How to Make Restaurant Quality Normande Sauce Normandy is a coastal region of north-west France, just south of the English Channel. Normandy is a gastronomic paradise. A marriage made in heaven of the rich bounties of the land and the sea. The two most archetypal ingredients of Norman cuisine are apples and dairy products. Normandy’s […]
How to Make a Restaurant Quality Espagnole Sauce Brown sauce is one of the five “Grand” or “Mother” sauces of French cuisine, the other four being béchamel, tomato, velouté and hollandaise. A Grand sauce is a base sauce from which a plethora of derivative sauces are then made. Brown sauce, as the name implies, is […]
The Grand Sauces In French cooking, the grand sauces, or mother sauces, are a group of fundamental sauces from which many secondary or derivative sauces are made. This is not to say that the grand sauces cannot stand alone. They are frequently employed in their original state in a variety of dishes. Nevertheless they can […]
The Many Uses of a Kitchen Bakery Scraper by Nell Jones The scraper. One of the most popular tools in my house and arguably one that every household should know and own. Originally a stocking stuff bought for my dad, the bench scraper, also known as a pastry and dough scraper, is technically and originally […]
How to Make Vegetable Stock Before you throw out those wilted vegetables when cleaning out your refrigerator, you may want to try making a batch of vegetable stock. You can use it for making vegetarian soups and stews or how about just substituting beef or chicken stock. And if you don’t use it right away, […]
How to Make White Chicken Stock The difference between a white chicken stock and a brown chicken stock is simple. White chicken stock is made by boiling chicken bones without roasting them first and brown chicken stock requires roasting the bones first. Roasting bones first gives the brown chicken stock more dept of flavor and […]
Our 5th Taste – Umami by Nell Jones “Umami” is one of those words that you are searching for to describe the way something tastes but then convince yourself that there is no word to exist for it. Well thanks to a Japanese chemist, there is now a word for that savory, yet not exactly […]
What Is The Difference Between a Roux and a Slurry? by my daughter, Nell Jones November is an important month for citizens of the United States. Nope, not because of elections. Thanksgiving. Do you ever wonder how your mom got the Thanksgiving gravy so thick? She probably has some support. Thickeners Sauces thicken when a […]
My Favorite Restaurants While In Rome by Nell Jones, my oldest daughter This year I was fortunate enough to spend a semester in Rome, Italy. I had studied some of the language and the culture but what I was most excited for was the Italian food. It was almost as if this was a semester […]
How to Make Restaurant Quality Stocks at Home Could you imagine having to create a singular sauce with singular ingredients for every dish on the menu? Long ago, European chefs realized that it was a much more efficient way to run a kitchen to have sauce components on hand that could be altered or made […]
I'm a work-at-home dad who enjoys cooking, learning everything I can about the culinary world and sharing it with you. To learn more about me... Read More
How to Make the Best Beef Wellington This Beef Wellington recipe has become a tradition in our house. We prepare it every couple of years for Christmas and made it again this year. If I’m lucky, we will have it next year and the year after that. My wife originally found a recipe in Fine […]
Christmas Standing Rib Roast Thanksgiving is a holiday in which turkey really shines. Many of you would rather not deal with another turkey just four weeks after Thanksgiving. Some of you might still have some frozen leftovers. The Christmas meal is a celebratory meal, and as such, celebration food is a natural at the Christmas […]
How to Bake A Ham For Christmas
Baked Christmas Ham Recipe Would you like to serve a wonderfully flavorful and juicy ham for the holidays? Here’s a can’t-go-wrong recipe that will have your guests asking for seconds, and for a plate of leftovers, as well. Be sure to read about the history of serving ham on Christmas and the various types of […]
