179. You can thicken sauces with more than one thickening agent – useful to know if anyone has allergies: Flour, cornstarch, rice flower, ground arrowroot, guar gum and tapioca starch. (Choose one thickening agent per sauce – don’t combine!)
180. Have problems with lumpy gravy? Next time try thickening your gravy with a few instant potato flakes, stirring them in slowly and constantly.
©Copyright 2014 ♦ T heFoodCho p per.com ♦ All Rights Reserved | Page 16 of 32
365 Cooking Tips & Tricks Every Cook Needs To Know
181. Guar gum is extremely potent, so don’t use anywhere near the amount you would use with flour or corn starch.
182. Use highly refined flours such as cake-and-pastry flour for thickening gravy. (It will be less likely to form a “skin” while cooling.)
183. Don’t use aluminum pans for gravy prep: Use No-Stick, copper or stainless steel. (Aluminum will turn your gravy an un-appetizing grey color.)
184. Don’t just stir your liquid into your flour-and-butter roux: Whisk it vigorously, without stopping, as you pour. This will help keep your gravy smooth and lump-free.
185. Your roux should be bubbly and brown lightly round the edges. The moment it starts to do this, turn the heat down to low and start adding your liquid.
186. If you discover your gravy is too heavily salted, adding a little sugar will help neutralize the salty taste.
187. Gravy too mild? Add a couple of packets (individual serving size) of Oxo or Knorr powdered bouillon (chicken or beef) and stir thoroughly.
188. Out of flour, arrowroot and cornstarch, both cornstarch and arrowroot have twice the thickening power (with arrowroot topping the list).
189. Should you refrigerate leftover meat in gravy or separately? If you want the meat for sandwiches, the answer is “separately” – but if you simply plan to reheat it; store your meat in the gravy. (This will keep your meat tasty, moist and tender.)
190. If you need to add acidity to your gravy or sauce, add wine.
191. You can add wine to a marinade. If you use your marinade as a base for your sauce, be sure to bring it just to the boil and reduce it down during the cooking process.
192. You can half the oil in any marinade and replace it with wine.
193. Always use a good quality wine when cooking. It will make a noticeable difference to your final dish.
Don’t buy wine designated as “cooking” wine or sherry off the supermarket shelves – it is full of sodium, deliberately added to make it undrinkable. (Chef’s rule: If you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook with it!) 194. It is permissible to use raw wine (young wine with stronger acidity or tannin) in cold dishes – especially if you add sugar or fruit.
195. When you soak fruit in wine without heating, this is called “maceration” (from the Latin macerare, “to sweeten and soften”). It is a technique to bring out the fruit’s natural juice. (You are also macerating when you sprinkle sugar over your strawberries and let them sit for a couple of hours in the fridge.) Used in this context, maceration has nothing to do with chewing!
©Copyright 2014 ♦ T heFoodCho p per.com ♦ All Rights Reserved | Page 17 of 32
365 Cooking Tips & Tricks Every Cook Needs To Know
196. Always start adding wine as soon as possible during the cooking process, when making gravies or sauces.
Avoid adding wine at the end of cooking: It won’t give you the smooth, well-rounded flavor you are looking for in a wine sauce, but instead taste of raw alcohol, clashing with (and sometimes curdling) your sauce.
197. If you cook with a sweet wine, add it towards the end of cooking. Use only in dishes that require delicate flavoring – cooking kills sweet wine’s nuances.
198. When using white wine to add to a dish, choose a “young” wine with apple or citrus. Its flavor notes will be sharper and fruitier, which is better for cooking. Look for the word “crisp” on wine labels and avoid anything that promises an “oaken” flavor.
199. When using red wines, avoid heavy flavors with lots of tannin or “oaken” notes. As with white, choose young wines with crisper notes.
200. Don’t cook with Chardonnays or Cabernet. They usually turn bitter.
201. Add wine immediately after you have removed meat with a slotted spoon for sauces made in a shallow pan.
202. When making stews or bourguignon, add your wine immediately after the meat has browned, allowing the alcohol to reduce before adding further ingredients.
203. Sautéing your vegetables in wine is a great way to cut down on fats. Do start with a small amount of good quality oil, however; then add your wine, reducing it down as you cook the dish.
204. Try poaching your fish in wine. (You can even simmer your wine and steam your fish over it – or bake it in foil after a quick wine marinade, which should be drained off before putting the fish in foil.)
205. Reduce wine slowly over low heat for the best flavors. ¾ c. wine should reduce down to a couple of tablespoons.
206. Red wine usually has higher tannin content than white.
207. Best wines for cooking: Red—Merlot, Pinot Noir. White—Semillon, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Sauvignon.
Sparkling—Use dry wines such as Freixenet Cordon Negro; not sweet wines. Best wines for cold fruit dishes: Zinfandel, Sangiovese, Riesling.
208. You don’t need expensive wine for cooking – just a good quality. Choosing wines that you would actually drink with your meal is a fairly safe bet for beginners. Adding a wine that is too expensive is akin to tossing your money away, however: The subtle notes and flavors that make it unique will be lost in the cooking process.
209. You can replace oil in a cake recipe with an equal amount of white wine or sherry. (Use beer to make quickbread.)
210. Even after cooking for a significant amount of time, some alcohol will remain in your dish.
©Copyright 2014 ♦ T heFoodCho p per.com ♦ All Rights Reserved | Page 18 of 32
365 Cooking Tips & Tricks Every Cook Needs To Know
211. Refrigerate leftover wine, cork it and use it for cooking – but don’t keep past 1—2 weeks. (Generally, the more wine left in a bottle, the longer you can keep it.)
212. Beer provides a great way to give body to a dish and kick it up a notch. Try marinating your fish in beer before battering and deep frying. Add beer to gravies to provide a piquant note.