All is not yet lost

Food Network Tidbits

I watch a lot of the Food Network, mostly because there's rarely anything else good on. It's hard to go wrong with a food show; unless I've seen the particular episode before, I know I'mg oing to learn something. Sometimes it's just that I don't like the particular celebrity chef I've just watched, but mostly I will pick up something new culinary-wise that I didn't know before.

Unfortunately, because I watch these shows so often, I hear a lot of the same things over and over again. This is because the producers feel the need to include educational content into these shows, and they pitch it to the level of the first time viewer. So, here are the things you can expect to hear on a typical Food Network viewing experience.

1) How to make a roux: Heat and mix together some butter and flour in a pan until it gets to a sticky consistency.
2) What's in Worcestershire sauce: everything but the kitchen sink, including soy sauce, anchovies, ginger, garlic, etc....
3) Don't wash your mushrooms - they will get waterlogged and rubbery.
4) It's ok to wash your mushrooms - they don't absorb that much water.
(yes I did hear both those on different shows on the same day)
5) Let your meat rest after it comes out of the oven before you cut into it - this lets the juices spread back through the meat and lets it cook a little bit longer.
6) Only use wines in your cooking that you would drink out of a glass - the flavor concentrates during cooking, so if you don't like it on its own, you won't when you cook with it.
7) Fish shouldn't smell fishy - it should smell fresh, or like the ocean, not"fishy"
8) Crimini mushrooms - they're just baby Portabellos
9) Deep fry in a lot of oil - this way it reatins heat when you add the cold food into it and the food will cook faster, thus absorbing less oil.
10) Salt pasta water - it's your only chance to actually flavor the pasta.

Of course, now that I've decided to write this post, I'm blanking on the tidbits. Go figure...

There'll probably be a Part 2 to this post at some point in the future :)

posted by TiredMama @ 2/01/2006 07:59:00 PM