CHEF’S RECIPE TIPS

In my cooking schools, I always set new students a little test. I asked them to read a recipe I had photocopied from a very prestigious fashion/food magazine (I’m sure you know the one). It was an Orange Cake recipe from Claudia Roden’s wonderful book, “Middle Eastern Food”.

The first instruction was to boil 2 oranges whole for an hour or so. Then the instructions continued. The oranges, however, were never mentioned again!! Obviously an editor was asleep on the job somewhere. But not one student ever picked up the error.

So, always read a recipe carefully at least a couple of times before you dash out and buy ingredients. Not only do editors miss things, it’s also a great way of getting a handle on the timing and procedure in your mind before you start.

Cooking is a process, and one of the biggest failings in beginning cooks is time management – so give yourself time to work out the best order in which to do things and you’ll save yourself a lot of grief. Recipes are not always written in the order of procedure.

Also, cook for yourself – don’t be afraid to experiment. Adjust a recipe if it seems bland or not quite right to your palate. While you are cooking, taste, taste, taste. Be sparing with seasoning initially – it’s easy to add salt at the end of the cooking time if necessary, but hard to take it out.