dressing and as a sauce.  It's used as the base for such mixtures as Tartar Sauce, Thousand Island Dressing, Aioli and Remoulade.

VINAIGRETTE - Simple blend of oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.  More elaborate variations can include combinations of spices, herbs, shallots, onions, mustard, etc.  It is generally used to dress salad greens and other cold vegetable, meat or fish dishes

Those are the 5 basic Mother sauces, however the tomato sauce came about later and is often considered to be one of the 5 Mother sauces. It certainly has earned the title since it is the base for a large variety of sauces.

TOMATO -  Primarily made from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish rather than a condiment.  Tomato sauces are common for meat and vegetables, and best known for pasta dishes.

Most of these sauces start of with a ROUX.  What is a ROUX?

ROUX - Cooked mixture of flour and fat, traditionally butter.  It is the thickening agent for 3 of the Mother Sauces.  Bechamel, Veloute and Espagnole.  It is also used as a thickener for gravey and other sauces, soups and stews. 

Mise en Place - GET ORGANIZED AND HAVE FUN

Mise en place (pronounced miz a plas) - literally means "putting in place."  It is a French phrase defined by the Culinary Institute of America as "everything in place", as in set up. It is used in professional kitchens to refer to organizing and arranging the ingredients (e.g., cuts of meat, relishes, sauces, par-cooked items, spices, freshly chopped vegetables, and other components) that a cook will require for the menu items that he or she expects to prepare during his/her  shift.

BEFORE COOKING

Recipes are reviewed to check for necessary ingredients and equipment. Ingredients are measured out, washed, chopped, and placed in individual bowls. Equipment, such as spatulas and blenders, are prepared for use, and ovens are preheated.

Preparing the mise en place ahead of time allows the chef to cook without having to stop and assemble items, which is desirable in recipes with time constraints.

Essential Kitchen Tools

Cooking is easier, faster and more enjoyable when you have the proper tools.  Some of the essential tools needed for cooking are:

SPOONS, LADLES AND MORE
Locking Tongs
Metal and Plastic/Rubber Spatula
Wooden Spoon
Rubber Spoon
Slotted Spoon
Ladle
Whisk
Potato Masher

SLICING
Chefs Knife
Paring Knife
Kitchen Shears
Microplane
Grater
Potato and Vegetable Peeler

OTHER EQUIPMENT
Can Opener
Wine Opener
Thermometer
Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons
Colander
Bamboo and Plastic Cutting Boards
Mesh Strainer
Timer

Every cook has their favorite tool to which they love to use in the kitchen.  I use to think mine was my Rachel Ray Chef knife, until I discovered the Microplane.



Microplane Graters are used for finely grating various food items suck as Nutmeg, Cheese and Garlic.  It's also used for zesting citrus fruits such as Oranges and Lemons.  Sure you can use a Cheese Grater and obtain the same results, however I've found the ease of use and the razor sharpness of the Microplane blades make this tool stand out above all other graters and therefore making it my number one favorite tool to use in the kitchen.