Paddingtonwolf
Flaming Galah
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2009
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To be fair the Gordon Ramsay Pattie would make a shit frisbee
I did cold prep in a restaurant when I was younger, pretty much the only transferable skill I’ve ever developed is the ability to chop/dice/whatever any vegetable or fruit without any thought. Couldn’t tell you how to do it, but put any in front of me and they get chopped very quickly.Tonight’s (well, your time!) little exchange has got me thinking about this thread. There are clearly massively different levels of cooking ability in our little online group. Maybe those with more experience or skills can pass on useful little tips to save time and improve those with less confidence? Not necessarily recipes but just little helpful things that seem second nature when you know what you are doing but aren’t obvious when you think you can burn water?
I can start with a couple.
Rice. Boiling standard cooking time rice is a piece of piss by the absorption method. This doesn’t work for quick cook rice but the regular stuff.
Twice as much water in the pan as rice. Bring to the boil. Regularly stir to make sure the rice doesn’t stick. When the water is absorbed the rice should be perfectly done.
Dicing an onion. Quick but you need a sharp knife. Peel. Cut it in half going through the root. Lay one half flat on the board. Cut from the top 5mm slices but leave the root intact as you need that to hold on to. Now put your knife blade parallel with the board and make three or four slices through the onion again leaving the root untouched. Turn onion through ninety degrees and slice from the top again in 5mm strips. Instant dice. If you want to make flash brunoise tiny dice then you just reduce the distance between the cuts in all three chops. As long as the root is intact the onion should hold together and it’s easy.
That's similar to one of my favs, I usually put a load of paprika in and add some chopped up chorizo. Also instead of pasta I'll add a can of cannellini beans sometimes.
I'm kind of the wrong shape now and at this stage of my life I doubt I'm ever gonna get much slimmer.Let them cool then flour, egg wash and breadcrumb, and them deep fry so you have crunchy breadcrumb potato balls with a meaty paprika kick. Serve it with a romesco sauce and it would be a mean tapas dish.