How to be the Best Home Cook on the Block
…..Sorry Karen, but i’m about to ruin your secret.
Hear that?
Thats the fluttered chattering of neighbors and passerby’s who caught wind of those restaurant quality lamb chops you whipped up the night before. A seemingly impossible feat it is to manifest such a delicate meat to medium rare perfection from a measly old home kitchen, yet you pulled it off. Sorry Karen, but i’m about to ruin your secret. That’s because, it’s actually very easy and affordable to be a great at-home chef these days. Commercial grade kitchen tools are advancing and becoming more readily available for the aspiring at-home chef. I want to tell you about one of my favorite products on the market. Don’t even worry about making room next to the slow cooker. You won’t notice a dent in your pocket either. That’s because the Sous Vide, also known as an immersion circulator, is here and it’s one of the cheapest and easiest kitchen tools that will take you from a “B- Chef” to an “A+ Chef instantly”…..i’m so serious….
Sous Vide, French for “Under Vacuum”, is a method of cooking food at a very precise temperature by, you guessed it, vacuum sealing the food and letting it cook in a water bath. Don’t let the sound of that intimidate you, though. Sous Vide is a very simple method that allows you to cook food, usually in its own fats/juices, at a very controlled temperature, yielding perfect results every time! …and you don’t need a professional grade vacuum sealer either…
The Sous Vide I use at home is the Anova Nano Precision Cooker . It’s only $129 and can be paired from bluetooth to operate with your phone, or manually. Just fill a soup pot up with water, stick your sous vide in, let the water preheat, and you’re off! Anova also offers a mobile app with tons of great recipes to try. Use it as a launching pad, and the opportunities are truly endless!
Go pick up yours now! Let me know about all of your creations or questions you have in the comments or at darlasbagels@gmail.com.
PRO TIP: If cooking a protein, once you finish the sous vide method, pull out your cast iron and crank up the heat. Lightly oil the pan. Wipe the flattest surface of your protein dry to avoid the oil from splashing. Place the protein in the pan with the most even/flat surface down on the pan. Allow the protein the get a nice caramelized skin (this is called the maillard reaction!). Remove from the heat and let rest before serving.
Keep spreading love, good people!
Best,
Chef Jake
Working with Yeast Doughs - What to Look For
As someone that bakes bagels for a living, I’ve learned a thing or two about what you need to look for in a healthy yeast dough. Here are a few pointers and things to look out for when working with a yeast dough.
Hey Friends,
As someone that bakes bagels for a living, I’ve learned a thing or two about what you need to look for in a healthy yeast dough. After all, yeast is a living organism and you need to treat it as such! Here are a few pointers and things to look out for when working with a yeast dough.
#1) Use Instant Yeast, for your baking endeavors. It’s easy to work with, has a relatively long shelf life, and you don’t need to worry about keeping it alive. Besides, even most professional kitchens and bakeries use instant yeast for their dough.
#2) When hydrating the flour with water remember that cold water will slow down yeast activity ultimately giving the dough more time to develop its flavors. This also means it will take longer for your dough to rise and be ready to work with, however. Warm water will speed up the yeast activity meaning that it will rise much faster, but at the compromise of flavor.
#3) Oil is often called a “Shortener”. This is because when added to a flour that contains gluten, the oil will cause the gluten strands to shorten, making the dough less stretchy, which could ultimately affect the oven spring of your finished product. This could also be a desirable characteristic, depending on what type of final product you’re trying to make.
#4) Besides sweetening the dough, the presence of added sugar speeds up yeast activity and allows the dough to proof more quickly. Be careful of adding too much sugar, however. If the dough rises too quickly the gluten strands won’t have time to strengthen. This means as soon as you try to pick up the dough or work with it at all, it’ll deflate very quickly and most likely be sticky and hard to work with. Also be mindful of the affects of white vs. brown sugar. Brown sugar causes the end product to have a more firm and darker crumb.
#5) Salt is necessary in order to give the dough flavor. Be weary when mixing the salt with your other dry ingredients, though. Salt prohibits the development of yeast in the dough. To be safe, add salt to one side of your bowl and yeast to the other side of your bowl before adding your wet ingredients. This allows the yeast a chance to get hydrated by the dough before the salt comes into contact with it.
#6) Mixing the dough allows the gluten strains to strengthen and develop. In most dough applications, the dough is properly mixed when you can poke it with your finger and the exterior of the dough bounces back from the indentation left by your finger. Dough is slightly tacky but easily comes off fingers.
#7) A little baking soda when dissolved in water, can be brushed on to most dough products just before they are about to be baked to give your dough a “pretzel effect”.
#8) Baking with dough can be very challenging for cooks of any level. The moisture in the air can affect the way flour fills your measuring cups. When baking, it’s important to measure ingredients by weight. Using a scale will ensure consistent results and a better finished product!
I hope these tips helped you overcome whatever baking challenges your facing! If this blog didn’t answer your baking questions, reach out to us on chefjpexperience.com and we’d be happy to do our best to steer you right.
Keep spreading love, good people!
Best,
Chef Jake