One of the things I love about cooking is the techniques that chefs use to execute the dish we have in mind. Here, I hope to share with you some of the best tips and techniques I come along the way that can simply enhance your dish by cooking and prepping a certain way.
PICKLING
Pickling is easy! You just need to core ingredients to prepare the pickling liquid and that adds a little bit of flavour (but not over power the product you are pickling. You will need:
1/2 tsp Fennel seeds, Coriander seeds, Peppercorns
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup good quality vinegar
1/2 cup water
Create the pickling liquid by adding sugar, white wine vinegar, water and pickling mix and bring to a boil. Let it simmer for 5 mins to infuse the flavours. Take off the heat and pour over your vegetables. Let it cool in the fridge until ready for plating.
HOW TO MAKE A BASIC JUS
To make a basic chicken and white wine jus, what you need is the core ingredients and most importantly time, for the flavours to develop. You will need:
1/2 tsp Fennel seeds and Coriander seeds
1 bag Chicken bones and 2 cups stock
2 carrots and 3 celery stalks, chopped
1 cup white wine
2-4 tbs white wine vinegar (to taste)
50g butter
To cook the jus, place the olive oil in the pan and add the fennel and coriander seeds. Cook for about 1 minute. Then add the chicken bones, onion, carrots and celery and caramelize (brown outer later skin). Cook on medium-high heat for 6-8 minutes.
Once caramelized, deglaze the pan with the white wine. It will start to bubble and let the wine reduce until about 1/3rd of its original volume. Add the chicken stock after and cook for a further 30-60 minutes (the longer the better). Constantly taste and season with vinegar, salt and pepper accordingly. Finish off with butter.
SEASON EVERYTHING
Always remember to season everything with salt (and pepper if required). When you make a dish that has several cooked components, do not salt it only when the dish it put together. But instead, ensure every element of that dish is salted/seasoned throughout the cooking process to ensure that the seasoning in your dish is consistent.
NEVER PUT ANYTHING ON A PLATE YOU CAN’T EAT
No matter how great the need to have a pretty plate, make sure that everyone on your plate is edible. It is not appropriate to add flowers to your plate to simply enhance it aesthetically without any added value or complement to the dish.
SHARPENING YOUR KNIFE
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