What's the point of putting oil in my pasta water?
What's the point of putting oil in my pasta water?
There is no point. Oil and water don't mix, remember?
Some people -- including certain Italian grandmothers -- add oil to their pasta water because of the received wisdom that it will prevent pasta from sticking. In fact, if you add oil to your pasta water, it will merely float to the top of the pot. Worse, it may give your pasta a slick surface, preventing sauce from being properly absorbed, which is the trick to a good marriage of pasta and sauce.
If you want to prevent pasta from sticking, stir it. The only thing you need to add to pasta water is a good dose of salt to season it. Properly seasoning your pasta -- while it cooks -- may result in less salt consumption overall, since you won't need to compensate by adding extra salt at the table.
What's the point of sifting flour?
What's the point of sifting flour?
Originally, the point of sifting flour used to be to remove lumps and the occasional insect, although modern flour is generally free of those concerns. If you don't buy pre-sifted flour, sifting can still be a good idea for a number of reasons.
First, it loosens up flour that has been sitting around in storage for a long time, aerating it and helping your baked goods to have a lighter texture. It's also a good idea to sift flour if you are combining it with other ingredients, such as salt, baking powder or soda, or cocoa powder, to give the mixture a homogeneous texture.
Flour can be sifted either with an old-fashioned sifter, or by shaking flour through a sieve. Dry ingredients can also be whisked together with a wire whisk in a pinch, which also helps lighten up the flour.
Nevertheless, some people think that sifting flour is a pain, and skip it altogether, claiming they don't notice the difference. Do you?
Recipe: Sour Cream Bundt Cake (VeganYumYum)
Recipe: Banana Hazelnut Upside-Down Cake (Hogwash)
When you want a dish to have quintessential garlic flavor that permeates each bite, mince it. You can mince with a knife, or a garlic press.
Either way, you need to free the individual cloves. To do that, press down on the head with the heel of your palm. Apply firm, even pressure so the cloves don't fly all over the place.
To peel an individual clove, cut of the hard stem end where the clove attached to the bulb. Either stop the cut just short of the skin on the other side and peel the skin around to remove it, or make the cut all the way through and squeeze out the clove. The older the clove, the easier the skin releases.
You can also peel it by setting the side of your knife blade on the clove and pressing down until you feel the skin release, though not hard enough to pulverize it, or the skin will get mixed in with the garlic.
To mince with a knife, smash the peeled clove with the side of the knife. Then just run your knife back and forth across the smashed clove, chopping as you go until it's as fine as you like.
If you don't want individual little pieces of garlic and have a press, just put the whole peeled clove (or cloves, if you can fit them) in the press and squeeze. Use your knife to trim away any clinging garlic.
Storing fresh herbs is a battle against the inevitable, but here are a few tips for keeping them alive in time for you to eat them up:
1 Set a bushy herb like parsley, cilantro, chervil, or mint in a shallow glass of water and keep it on the counter or in the refrigerator for several days, just like a bouquet.
2 Or, rinse it, wrap it loosely in a paper or dish towel while still damp, and place it (with or without a plastic bag covering) in the crisper or at the bottom of the fridge.
3 Sturdy herbs such as rosemary or thyme can be stored in paper or loose plastic (either keep it loose or puncture some air holes to let out moisture). Or you can simply hang them upside down in the kitchen, where they will dry slowly.
4 Do not manhandle delicate herbs like chives, tarragon or basil. Rinse lightly, wrap loosely in paper and place in a plastic bag in the crisper.
5 Fresh herbs should last about a week if stored properly. If you're at the end of your garden's season and you have a tons of herbs left unused, you can most herbs to have later in the year. Kalyn's Kitchen breaks down the best way to freeze basil, rosemary and thyme.
Reference: Marjoram vs. oregano (Cookthink)
Reference: How to make pesto (Cookthink)
Sage is one of the stronger herbs. Its flavor ranges from mild, warm and spicy to musky, heady and astringent. We commonly cook with it in the cooler months since it pairs well with rich dishes.
Sage’s best match might be with brown butter as a pasta sauce. But it also contrasts the fattiness of pork and sausage, makes roasted chicken more succulent, and complements heartier vegetables like sweet potatoes, squash and zucchini.
Large pieces of uncooked sage leaf and stem aren’t the most pleasant things to chew. You can finely chop them for quick-cooking or last minute appearances. Long cooking and higher heat (like with sage butter) softens the leaves.
To make clean even slices, roughly stack the leaves, roll them up like a cigar and hold them in place on the cutting board.
Then just slice the cigar crosswise into thin strips.
To coarsely chop the leaves for longer cooking dishes, run the knife back and forth across them a couple of times.
For quick-cooking dishes, keep going with the knife until the leaves are finely chopped.
The flavor of a shallot falls somewhere between red onion and garlic, often without the pungency of either. The shallot's subtle flavor works in soups, stews, sauces, and pretty much anywhere else you'd use an onion or garlic.
To dice a shallot, first cut it in half through the root.
Next, cut the papery end (not the root end) off and discard it. This will make the skin easier to peel away.
Make a series of vertical cuts through the shallot, without cutting all the way through to the end.
Then just rotate the shallot 90 degrees, and slice across the vertical cuts to make a dice.
Vermouth is fortified white wine that's been infused with herbs and spices.
The word vermouth is from the German word for wormwood (wermut), which was a main ingredient until somebody decided it was poisonous. Vermouth was first commercially produced in Turin, Italy in the 18th century and now most vermouth is produced in Italy and France. But people have been making fortified wines since the 5th century.
Vermouth ranges from dry to sweet. White dry vermouth is a popular apéritif and used to make a martini; sweet red vermouth is drunk on ice or mixed into cocktails like a Manhattan; white bianco vermouth is slightly sweet.
Vermouth is also used in cooking, primarily to add an herbal wine-flavored touch to sauces.
what you should know
Unsalted butter is always equally unsalted, but salted butter is never quite salted the same.
The NaCl uncertainty is the main reason we prefer to use unsalted butter when we cook. Often that salt can subdue the sweet flavor of butter. (Unsalted butter is often labeled as "sweet butter.")
salt conversion In most recipes, the little extra salt will go unnoticed. Still, as a general rule if a recipe calls for unsalted butter but all you've got is salted butter, cut 1/4 teaspoon of salt per stick of butter (1/2 cup) you use.
stick it up Salt acts as a preservative for butter. Tightly wrapped in foil and stored in the fridge, salted butter can last for five months, while unsalted butter lasts about three before going stale. (Spot stale butter by slicing into the stick; the outside will be darker than the inside.) Then again, many people don't store butter in the fridge to begin with.
cooking with butter Sometimes, when you want a nuttier flavor, you'll want to let the butter's foam subside. But butter has a low smoke point, so be careful using it as your cooking fat. It'll burn easily. Clarified butter, or ghee, has a higher smoke point (and also makes a tasty dipping sauce for crab, lobster and anything else).
roux-dimentary Butter forms the foundation for countless classic sauces and thickeners, including béchamel, beurre manié and roux.
what you need
Have you ever wanted to make fresh butter at home? This traditional butter churn is based on the famous Dazey churn from the early 20th century.
You can also make a small batch of butter by putting cream in a jar and shaking it for a long, long time until you've shaken it solid.
The water-cooled crock owners we know swear by the constant supply of creamy, spreadable butter they keep on their tables.
Other butter lovers who shun the refrigerator prefer the classic rectangular butter dish.
what you do
Sage and butter are absolutely delicious together. How delicious? Try this rich and pillowy tortellini with sage brown butter and parmesan to find out.
Steamy Kitchen likes to top her slow butter- braised asparagus with parmesan and sea salt. With that savory finale, you definitely don't need salted butter.
Drizzling roasted sweet potatoes with cilantro-lime butter gives them a burst of tart richness.
Salted butter might interfere with the complex sugar-spice interaction in these orange-scented popovers with cinnamon-orange honey.
These better-for-you whole-grain flapjacks from hogwash are made with quinoa, millet and flaxseed. After using butter to grease the pan, you can afford to use a little extra on the cakes themselves.
Coconut & Lime's worked out one of the fastest and tastiest cinnamon bun recipes out there.
