Convenience foods (heat and serve) are typically made with inferior ingredients; contain way too much salt and empty calories. I do not purchase convenience products-ever! I do not use pre-made sauces, stocks or pre-made products at work and I would never feed that stuff to my family and friends. I cook with the Cucina Povera (“poor kitchen”) mindset.
In the kosher kitchen we only have so many ingredients to work with, both at home and professionally. Many ingredients that most chefs take for granted are not part of my daily repertoire due to kosher restrictions. I have a meat and pareve kitchen and cannot just add cream to a soup or sauce to thicken it. I have to work a bit harder and find other ways that fit into the kosher laws. I do not believe in using faux foods for substitutions and look to natural ingredients that are already kosher and in season. In the spirit of Cucina Povera, I embrace my constraints, accept the materials I have to work with and move on. I always say that if a recipe cannot be made without completely mutilating it, then do not make it. I have never put soy crème brulees on my menu and never will. I also do not sell faux crab or mock sour cream. Real sour cream is amazing and who doesn’t love crème brulee? The artificial stuff doesn’t come close and I have too much respect for my ingredients, clients and family to ever serve ersatz food.
Kashrut is all about making choices—not getting around them with cheap imitations.
Another tip I’ve learned over the years, learn to make one great recipe and then riff on it. Everyone should have their own signature dish. This is the dish that you know inside and out and can do in your sleep. It can be as simple as meatballs or as complex as homemade sausage. Once you have that recipe under your belt, you can shake it up. Add new flavors and ingredients and play with it. Now you have new versions and more options.
Most of all, have fun in the kitchen and take some chances. Everyone is so afraid to make a mistake in the kitchen. As long as the food is safe to eat, go ahead and play with it! No one knows what the dish was supposed to be, except you, so whatever you say it is, it is.
Don’t miss my other Secrets of a Restaurant Chef:
fresh herbs go with everything and citrus brightens the flavors of food. i like hard spices (coriander seed, cumin, star anise etc..) for deep dark flavors and chilies for a slight punch of heat.
get a really good quality knife (see my article on knives) and practice. NEVER use a machine to cut vegetables. you shred cabbage for slaw in a machine-but processing vegetables should be a tactile job. we feed several thousand people a week here when we are really busy and everything is hand cut!
i also just thought that you could roast broccoli, green beans and most veggies for just a quick trip in the oven and then reheat without too much loss of quality
I would love to learn how to dice vegetables like a pro! I hate using the Progressive dicer – pain to clean – and it mauls tomatoes and mushrooms.
What are the best spices and sprigs to mix with the butter that seafood will be grilled with in a skillet/pan?
What’s the best spices to rub onto meats that will be BBQ’d?
tough muscular cuts need braising and steaks need a quick cooking method like grilling or pan roasting.
to braise-just brown the meat (do not skip this step) and then add aromatics, (herbs, garlic, shallots etc…) stock and wine and cover and let cook SLOWLY at 320 in the oven.
remove the meat and strain out the liquid and reduce the liquid until it is like a glaze
i make the best omelet. the secret is low and slow.
i use a non-stick pan that is only for omelets. No one is allowed to touch the pan and i never clean it. i wipe it out with a damp towel. that way it will not be scratched.
whisk 3-4 eggs, at room temperature, in a bowl.
heat the pan on low and wipe the sides and bottom with olive oil. add the eggs and stir continuously. as they begin to form curds, break up the curds until they are almost dry-add your filling and fold the omelet into thirds. roll it out of the pan.
cutting food the same size is essential for everything to cook at the same rate.
practice! i hate when i eat at someone’s house and the food is not evenly cooked-makes me nuts!
take the recipe of your choice. sit down on the couch and read it through like a book. go back and visualize each step. don’t start a recipe until you have read it through. after a while, all recipes follow a basic pattern. you will start to learn the pattern and pretty soon, will not ever need a recipe again.
i cannot believe i said that as a cookbook author, but it is true!
easy peasy! i am the gnocchi queen. i can make it in my sleep!
for egg pasta-use a (SEMOLINA 00) flour. it has a fine texture and will make the pasta silky and toothy when you eat it.
do a “well method” for your pasta with a well of flour then push out the center of the well and whisk in eggs, olive oil and salt and pepper. work the flour in and knead until your arms hurt. let it rest and roll it out.
i like to use braised greens. Kale, collard greens, Swiss chard and the like. i cook them in wine with garlic, shallots and fresh herbs. they get better the longer they cook.
our typical shabbat dinner is chicken, short ribs or duck, braised greens and a grain of some sort (farro, barley,quinoa etc…) and tons of sauteed mushrooms with a wine sauce of some sort.
the greens just get better and are loaded with vitamins. they are a blank slate. i use wine, stock, herbs and sometimes chilies to make them taste great.
most modern chefs use a pan reduction. for that you need good stock, white or red wine, some aromatics (fresh herbs, lemon juice, chopped garlic and shallots). the trick is to gather your FOND (brown bits) by using these aromatics and then reduce it down to a nappe consistency (clings to the back of a spoon).
lemon curd is one of life’s joys. but, save it for dairy recipes. the butter makes it sublime and since it melts perfectly at body temperature, it carries the lemony goodness around your palate. Delish!
i assume you are talking about a pareve cake?
i will post a recipe on my blog @www.cheflauraskosher.com but, first you must promise that you will never pretend that margarine is butter! margarine does not cook the same as butter. the fat content is different and the fat itself is oil which is heavy. so, once the fat melts in the oven the margarine falls to the bottom of the cake layers and the bottom of the cake is greasy and the top is dry.
i have said in many interviews that margarine will be the death of the Jewish people. it is not good for you, it doesn’t taste good and it doesn’t bake well.
ok? so, i will post a recipe for you on my blog in a couple of hours
I would love to be able to make a good “scratch” cake. I’m talking about just a regular layer or sheet cake. I want to make a scratch that is moist, tender, and delicious instead of heavy and dry.
Condiments, spices, fresh herbs to know what blends together to make more savory dishes that are not bland or either too overpowering. I loved the article had me laughing.
I would love to know what the most tender kosher steak is, I find it difficult to find a good moist piece of steak.
I love the Cucina Povera ideology. What a great chef’s manifesto! And no subbing soy for dairy! I would love to know how to make a great lemon curd.
Would love to learn more about sauces making my food really stand out.
i would like to know what you recommend for side dishes (vegetables) for shabbat dinner. i hate to serve limp, overcooked greyish green vegetables that got overdone on a plata. what do you serve on friday nite? (and yes, i would love to win the give-a-way)
cooking methods for different cuts of meat
i want to learn how to make fresh pasta
I would like to know how do you get to the point of not having to use a recipe for everything…especially baking. Just practice?
I would love to learn how to use knives properly to cut everything in the same size
I’d really like to learn how to cook steak
I want to know the secret to making the perfect omelet.
i get my knives sharpened professionally every few months. in between, i use a STEEL to keep the edge nice and sharp. hold your knife in your dominant hand the steel in the other. draw the blade across the steel at a 45 degree angle. repeat on the other side of the blade. do this 5 times on each side and your knife will be sharp. get the knives sharpened by a pro every few months if you cook a lot at home.
I would like to know what is the best way to sharpen a knife?
espagnole is a great sauce. but most chefs use a red wine reduction these days and sometimes add in tomatoes at the end. Both start with a great veal or very dark chicken stock and the espagnole has the addition of a roux.
i suggest you get brave and just jump and try it.
i love Hollandaise and my youngest son Jonah insists on Macaroni and cheese which has me making a bechamel weekly.
good luck!
i like All-clad pots and pans. i also use a heavy metal bakeware and sturdy utensils. shop where the chefs shop and buy what we buy. it will last several lifetimes.
get a really good knife, grip it with your index finger and thumb pinching the blade. wrap your other fingers around the handle and rock your arm in an up and down motion (like the old steam engine wheels). Practice!
Chef Laura-
I would love to learn the classic 5 mother sauces, but particularly the espagnole, which to me is the most complex and versatile.
I appreciate your professional status! How to make crisp skinned duckling fat”free”. We loved you for establishing original Shallots with gratitude for starting a gourmet place in Chicago!
thanks for the tips!! (I WANT THE GIVEAWAY TOO)
I would like to know about the best cook/bakeware and utensils and how to use them.
I could really use some hints to improve my knife skills (or lack thereof).
i did go to cooking school, but am also an instinctive cook. my mother says i was born with frying pan in my hand. food and i seem to have an agreement. i just get it and understand how to make it taste good.
enjoy the food your son makes and buy him a decent knife so he learns to cut properly and doesn’t hurt himself. look for a chef’s knife that is full “tang” one piece of metal with a handle riveted to it.
the knives that cute college kids sell, are not great! buy the scissors from the kid and a knife from a chef’s store where people who cook for a living buy knives. enjoy!
i really try hard not to use frozen fish. it is watery and the texture is ruined as fish has no connective tissue. so the water freezes and expands-wrecking the fish.
if you can find fresh fish-go with that. if not, poach the frozen filets in a spicy tomato sauce with veggies and serve with couscous.
practice. buy a bag of carrots and start chopping. i do that with new staff members. hand them 20 pounds of carrots-but about mid way through, they are very fast and sick of carrots:-)
turn down the fire! cook on medium for a bit longer to get the char crust-but not blackened. also, start with 1 1/2 inch thick steaks. have the butcher cut rib eyes for you from meat that has never been frozen. start with meat at room temperature so the interior is not cold.
that is tough! you can use lots of herbs, citrus and really good extra virgin olive oil to get flavor. try using some spices as well and see if you learn to enjoy chilies (hot stuff) to add interest and flavor
I am trying to let go and do “my own thing”, when I cook. I am trying not to measure every little thing, or follow a recipe exactly. I am also attempting to change a recipe and add my own ingredients. I am learning that from my 14 year old son, who cooks by instinct!
There is also this version, but she uses flanken in her overnight potato kugel http://www.joyofkosher.com/recipe/overnight-potato-kugel-yaptzik/
don’t tell my husband about that or i will be making that day and night.
make the potato part like hashed browns, place it on a sheet pan, layer the pastrami and mustard and roll and then bake it.
or, use the bread recipe for a potato-nick and use that.
good potato kugel needs more fat than you think. lots of oil and eggs to make it brown and stick together. then a hot oven (400-425) to brown the top and keep the inside creamy
I would really like to make a pastrami yaptzig kugel that I have seen in Pomegranate grocery it’s like a deli roll but instead of pastry dough its a thin potatoe kugel. nevermind that I have never made a decent potato kugel eiher
I always have problems cooking fish. Could it be that most of the fish has been previously frozen. It often seems watery and bland.
as i write i am actually covered in duck fat from a wedding we are prepping for this weekend!
MMMmmmm-duck fat.
it is not counter intuitive. that method is to render the fat in hot water so that the duck skin crisps up and doesn’t set fire to your kitchen!
i prefer a more modern method where you poach the legs and thighs in the fat (confit) and then pan roast the breast. that way the skin is crispy and the meat on the breast is medium rare of whatever you like.
you can serve the whole thing or just serve the breasts as an entree and the confit legs as a salad or separate meal. much more versatile.
to pan roast the breast-start with a cold pan. place the breast, skin-side down, and gently raise the heat to medium low. basically you are melting the fat off while keeping the meat raw. keep pouring the fat out of the pan, once the skin has browned and is crispy, turn the breast over so the meat is facing the pan and place the pan into a 350 oven for 7 minutes for medium rare.
if you started the breast in a hot pan, the whole thing would cook and the skin would burn before the fat was rendered off.
to poach the legs and thighs-cover them in a casserole with cold duck fat and place in a 250 oven for 2-3 hours. save the fat-freeze and use it again and again!
I’d love to know how to make the perfect roast duck crispy on the outside and perfect on the inside. Do I really need to pierce the skin and boil first? Seems slightly counter-intuitive. Thanks!
I am always searching for healthy recipes that don’t have sauces – just pure good spices and veggies. I am a total carnivore so usually cook them up together (especially beef). Any suggestions for quick string beans, zucchini, squash and other yummy veggies I can make quickly and deliciously?
Would also love a recipe that’s super easy for that amazing chocolate cake with gooey chocolate in the middle served with ice cream. Yum.