Thursday, April 28, 2011

Cut Your Chopping Time


When ever a recipe charges you with "slicing thinly" a long thin ingredient such as a scallion or a ramp. Keep this in mind - always double up when you can.  The same goes for if you're julienning thin slabs of something. You should stack them when you can.  It will cut your chopping time in half.  Now, this could be perceived as an arbitrary measure to take, but if you have to crank out four quarts worth of thinly sliced ramps then cutting your time in half is a very big deal. 
It seems very self-explanatory, I know, but it is more about the mentality than it is the practice.  Learning to recognize when you can make things move faster in the kitchen will make cooking a more approachable thing.


Here's an example: if you're slicing three ramps - rather than slice your way through the length of all three . . .


Half them cross-wise  . . .

and lay them next to each other.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Erratum

 
I had a post a little while back - D.I.Y. Ricotta.  Explaining an easy way to make ricotta cheese yourself.
A not-so-nice commenter (who shall remain nameless since he did so anonymously) pointed out that I had it all wrong, and it turns out he is correct. What I made in that entry is not true ricotta.  I made a curd cheese (aka "whole milk ricotta) from curd precipitated from whole milk, and true ricotta is a whey cheese, made from cooking whey leftover from the curd making process.  That said, the cheese made in that entry is delicious, and works well in any ricotta application.

I'm always trying hard to present accurate and approachable information. 
This botch is a result of me not doing my all of homework.  So to my readers, I apologize, and to my commenter, thank you for pointing out the mistake.  Though maybe you could do so a little more nicely next time. 

To anyone reading this blog, I always welcome corrections of any kind if you see mistakes that need to be addressed.  So if you see one, please send me an email.

 
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