Coming to terms with Cooking

I'm not too into following step by step recipes... you see, i'm a concept kinda guy... "if you understand the 'concept' behind things, things come easier"... that goes for technical equipment, mathematical formulas, marketing campaigns, relationships and, yes, cooking!!! Least, that's how it works for me. It helps to know the whys and not just the whats and hows, that way you can get creative!

Here is a list of cooking terms, techniques and cooking...stuff... that i've discovered on this food trip... I'll be adding things here as we discover and make use of them. Ok, i'll try to be organized and put them in some form of alphabetical order:


LETTER B

• BLACKENING - you can vary it! but traditionally it's a cooking technique developed by New Orleans chef Paul Prudhomme; a style of "quick cooking" food like searing... but because of the use of pepper and other dark spices (like cajun spice mixes) used as a coating in this technique you get the more "blackened" effect. Also, traditionally, use melted butter as the adhesive coating for the spices then grill or cook on a dry hot cast iron skillet... or whatever can take getting really hot!! but cook for a short time!... So while a good amount of heat is used here, don't make the mistake of burning your food! Now, there are questions about whether or not the searing process really "seals in the juices and flavors", but while that's debatable it does give you that nice "crusty" texture... which is especially flavorful in Blackening.
  

LETTER C

• CAJUN SPICE MIX - The New Orleans, Louisiana US regional food flavor base is what Cajun is all about... hmm hmm good! This spice mix is based on dried oregano, thyme and basil and usually has, ground pepper corns, onion powder, cayenne pepper, and salt, then you can add on variations. Some people add in a bayleaf, garlic powder, paprika, coriander and mustard seeds... even nutmeg. Pop it into a blender or food processor and boom! experiment... knock yourself out. Click here and look for the video at the bottom of the blog to see what Chef Tony of Cajun Red Rock Restaurant uses for his cajun spice mix. if you wanna see just some of the many other variations... click here.
  

LETTER P

• PARBOIL - Partially cook food in boiling water. Why? For one, to avoid over cooking, particularly if your mixing food with different cooking times. Speaking of which, parboiling is a good time saver. If you do it in batches and store it right you'll have stock of food ready to get cooked in a short time since it's already partially cooked! Parboiling is usually done with veggies, but it's a good technique for pre-cooking some meats too like i discovered from Chef Tony's lesson on making Blackened Chicken. Other reasons for parboiling and notes about storing parboiled food? click here where the wiseGeeks are!