Accumulated Knowledge of the Home Chef

We’ve been at it for a while, playing in the kitchen, following recipes, making up our own, with enough coffee and wine to wash it all down. Learning from our own mistakes is what we do best, but sometimes we’ll absorb a helpful hint from others that proves a solution to a problem we didn’t even know we had. We hold enough hubris to assume that others might benefit from these hard won lessons. What follows is a mere spattering of some of the more salient pieces of advice that we find ourselves adhering to time and again.

Wash all of your knives by hand—protect and prolong your best tools. ✦ Wear an apron—you’ll feel invincible. ✦ Keep the kitchen fresh #1: Use painter’s tape to label and date leftovers, and never again guess your way through moldy Tupperware. ✦ Don’t let your butter burn. ✦ Pick up a Swedish dishtowel—they are workhorses that cut down on paper-towel usage. ✦ Shop more frequently—buying what you need when you need it cuts down on food waste, and keeps your menu interesting. ✦ Coffee love #1: Heartburn generally associated with coffee’s “acidity” is actually caused by rancid oils in stale coffee; use coffee within three weeks of the roast date. No roast date on your coffee? Buy different coffee. ✦ Read fully through a recipe before even buying the ingredients; a six hour rest time for a dough or meat marinade can throw off your groove. ✦ Keep the kitchen fresh #2: Eliminate mildew by dampening then microwaving sponges and towels. ✦ Wine obsession #1: Most wine is not intended for aging; drink it soon after you buy it. Can’t finish it? Proven most effective: cork it and keep it in the fridge. ✦ Keep the kitchen fresh #3—employ distilled vinegar in a spray bottle and use as a general purpose cleaner to kill bacteria. ✦ Never again hunt for missing lids—toss all mis-matched reusable containers and stick to a single, self-interchanging brand. Similarly, collect mason jars with standard size lids—identical tops in a basket, and jars lined up at the ready. ✦ Wine obsession #2—Spanish wine is the best “bang for the buck,” especially in the $10-$15 range. ✦ Wear surgical gloves (found on Amazon) when cutting spicy peppers or raw meats—nothing worse than jalapeño unwittingly rubbed into your eye. (You can also wear them when changing your car’s oil.) ✦ Coffee love #2—dramatically elevate you coffee by purchasing a burr grinder. (We recommend Baratzas’ Encore, On The Table Dec. ’16 & Jan. ’17.) ✦ Find ways to get your kids involved in the kitchen; it will pay dividends in the future. ✦ Wine obsession #3—Drink wine while cooking—you’ll enjoy the process more. ✦ Listen to your favorite music while cooking—it makes the wine taste better. ✦ Collect and enjoy better kitchen tools—consult our past equipment guides (mtRedfield.blogspot.com). ✦ Keep the kitchen fresh #4—for a warm and inviting aroma, simmer mulling spices (e.g., clove, allspice, star anise) on the stovetop. ✦ Employ multiple wooden cutting boards—mark one exclusive for raw meats. ✦ Stop measuring oils in Tbsp—buy bartender pour-spouts for your oils and vinegars, count “one-onethousand” for each Tbsp. ✦ Buy an instant read thermometer—stop overcooking your chicken (On The Table, Feb. ‘17). ✦ Recognize that the USDA’s recommended temperatures are overly conservative—they will result in overcooked meats. ✦ Respect food. ✦ Love food. ✦ Love people.

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