How To Series

Tahini, a nutty and creamy paste that is easy to make in a blender. Just make what you need. Buy sesame seeds in bulk and never worry about spoilage. Make creamy sauces, hummus or drizzle on veggies.

A simple and traditional roux recipe to use for gravy, sauces and to thicken soups and stews. This authentic and easy roux recipe will be your go-to thickener for cooking. What is roux? The definition of roux according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary is: ‘ a cooked mixture of flour and fat used as a …

You can bake a potato in the oven, crockpot, toaster oven and microwave. Learn how to get that crispy, flavorful skin and fluffy middle. If you ever wondered how to bake a potato, you’ve landed in the right spot.

Everything you need to know about tamarind and how tamarind paste is made from fruit pods.  Use in curries, pad thai and your other recipes to perfectly balance sweet and sour.  Learn how to store your tamarind paste too.  Embrace the tamarind, your best secret ingredient you didn’t know you needed. Table of contents What …

Roasting a pumpkin is super easy and it freezes well. This is a simple technique for roasting pumpkins.  Use for all of your favorite pumpkin recipes. Roasting pumpkins is super easy and the puree will keep in the freezer 6 months.  So if you have a pumpkin patch that gave lots of pumpkin babies, have …

  Cutting your vegetables into planes Cutting vegetables into matchstick-like pieces, or julienned,  is easy and this skill is handy to have in your cooking repertoire. The idea is to plane your vegetable into the length of ‘sticks’ that are needed. In this demo I have planed a squash into 1-inch pieces, 1/4 inch thick, …

Control Grip This grip is used frequently with the chefs knife.  The thumb and forefinger cradle the blade and the remaining fingers curl around the handle.  This hand position allows for the greatest control when chopping and slicing food.  For chopping food, the tip of the knife touches the cutting surface and the hand rocks …

For herbs on a stem like thyme, pinch the tip gently but firmly with thumb and index finger, using the opposite thumb and index finger pinch stem and slide leaves off of stem.   You will be left with a pile of small leaves for thyme but you can also do this with oregano, rosemary, …

Peeling tomatoes occasionally is a necessary step in some recipes.  The skin can get in the way of velvety sauces or tender salsas.  Below are two simple ways to peel tomatoes so that you can get on with your culinary magic. Boiling Water Method

Watching a chef on TV demonstrate how to properly chop an onion sparked a thought,  ‘How many other people, besides myself, don’t know how to properly chop an onion or any other vegetable for that matter?’  I watched my daughter chop vegetables and remembered how awkward her technique was and how dangerous it seemed.  Then …