A Few Kitchen Tips

In my last year at the U, I took a world foods class.  It wasn't your typical cooking class.  It was an interesting mix of cooking, lecture, anthropology and science.  I loved it.  Because the class was so large and the way the class was set up we only cooked a few times.  But the few times I did, it was very enlightening.  As the chef and teacher cooked we got to help them and they would share all sorts of kitchen tips with us.  Here are a few of my favorites:

How to Keep Cilantro

Cilantro stays fresh much longer when you store it like a bunch of flowers.

Cut off the ends of the cilantro up to about 1/2" and place in a glass of water.

Make sure there aren't any cilantro leaves in the water.  Like the leaves of flowers, if they sit in the water they can decay and cause bacteria in the water.

Put a produce bag around the cilantro to create a little greenhouse.

Keep in the door of your refrigerator.  That area is a little warmer than the rest of the fridge and is the best place for cilantro to thrive.

Every few days trim off the ends of the cilantro. (That is if you make time for that.  I certainly don't.  I think the cilantro would last a little longer, but who has time for that.)

The produce bag greenhouse

Easy Minced Garlic

Mincing garlic isn't terribly time consuming, but this simplifies it just a bit more.

Take a whole head of garlic and peel all the skin part off.  (I don't actually know what it is called.)  An easy way to do this is to take a large knife and using the flat, wide side of the knife smash the garlic clove.  This will make it much easier to peel.

Put the cloves into a food processor (I believe some blenders would work as well, but I haven't tried it) and pulse until they are minced to the size you desire.

Store in a glass jar or container.  If you use plastic, like I did the first time, the plastic will smell like garlic for months.  Glass is much better.

I usually use this in two weeks and it doesn't go bad by then.  The smell does change a bit, from a fresh clove of garlic, but it does not mean it is rancid.

Now when you need some fresh garlic just pull out the jar and spoon some in.  I usually put in 3/4 tsp. for every garlic clove called for.


Keeping a Cutting Board Still

Do you ever get sick of your cutting board sliding around when you are trying to cut?
Here's the answer: Place a damp towel underneath it and it will stop sliding around.  So simple!


Cutting Brownies

Use a plastic knife.  Those disposable ones work great.  They slice brownies much cleaner.  They lack the sharp edge which brownie crumbs love to cling to.  And they don't scratch your pans.  Happy day!



Those are your kitchen tips for today.  Happy Wednesday!


Taught to me by Chef J Looney, Tahmina Martelly and my cousin Emily