Food Preparation Tips
March 21, 2005
by Margarita Cárdenas
margarita.cardenas@culinary-institutes.com
Culinary Schools Columnist
Everyone who has worked in a kitchen knows that there's more to cooking than just cooking! Our home restaurant training has to include other tricks of food preparation - and even clean-up.
Bones in the Fish?
Here's a quick way to remove bones from a salmon or other fish filet. Pluck them out one by one with eyebrow tweezers. You can find the bones easily by running your fingertip down the length of the raw filet.
Get your career cooking at California Culinary Academy. Students receive the challenging hands-on experience they need to prepare for a career in culinary arts or hospitality.
To skin a filet, place it skin side down on a flat surface. Insert a wide knife between the skin and meat starting from the tail end. Apply a sawing motion as you gently hold the fish up, skin and all, by the tail.
Egg yolk got into the whites? Remove it using one half of a cracked egg shell. The shell seems to attract the yolk and it will be easy to pick up. This technique also works for picking up bits of shell that may have fallen into the egg.
Make Any Pan a Non-stick Pan
To avoid sticking, always preheat your sauté pan. Then add the oil and/or butter, followed immediately by the food. This rule is especially good to remember when cooking eggs or fish.
Oil Dispenser
Keep cooking oil (olive, peanut, canola) in a plastic squeeze bottle near the stove. No more opening and closing bottles while you're trying to cook - just reach for the bottle, turn over, and squeeze!
Fresh Hands
Once you're through cooking, rub your dry hands with honey to remove all traces of garlic or other odors, and then wash with water.
And Finally a Restaurant Career May be in Your Future…
If you like to do more than cook, why not think about a restaurant career—like food and beverage management, culinary management or restaurant management. A good restaurant school will offer these programs and others as well.
About the Author
Margarita Cárdenas heads MC Editorial, a firm providing language expertise in the areas of writing, translating, and editing. As a conference interpreter, she has worked with organizations such as the World Bank and the United Nations. Margarita holds a bachelor’s degree in humanities from Harvard University. Her favorite pastimes are gardening, cooking, and listening to opera.
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