Your Kitchen Sins
Submitted by Stuart Broz on Mon, 11/02/2009 - 1:37pm
No one is perfect. We all have our flaws. Some of these are due to absentmindedness. Others are willful. Most, however, are probably habits that have become ingrained. We'd probably get rid of them if we could, and we can temporarily overcome them when reminded.
You know how cooking instructions often tell you "don't crowd the pan?"
Yeah. They are talking directly to me, because if they didn't remind me, I would probably be crowding that pan.
What bad kitchen habits do you have?
Comments
Busted
Crowd the pan... guilty.
Lazy about good knife grip... guilty. (Yes, proper grip is better. :)
Tend to be rather disorganized (not "mise en place")... guilty.
I'm sure I have others.
Grip
I found the knife grip to be self-correcting. Once I started using it, it was just so much easier and more natural... although I might be more attuned to such things due to my fencing background.
Hmmm, I'm not sure my grip is
Hmmm, I'm not sure my grip is really wrong per se, but I don't do the whole finger on the blade thing, etc.
confessing sins
sifting the flour
scramble eggs before adding to dry ingredients, instead of cracking eggs right into the dry ingredients
bring the butter to room temperature
I don't sift flour, but I've
I don't sift flour, but I've taken to measuring it by weight.
too many to name
I am not so good at allowing eggs to come to room temp before using them in baking. (Sometimes I'll cheat and put them in lukewarm water to speed up the process, other times I'll just NOT do it).
I'm better at this now, but cleaning dishes as I go along. Not so good at that.
Taking more than my fair share of "taste tests".
Taste tests
That's a bad habit? Darn.
bless me chef, for I have sinned...
Too many to name. I don't hone my knife every time I use it, and I totally should for the investment it was! Don't even ask when the last time it was professionally sharpened... (doh) I don't always use the guard on the mandoline, although the last horrible accident I had with it, I WAS using the guard, but it slipped, so, oh well. "Bringing butter to temperature" often means for me "throw in microwave on low for 30 seconds." Baaad, bad, bad. I totally crowd the pan, too. And I run mushrooms under direct water instead of brushing with a damp cloth, but that was after reading an article where they said short of soaking the little fungi in water, a quick rinse doesn't really waterlog them. Oh, and I often eyeball measurements when baking. Naughty naughty!
Knives
Knife honing I do most of the time, but the sharpening... that I am guilty of as well...
Alton Brown had a show where
Alton Brown had a show where he tried real hard to waterlog mushrooms... basically it didn't happen. So don't feel bad on that score.
Eyeball measurements? All the time. (I don't bake though, where I suspect it would be much more crucial to get the numbers right.)
Where to begin...
Oh I am guilty of so many:
-not sifting flour
-throwing dry ingredients into wet ones with out mixing them beforehand in a separate bowl
-microwaving butter or cream cheese to bring it to "room temperature"
-eyeballing measurements -even for baking (so far, so good on that one; I'm lucky!)
Glad to see I'm not the only one with less than perfect culinary habits!
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