List of recipes from category Tips and tricks: 87 recipes (without meat)
List of recipes from category Tips and tricks
- Cooking: 11 recipes
- How to...: 53 recipes
- Tarts: 1 recipe
- Tricks: 13 recipes
- Work on/prepare an ingredient: 5 recipes
- You should not...: 8 recipes
Cooking
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 3rd 2019484 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 6th 2017912 K5 1 hour 40 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 4th 20131.37 M 65 1 hour 30 min.
How to cook pasta properly
Here is some advice for pasta that's properly cooked and doesn't stick.July 18th 20191.15 M4.4 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 21th 2011913 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 11th 2018500 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 13th 2010472 K4.3 25 min.
How to...
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 3rd 2017268 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 16th 2015449 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 3rd 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 13th 2010147 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 23th 2011513 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 4th 2019114 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 15th 2016443 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 21th 2011212 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 7th 2020282 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 14th 201965 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 21th 2011271 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 4th 2011235 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 13th 2010210 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 30th 201678 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 3rd 202163 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 21th 2011178 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 21th 2011201 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 20th 2020121 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 17th 201968 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 6th 2012224 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 5th 2013510 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 17th 2011396 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 21th 2011402 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 1st 202256 K 5 min.
How to prepare an avocado
Here is how to get from an avocado only the flesh of the fruit.January 9th 2010193 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 3rd 20245,367 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 6th 202223 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 31th 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 10th 202226 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 13th 2013535 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 10th 2013140 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 8th 2011275 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 6th 2019240 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 17th 2018301 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 14th 2012459 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 10th 202314 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 11th 202314 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 11th 202318 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 8th 20247,523 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 26th 2016659 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 13th 2010211 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 17th 2013649 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 6th 2010424 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 5th 20153.37 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 6th 2012327 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 16th 202315 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 5th 2017335 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 11th 2016131 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 13th 2010294 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 11th 2017168 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 14th 2011295 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 21th 2011382 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 9th 2018403 K4.8 7 min.
Tarts
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 12th 2013163 K4.7 1 hour
Tricks
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 3rd 2012124 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 21th 2011550 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 21th 2011156 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 21th 2011141 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 28th 2011181 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 21th 2011250 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 21th 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 8th 2013135 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 13th 2010546 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 21th 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 21th 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 21th 2011134 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 21th 2011116 K4 1 min.
Work on/prepare an ingredient
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 21th 2011176 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 26th 2013262 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 7th 20131.43 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 21th 2011168 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 5th 2022215 K4.1 35 min.
You should not...
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 21th 2011135 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 13th 2014195 K2.7 20 min.
You should not add raisins to recipes dry
Used straight from the packet raisins are too dry and hard.February 21th 2011256 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 21th 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 21th 2011120 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 21th 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 21th 2011486 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 21th 2011164 K3 10 min.