Cooking and meal preparation is more than just following a recipe.We need the right Tools. We need a well-stocked Pantry. We need to understand the Terms and Techniques. Then we need to know what to do with that knowledge to prepare the food.
Here you will find an ever-changing compendium of the Kitchen Knowledge of Thyme for Cooking.
It can be frustrating to get part way through preparing a dish and realize you don't understand the next step - whether it's an unfamiliar measurement or an oven temperature you're not familiar with.
This covers the way I do things, my opinions, philosophies, techniques, etc. Feel free to do things your own way, disagree with me, challenge me and tell me what I've missed.
By the way: I assume you know enough to wash the fruits and vegetables (not mushrooms) before using...and to peel onions, garlic, shallots, etc.Food Techniques and Information:
Avocado: How to tell if it's ripe, how to remove the pit, how to slice it.
Asparagus: Green, white or violet: What's the difference? How to cook it; store it.
Courgette (Zucchini): How to use and freeze this versatile and nutritious vegetable.
Dairy Products: The difference between Fromage Frais, Fromage Blanc and Greek Yogurt.
Eggs: How to hard boil; how to separate; how to freeze.
Herbs, Herb Gardens and Seasonal Eating Hot to use fresh herbs in summer and freeze them for fresh summer taste in winter. Eating with the seasons.
Meat - is it done yet? Tips and temperatures to tell if it's done the way you want it.
Mushrooms: Clean, yes. Wash, noooo.... How to prepare mushrooms.
Olives: How to remove the pit.
Onions, leeks, shallots, garlic: How to clean, slice and store
Pasta: How much to use ....educated guessing
Peppers: How to cut, what to throw....
Potatoes, How to slice for various dishes, how to store
Pumpkin: How to choose, store and prepare pumpkin, to use now or freeze for later.
Soup Base: he beginning of almost any cream-style soup...
Tomatoes: Peeling, freezing, roasting; making sauce, juice, lots of tips for tomatoes.
Miscellaneous Techniques and Tips
Barbecue Grills: A primer on barbecue grills and smokers.
Chopping terms: Chopping and cutting terms, as used in the recipes
Food Pyramids and Healthy Eating: The foods I try to incorporate eat each week into my diet and the Weekly Menu plans.
Lining ramekins, pans, etc.: Using paper, butter; tips to making lining easy.
Wine What to use, substitutions
The Garden
Or I should say My Garden. Mon Mari is more than happy to eat the produce and even attempt to tell me what to plant. He absolutely can't be bothered to weed, hoe, water or any of the other many mundane daily tasks. He will, of course, roto-till it in the spring but that involves the use of large, motorized equipment - manly stuff!
When we moved to France from Andorra (flatland from mountain) I wanted a garden and some fruit trees. Got the garden (way too big); got the fruit trees (way too many - 8 apple, 7 pear, 5 peach - 2 kinds, 5 plum of various colors, 2 sweet cherry and 1 sour, 2 fig trees, 2 walnut trees, 2 hazelnut, some table grapes - white, red and purple and 2 kiwi fruit vines that produce enough for a supermarket chain) and got a few wine grapes. We thought the wine grapes would be fun and how cool to tell the friends back home that we made our own wine. Then we realized we had over 500 vines! The first year we made over 400 litres (that's over 500 bottles) of wine - that is only marginally drinkable. We have 2 rows of white grapes, 4 rows of red and 11 rows of rosé. (We use the big press for the rosé.) Read more about the vendange.
Cooking for Two? Or more?
Our Weekly Menu Planner Service gives you healthy, gourmet dinners, carefully planned to reduce waste
and insure a wide variety of seasonal, wholesome foods each week.
All text and images are copyright © 2005 - 2008 Thyme for Cooking, K. L. Zeller.
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