"saute" news and stories

I'm always a fan of booze-based kitchen pyrotechnics, and a sucker for a good technique demo. The twain are meeting in this video from Gourmet.com's The Test Kitchen video series. In this particular installment, Gourmet's test kitchen director Ruth Cousineau talks her way through a flambé of sirloin pan juices, olive oil, and a goodly lashing of whiskey, outlining her strategies for forestalling danger along the way. Fire pretty. Video handy. Me hungry.

Other useful video tutorials include methods for measuring honey and flour correctly, coring apples, cleaning herbs, and general behind the toque tips and techniques from their staff's seasoned kitchen pros.

[via: Gourmet.com's Test Kitchen]

• It's the Cooking Issue of The Boston Globe Magazine, with articles on turning simple ingredients into an elegant dinner for company, making your own wine, the essentials you need for your kitchen, which market staples can help you with appetizers, and taking cooking classes.
• Four wine experts taste wines under $12 and tell you which are best.
• A quick guide on where to get a healthy breakfast in Boston.
• Step-by-step saute.
• This week's recipes: Spicy chicken stew, Celeriac, Parsnip, and Potato Gratin, Turkey Pot Pie, and Pumpkin Gingerbread.

I love kale. There, I said it. It's one of those vegetables that often gets a bad rap, more frequently found as a green garnish around the edge of a salad bar than cooked and on your plate. However, I've found it to be one of the most forgiving and easy to cook of the leafy green family. It's also great to serve to guests, because it doesn't shrink down into a pile of nothing the way that spinach or chard does.

The only trick with kale is making sure you clean it sufficiently, as all those curly corners can trap dirt and grit, unpleasant things to bite down into. The first time I cooked kale, I didn't know just how rigorously it needed to be washed and had to throw the whole, aromatic, garlic-infused pan of bright green veg into the trash. I was not a happy camper that day.

Source