One of the first lessons I received as a cook happened on my first day on the job. The chef asked me to dice tomatoes for a Milanese garnish; he demonstrated one tomato for me and then had me do one under his supervision. He found it acceptable and left the kitchen.
Then the sous chef quickly came over to me to show me a better way to complete the task. I learned right away, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat” would be a saying that I would use many times in my cooking career because even though traditional techniques have given us consistent results for years, there’s always a better way.
Learning technique is the best way to learn to cook without a recipe but many long-held beliefs are being challenged by modern-day chefs. Home cooks should take note!
Different Can Be Better
For example, many recipes or techniques require cooking a pound of pasta in four to six quarts of salted boiling water, which translates to a gallon and a half of water. The professional kitchen I work in has pots that can accommodate cooking pasta for hundreds of people, but at home, my largest pot is a gallon and a half. I’ve had to cut the water ratio out of necessity and it’s giving me better results in many ways: it uses less energy to boil the water, uses less water, and the water that is used for the pasta becomes even starchier. The starchy pasta water is the oldest trick in the book for restaurant-style cooking that home cooks should try to adapt to adjust the consistency of tomato sauce. Pasta water also improves the taste of jarred sauce.
Another classic culinary technique says to use a large pot of salted water (without a lid) for boiling green vegetables.
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