Jeffrey Sands Rules of Good Home-Cooking: 1) My first Rule (Yes, unfortunately there are many of those) is stay away from table salt at all costs! Dont even keep it in the house. Instead, find a source for things like Sea or Kosher salt. If you can get it, a product like smoked salt is even better. Just by their chemical composition and texture they tend to taste better. It also takes less to season foods with them - Iodized table salt is horrid stuff. Also, if you dont have one already, invest in a good pepper mill and keep it full of fresh peppercorns - Pre-ground pepper is just tasteless and can go bad really quick. 2) Rule 2 - Make every step count in the composition of a meal. This means season things during initial cooking. Heres an example: The flavour base for 90% of any soup should be onions (or shallots, which are just tiny onions but are much different in taste), celery and carrot (or any other suitable root veggie you might have to hand - Fennel, Parsnips, Sweet Potato, etc) Once they hit the pot, you have to sweat them on med-high so that theres some carmelization. This requires the water to come out of them, which usually means adding S& P. Now would be the time to do it, not after theyre cooked. 3) Rule 3: Dont forget rules One and Two. ;-) 4) Rule Four - Season meat (Chicken, Beef, Pork or Seafood) before browning them. Control is the key. Also, learning the basics of brining or marinading doesnt hurt, either. Any opportunity that you can take to add flavour before cooking will make a huge difference. It doesnt have to be an all-day process, either. Example: Pork Chops. Rinse them under cold water, pat dry with a paper towel, then put in a resealable bag or The Cursed Tupperware with S&P, a dash of wine (or anything acidic, like lemon juice or vinegar) and some EVOO and let stand for even half an hour will make a huge difference in the outcome. I never, ever cook meat without at least some kind of pre-seasoning. If I have the time (or space in the fridge), I will brine it first, too. But thats another post and is for those that suffer from advanced OCD. [Hopefully more to come from Jeffrey! Great post!]
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 22:54:42 +0000
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