Using a brine to infuse flavor in food has been practiced for a very long time, corned beef and ham are 2 examples of everyday food that gets brined. Pickled vegetables and fish as well as poultry are also brined, cured or marinated in this manner. The main reason for […]
This lusciously rich and smooth sauce will make most anything better. It could be eggs Benedict for breakfast, salmon or sole for lunch, chicken or steak for dinner and steamed asparagus as a side. I have heard the request: “Just bring me a bowl of Hollandaise and a spoon” on […]
The lovely green sauce with tastes and fragrance of the summer is what I think of pesto. Most often used as a flavoring for pasta or with fresh mozzarella and garden tomatoes you can utilize this sauce for many other things. Mixed with mayonnaise it becomes a great dip or […]
When making Pho, hot and sour shrimp soup, risotto or a number of shrimp and seafood dishes, it’s great to have some good shrimp stock on hand. Save your shrimp shells every time you peel and make shrimp, it’s easy to keep a ziploc bag in the freezer and just […]
Bringing out rich flavor in a vegetable dish can be a challenge. Vegetables are often cooked with bacon or pancetta, soups are made with chicken stock, split pea soup or beans are cooked with a ham bone. How can we go to flavortown without using meat? One good way is […]
With more people eating plant based diets these days, the challenge in the cooking world and especially for restaurants is how to create great vegetable dishes without sacrificing the flavor. Stocks and broths is the answer. The base for most stocks is mirepoix ,which is covered in the recipe index […]
To make a basic turkey stock for utilizing in soups and sauces, you can use the recipes for chicken stock or dark chicken stock. This will keep it mild, neutral and very versatile. I often do this after certain holidays when stores are selling turkeys very cheap. You can use […]
Oh the sweet perfume of garlic roasting in olive oil, just taking the scent in is like an appetizer. Years ago I had a restaurant where we served pizza and the roasted garlic was a very popular topping, we also made focaccia bread with roasted garlic. Each week we would […]
The sweetly fragrant shallots are not a dish or meal in itself but it is very useful in other preparations, just like the delicate oil they are roasted in. I enjoy the sweet flavor when used as a topping for pizza or when you use the shallots and the oil […]
This is a variation of regular chicken stock. It is very useful in many recipes calling for beef or veal stock. When you need a sauce for game, roast lamb or any dark sauce for a roast you can use this recipe. The recipe is almost the same as regular […]
Welcome! I have been cooking professionally and for fun over 40 years and love it as ever. I would like to share some of the things I have learned over the years as well as some of the miscues.