From THIS article that I saw the other day, here are two cooking-related tips that I really like. As with many tips, they are simple, maybe even obvious things that we just don't always consider.
Quote:
Put Your Ingredients on Display.
Blogger and author of Secrets of the Best Chefs Adam Roberts picked up on a few things while doing research for his book, and eye candy was one of them.
"When I went to various chefs' homes for my cookbook, I noticed that many of them had baskets and bowls full of gorgeous farmers' market ingredients out on their counters. I didn't think much of it until I started to realize there must be something to this; so, when I finished my research, I bought a basket and started going to the farmers' market every Monday, hauling back… ingredients … and displaying them in my kitchen. What happens is these ingredients act as cooking triggers: you come home from a long day and instead of ordering a pizza, you see your tomatoes or your apples and you get inspired. So that's why… I've put ingredients on display on Monday, [to] keep myself inspired throughout the week."
Quote:
Grocery Shop Like a Chinese Menu.
This one had us saying "what?," but when Sara Moulton explained, we thought it had the makings of a good cook.
"On a day when you have a little time, like a Saturday or Sunday, go to the grocery store and stock up [like] a Chinese menu. [Buy] five items for column A, the protein, five for column B, the vegetable column, and finally five for column C, the starch column. It doesn't even matter if you have a recipe in mind for these items. Just getting them in the house is the goal. Then, on Monday night, you can look in the fridge/cupboard and say, hmmm, which thing from each column do I want to make tonight?"
If blueberry muffins have blueberries in them, what do vegan muffins have?
