101 Tricks of the Trade

**sunshine** · 02-20-2006, 02:20 PM

101 Tricks of the Trade

A trick, gimmick, or shortcut used in cooking that offers a better, cheaper,
easier, or faster way of getting something done.

#1 Opening Artichokes Quarter the cooked artichoke, lengthwise, cutting
through the heart. Cut across each quarter, just at the point where the
purple leaves peak. When the knife stops naturally, gently peel the heart and
choke away from the tough leaves. Remove the fibrous choke from the heart by
making a cut about inch deep at the base of the choke fibers. flick the blade
of the knife up and the choke will pull right out, leaving the heart.

#2 Picture-Perfect Artichokes Don't try to remove the peel in one piece. With
the tip of a sharp paring knife, make two lengthwise slits, equally spaced,
just through the skin of the avocado. Avoid cutting the flesh beneath. With
the edge of the blade, lift the corner of the outside strip of skin and roll
it off. Repeat with the other two strips.

#3 Pitting Avocados Start by trimming off the stem end of an unpeeled
avocado. Then hold the avocado on its side and work a knife around the seed,
cutting it full circle. Remove the knife and give both sides of the avocado a
gentle twist. The avocado will pull right apart into two halves. To remove
the seed: hit the top of the seed with the heel of a heavy knife. Give the
knife a slight turn and lift; the seed will emerge stuck to the blade. To
remove the seed from the knife, reach over the top of the blade with
forefinger and thumb and push down, with a squeezing action, until the seed
pops off.

#4 Controlling the Texture of Dried Beans For soft and creamy beans, cook
with the lid on. For firmer beans, cook with the lid off.

#5 Snapping Fava Beans Working down the pod, snap to release each fava bean
and push it out with thumb and forefinger. Blanch the beans for 30 seconds in
boiling water, then plunge them into iced water to cool. Break the seam of
each bean with a fingernail, pushing the fava bean out of its sleeve.

#6 Removing Beet Stains Cover the work surface with wax paper and wear
disposable rubber gloves when preparing fresh beets. At cleanup time, toss
the gloves and the paper and the stains.

#7 Carrots That Taste Like Carrots Don't peel the carrots. Wash them and cook
with the peels on, in salted boiling water. Once they are soft enough to
pierce with a fork, plunge them into cool water. The peels will rub right
off, leaving behind their distinctive flavor.

#8 Odorless Cauliflower Cooking Tear a slice of bread into small pieces and
add it to the pot with the cauliflower and its cooking liquid. The bread will
absorb and contain the cooking odor. (This also works with broccoli and
cabbage.)

#9 Cutting Cucumber Fans with Chopsticks Place two chopsticks flat on the
counter and bring the thicker ends together to form a V. Put a 2-ton-inch
piece of peeled cucumber on the counter, in between the chopsticks. Cut the
cucumber into thick slices. (The chopsticks will automatically stop the knife
from cutting through the cucumber.) Apply light pressure on the vegetable to
spread open t he slices and reveal the fan shape. (This also works with
zucchini, carrots, potatoes, and so forth.)

#10 Eggplant Gender Male eggplants are sweeter than female eggplants because
they have fewer bitter seeds. To determine the gender of eggplants, look at
the bottom of the vegetable where the flower was once attached. The male
eggplant has a well- rounded bottom with a smooth, even stem area. The female
has a narrow bottom with an elliptical, deeply indented stem area.

#11 A Smashing Way to Peel Garlic Place the head of garlic on the counter and
press on the root end to loosen the cloves. Separate a clove from the head
and set it on a cutting board. Lay the flat side of a chef's knife on the
clove and press down firmly until the clove snaps. Pick up t he clove and the
peel will come right off.

#12 Mellowing Garlic A tip for those who want their garlic slightly less
lusty and a little less robust. Peel the skin from a clove of garlic. Using a
sharp paring knife, make a vertical incision halfway into the clove, removing
the bitter green shoot, if present, from the center. Put the clove in a pot
of water and boil for 5 minutes.

#13 Mincing Garlic with a Fork Place a fork, tines pointing up, on the bottom
of the salad bowl. Gently rub a peeled garlic clove across the ends of the
tines, mincing the garlic. When garlic is minced, add remaining ingredients
and proceed with the recipe.

#14 No-Fuss Garlic Pure Cut a garlic clove in half lengthwise and place it
flat- side down on a work surface. Make several vertical cuts, then several
horizontal cuts on each half of the clove. Finish by cutting straight down
across the clove, mincing the garlic. Sprinkle the garlic with a little salt
and, using the flat side of a chef's knife, mash the garlic and salt
together. The abrasiveness of the salt helps turn the garlic into a smooth
pure.

#15 Getting the Garlic on the Bread How to get the garlic on the bread
without mangling and tearing the bread's crisp, toasted surface. Rub a clove
of garlic liberally on just the crusty edges around the perimeter of t he
toasted bread. The rough texture of the crust grates the garlic and flavors
the whole slice.

#16 Tearless Onion Dicing Minimize the release of the onion's tear-causing
juice by cutting the onion cleanly, precisely, and as few times as possible.
Set the onion on its root end and cut it in half, right through the core.
Place a half, flat-side down on the cutting board, and make several
lengthwise cuts, then several crosswise. Dice finely by cutting straight down
through the onion.

#17 Keeping the Sweetness in Raw Onions Place diced or chopped onion in a
strainer. Dip the strainer several times into a bowl filled with water and a
little bit of vinegar. Drain the onion, shaking off excess liquid. the acid
in the water prevents the onion from turning bitter.

#18 Better Scallion Chopping Before cutting a scallion crosswise, make one
vertical slice all the way from the root to the tip. This one extra cut will
allow the rings to separate easily and will double the number of scallion
pieces produced.

#19 Peeling Peppers Quickly Pour vegetable oil into a skillet to a depth of
approximately inch; heat until almost smoking. Make a small slit in the side
of the pepper to prevent it from popping. Put the pepper into the skillet of
hot oil and cook for a few seconds until the pepper turns beige in color and
the skin becomes transparent. Turn and repeat on the other side. Remove the
pepper, cool on a paper towel, and slip off the peel under running water.

#20 Cutting Bell Peppers From the Inside Out After the pepper is seeded and
deveined, place it on a cutting board shiny side down. Proceed to cut through
the moist underside. The knife cuts easily through this surface and is less
likely to slip.

#21 Instant Gloves To don instant gloves, rub your hands liberally with
vegetable oil. This coating will protect your skin from the fiery resins in
chili peppers.

#22 Cleaning Dried Chilies To clean a dried chili, start by removing its
stem. Then pull the chili apart, lengthwise, splitting it in half. Brush the
seeds from both halves and the chili is ready to cook.

#23 Quick Pepper Seeding Cut both ends off the pepper. Stand the pepper on
the counter and slice straight down with a sharp knife, removing the flesh in
four or five pieces from around the core. Discard the seeds and the core.

#24 Keeping Boiled Potatoes Firm Fill a pot with 2 parts water and 1 part
vinegar. Add a dash of kosher salt and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes,
which are already trimmed or peeled, and gently boil them until cooked.

#25 Baking Potatoes on Copper Pipes Place a 2-inch wide copper pipe
(available at plumbing and building supply stores) on a baking sheet, using
crumpled aluminum foil under the ends to keep the pipe from rolling. Preheat
the pipe for 10 minutes in a 325 oven. Thinly slice a peeled potato on a
mandolin. Soak the slices in either flavored oil or clarified butter. Lay the
slices across the pipe and bake in a 325 oven for 5 to 7 minutes. Once baked,
the crispy wafers will easily slide off the pipe and retain their arched
shape.

#26 Easy Tomato Peeling Cut the core from the center of the tomato. Turn it
over and score the bottom with a shallow X. Drop the tomato into boiling
water, letting it simmer for about 10 seconds. With a slotted spoon, scoop up
the tomato and plunge it into iced water. After cooling 30 seconds, t he skin
will slip right off.

#27 Cubing Tomatoes To cube a peeled tomato, begin by cutting across the
tomato, about 1 inch down from the top, until the blade reaches the far side.
Turning the knife blade, continue the cut down the side of the tomato. This
creates a long strip of tomato; set that strip aside. Continue cutting around
and down the tomato removing t he flesh in a series of petals, using the
natural contour of the tomato as a guide while cutting down its sides. With
the tip of a finger, flick out any seeds that are attached to the petals and
any remaining in the central core. The tomato is now peeled and seeded, ready
to chop into neat squares, large or small as the recipe requires.

#28 A Quick Way to Crush Tomatoes Open a can of whole tomatoes, drain if
desired, and pour the tomatoes into a large bowl. With one hand squeeze and
crush the tomatoes into either a rough or smooth consistency as required by
the recipe.

#29 Roasting Tomatoes Place a single layer of tomatoes on a foil-lined baking
sheet, making sure the tomatoes don't touch. Place under a preheated broiler,
several inches below the element, and roast for 10 to 15 minutes, turning
them once. When the tomatoes blister and blacken on all sides, remove them
from the oven. When cool enough to handle, slip off the peels.

#30 Saving Leftover Tomato Paste Measure leftover tomato paste by the
tablespoon into individual compartments of an ice-cube tray. Freeze, then pop
the frozen spoonfuls of tomato paste into a zipper- seal bag and hold it in
the freezer for future use.

#31 "Efficient" Juicing Pressing down on the fruit, roll it several times
back and forth over a hard surface before cutting it in half. Squeezing the
juice out will be effortless.

#32 Peeling and Segmenting Citrus Fruits The secret is in the approach; first
cut off both ends of the fruit with a sharp paring knife and set the fruit
flat on a work surface. Work the knife down along the natural rounded shape
of the fruit, cutting off both the bitter pith and peel. Then hold the peeled
fruit and slice down between the membranes to free each segment.

#33 Broad-Stroke Zesting Use a vegetable peeler to scrape a ribbon of peel
off the fruit. Remove only the colored peel, leaving the bitter white pith
attached to the fruit. Finish the peel by mincing, chopping, or julienning as
desired.

#34 Grating a Citrus Peel a Better Way Cover the side of a grater with a
piece of parchment paper. Rub the citrus fruit back and forth, turning the
fruit as the peel is scraped off. Lift the parchment paper off the grater.
The grated peel remains on the paper and can be easily scraped into a bowl.
The bitter white pith is left behind on the grater and can be simply washed
away.

#35 Dry-Poaching Pears in Salt Preheat a deep baking pan filled with kosher
salt to 450 for 60 minutes. Insert a wooden skewer into the top of t he
fruit. Bury the fruit in the hot salt, leaving only a portion of the wooden
skewer exposed. Bake for 15 minutes or until the fruit softens. Remove the
fruit and brush off any clinging salt. cool before serving.

#36 Porcupine-Cut Mango Hold the mango on end and slice the fruit in half,
cutting alongside the flat side of the broad seed. Take a mango half and
score the flesh diagonally, making diagonal cuts every inch. Be careful not
to cut through the rind. Give the fruit a quarter turn and continue scoring
the flesh, cutting it into a diamond-shaped pattern. Pick up the fruit and,
using thumbs, push the skin up, pressing the fruit outward, as if turning a
tennis ball inside out. The flesh opens to reveal little porcupine-like
spikes of mango, which can easily be lifted from the peel with the edge of a
spoon.

#37 Seeding a Pomegranate Neatly Make a slit in the center of the fruit,
large enough to insert both your thumbs. Submerge the fruit in a bowl of
water. Insert your thumbs in the slit and pull the fruit apart into two
pieces. Loosen the seeds with your fingers; they will float to the surface,
rinsed and ready to be scooped out and used.

#38 Telling a Boiled Egg From a Raw One To determine whether an egg is raw or
hard-boiled, give it a spin. A hard-boiled egg will spin easily; a raw egg
won't spin at all.

#39 Cooking the "Perfect" Hard-Boiled Egg Start with eggs that are at least
one day old and are at room temperature. In a pot large enough to hold the
eggs in a single layer, bring cold water to a boil. When the water is
boiling, not before, place the eggs in the pot. boil 8 minutes for small
eggs, 10 minutes for large ones. Remove eggs from heat and cool immediately
in several changes of cold water.

#40 Hard-Boiled Egg Garnish Separate the white from the yolk. Rub the egg
white through one side of a fine-mesh sieve, set aside. Then rub the yolk
through the other side of the sieve. Sprinkle the white and yolk in
alternating circles to create an attractive garnish.