Learn Something New - Using a Roux

This simple technique is a must-know for any Kitchen Queen. Let me preface this by saying that I know now with a surety that I'm a mother, because I always think of Winnie-the-Pooh when I say "roux", and I'm always tempted to spell it Roo. Yes, I know it's pathetic. I do that with other words, too. Like every time someone says, "That's ridiculous!" or "Are you serious?", I always revert back to Harry Potter mode. Poor Sirius. I cried. Did you?

Anyway, a roux is a mixture of fat and flour or cornstarch and water and is used to thicken sauces. The first thing to learn is when to use flour and when to use cornstarch. If my sauce starts with melting butter in a pan (to sautée onions in perhaps), I'll add flour to the butter. For alfredo sauce or cheese sauce for macaroni and cheese, I'll always use flour, since those sauces start with a melted butter (fat) base. If I'm making say an Oriental type dish, like the Mongolian Beef I made earlier this week, cornstarch and water is the go-to-roux. I love random rhymes. I also love alliteration. Back on topic. If I'm cooking in the crock pot, cornstarch and water is the roux of choice there as well.

If your recipe doesn't allow for time to cook the flour in the fat to get rid of the flour taste, use cornstarch and water. If it's a fat based sauce, flour is best because the flour takes on this delish nutty flavor after you cook it, and there's just no replacement for that. That said, I tend to prefer to use cornstarch and water instead. It's just easier in my mind. It mixes in easier, and I don't have to worry about any raw taste.

Like I said, it's important to cook the flour in the fat for a few minutes before you whisk in your liquid. Most recipes call for equal parts fat and flour, but I tend to go a bit heavier on the fat or a bit lighter on the flour. I don't like the roux to get all thick because then I have a hard time not having lumps in my liquid.

For the cornstarch and water roux, I use equal parts cornstarch and water. I just use my finger to dissolve the cornstarch in the water. Most recipes will be fine with just a 1 tablespoon ratio, but sometimes I need to up it to 2 tablespoons to get the desired thickness.

If you add too much roux, whether it's flour or cornstarch, just thin your sauce out with more liquid (chicken broth, water, milk, whatever). No harm done.

Woohoo for the Roux!

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Learn something new - Sifting

Lets say you're in the middle of baking a lovely cake or a tasty batch of cookies. You read the recipe and it says the flour must be sifted. But, OH NO, you don't have a sifter. What are you to do? I guess you can't make that recipe now... hee hee. Don't stop now, I've got an answer for you!

I'm sure that someone either uses this method or has heard of it before. I'm not sure exactly where I picked it up. I may have just made it up one day, I can't remember.

To sift without a sifter -

It's so simple really. Just take an ordinary strainer or colander and measure your flour or dry ingredients into it over another bowl. Then you take a wire whisk and stir the dry ingredients around in the colander until everything goes through it.


In this case I was making cookies
so I just "sifted" the dry ingredients
right into my creamed mixture.

And Ta-Da ... you have sifted flour!

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Learn Something New - Avocados

Avocados are one of my most favorite things. They are so creamy and yummy. Choosing a ripe one and learning how to cut them is really simple. What you want to look for at the store is a nice dark, even color. Then feel it - you want it to have some give to it as you gently press on it with your thumb. Be careful not to get one with too much give because that'll mean it's overly ripe and will be all brown on the inside. You want it slightly firm still.

How firm you want it depends on when you're planning to use it. If you get one that's still rock hard, expect it to take around 4 days for it to ripen. If I'm using one towards the end of my weekly menu, I'll buy it a bit more firm. The squishier your avocado is, the sooner you'll want to use it. There's not too much of a grace period for when they go bad and brown.

Don't go by the "ripe" stickers they have on them at the stores either. I've found the ones they have stickered aren't perfectly ripe, or even close to perfectly ripe. They're either too ripe or still days away from being ripe. Maybe you have smarter employees working at your local grocery store. Hopefully you do.

Now, cutting the avocado. Easy. Start by cutting it in half around the pit. Ahh, look at the color on that baby. Perfection.

Now take your sharp knife and give the pit a firm whack. Your knife will get stuck - that's what you want.

If your avocado is ripe, you will be able to pull the pit right out. You might have to wiggle it a bit, but it should come out very easily.

There are 2 ways you can cut the flesh of the avocado. Some people keep the flesh inside the avocado, make dices in it with their knife and then scoop out the already-diced pieces with a spoon. I don't like that way because my diced pieces tend to get mushed as I'm trying to scoop them out. So I just take a spoon and run it along the outside, in between the flesh and the skin.

Then I put the whole flesh onto my cutting board and slice it. See, easy! Stay tuned for Thursday's recipe, where you will be able to put your new avocado skills to the test!

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Learn Something New - Working With Yeast

Yeast can be tricky. If you don't handle it correctly, you can kill it.

The first tip is to make sure your yeast is room temperature before you begin. Pour what you need into a bowl, and let it sit out for about an hour or so. I'm speaking about using bulk yeast here, not the freezer kind. I know the directions for those packages are different than the bulk yeast, so keep that in mind.

You also need to make sure the liquid you're adding to the yeast isn't too hot OR too cold. Too hot, and your yeast will die. Too cold, and it won't activate the yeast at all. A good rule of thumb is to put your hand under the running water, and if it's a bit too hot for what you'd feel comfortable showering in, it's at about the right temperature. You really don't have to make it an exact science. I wouldn't bother busting out a thermometer or anything.

Lastly, let the yeast and water stand until the yeast is really foamy, about 5-10 minutes. That way, you know all the above steps worked and that your yeast is activated.

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Learn Something New - Making Bread

Moving on to bread-making tips. Making bread really isn't as hard as you'd probably think. The key to great bread is all in the rise. If you let it rise too long, your outside will be charred before your inside is even cooked. If you don't let it rise long enough, your bread will be too dense.

As for allowing the bread to rise, here's the way I do it. I bring a small saucepan of water to a boil on the stove. Then I pour it into a casserole dish and put it on the bottom rack in my oven. Then I place my dough into the oven, still inside my metal mixing bowl, and the warm water makes it the perfect temperature for rising without killing the yeast. This method is the one I've found to be fool proof, as long as you don't open the oven door until the rising time is up.

The first few times I made bread, I botched it. Big time. There's definitely a learning curve. Here are the mistakes I made. The first time, I set the dough onto my counter to rise. Problem was, my kitchen wasn't warm enough to allow for rising action, so nothing happened. Boo. The second time, I decided I'd preheat my oven to the lowest possible setting, turn it off, and then put the dough into the oven to rise. Even the lowest setting was too hot, so I had yet another ruined batch of dough.

I blame my mother. Seriously. She was an avid baker but never made bread or homemade doughs, so I never learned the proper methods. In all honesty, I probably only really ruined 2 batches of dough. Luckily for you, I've outlined my mistakes, so you'll hopefully be successful from the get-go! But don't get discouraged if things don't turn out quite right the first time. Practice makes perfect!

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Learn Something New - Chopping Onions

Hopefully all of you can just skip over this post because you all use, and know how to work with, onions. As with garlic, there's just no substitute for fresh onions. I do have dried onion, but I reserve it ONLY for those nights when I just don't want to hear my 6 year old whine about the onions in her meal. Normally I tell her to deal with it (I refuse to have a kid who doesn't grow up to love onions!), but there are "those days" where I'd just rather avoid the fight. However, she's finally gotten used to them and now says she actually likes them, as long as they're sauted. :)

First, cut off both ends. Then stand the onion up on one end, and cut it in half (from the top down towards the cutting board). Then peel the first few layers of skin and onion off of each half.

Place each half cut side down on the cutting board, and slice vertically.
Now, turn your knife the other way, and slice horizontally.


There you have it - perfectly chopped onions!


Now let's move on to finely dicing. The times you'll want to finely dice is when the onions aren't going to be cooked, like red onion in a salad or salsa, for example. I love raw onion, but I don't want to bite into a huge chunk.

You do it pretty much the same way we talked about before, but there are a few differences. Start by chopping off one of the ends of the onion. Then peel the outer layer of skin off. Leaving one end still attached is the trick to getting a really fine dice. It holds the onion together and gives you a lot more stability.

Next make 3-4 horizontal slices inward, towards the still-attached end, being careful not to cut all the way through.

Now slice 5-6 times vertically, in the opposite direction that you made your horizontal slices. Again, be careful not to cut through the still-attached end. The closer together that you slice, the smaller your dice will be.

Now turn your knife and slice downward in thin slices.

The finished product:

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Learn Something New - Mincing Garlic

If you never use fresh garlic, here's your chance to learn how to work with it and stop being afraid of it. I can't remember the last time I used the powdered stuff. Fresh garlic adds such great flavor, and there's just no substitute. I'm honestly not even sure I think the powdered stuff tastes like garlic.

First thing's first - peeling!

Place garlic clove on your cutting board. Put your blade over the garlic, and give it a good whack with the heel of your hand.

This will pop the garlic from the skin. Then you can just easily slide the clove out, and it also makes the next step, mincing, much easier since it's already smashed.

Here comes the second part - mincing!

Keeping the tip of your knife on the board, run the knife over the garlic until it's in very small pieces. If you don't like chunks of garlic, here's a neat trick. Put some coarse salt on your pile of minced garlic.

Then lay your knife flat, put your hand on the top, and "drag" the garlic one direction with the knife and then back the other way. You'll have to do this several times, but it'll make the garlic into a paste instead of just minced pieces.

Another great trick for those of you who don't like pieces of garlic in your food at all. You can drop an entire garlic clove (or 2 or 3....) into your food, let it cook for a few minutes, and then remove the entire clove. The garlic flavor will infuse into your food without any pieces of garlic.

You can do that with garlic bread as well. Toast your bread, and then rub a clove or garlic over the bread while it's still hot.

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