Things you should know: Kitchen edition

Since we’re on the subject of kitchens, here’s my idiosyncratic list of Things You Should Know. What’d I miss?

How to dice an onion.
How to slice garlic.
How to cook a steak like Alton Brown.
How to make an omelet like Jacques Pépin.
Which oils tolerate higher heat than others.
How to deglaze a pan and make a simple pan sauce.
How to roast a chicken like Thomas Keller.
How to make a beef stew.
How to bake no-knead bread.
How to make an Asian stir-fry.
What al dente means.
How to care for cast-iron, nonstick and stainless steel cookware.
How to care for knives.

3 thoughts on “Things you should know: Kitchen edition

  1. This made me hungry. For both beef stew and a decent omelet which I haven’t had in years. And it made me wonder if this is the same Scott Feldstein who went to Waukesha North in the 80′s.

  2. No dis to Jacques Pepin, but the best omelete I’ve ever made was the result of a recipe I saw on America’s Test Kitchen. Let me know if you’d like me to email it to you. Superb.

    And yes, I’m the very same Scott Feldstein who attended Waukesha North in the 80s! You’re a classmate?

  3. While grocery shopping the other day, I was looking for peanut oil. Pick and Save didn’t have any, so I was left trying to figure out whether I should pick canola oil, safflower oil, or corn oil for my fried tofu.

    I noticed that Spectrum (one of the higher-end oil producers) labeled all of their cooking oils with their heat tolerance: “high heat”, “medium-high heat”, etc. This struck me as completely obvious and “user-friendly” yet something that none of the other cooking oil producers were doing.

Leave a Reply