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Ingredients Tips
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Salt and Pepper
The easiest way to improve your cooking is to improve your salt and pepper. Start by devoting yourself to kosher salt; it has a less-chemical flavor than standard table salt and contains less sodium, teaspoon for teaspoon. When finishing a dish, sprinkle on some coarse sea salt or flaky salt, which will add a little unexpected texture. With pepper, always start with whole peppercorns and grind them a bit coarsely to use. Either use a pepper mill and grind to order, or grind a larger amount in a spice grinder and keep a little bowl of it near the stove. In general, the fresher the grind, the fresher the flavor. But ground pepper can comfortably live by your stove for a month. Keep in mind that all of the recipes in this book were created with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. If you want to use table salt or fine salt, reduce the amount by at least half.
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| Entertaining tips |
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More on Hospitality
Like sex, hospitality is ideally enthusiastic and engaging and conducted at a level of intimacy that’s appropriate for the situation. For a period of time I worked as a tuxedoed waiter in an elegant French restaurant. Many guests were regulars, but for an equal number of diners, their visit was a once-a-year or once-in-a-lifetime special occasion. For these guests, their comfort level walking in was low. I imagined that many had the feeling that they were crashing a party at which they did not quite belong. Since all of the other waiters in the restaurant were French, I took as my mission to make sure everyone I encountered felt welcome and comfortable. I was enthusiastic and engaging while maintaining a certain level of professional distance. Of my favorite memories of this time was the young couple I served whose parting comment to me was that I was "earthy." I am still reasonably sure they meant that positively. |
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Mr. T’s Balls
I grew up with two moderate-sized balls—but was occasionally given three on request. But Mr. T., a longtime friend and supporter, was a vocal advocate of serving a single large ball. Matzo balls, the fluffy soup-dumpling staple of Passover, cook twice: once in water, and then again in the broth, and they swell each time. Matzo balls freeze well so if you can, make a double or triple batch and store the leftovers for another day. The frozen balls can go directly into soup for defrosting and their second cooking. Our recipe for matzo ball soup provides for two balls per person, but feel free to go Mr. T’s way and serve on larger ball—just increase the size and lengthen the cooking time. Better yet, go for two large balls! |
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| Equipment tips |
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Blenders and Food Processors
Blenders and food processors produce fundamentally different results. If you want a very fine and elegant puree such as a soup or sauce, a blender is best. Food processors are better for coarser purees and, of course, for chopping, using the pulse function. Blenders need a certain amount of liquid to function. Ideally, the added liquid comes from what you cooked or it adds another distinct flavor or improves the texture, such as cream or olive oil. If you turn on your blender and it only purees what’s on the bottom, gradually add the liquid until the action picks up. Pushing down the stuck food with a spoon or rubber spatula while the blender is off also helps. Likewise, if you want to puree with your food processor, you may need to add some liquid to get the food smooth. |
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