What is the right way to cook? We tend to ask ourselves this question if we are new to cooking or haven’t started yet but are interested. Over at the Brisbane Times, they are asking just that same question, but not of those who are amateurs, but of those who are experts and cook for a living.
The chefs they ask this question of have thrown out some of the “facts” about cooking so that it works better for them. Mark Best claims that he is “not doing anything the way I used to; everything I’ve done has changed.” One thing that he says is “rubbish” is the fact that chefs are taught that you’re not to use salt on meat before cooking because it will toughen the meat. Chef Best however has discovered that seasoning the meat early on can give it a “well-seasoned flavor.”
Another chef , Gabriel Gaté, says that he prefers to use more herbs and less salt and pepper. Many of us are taught that salt brings out the flavor of food and is used almost religiously in cooking, but many of us also hear about how we need to cut down on sodium and don’t know how to do it. Using more herbs and less salt sounds like a great idea and one can see how it would work to enhance flavor instead.
Seasoning is just one way to “rebel” against the rules of cooking, to make food work better for us instead of us for it. Like any art or creative process, one must find their own way in the world of food. What do you enjoy doing that is against the culinary “rules” for cooking?
Photo by mil8.
23. March 2010 at 7:17 pm
I use a little fat free Itilian dressing in place of oil and salt in cooking chicken or fish it is delicious and a lot healthier.