Being talented in the kitchen sounds harder than it actually is. If you want to do fun and creative techniques in the kitchen, you don’t need a culinary degree to do so. There are many different cuts and baking techniques that anyone can master—it just takes a little bit of practice.
1. Chiffonade
Chiffonading herbs and vegetables is a great way to fancy up a salad or a pasta dish. Chiffonading takes leafy vegetables or herbs and slices them into long, thin strips. Some smaller herbs cannot use the chiffonade technique, as they cannot be cut effectively.
In order to chiffonade, you need to stack your herbs or vegetables. Once they’re stacked, you can roll them up tightly and then cut across them with a knife.
2. Roasting peppers
Adding roasted peppers to recipes is a great way to add a touch of beauty and taste to your meals. The nice thing about roasted peppers is that you can roast a bunch at one time and save them in a jar to add to recipes at a later date.
In order to roast your peppers, you can either do it in your oven’s broiler or on your stovetop. If you do it in the broiler, you need to preheat the broiler first. Then, dip your peppers in olive oil and place on a baking sheet. Place them in the broiler, and keep an eye on them. Once they started bubbling and turning brown, remove them from the broiler, and using tongs, flip them to another side. Continue to do this to each side of the peppers until they are brown on all sides. After they have cooled, remove the stems and the skins.
If you want to roast peppers on the stovetop, simply hold the pepper over an open flame until it turns brown. Continue to rotate the pepper until brown on all sides. Again, remove the stem and the skin when cooled.
3. Tournée
The tournée cut creates vegetables with an oblong shape. This is a great way to present vegetables used in a vegetable tray or even a dish.
If you want to tournée, cut the vegetable into 2-inch long pieces and then cut them so they end up looking like a football. There are specific knifes for this process, called a Tourner knife, but any short bladed knife should do the trick.
4. Julienne
The julienne cut is similar to the tourney cut, except that instead of oblong shape, the vegetable is cut into long thin strips. This is a great way to add vegetables to a dish or a salad.
In order to cut julienne, you need to peel your vegetable if necessary. Then, cut them in half. Take one half, and make very thin cuts. Once you have them cut, flip the vegetable over and make cuts the opposite way. This will give you long, thin pieces.
5. Taking corn off the cob
Yes, you can buy kernels of corn at the grocery store, but they will most likely be canned or frozen, and sometimes, you really need some fresh corn kernels. If you want fresh kernels, you can actually remove them from the cob.
To remove corn from the cob, hold the shucked corn upright in a pan, and using a sharp knife, cut down the sides of the corn until you have successfully removed the corn from the cob. You can do this either before or after the corn has been cooked.
Using these kitchen techniques are not hard to do, and they will certainly make your dishes stand out.
Ashley Cole is a stay at home mother and avid cook who loves to write in her spare time. To ensure all her writing is professional and mistake-free she proofs it with a grammar checker. She knows she should learn grammar rules better but she likes having a back-up plan for her work.
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