Friday, June 1 2018
When I say, “Always on hand,” I’m talking serious cook-talk, not a checklist from a course on “Homemaking 101.”
I’m talking arming ourselves with components that enable a cook, with little extra work, to put an uplifting twist on the simplest of meals;
or making simplifying a more complex meal like “Enriched Chicken Stock with Asian Chicken and Leeks bedded in a nest of Ramen Noodles,” practically from our rocking chairs;
or having the ubiquitous ‘stock,’ called for in so many hundreds of recipes, ours, a stock of quality, ready in our freezers.
I’m talking adopting practices that make perfect sense, that are simple, and may often be revolutionary. Like discarding the concept of kitchen towels or sponges, replacing them with paper towels. Big rolls of it.
Use paper towels when handling chicken and discard. No accumulating bacteria.
Look to today’s post for a fuller list.
And to future posts for further amplification.
Today is Friday, June 1, 2018
Good morning, my friends.
This is my fifty-fifth consecutive daily posting.
It’s 5.55am.
Iffy weather this next week. Today in the high 70s with lots of clouds and some rain.
On TV: “Meet Boston Blackie”
I’m at my desk.
Dinner is Lobster Diavolo made easy with the Marinara Sauce I have on hand.
Readers’ Comments
Sweet story About your daughter. “Woof.” I love that!
Looking forward to more of those.
M.
Website-Meister Response: Thanks, M.
Today’s Post
From the Kitchen: Always on Hand
Chicken Stock
No intelligent cook will be without a store of her own chicken stock.
A thousand uses.
From a light cup of broth with a touch of salt; to something more elaborate, adding rice and herbs; to a base for making an extraordinarily rich Chicken Soup, either traditional or imaginative.
Salad Dressing
A ready-to serve vinaigrette, or Italian Salad Dressing. is wonderfully helpful in our kitchens.
An amazing comfort when preparing a salad.
Slather it over a grilled or roasted item.
Paper Towels
Discard any sponges or cloth cleaners of any description you have in your kitchen
Buy an abundance of paper towels, big rolls of it, and use nothing but in our kitchens.
For example, unwrap a chicken onto paper towels, not our counters. When finished prepping the chicken toss the towels. We avoid a plague of bacteria.
Asian oil
In two cups of Sesame Oil slowly simmer fresh sliced ginger, fresh garlic, and scallions until oil is thoroughly infused.
Discard aromatics.
Store oil in a plastic container on the kitchen counter.
Use on grilled items or roasts.
Garlic oil
In two cups of Olive Oil slowly simmer fresh sliced garlic until oil is thoroughly infused.
Use the browned garlic as a sprinkling on a salad or, salted, as a picking before dinner or love-making. Joke.
Store oil in a plastic container on the kitchen counter.
Use on grilled items or roasts or in any recipe that begins with “Brown garlic in olive oil…”
Multiple Spice Powder
Always have a combination of four or more spices already mixed to brush over roasts or grills.
If using your Asian Oil, the spice powder might read like this: ginger, garlic, curry, cumin, cinnamon.
Wines to cook with
At least a single bottle each of Inexpensive fine wines, red and white, for cooking.
In 2018 in Boston, $8.00 will get you a suitable red or white.
Duck fat
Keeps a long time in the freezer.
Use it in stews or for frying when we’d like a different taste. Eggs fried in duck fat are delicious.
Marinara Sauce
The sine qua non of an Italian kitchen, or any kitchen for that matter.
For an effortless light meal: Spaghetti Marinara satisfies gourmets and vegans alike.
Can be use in a hundred different ways, from the base of sauces, like Red Clam Sauce, to an enrichment of a sauté or stew.
Post Scripts
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God bless!
Be good.
Be well.
Love you.