by Dorie Colangelo

I was a musician for 17 long years before I burned out on the music business and decided to put down the guitar. I just wasn’t having fun anymore. But being a creative person at heart, I couldn’t give up creating, so I shifted focus to my other love, which was cooking. I spent the next 4 years posting recipes and food stories regularly on a cooking blog that I created and checking out every food-related book from the library.

Throughout that time, I often thought about going to culinary school. Fears of chopping off a finger, burning myself or losing interest in cooking kept me from enrolling. Early in 2016, still passionate about food and cooking, I suddenly realized that I needed to follow my passion and take the leap. Now, 5 months into the Professional Culinary Arts program at International Culinary Center, I’m having a blast, learning so much about the professional kitchen, and forming new ideas and goals. The funny part is, I haven’t significantly cut or burned myself once (knock on wood)! Here are some of the interesting things I’ve learned from my chef instructors which apply to the home kitchen as well as the professional kitchen.

Keep your knives sharp.

A dull knife makes cutting through raw meat and hard vegetables difficult, which can lead to your knife slipping and possibly hurting you in the process. A sharp knife makes cutting easier and keeps the knife going in the right direction. Don’t just use a honing steel; make sure to have a knife sharpener on hand to shave down the blade. Use your honing steel to keep the blade edge aligned between sharpening sessions.

Use cold water when cleaning potato or raw egg off of utensils.

Hot water will cook the starch and egg on to your utensils, making them much harder to clean. The cold water will help the starch or egg slide easily off the utensil.

Don’t “bruise” your olive oil.

When making a dressing, don’t whisk or shake olive oil for too long, because you’ll risk “bruising it” which will make it taste bitter. Whisk it just enough to combine it with your other ingredients.

Sweet plus sweet doesn’t equal more sweet.

Sweet cancels out sweet. If you pair a sweet dessert wine with a sweet dessert, you’ll taste all the other flavors in your dessert more than the sweetness because the sugar in the dessert wine is cancelling out the sweetness of your dessert. This is why your orange juice tastes horrible after you’ve brushed your teeth. The sweetness in the toothpaste cancels out the sweetness in the orange juice, so you’re only tasting the acidity.

Heat your plates.

To keep hot food hot when you serve it, put your plates in a low oven while you’re finishing cooking your meal. Plate the food on your warmed-up plates, and serve. But be sure the plates are not too hot to touch!

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Bonus: Two Fall Recipes

Here’s a recipe for my favorite sweet potato dish just in time for Thanksgiving. These sweet potatoes are buttery, soft on the inside and wear a crusty sugar exterior. To make this recipe vegan, you can substitute the butter for coconut oil.

Sugar-Crusted Sweet Potatoes

Makes 4 servings

4 medium sweet potatoes

4 tablespoons salted butter, melted

1/3 cup white or light brown sugar, plus more for sprinkling

1.  Fill a large pot with enough cold water to submerge all the potatoes.  Add potatoes, cover the pot and place over high heat, cooking for 40 minutes or until a fork slides easily into the fattest part of each potato.

2.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Remove the potatoes from the pot and rub off the skins under cold running water.  Place the potatoes in a baking dish, topping them with the melted butter and sugar.  Roll the potatoes to coat them completely in the butter and sugar and press them down, allowing them to crack open just a bit on top.  Sprinkle a light coating of sugar on top of all the potatoes.

3.  Bake the potatoes, uncovered, for 1 hour.  

You might need to make a triple recipe of these fluffy popovers because everyone will be reaching for more. These are a great accompaniment to a hearty meal. You can omit the cheese and drizzle the popovers with honey or maple syrup for a sweet breakfast treat.

Smoked Gouda Popovers

Makes 12 popovers

2 tablespoons butter

3 eggs

1 cup milk

3/4 cup all purpose flour

Pinch of salt

2 ounces smoked gouda cheese, cut into 12 small cubes, plus more grated for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 425.  Grease a muffin or popover tin with vegetable oil or cooking spray and put it in oven until it gets hot.  Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat.

2. Beat the eggs until they’re light and fluffy, then beat in the milk and melted butter.

3. Sift the flour and salt together through a sieve over the bowl that contains the egg mixture, then beat to incorporate everything.

4. Remove the muffin or popover tin from the oven and grease it again. Fill each cup of the muffin/popover tin exactly 3/4 of the way up with batter. Add a cheese cube to the middle of each filled cup. Sprinkle the extra grated cheese on top of all 12 filled cups.

5.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

6.  Serve immediately or remove from the tins and let cool and then reheat in a hot oven for a few minutes before serving.  Leftover popovers can be stored in an airtight bag or container.

 

Dorie Colangelo is a singer-songwriter turned food blogger who currently attends International Culinary Center in New York, NY. Her recipes have been featured in HuffPost Taste, Food52.com, TasteSpotting.com, FoodGawker.com, and FoodPornDaily.com. Her favorite foods are too many to name, but they include cupcakes, soup dumplings and burgers.