Essential Tools, Tips & Techniques for the Home Cook

Book excerpt: Learn the Secrets to Great Cooking without Going to Cooking School Reaching your full culinary potential takes more than just starting with high-quality ingredients and following a solid recipe. You also need to learn proper technique, master essential kitchen tools and know the secrets to great cooking that all chefs learn in culinary school. Chef Michelle Doll shines new light on familiar tools such as rolling pins, sheet pans, skillets, Dutch ovens, blenders, mixers, pressure cookers and more in this comprehensive, readable and entertaining guide. Her exceptional recipes demonstrate these techniques in action. Learn why a tapered French rolling pin is the best tool for rolling out dough, and then use it to make the flakiest pastry for Prime Time Fruit Galette. Follow Michelle as she delves into what she calls the stovetop–sauté pan matrix and make Better Than Take-Out Teriyaki Chicken that will have you taking your favorite Chinese restaurant off of speed dial. You’ll also learn some surprising techniques for using your kitchen tools in new ways, making tender Grape Shallot Focaccia in a cast-iron skillet, Peanut Butter Jelly Quick Bread in a blender and Slow and Easy French Onion Soup in a Dutch oven (you won’t be tied to the stovetop stirring caramelized onions every five minutes—genius!). With the perfect blend of fresh kitchen science and delicious examples of that science in action, this book is a must-read for kitchen geeks and everyday home cooks alike!