Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Bump.

Tip: par-boiling diced potatoes for making fried breakfast potatoes makes them cook better and faster, and stick less. However, using the CI method (heat in a pot full of cold water up to boiling temp) means draining the potatoes and cleaning an extra pot. Instead: par-boil them in the microwave. Dice the potatoes, and cook in the microwave until they just start to cook. In my microwave, that means cook 2 minutes, stir them up, cook another 2 minutes. Then fry.

Huh. I've been doing that for years. I thought I was just lazy.

--Lisa

Lisa,

Hey, don't knock being lazy. Lazy people are endlessly inventive; they need to be to avoid work.

The latest issue of Food and Wine (12/2014) has tips from the authors of the current batch of cookbooks for sale. I thought I'd share some, I found particularly interesting.

Make beignets with rice flour-they'll stay fresh longer. Alice Medrich
Use bread flour for pastries that need shaping, like palmiers. Dominique Ansel
Spritz oven walls with water when baking bread. Steam helps make a good crust. Peter Reinhart
Caramel is dark enough when it lets off white smoke. Johnny Iuzzini
Sprinkle pie dough with bread crumbs before adding fruit filling. The crumbs will absorb the extra juice. Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito I knew this but had forgotten.
To test a cake's doneness, don't insert a toothpick-it doesn't have enough surface area. Use a knife instead.
To give pie a crisp bottom crust, finish baking on the lowest shelf of the oven or on a pizza stone. Agatha Kulaga and Erin Patinkin
Soak brown rice for 30 minutes before cooking for fluffier grains. Geoffrey Zakarian
Add a drop of vinegar to the dough for piecrust to make it flakier. Ina Garten
Use a silicone spatula to stir risotto-it's gentler on the rice than a metal or wooden spoon. Stanley Tucci
When roasting, add a little oil to baking sheets or roasting pans and put them in the oven while it heats. When you add your ingredients, they will immediately sear. Mark Bittman
For salad, count on 1 TBS. of dressing per serving. Dana Cowin
Swirl melted butter into heated lime juice for an all purpose basting liquid. Michael Ruhlman
For crisper roasted potatoes brine them overnight to remove some of the starch. Christian F. Puglisi
Spread the rice paper with mayonnaise when making spring rolls-the mayo adds subtle richness. Charles Phan.

There were a few more, but...

That may be CI's modus operandi, but CC's been down with the micro-par-boil since it began.