I think of myself as a skilled home cook. It is an area of passion for me and I spend a lot of time reading, researching and thinking about food. My sweet husband says that the best restaurant in Evanston is our home kitchen. He got major points for that compliment. He is sometimes right though. At my house, I know what is in the food. I know where it came from and how much fat/salt it has. My kitchen is a space of creativity and excitement. I have learned over the years how to make my food taste good. Here are some of my tricks.
The Basics
1) Own a high quality chef's knife, bread knife, boning knife and perhaps a pairing knife.
2) Own several heavy bottomed copper, cast-iron or ceramic pans. This is all you need.
3) Cook with herbs, like parsley, thyme, rosemary, cilantro, and sage. Sprinkle them on finished dishes or add them to dishes as they simmer, like soups, sauces, and/or one-skillet dishes.
4) Use citrus, like lemon, orange or limes. They add tons of flavor to fish, chicken, and mixed vegetables. Squirt them or grate/zest the citrus skin on the food when it is finished.
5) Keep vinegars, mustard, olive oil, butter, and hot sauce on hand. Use them!
6) Own the Joy of Cooking (it is a go-to for learning the basics. I refer to mine frequently!)
7) Don't be afraid to massage the meat. Utilizing rubs when cooking meat is so easy and really pays off. Put blackened rubs, simple rubs of garlic, salt, and pepper, or herbed rubs on chicken, pork and beef.
8) Own a digital meat thermometer. They will save your ass!
9) Learn how to deglaze. This simply refers to pouring either wine, beer, liquor or stock into a pot after the meat has been removed. Scrape up the bits and pour on top of meat before serving.
10) Cook with fat, either olive oil, bacon drippings, or butter. I don't mean an obscene amount like Paula Dean, but a TBL of oil or butter really boosts the flavor of homemade dishes. Remember FAT EQUALS FLAVOR and I guarantee butter is much better for you than McDonalds or Candybars or pretzels for that matter.
Searing Meat
Getting a nice crust on the meat is a thing of beauty. I love a crusty skin on chicken or a nice charred crust on a ribeye. There are several ways to achieve this. First, the meat must be at room temp and dry. Marinated meat will not form a crust. There must be fat in the pan and the pan must be very hot. The following method works well with big steaks, skin-on chicken, pork tenderloin/chops and/or pieces of meat for braises, like pork butt, round roast, and/or brisket.
1) Bring meat to room temperature first (30 minutes or so)
2) Season your meat with any rub or simply with salt and pepper
3) Make sure meat is covered with rub, but not too wet. Pat it dry to be careful.
4) Preheat your heavy bottomed pan until it is super duper smoking hot
5) Add butter and oil (remember for a crust, fat is essential)
6) Put seasoned meat in pan-DON'T TOUCH or MOVE IT!!!!
7) After 3 minutes, peak and if there is a crust formed, flip. If not, let it keep cooking.
8) Flip and finish in hot oven until desired doneness
Making Pan Sauces
Sauces are fancy. That is all that is needed to say. They add color, flavor, and a sense of style to the meal. In classical cooking, there are 5 "mother sauces" which for the life of me, I can't remember all of them. I can remember four of them: hollondaise, veloute (brown sauce), bechamel (White sauce) and tomato sauce.
Now, don't ask me how to make these. I am not classically trained and honestly, I don't know how often these make into the rotation for people anyway. Maybe a bechamel from time to time for lasagna perhaps.
The sauces I am talking about are pan sauces that are a wonderful accompaniment to seared chicken, pork, lamb or beef. These are made by scraping up the fond (brown yummy meat bits) by deglazing with either wine or chicken stock and reducing...here is a simple recipe that serves as a base for many sauces.
Basic Pan Sauce
1) After meat is seared, remove and set aside.
2) To pot, add one diced shallot (1/4 onion would be fine) and one diced clove of garlic
3) Saute until soft. Add a 1/4 cup of wine, allow to evaporate
4) After wine is evaporated, add 1 cup of chicken stock and begin to reduce (heat should be on medium high to high)
5) Be careful when salting the sauce. The fond is often salty and the stock has salt in it too.
6) When sauce has reduced by half, add chopped thyme or rosemary and a dollop of either creme fraiche, sour cream, and/or full-fat cream. Finish with a pat of butter. This adds sheen and luxuriousness.
7) This sauce is perfect for lamb, pork chops, beef, and chicken. Use it!
Food is a way to show someone you care. Utilize these tricks and your food will taste unbelievable and special....perfect for the ones we love.
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