the red spoon | master http://theredspoonblog.com/master Quick techniques, in-depth tutorials, and how-tos from The Red Spoon. Tue, 22 Jan 2013 06:38:43 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 how to brown butter http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2013/01/how-to-brown-butter/ http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2013/01/how-to-brown-butter/#comments Tue, 22 Jan 2013 06:36:07 +0000 meg http://theredspoonblog.com/master/?p=154 butter pieces

If you keep up with any of the recipes on these pages, then you’ll know brown butter is placed on a very high pedestal in my kitchen life. In fact, I’d say it is one of the first cooking techniques, and arguably one of the easiest, every cook and baker alike should know. There are a variety of ways to go about browning butter (i.e. butter pieces vs. sticks of butter, skillet vs. sauce pan, swirling vs. whisking) and really any of them will get your butter a deep, nutty, golden amber brown eliminating the guess work behind which method to approach. I’ve browned butter every which way, but this way, the way below, is my favorite.

melting

Start by cutting your butter roughly into tablespoon sized amounts (I find it melts more quickly and more evenly than leaving the sticks whole, though both ways work just fine), place the pieces in a skillet (it has more surface area than a saucepan, thus equaling more browned bits) and place the skillet over medium heat. There is no need to use a non-stick skillet. Actually, if you have a stick-skillet or a pot without a dark coating it will be easier to see when your butter browns which is important since there is such a short amount of time between brown butter and burnt butter.

cooking and poping

Melt the butter and let it cook. There will be a lot of gurgling and popping, sputtering and crackling and foaming too. This is all ok. In fact it’s good. The butter is getting ready to do its brown thing.

bubbling and gurgling

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©the red spoon | master 2010 | Permalink | 0 comments | read more: ]]> http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2013/01/how-to-brown-butter/feed/ 0 how to open a pomegranate http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2013/01/how-to-open-a-pomegranate/ http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2013/01/how-to-open-a-pomegranate/#comments Sun, 06 Jan 2013 22:45:21 +0000 meg http://theredspoonblog.com/master/?p=142 pomegranates

I’m just gonna say it, pomegranates are weird. They’re odd looking, have seeds instead of juicy flesh and most of them look like they’ve been dropped one too many times. That being said, they are delicious. Their little ruby red seeds burst in your mouth with a punch of flavor, and luckily are easy to crack into despite their daunting appearance.

To get started find the bottom of the pomegranate. It will be the side with the knobby protrusion. Using a chef’s knife slice off just the very tip of the pomegranate being careful to not cut into the seeds.

slicing off the butt

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©the red spoon | master 2010 | Permalink | 0 comments | read more: ]]> http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2013/01/how-to-open-a-pomegranate/feed/ 0 how to freeze summer produce http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2011/06/how-to-freeze-summer-produce/ http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2011/06/how-to-freeze-summer-produce/#comments Thu, 09 Jun 2011 23:53:48 +0000 meg http://theredspoonblog.com/master/?p=18 sweet cherries

If you are like me, then you tend to bring home baskets full of produce when the two of you can only eat an armful at most. But it’s so pretty! It’s red and shiny! This entire bushel is flawless, we must buy! It smells so good, I can’t leave without 3 pounds! Perhaps you have said this too? Convincing yourself your better half that the 5 different varieties of tomatoes were absolutely necessary, and that you could not survive without them. Yes, that is where I live in summer. The farmer’s market, the produce section at Whole Foods, the produce stands on the side of rural roads. Just smelling the sweet earthiness of produce sends me into a tizzy sometimes, and well, when your budget is suddenly threatened because, hey, I decided we needed $50 worth of cherries today means you may find yourself on the other end of a harsh look, or disapproving head shake from the man taking care of the bills.

Even with the constant whining explanations of we only get this for 3 months, and then nothing! Just boring squash and collards and dried out peppers until next summer, we must eat now! doesn’t mean he will actually then applaud you for bringing home the overwhelming bounty you seem to haul in every week. So, in order to make it more cost effective, to make the summer’s best stay with us until next summer, and so we don’t get produce lust every June because we have been without it for far too long, we freeze. We freeze our produce booty and eat it all year long until next summer, when we can stock up a little more, without over killing it because hey, I’ve had great blackberries during February so it’s not as much of a shock when I see their delicious black beaded balls sitting in front of me in June.

tips

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©the red spoon | master 2010 | Permalink | 1 comments | read more: ]]> http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2011/06/how-to-freeze-summer-produce/feed/ 1 how to make chicken stock http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2011/03/how-to-make-chicken-stock/ http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2011/03/how-to-make-chicken-stock/#comments Sun, 06 Mar 2011 23:51:28 +0000 meg http://theredspoonblog.com/master/?p=15 flavor bases

I must admit, for being all “organic/local/don’t buy anything store bought” I never had any problems throwing a container of stock in my cart. It was easy and fast and, really, can you actually taste a difference? Well, after a recent endeavor to be more thrifty in the kitchen I couldn’t bare to think of wasting a perfectly good chicken carcass on the trash — which means raccoons and all sorts of nightly creatures in my part of town. So, I made stock, and I must confess, I have been planted back on the path of “everything should be homemade” — it does make a difference.

cooking

simmering stock

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©the red spoon | master 2010 | Permalink | 1 comments | read more: ]]> http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2011/03/how-to-make-chicken-stock/feed/ 1 how to make fresh pumpkin puree http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2010/10/how-to-make-fresh-pumpkin-puree/ http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2010/10/how-to-make-fresh-pumpkin-puree/#comments Mon, 18 Oct 2010 23:47:38 +0000 meg http://theredspoonblog.com/master/?p=13

Because I like doing this the hard way, because I am not satisfied with the canned pureed pumpkins, and because I’m me, I decided to make pumpkin puree. It was a long, arduous journey going from small cutesy pumpkin to pureed mash, my hands screaming in agony from chopping and slicing virtually impenetrable walls of pumpkin. The thought of how long the canned variety sits on the super market’s shelf every year waiting for Thanksgiving season to bring in hoards of grabby pumpkin mongers to descend upon it’s easy, simple, uncomplicated addition to recipes was alarming. Can you really justify the purchase of years old pumpkin puree when you can bring home bag-fulls of pumpkins for next to nothing? One batch of fresh puree was all it took to help me realize, those cans are a life-saver. It took an incredible amount of strength and time to make this, but for those like me here are the steps to your own battle with the gourd:

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©the red spoon | master 2010 | Permalink | 1 comments | read more: ]]> http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2010/10/how-to-make-fresh-pumpkin-puree/feed/ 1 how to hard boil an egg http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2010/08/how-to-hard-boil-an-egg/ http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2010/08/how-to-hard-boil-an-egg/#comments Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:45:02 +0000 meg http://theredspoonblog.com/master/?p=10 eggs

There are about as many techniques for hard-boiling eggs as there are recipes for them. I use the American’s Test Kitchen’s fool-proof method which I have found to be, indeed, fool-proof. The recipe can easily be doubled or tripled as long as you use a pot large enough to hold the eggs in a single layer, covered by an inch of water.

covering with water

boiling eggs

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©the red spoon | master 2010 | Permalink | 1 comments | read more: ]]> http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2010/08/how-to-hard-boil-an-egg/feed/ 1 how to trim an artichoke http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2010/07/how-to-trim-an-artichoke/ http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2010/07/how-to-trim-an-artichoke/#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:40:27 +0000 meg http://theredspoonblog.com/master/?p=8 artichokes

Artichokes can be scary. But that’s why I’m here, to take the scary out of scary. Er, never mind. Really, I needed some artichokes and I couldn’t justify buying canned artichoke hearts when fresh ones are bursting through the produce section. So I gulped, took a big breath, squeezed my eyes shut and reluctantly bought a few artichokes. And it’s true, there is a lot of waste when it comes to fresh artichokes, and a lot of prep work. We just have to accept it and move on, because fresh food is always better than canned or frozen food.

lined up in a row

There are a few things you should know before getting into the dirty business of de-choking and artichoke. These babies turn brown faster than you can blink. If you are needing artichokes for a salad or something where their green color is pivotal to your presentation, then you will want to have some lemons on hand. Just like when preparing apples and avocados, rub the juice from a lemon wedge over your artichoke as you work. You can also keep the parts of the artichoke you are not preparing submerged in lemon water to prevent the browning process.

acidulated water

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©the red spoon | master 2010 | Permalink | 0 comments | read more: ]]> http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2010/07/how-to-trim-an-artichoke/feed/ 0 how to season a cast iron skillet http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2010/06/how-to-season-a-cast-iron-skillet/ http://theredspoonblog.com/master/2010/06/how-to-season-a-cast-iron-skillet/#comments Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:54:13 +0000 meg http://theredspoonblog.com/master/?p=5 dirty, dusty, unseasoned skillet

A few months ago my mom gave me her treasured cast iron skillet — not any cast iron skillet, but a very special cast iron skillet. It belonged to my Great-Great Grandmother, and has been passed down mother-to-daughter for four generations, so this baby has been around for a while. When I received this piece of history, let’s just say it had seen better days. So if you have a cast iron skillet that is really old or been stuffed in the cabinet for so long that it looks like an ancient artifact, here are a few quick how-to’s to get that skillet back to its former glory.

unseasoned skillet

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