List of recipes from category Tips and tricks: 91 recipes

Cooking sugar

Cooking sugar, which is one of the basics of patisserie and sweet-making, is a delicate operation in which sugar is heated from 100°C or 212°F to 180°C or 356°F. Here is some information on this tricky subject. [Translator's note: the terms used below correspond to the French tradition, as often...
April 3^rd 2019487 K4.9 45 min.

How to bake blind

This method allows you to cook a tart case, and then fill with a preparation which may or may not need further cooking (fruit, chocolate, crème patissière , etc...).
May 6^th 2017914 K5 1 hour 40 min.

How to cook bacon and remove excess fat

To prevent excess fat in a recipe using bacon, you can "blanch" it before use, leaving most of the fat in the pan with the water.
February 21^th 2011379 K 44.8 15 min.

How to cook hard-boiled eggs properly

A hard-boiled egg is properly cooked when: shell is not broken, white and yolk are firm, yolk is only yellow with no traces of green around it. Here are some tips to make this easy.
November 4^th 20131.37 M 65 1 hour 30 min.

How to cook Morteau sausage well

This is, in my opinion, the best smoked sausage. You can cook it in a number of ways, here are three of the best known.
November 15^th 20182.75 M 23.4 40 min.

How to cook pasta properly

Here is some advice for pasta that's properly cooked and doesn't stick.
July 18^th 20191.15 M4.4 25 min.

How to cook red meat properly

Cooking red meat well is not as simple as it might seem. Even if you start with high quality meat, with poor cooking it can become dry and tough. Here's a way that will guarantee you a perfect result.
October 13^th 2010468 K2.7 1 hour 25 min.

How to cook rice in rice-cooker

Cooking rice in a specially adapted "rice-cooker" is practical and quick: you don't have to watch it during cooking, it's fast (15 minutes) and the rice-cooker switches automatically to "keep warm".
February 21^th 2011916 K 24.9 20 min.

How to fry eggs well

You've probably heard the expression: "S/he can't even cook an egg," suggesting that the person referred is a hopeless cook. In reality, frying eggs well isn't as easy as it might appear. The two most frequent errors: the white develops a brown crust around the outside which is unpleasant in the...
March 11^th 2018502 K 14.6 20 min.

How to grill salmon well

This is not as simple as it might at first appear. A properly grilled piece of salmon should be crisp on the outside and moist on the inside. This soft interior is achieved by very strict timing (cooking fish just right is a sign of a true chef), as undercooked it is unpleasant, and overcooked the...
October 13^th 2010474 K4.3 25 min.

How to slow cook meat

By cooking meat slowly with no added fat, it will become very tender - almost melt-in-the-mouth - and can be cut with a fork.
November 6^th 2011163 K5 4 hours 45 min.

How to cook caramelized puff pastry well

When puff pastry is caramelized to use in patisseries like millefeuille, French chefs call it a "feuilletage" (which means "lamination" or "leafing"). This is baked on its own before being assembled with cream, fruit, etc. The baking needs to be carefully managed: the pastry should puff into layers,...
September 3^rd 2017271 K 24.9 40 min.

How to cook potato grenaille

The French call very small potatoes "grenaille". This is a typical way of cooking them: the tiny potatoes are pan-fried in their skins and make an excellent accompanient for meat. Grenaille can be made with any kind of potato; it is a question of size, rather than variety, though I think that...
September 16^th 2015452 K4.5 45 min.

How to divide a preparation evenly

It often happens in cooking: one makes a cream for 6 people in a saucepan, then the recipe says "divide the cream evenly between the glasses", which usually gets done by eye with varying degrees of success. To divide out the preparation more precisely, here's a simple tip just using weighing scales.
June 3^rd 201154 K5 20 min.

How to dust

"Dusting" in cooking is sprinkling a very fine layer of something in powder form. Icing sugar or cocoa powder on cakes for example. As this is not very easy to do evenly, here is a way to do it.
October 13^th 2010148 K5 2 min.

How to extract passion fruit juice

Passion fruit are rather strange fruit as they do not really have much flesh, but rather seeds surrounded by a fine layer of pulp. Here is a way to extract the juice.
March 23^th 2011516 K 32.3 20 min.

How to freeze plums

When fruit is in season, there's sometimes a glut - far more than we can use at once. Freezing is a good solution, but plums and other stone fruit should not be frozen whole; the fruit will be unappetizing when thawed. Here's a simple method for successful freezing.
September 4^th 2019116 K3.7 12 hours 40 min.

How to glaze a tart

Professional pastrycooks usually say that "a beautiful cake is already half sold", it is one of the reasons why they do not put a tart on sale without glazing it ("abricoter" in Fench), i.e. coating it with a thick apricot syrup. This glaze gives a glossy finish to the tart (see the photographs...
February 15^th 2016445 K4.4 7 min.

How to heat plates

In restaurants serving "à l'assiette", wich means that your dish is presented already served on a plate, it's very important for the plates to be hot, otherwise dishes arrive cold and it's the customer that (rightly) becomes heated. At home it's worth doing the same thing: you are sure to serve hot...
February 21^th 2011213 K 43.7 25 min.

How to know when a cake is cooked

It's a frequently asked question and it's not so easy to answer it, especially for beginners: you can have a cake that's nice and golden brown outside, but which is not cooked enough in the middle.
May 7^th 2020284 K4.1 1 min.

How to make a good pastry tart case

Lining a tin or mould with pastry to make a tart or pie seems simple enough: you roll out the pastry, put it in the tin and trim off any overhanging bits. It may not be rocket science, but if you want a tart with a perfect pastry case, it really helps to take care over a few details, which I will...
July 14^th 201967 K 45 min.

How to make chocolate chips

These chocolate chips, very fine, are perfect for decorating a dessert, but they can also be incorporated in a preparation like mint ice-cream for example.
February 21^th 2011273 K3.8 5 min.

How to make fleur de sel (salt flakes)

French "fleur de sel" is a salt with a special texture, formed by the action of the wind on salt marshs. The wind dries the surface of the water which has a high salt concentration (this will later become sea salt) producing thin flaky crystals.
May 4^th 2011236 K 43.9 1 hour 7 min.

How to make marzipan decorations

Making marzipan decorations for cakes or desserts is fairly simple. Here are some tips to make it even easier.
October 13^th 2010212 K 24.3 15 min.

How to make ravioli

In theory, making ravioli is fairly simple: just roll out wide bands of thin fresh pasta dough and encase small pieces of pre-prepared filling between two sheets of pasta. In practice, it's a bit trickier than that and having the right equipment is important. This recipe shows you how to make...
May 30^th 201680 K5 1 hour 20 min.

How to make tart cases

It's not easy to make beautiful, even tart cases, but here I'll let you into the secret of how the professionals do it. You will see that there are a lot of little details that make all the difference. It's a bit technical, but don't worry, I'll guide you through the important points.
October 3^rd 202166 K 2 hours 30 min.

How to peel a fruit

Usually French chefs says "peler à vif", which means to completely peel the fruit (removing skin and core) and keep only the very best of the flesh. Here is a method for grapefruit, but it can be used for all the other citrus fruit, and many other fruits.
February 21^th 2011179 K4.3 35 min.

How to peel a pineapple

For most recipes it is necessary to completely peel the pineapple, and to keep only the flesh which is then often cut into small pieces. Here is a method.
February 21^th 2011202 K3.7 20 min.

How to peel pistachios

If you buy pistachios shelled but still in their skins (cheaper than ready peeled), you shouldn't use them like this. They need to be "skinned", removing the skin which is pretty unpleasant to eat. Here's a fairly easy way to do it.
May 20^th 2020125 K3.3 30 min.

How to peel tomatoes using a flame

The classic and most usual way to peel tomatoes is by plunging them first into boiling water, then into cold. But there is another method, "flame peeling", which is quicker than boiling water as it bursts the tomato skins open very rapidly. Here is how to do it.
July 17^th 201970 K 15 min.

How to poach peaches

To poach peaches, we begin rather like for tomatoes. To peel them, we boil them for a few seconds, then plunge them into cold water. Once the skin has been removed, they are poached gently in a light syrup.
September 6^th 2012226 K3 1 hour 50 min.

How to prepare a bain-marie

A bain-marie is the best way to cook or heat a preparation gently without risk of burning.
July 5^th 2013512 K5 7 min.

How to prepare a lettuce

It is much more economical to buy a whole lettuce than separate leaves in a plastic packet. And it's so simple to prepare - you can see how here.
April 17^th 2011399 K4.8 30 min.

How to prepare a pumpkin (or potimarron)

Here is how to prepare a pumpkin for use in a recipe like the delicious potimarron soup.
February 21^th 2011404 K4.6 25 min.

How to prepare a spring onion

Delicious, young spring onions are a sure sign that spring is well and truly here. They need a particular preparation, but here's how to do it easily.
May 1^st 202258 K 5 min.

How to prepare an avocado

Here is how to get from an avocado only the flesh of the fruit.
January 9^th 2010194 K 14 15 min.

How to prepare broad beans

Here's how, from fresh beans in pods, to obtain beans ready to use in a recipe.
July 3^rd 20246,785 35 min.

How to prepare Brussels sprouts

Brussels sprouts are delicious. On this site you'll find many recipes that use these versatile vegetables. Here is all you need to know about preparing and cooking them.
February 6^th 202225 K 40 min.

How to prepare cabbage

Cabbage can be used cooked or raw, whole leaves or in julienne. Here is how to prepare a cabbage julienne.
December 31^th 20131.12 M 13.6 45 min.

How to prepare celeriac

When faced with the ball of a whole celeriac, it's not obvious how to tackle it: what do you hold on to? Where do you start? Here's a fairly simple way to go about it.
April 10^th 202227 K 15 min.

How to prepare cockles

Cockles are small Atlantic shellfish which can be used in many delicious dishes. However, they need to be prepared with care before cooking. Here is a simple way to do this.
March 13^th 2013539 K 13.7 1 hour 55 min.

How to prepare corn salad

Corn salad (or lamb's lettuce) is a green salad plant. It can be used like lettuce, but requires careful preparation as it is often grown in sand. Here is how to prepare corn salad from the freshly picked plant to the leaves ready to use.
April 10^th 2013142 K4.1 20 min.

How to prepare courgettes

Preparing courgettes is fairly simple. You just need to remember 3 things: 1) the bigger they are, the less good they will be, 2) they never need to be peeled, and 3) the central part with the seeds is pretty tasteless.
June 8^th 2011277 K 13.8 30 min.

How to prepare cucumber

Or how to start with a whole cucumber and finish with small crunchy dice, ready to be added to a salad.
August 6^th 2019242 K4.6 40 min.

How to prepare egg glaze

Bakers and pastry chefs use a glaze ("dorure" in French - the same word as for gilding) made with whole full eggs, beaten in a blender. This is used with a brush on pastry that would not naturally brown during cooking (brioche, puff pastry, ...).
October 17^th 2018304 K4.3 2 min.

How to prepare endives

A very classic recipe, but which can easily fail due to two main errors: too much water in bottom of dish because endives give off a lot, and endives that are too bitter so that children hate it. Here is a method which avoids these two problems.
February 14^th 2012461 K3.7 30 min.

How to prepare fresh mushrooms

Preparing fresh mushrooms for a recipe is not very complicated, but there are a few pitfalls to avoid, which will be pointed out here.
May 10^th 202315 K 21 20 min.

How to prepare green beans

Here's how to turn freshly bought (or picked) green beans into ready-to-use vegetables.
August 11^th 202316 K 25 min.

How to prepare Jerusalem artichokes

Jerusalem artichokes are quite an unusual vegetable with a strong artichoke taste, if you want to use them in a recipe, here is how to prepare them.
January 11^th 202319 K 20 min.

How to prepare new peas

In spring, when the first peas, known as "new" peas, appear fresh on the market stalls, that's the (fairly short) moment when you can eat them whole, peas and pods, very fresh and delicious. To do this, rather than shelling them, you need to prepare them, and here's how.
May 8^th 20248,955 30 min.

How to prepare purple artichokes

The small purple artichokes, which are more tender than the larger green ones, are almost entirely edible. But they need to be prepared in a particular way. Here is how to do this fairly easily.
February 26^th 2016662 K 44 20 min.

How to prepare rhubarb

Rhubarb and its characteristic flavour can be the basis of delicious desserts, but it needs to be prepared a certain way before using.
October 13^th 2010213 K4.9 30 min.

How to prepare romanesco

Here is how to take a whole romanesco and end up with small pieces ready to use in a recipe.
January 17^th 2013651 K 23 30 min.

How to prepare sorrel

Here is how to clean and cut fresh leaves to use in a recipe, by removing stalks and central vein, to retain only the very best of the sorrel.
October 6^th 2010427 K3.3 35 min.

How to prepare spinach

For most people (and me most of all), spinach brings back bad memories of canteens... But, well prepared, it's a fine and delicate vegetable which goes remarkably well with scrambled eggs, fish, and many another things. Here are two ways of preparing it.
June 5^th 20153.38 M3.5 1 hour 9 min.

How to prepare tomatoes

Yes, I know you will say to me: why peel tomatoes? The answer is very simple: it's much better, gives a better texture, softer in the mouth. The skin is tough, adds nothing to the taste (and you will have noticed that commercial tomatoes have practically no taste), and finally it's there (on/under...
June 6^th 2012328 K 24 40 min.

How to prepare white beans

When you want to use white beans in a recipe, most of the time you use dried beans. They're handy, but they're hard and not easy to use, but don't worry, in this recipe you'll see how to prepare and cook them.
August 16^th 202316 K 12 hours 20 min.

How to rehydrate dried mushrooms

Rehydrating dried mushrooms restoes them to something like their fresh texture, ready to use in a recipe. You will see that there is more to it than simply leaving them to soak in water. At the same time, we can also make a delicious mushroom "jus" to use in recipes. Throughout the recipe, I have...
April 5^th 2017339 K4.8 1 hour 10 min.

How to remove fat from meat juices

After cooking meat, we are left with the delicious cooking juices, but these can often be rather fatty. Here is one simple and effective way to remove much of the fat.
May 11^th 2016133 K3 3 hours 4 min.

How to roll out pastry for a tart

Rolling out pastry from a block and lining a tart mould or tin is not as straighforward as all that. To help you to succeed every time, here is a very simple tip. It will to change your opinion of tarts...
October 13^th 2010295 K4.6 25 min.

How to seal a terrine or casserole dish

The French have a term for it: "luter", which means to seal around the lid of a cooking dish with dough. The dough forms a crust and hermetically seals in all the steam and flavours while the dish is cooking in the oven. This is a good way to concentrate flavours. The dish is brought to the table...
January 11^th 2017172 K3.8 35 min.

How to use a forcing bag (piping or icing bag)

The forcing bag is the tool needed whenever you need to deposit a blob of something precisely in a particular place (in a mould, a glass, on a plate, etc). Here is how you do it.
January 14^th 2011296 K 15 25 min.

How to use a vanilla pod effectively

Vanilla pods are used in many recipes, but they need to treated in a particular way to be effective, detailed here.
February 21^th 2011385 K4.3 35 min.

How to use gelatin

Gelatin is a gelling agent use in some desserts where a rather firm texture is required when cold. It can also be used to stabilize a dessert (mousses especially) that you need to keep longer than usual.
July 9^th 2018407 K4.8 7 min.

How to keep a tart pastry case crisp

The problem with tarts, and fruit tarts in particular, is that the filling (fruit, cream or whatever) ends up soaking into the pastry and turns it soft. Here is a professional tip for avoiding this problem: spread a thin layer of white chocolate, which does not have a strong flavour, in the bottom...
June 12^th 2013165 K4.7 1 hour

How to add beaten eggs whites to a mixture

It is common in cooking or pastry, having beaten whites mix preparation to another without making them completely fall, here are some tips to help you to.
August 3^rd 2012125 K4.3 10 min.

How to beat egg whites

Beat egg whites is very common in cooking and pastry, here are some tips to get there easily.
February 21^th 2011552 K5 5 min.

How to break a chocolate bar into small pieces

Most of the time chocolate needs to be broken into small pieces before use, because it melts faster and more evenly. Here is a way to do it quickly.
February 21^th 2011157 K3 1 min.

How to butter a dish or a mould easily

Often when making gratins, crumbles or other oven-cooked dishes, you will need to butter the dish or mould. To butter (or grease) means to rub inside the mould with a knob of butter to prevent the mixture sticking too much. Instead of putting a knob of butter in the dish and wiping with paper, here...
February 21^th 2011142 K4.1 1 min.

How to choose an avocado well

It is not so easy to choose a good avocado, tasty and well ripe. Here are some tips to help you.
June 28^th 2011182 K4.4 1 min.

How to heat milk without it catching on the bottom of the pan

Very often when you heat milk in a saucepan, it forms at the bottom of the pan (especially if the milk boiled) a sticky and brown bottom of milk that burned and attached. To avoid this here is a very simple and very effective tip.
February 21^th 2011252 K 24.2 1 min.

How to keep meat tender after cooking

When you cook meat, the cooking heat causes the juices to run back inside, so the outside dries up somewhat. Here is a tip to avoid this.
February 21^th 2011115 K4.3 5 min.

How to peel a garlic clove easily

Here are, in a video, how to from a head of garlic to clove ready to be used.
August 8^th 2013136 K 24.3 5 min.

How to prepare leeks

Leeks are vegetables that are often muddy, we must be careful when washing them to remove mud that would be very unpleasant to "discover" the plate.
October 13^th 2010547 K5 30 min.

How to prevent a sheet of paper sliding

If you put cooking parchment on a baking sheet, you will find it slides all over the place, which is annoying.
February 21^th 201167 K4.5 3 min.

How to prevent bad breath after eating garlic

The main problem with garlic, is that even a long while after eating it, you often still have the smell on your breath.
February 21^th 201171 K 24.3

How to prevent butter burning during cooking

Butter, which is excellent for fixing flavours in a recipe, burns if the temperature is too high. It darkens and produces unpleasant small black specks (by the way, note that the famous recipe "raie au beurre noir", ray in black butter, is a kind of sacrilege!).
February 21^th 2011135 K 24.1 3 min.

How to prevent peeled fruit or vegetables turning brown

Most fruits turn brown soon after peeling due to oxydation, and this is unattractive. To prevent this, you will find many recipes that tell you to coat them with lemon juice as soon as they are peeled. It's relatively effective when fruit are simply to be used peeled, but if you want to make a...
February 21^th 2011117 K4 1 min.

How to prepare an onion or shallot

Onions and shallots are widely used in the recipes on this site, generally finely chopped. Here is a method to do it quite easily with a simple knife.
February 21^th 2011178 K5 10 min.

How to prepare asparagus

Preparing asparagus spears properly involves washing and peeling, then cooking them just right. Here is a simple way to do this.
June 26^th 2013264 K4.9 35 min.

How to prepare broccoli

Broccoli are vegetable cousins to cauliflowers. Here's how to prepare them for using in a recipe.
October 7^th 20131.44 M3 35 min.

How to prepare carrots

Here's how to prepare carrots, from the simplest way (peeled then rinsed) to a more sophisticated version where only the very best ofthe vegetable is kept.
February 21^th 2011170 K4.3 15 min.

How to prepare cauliflower

This is how to start with a whole califlower and finish with only the best of the vegetable.
February 5^th 2022217 K4.1 35 min.

Don't add a stock cube whole

If you add a stock cube to a recipe, it's much better to not add it whole, because it will take a long time to dissolve.
February 21^th 2011136 K5 2 min.

Don't throw apricot stones away

You might not think so to look at them, but apricot stones contain an edible kernel which you can use in your recipes. Here is how to extract them.
August 13^th 2014196 K2.7 20 min.

You should not add raisins to recipes dry

Used straight from the packet raisins are too dry and hard.
February 21^th 2011258 K4.1 40 min.

You should not beat egg yolks at high speed to start with

You should not start beating egg yolks and caster sugar at high speed, because this splashes drops of egg yolk against the sides of the bowl, which then go hard as they dry.
February 21^th 201191 K 24.5

You should not leave egg yolks in contact with sugar

You should not leave egg yolks in contact with sugar for too long without beating them, because this contact "cooks" egg yolks and you will get small lumps of hard egg in your mixture.
February 21^th 2011122 K5

You should not push with the sharp edge of a knife

When you cut something into small pieces on your working surface, it's an automatic gesture to push the pile with your knife blade. It's a bad habit because this will blunt your blade.
February 21^th 201159 K5 1 min.

You should not put an aluminum container directly in the oven

If you put an aluminum container, containing food to be cooked or reheated, in your oven directly on the shelf, the shiny base will reflect a large part of the oven heat (like a mirror). This means that the food will take much longer to cook or heat through than usual.
February 21^th 2011489 K 92.5 1 min.

You should not soak strawberries in water

When using strawberries in a recipe, the usual way is to soak in water, which is actually a very bad idea. Just look at how to preserve them here.
February 21^th 2011165 K3 10 min.