Chef's Tips

Anyone can cook  as long as they learn the proper techniques!

You decide, if you are a visual learner ...place your laptops, iPads or  iPhones  on your kitchen counter and click the video link  to see Chef Nicole's demos.  Or if you prefer the instructions are written out below.

Video
Avocado
Blended Oil
Corn
Garlic
Peppers and Chilles
Vinaigrette
Zest

Instructions
A
B
Blended Oil

The term “blended oil” refers to two or more oils combined together
and bottled as one oil blend. Professional chefs and cooks may purchase
this bottled oil blend from industry suppliers featuring various
ratios of oils, but we will show you how to make your very own blend
at home.

A blended oil typically includes a higher percentage of a mild tasting,
light-bodied, and inexpensive oil that has a high smoke point.
In other words, the oil can reach the high temperatures needed for
deep and shallow frying, sautéing, and stir-frying. The most common
of these oils include, but are not limited to, canola, corn, vegetable,
soybean, peanut, grapeseed, or zero-trans-fat frying oil.

A blended oil also includes a lower percentage of a flavorful, costly,
richly colored, and dense-bodied oil. Some favorite oils are virgin olive,
extra-virgin olive, sesame, and truffle oil. Most possess a low smoke
point, meaning that these oils begin smoking, then burning, and often
catching fire when heated to high temperatures. Alone, these oils are
best used to drizzle over a finished dish, to add toward the end of the
cooking process, or when preparing a pesto, vinaigrette, or any other
cold sauce.

An example of a blended oil is one with 90% soybean oil and 10%
olive oil. To prepare your own blended oil, mix two or more of your
favorite oils in a mixing bowl, and store at room temperature for 3
months. (If using garlic oil, store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Do
not keep homemade and untreated garlic oils for any longer than 3
days.)

Be sure to use a higher ratio of the high-smoke-point oil to the low smoke-
point oil if you plan on cooking with the blended oil. If the
blended oil will be used for vinaigrette or marinade, any combination
of oil is permitted.


Nuts and Seeds
Anytime you come across nuts or seeds (such as almonds, hazelnuts, coconut, pumpkin seeds, or sesame seeds), regardless if the recipe is for a savory dish or a sweet dessert, I always recommend toasting them. Nuts and seeds contain an exuberant amount of natural oil, which, when heated, will be extracted and produce a golden color and strong aroma.
This task, however, does require caution, as nuts are one of the most commonly burnt items in professional kitchens. I would not advise adding additional oil or butter to the pan, as the
natural oil that is released when heated is all that will be necessary to gently toast the nuts. Below are two methods for toasting:
• Spread the nuts or seeds in a single layer on a sheet tray, and place in a preheated 375ºF oven for 2 to 10 minutes depending on their size.
• Spread the nuts or seeds in a single layer in a sauté pan. Toast on the stove top while constantly stirring or flipping them (if the nuts stay in one place in the pan over direct heat, they will scorch or burn rather than toasting evenly).

  • Never crush or chop the nuts before you toast them. Only do so after they have toasted and cooled. When chopped ahead of time, the inconsistent shapes and sizes will cause them to toast unevenly, and the smaller fragments will burn while the larger ones do not get enough color. This will make your entire mixture taste bitter.
  • You should also never toast two or more different varieties of nuts or seeds in the same pan at the same time. Each is a different size, and will require different cooking times. As such, always toast different nuts and seeds in separate pans.

Nuts and seeds are often quite costly, especially in a professional environment. Because of this, I always instruct my cooks to toast them in separate small batches. This way, if you do, in fact, burn them, you will not lose the entire stock, and the monetary damage will not be
as severe. The cooking time varies depending upon the size and shape of

the nuts and seeds, as well as the heat source and temperature. Because  there are several variables, it is difficult to say exactly how long they will take to toast, but what is an absolute surety is they do not take much time, at all. I frequently check them in 2-minute increments
until well-toasted. You will often smell the scent in the air when they
are ready. Halfway through the cooking process, I will often rotate the pan to avoid unevenly cooking due to “hot spots” in your oven. I also use a heat-resistant or flat metal spatula to flip the nuts or seeds often to ensure even color.

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