219 Cooking Tips & Techniques You Might Find Useful! by Suzy Bowler Page B

with wine that is worth
drinking.

~ Meat and Poultry ~

 
    39.               Thaw frozen meats slowly in
fridge.
    40.               ALWAYS get meat out of the
fridge a while before cooking and allow to come to room temperature. It will then
cook more evenly and also a little faster.
    41.               Dry meat with a paper towel
before cooking, this is especially important for pan frying.
    42.               Although salt is known to draw
juices out of meat (and anything else) salting immediately before cooking is nevertheless
a good thing, it adds flavour and doesn't have time for any juice drawing so
salt before roasting, frying etc.
    43.               Interestingly enough if you
salt large pieces of meat long enough in advance the salt will indeed draw out
some of the juices but they will be reabsorbed right into the centre of the
joint making it juicy and flavoursome. Rub a spoonful of sea salt into a joint
of meat and leave for 4 or more hours before cooking.
    44.               When pan frying ALWAYS get the
pan good and hot before adding oil and then get the oil good and hot before
adding the meat.
    45.               DON'T use non-stick pans for
pan frying as when heated to high temperatures they release toxic gases and
particles.In any case they are useless for
deglazing because, as their name suggests, nothing sticks to them - see point 47
below.
    46.               If the meat seems stuck to the
pan when you want to turn it wait a little while, once a good crust has formed
it will release itself from the pan, providing
you dried the meat properly before cooking.
    47.               The reason you want to sear
meat is to caramelise it and thus boost flavour. To make the most of this
flavour ALWAYS deglaze the pan after pan cooking meat. All you need to do to
make a fine sauce is, after removing the protein from the pan and setting it aside
somewhere warm for its rest, add a little (just 60ml or so depending on the
size of the pan) appropriate liquid to the pan. (Red wine or beef stock for
beef, white wine or chicken stock for poultry, white wine or lemon juice for
fish - get the idea? Be more creative, or less - water is a lot better than
nothing!) Bring it to a simmer scraping up anything that that has stuck to the
bottom of the pan. Cook stirring till all these yummy bits have melted into the
liquid and continue cooking till slightly syrupy. Either add this to a sauce you already have or stir in a knob of butter and/or a splash of
cream to create a sauce. Your meat should now be relaxed enough to serve - see
50 below.
    48.               When turning meat use tongs
rather than a fork to manipulate it so as not to pierce it allowing valuable juices
to be lost.
    49.               DON'T press or flatten burgers
during cooking because this squeezes out the juices, compresses the meats and really irritates me.
    50.               ALWAYS, always, always allow
meat to rest before serving. Set it in a warm place for 10 minutes or so for a steak
and up to 30 minutes for a roast during which time the
fibres of the meat will relax, juices re-distribute and the meat will become
tender and succulent.
    51.               Add chunks of onion, carrot and
celery to the pan when roasting meats - they will add flavour to the gravy.
    52.               When browning meat ALWAYS leave
plenty of room between pieces, otherwise what they will actually do is steam
rather than fry and they'll end up pallid and soggy.
    53.               Arrange a chicken, turkey or
other bird for roasting with its legs splayed; it will cook faster, more evenly
and yield more crunchy skin in that position.
    54.               DON'T stuff duck or other fatty
birds as the stuffing will absorb grease to an inedible degree. If you want to
serve stuffing bake it in a