Secrets of restaurant food
Cooking like in a restaurant: is it necessary? Why is the food from the restaurant "tastier"? How to cook a "restaurant" dish at home?
Restaurants may not serve the healthy food we get at home, but when it comes to taste, the dishes of even the best home cooks can rarely be compared to the restaurant consistency and "taste"; What's the reason for this? Why are "their" potatoes more crispy, pizza browned, and pilaf looks and has a more attractive taste than ordinary homemade?
Reason 1: Experience plays a role
At home, the menu is constantly rotated, and the positions change every day, which leads to a variety of tastes of the same dishes. In restaurants, specialties are present on the menu every day. So the habit of cooking the same dish over and over again gradually leads to the improvement and consistency of taste. It is not for nothing that almost every housewife has her own signature dish, the recipe of which has either been honed for years or inherited in the family.
Reason 2: Generous use of oil and spices
As a rule, restaurant food is "fat and salty." While homemade food is prepared on a budget, using less oil, salt and spices, which affects the taste, and also takes into account the dietary preferences of family members, cooking in restaurants is aimed exclusively at taste and, therefore, the amount of oil and spices is practically not normalized. Is it tasty? Of course. But the benefits are very doubtful.
Reason 3: Focusing on details
Whether it's baking or cooking steak, restaurants pay special attention not only to the ingredients, but also to how they are used. For example, the use of softened butter when required by recipe, or brown sugar when necessary, or measuring the temperature of meat with a thermometer, which is usually not available at home, may cause a more refined taste of restaurant food.
Reason 4: Special equipment
The restaurant's kitchen is equipped with the most modern equipment that makes cooking easier and more accurate. In frying potatoes or baking pizza, for example, high temperatures are used that cannot be achieved at home. And in suvid technology, on the contrary, the temperature of languidation should be very low. A whole range of professional nozzles is used to decorate cakes. As a result, it affects the final result and the type of dish.
Reason 5: Using the right methods
Why do some people cook well and others not? This is because of the knowledge of the right technique and patience during the process. For example, adding ingredients in the correct order greatly affects the final result. If you add onions near the end, they will remain raw, and if you add spices at the beginning, they will lose their flavor. Professional chefs know these techniques and it is not surprising that their food is tastier. Similarly, cooking requires a lot of patience. Too little languor, insufficient roasting or roasting on too high a fire can lead to culinary disasters.
A few secrets and tricks from restaurant chefs
If anyone knows how to cook, it's the cooks who work in the kitchen every day. They know how to cook more ergonomically, cleaner and faster, because their work literally depends on it.
Here are some of the best culinary tricks from real restaurant chefs:
• Don't play with food while cooking it
We know how to itch the steak once again, press the cheesecake with a spatula or stir the vegetables while they are frying, but it is unacceptable to interfere with the food during its preparation. The less you torment the product, the better. For perfect fried potatoes, for example, it is enough to mix it only three times. And if you pierce the meat several times to see how transparent its juice is, you will get a completely dry dish. So the next time you cook the perfect homemade food, don't give in to the tempting desire to play with the food while it's being cooked.
• Don't rush
Properly heat the oven, frying pan before frying and wait for the water to boil completely if required by the recipe. If you are not a very experienced cook, then strictly follow the recipe. If it is said to soak the gelatin for 10 minutes, then soak exactly that much. Boil the eggs for 3 minutes - watch with a stopwatch. It is said to put the dough in the refrigerator for half an hour, put it in the refrigerator, not, say, in the freezer, and for half an hour.
- Prepare in advance
You will achieve the greatest success if you carefully read the recipe to the end before you start cooking or baking. Prepare all your equipment and ingredients before heating the pan. Before cooking, pre-measure the ingredients and align them in the order in which you will add them to your dishes. Then peel and cut the vegetables, marinate the meat, separate the egg yolk from the protein. This approach simplifies the cooking process and eliminates the crisis that arises when you suddenly realize that you are missing some important ingredient.
• Soak the chicken or pork in brine so that it is tender, juicy and fragrant
This simple step of soaking in cold salt water adds flavor to the bird and makes the meat completely tender. Add so much salt to the water that it tastes roughly similar to sea water. Place raw meat or chicken (or chicken parts) in the water for half an hour to several hours. Then take out, dry and cook according to the selected recipe.
• Also salt the French fries
Making restaurant crispy French fries at home is a difficult task. The trick of some chefs is to soak it in salt water before frying. This removes excess starch, making the potatoes more crispy and fragrant. Another trick is to fry the potatoes twice. That is, a few minutes after cooking, put the potatoes in the deep fry again for a while.
• Cook pasta in the sauce so that the pasta absorbs all the flavor
Heating the pasta in the sauce during the last few minutes of cooking gives it the opportunity to absorb even more flavor, so that the sauce and pasta become one.
• Smissoup and try on the go
According to professionals, insufficient seasoning is one of the biggest mistakes of chefs. They all advise chefs to spicore the food throughout the cooking process and try it to make sure you get exactly the taste you need. Any little things are important. Try to add sugar to any dish, at least at the tip of the knife. You will immediately notice how much deeper the taste of the dish has become. The same applies to "ordinary" salt. Now there is such a variety of types of salt that it would be foolish not to take advantage of it. If you don't like the taste of iodized salt, replace it with kosher salt - it dissolves quickly and does not leave an aftertaste. Conversely, if you want to add new notes to your dish, use pink Himalayan, smoked or sea salt.
- Create a restaurant atmosphere
Food in a restaurant is a special, often festive experience. Think about how you feel when you go to a restaurant. The mood is created not when food is brought to your table, but when you just enter the door. The view of a well-covered table with an elegant tablecloth, shining silver, clean napkins, the smell of baked bread, flowers or burning candles creates a special atmosphere and causes appetite. Unobtrusive background music helps to create an emotional mood. And don't forget to serve the dish. The chefs know that we "eat with our eyes." The attractive presentation actually makes the taste of food better.
At home, the menu is constantly rotated, and the positions change every day, which leads to a variety of tastes of the same dishes. In restaurants, specialties are present on the menu every day. So the habit of cooking the same dish over and over again gradually leads to the improvement and consistency of taste. It is not for nothing that almost every housewife has her own signature dish, the recipe of which has either been honed for years or inherited in the family.
Reason 2: Generous use of oil and spices
As a rule, restaurant food is "fat and salty." While homemade food is prepared on a budget, using less oil, salt and spices, which affects the taste, and also takes into account the dietary preferences of family members, cooking in restaurants is aimed exclusively at taste and, therefore, the amount of oil and spices is practically not normalized. Is it tasty? Of course. But the benefits are very doubtful.
Reason 3: Focusing on details
Whether it's baking or cooking steak, restaurants pay special attention not only to the ingredients, but also to how they are used. For example, the use of softened butter when required by recipe, or brown sugar when necessary, or measuring the temperature of meat with a thermometer, which is usually not available at home, may cause a more refined taste of restaurant food.
Reason 4: Special equipment
The restaurant's kitchen is equipped with the most modern equipment that makes cooking easier and more accurate. In frying potatoes or baking pizza, for example, high temperatures are used that cannot be achieved at home. And in suvid technology, on the contrary, the temperature of languidation should be very low. A whole range of professional nozzles is used to decorate cakes. As a result, it affects the final result and the type of dish.
Reason 5: Using the right methods
Why do some people cook well and others not? This is because of the knowledge of the right technique and patience during the process. For example, adding ingredients in the correct order greatly affects the final result. If you add onions near the end, they will remain raw, and if you add spices at the beginning, they will lose their flavor. Professional chefs know these techniques and it is not surprising that their food is tastier. Similarly, cooking requires a lot of patience. Too little languor, insufficient roasting or roasting on too high a fire can lead to culinary disasters.
A few secrets and tricks from restaurant chefs
If anyone knows how to cook, it's the cooks who work in the kitchen every day. They know how to cook more ergonomically, cleaner and faster, because their work literally depends on it.
Here are some of the best culinary tricks from real restaurant chefs:
• Don't play with food while cooking it
We know how to itch the steak once again, press the cheesecake with a spatula or stir the vegetables while they are frying, but it is unacceptable to interfere with the food during its preparation. The less you torment the product, the better. For perfect fried potatoes, for example, it is enough to mix it only three times. And if you pierce the meat several times to see how transparent its juice is, you will get a completely dry dish. So the next time you cook the perfect homemade food, don't give in to the tempting desire to play with the food while it's being cooked.
• Don't rush
Properly heat the oven, frying pan before frying and wait for the water to boil completely if required by the recipe. If you are not a very experienced cook, then strictly follow the recipe. If it is said to soak the gelatin for 10 minutes, then soak exactly that much. Boil the eggs for 3 minutes - watch with a stopwatch. It is said to put the dough in the refrigerator for half an hour, put it in the refrigerator, not, say, in the freezer, and for half an hour.
- Prepare in advance
You will achieve the greatest success if you carefully read the recipe to the end before you start cooking or baking. Prepare all your equipment and ingredients before heating the pan. Before cooking, pre-measure the ingredients and align them in the order in which you will add them to your dishes. Then peel and cut the vegetables, marinate the meat, separate the egg yolk from the protein. This approach simplifies the cooking process and eliminates the crisis that arises when you suddenly realize that you are missing some important ingredient.
• Soak the chicken or pork in brine so that it is tender, juicy and fragrant
This simple step of soaking in cold salt water adds flavor to the bird and makes the meat completely tender. Add so much salt to the water that it tastes roughly similar to sea water. Place raw meat or chicken (or chicken parts) in the water for half an hour to several hours. Then take out, dry and cook according to the selected recipe.
• Also salt the French fries
Making restaurant crispy French fries at home is a difficult task. The trick of some chefs is to soak it in salt water before frying. This removes excess starch, making the potatoes more crispy and fragrant. Another trick is to fry the potatoes twice. That is, a few minutes after cooking, put the potatoes in the deep fry again for a while.
• Cook pasta in the sauce so that the pasta absorbs all the flavor
Heating the pasta in the sauce during the last few minutes of cooking gives it the opportunity to absorb even more flavor, so that the sauce and pasta become one.
• Smissoup and try on the go
According to professionals, insufficient seasoning is one of the biggest mistakes of chefs. They all advise chefs to spicore the food throughout the cooking process and try it to make sure you get exactly the taste you need. Any little things are important. Try to add sugar to any dish, at least at the tip of the knife. You will immediately notice how much deeper the taste of the dish has become. The same applies to "ordinary" salt. Now there is such a variety of types of salt that it would be foolish not to take advantage of it. If you don't like the taste of iodized salt, replace it with kosher salt - it dissolves quickly and does not leave an aftertaste. Conversely, if you want to add new notes to your dish, use pink Himalayan, smoked or sea salt.
- Create a restaurant atmosphere
Food in a restaurant is a special, often festive experience. Think about how you feel when you go to a restaurant. The mood is created not when food is brought to your table, but when you just enter the door. The view of a well-covered table with an elegant tablecloth, shining silver, clean napkins, the smell of baked bread, flowers or burning candles creates a special atmosphere and causes appetite. Unobtrusive background music helps to create an emotional mood. And don't forget to serve the dish. The chefs know that we "eat with our eyes." The attractive presentation actually makes the taste of food better.
