I have probably had this conversation with more people than just about any other subject in Italian cooking. The usual comment is, “Isn’t all dried pasta basically the same”? “Are the imported pastas really worth the extra money”?
Continue reading “The Secrets of Premium Italian Pasta: What Makes It Different?”Now that autumn is just around the corner, I wanted to share a great tip about storing tomatoes. One year I planted 3 San Marzano tomato plants and I had so many tomatoes, it was impossible to cook them all. I was still getting baskets of tomatoes in late September, so I had to find a solution.
Continue reading “Best Ways to Freeze Tomatoes for Cooking”
I have this question all of the time. Why do you put your vegetable oil in the refrigerator? When people see that I have my cooking oils in the refrigerator they wonder why. Well, I’m going to tell you my theory.
Continue reading “Essential Guide to Storing Cooking Oils Correctly”I don’t know about all of you, but over the years I have thrown away a lot of bananas that have gone overripe and it’s always bothered me. Such a waste of food, and you can only freeze so many. I mean how much banana bread can one person eat? So, what to do?
Continue reading “How to Stop Bananas from Overripening Quickly”
One of the most important concepts in cooking is the mirepoix, the Cajun version, “the Trinity”. Or as the Italians refer to it, the battuto which eventually becomes a soffritto once it is cooked. This combination of basic ingredients is the base for almost all French, Italian, Spanish and Creole and Cajun dishes. Below is the mirepoix. and the battuto, which after cooking transforms it into a soffrittto.
Continue reading “Mirepoix, Trinity, and Battuto: Flavor Foundations”
This is a wonderful seafood stock for any sort of Southeast Asian cuisine and certainly any Asian seafood dish. I’ve never been impressed with store bought seafood stock, or most store bought stocks in general. I feel they always have far too much salt and the spice can clash with what you’re cooking. Making your own stock is always better if you have the time.
Continue reading “Ultimate Seafood Stock for Southeast Asian Dishes”When I was starting out, a good friend who was a chef, took me to a store in Boston called Silo and made my buy a set of pots and sauce pans. At the time, they seemed very expensive to this starting student, but he was 100% right. I’m literally still am using some of those pans and that was 40 years ago!
Continue reading “Essential Kitchen Tools for Home Chefs”When I first started cooking more than thirty years ago, I had no formal training. I learned by reading, traveling, asking questions, watching professional chefs and making plenty of mistakes.
Continue reading “Top Quality Ingredients for Cooking Success”