Chef Bill Mitchell









 

The one thing I really enjoy is when you’re so busy in the kitchen, you pull out your bag of tricks to make things easier. What I’m talking about are “tricks of the trade” . In a professional kitchen we have all kinds of gadgets, machines and equipment to help in preparing a lot of food, it just makes thing go faster and better.

Let’s say you have guests over for breakfast and you have a toaster that only holds four slices. Not a problem, place an oven rack in the middle position in the oven and place a second rack in the lower-middle position, then place a baking sheet on the lower rack. Heat the oven to 450’ and arrange the bread slices between every other bar on the upper rack. The bread rests on the baking sheet. Toast for about 6 minutes!

When draining food such as grated potatoes in a mesh strainer, place an overturned ramekin or a small bowl in a bigger bowl and rest the strainer on the ramekin to elevate the food, this way the strained liquid will stay away from the food. Instead of cutting the ends off of fresh green beans with a knife, bunch the beans together and use a pair of kitchen shears. Finding that end of plastic wrap and trying to unroll it sometimes is frustrating. Hold a clean tooth brush or vegetable brush parallel to the roll of plastic, rotate the roll and rub the bristles along the surface of the plastic until the hidden edge loosens.

To avoid dirtying your cutting board when slicing bananas for your morning bowl of cereal, partially peel the banana leaving a strip of peel running down its length. Then place the banana, skin side down on a work surface and cut the banana into slices. Ever pour a sauce from the pot into a bowl and all you got was a splash? Place the back side of a large wooden spoon or metal spoon under the pouring stream to deflect the liquid that you are pouring into the bowl.

There are all kinds of other “tricks of the trade”, if you would like to share some, e-mail me with them with your name and on my next “tricks of the trade” issue I’ll add yours! Happy cooking and remember if you would like to have a private chef come to your home and cook for you, drop me a line and I’ll send you some information,
chefbillmitchell@yahoo.co or 209-852-2728 Chef Bill!


For More Recipes By Bill Mitchell
The Chef's Corner Archives

Thanx, Chef Bill!