Birds beak pairing knife

 

 Until you've gone to cooking school, you've likely haven't heard of a bird's beak paring knife. This knife, a vestige of the French culinary system, has a tiny curved blade fashioned like a bird's beak. It is designed, like other paring knives, for jobs that are done off the cutting board and in your hand. It was formerly employed to create ornamental cuts and garnishes that are now seldom seen outside of banquet halls, such as changing radishes into florets and tomatoes into flowers, fluting mushrooms, and "turning" vegetables into seven-sided barrels—a trademark of traditional French technique.

 

Past restaurant chefs utilize them for two sorts of jobs: peeling fruits and vegetables and fine detail work like cutting brussels sprouts or removing the eyes from potatoes. They don't believe a bird's beak paring knife will ever be able to replace a traditional paring knife these blades are just not as flexible. These aren't designed to be used on a cutting board and can't produce exact straight cuts as readily yet, such cuts are necessary for cutting lime wedges, slicing tiny blocks of cheese, scoring roasts so the fat cap may render, and creating pockets in pork chops.

 

The blades of the bird's beak paring knives were approximately an inch shorter on average than the blades of normal paring knives, so they keep closer to your hand and were, therefore, simpler to manage while making tiny incisions required to hull strawberries or remove pineapple eyes. Since the blades are crescent-shaped, they move more quickly around round or irregularly shaped items like lemons and ginger, hugging curves more closely.

 

Sharpness is arguably the most critical feature of any paring knife blade because the paring knife's small size prevents it from relying on its mass to push its way through food like a chef's knife or cleaver can. Sharpness is especially important for bird's beak paring knives since their curved blades are difficult to sharpen at home, if not impossible. Electric sharpeners cannot handle blades of this form, and even expert whetstone users may need to practice with them. Whereas the angle of a blade's cutting edge determines its perceived sharpness, the edge angles of the bird's beak paring knives we evaluated were all very comparable, ranging from 14 to 18 degrees. Instead, the sharpness of these knives was totally dictated by how sharply they were honed at their makers.

 

The tip of this knife is also important. Because you only insert the top quarter- to half-inch of the blade when coring tomatoes or hulling strawberries, a thin tip is essential for precise work. During hulling strawberries, narrow blades created precise incisions, leaving more fruit behind than blades with broader tips, which formed larger holes and swung around less deftly. And it was also critical that the blade be thin at the heel. So blades with larger heels to peel pieces of ginger felt clunky and were more likely to tear off a knob or two. With another of the smallest tips and heels, the bird's beak paring knife excelled at precise work as well as peeling.

 

The weight of the knife is crucial in terms of comfort. Whereas an ounce may not seem like much, blades weighing more than that weary and cramp your hands during repetitive chores such as cutting pineapple eyes or hulling strawberries.

 

 

Using whole grain mustard

 

 Let's talk about mustard, in fact, let's talk about whole grain mustard.

 

This is the mustard that will give you some extra texture and a nice crunch when biting into your food.

 

Why, Whole grain mustard. It's a refreshing change of pace in sauces, tasty on a sandwich, and classic in meals like German potato salad. While many other types of mustard are created by carefully crushing the seeds to create a smooth condiment, whole-grain mustards contain entire or coarsely powdered seeds. The seeds give not just visual interest but also a nice texture contrast. 

 

Whole mustard seeds have a bitter and nutty flavor. Only when they are crushed and mixed with liquid does a process occur that changes the bitter molecules to spicy ones. Because the seeds in the whole-grain mustards were either left whole or coarsely ground, they were naturally softer than, for instance, a traditional Dijon mustard, which is produced from finely powdered seeds and hence hotter.

 

Grey Poupon, Harvest Coarse Ground Mustard, and Maille Old Style Mustard are two of the best whole-grain mustards. The Grey Poupon has seeds that burst well and provided "a touch of textural contrast." This has a moderate, mustardy heat and fresh acidity. Maille Old Style Mustard has a lot of intact seeds and has a nice crunch and bitterness to it. Both offer a wonderful splash of color to salads or dressings.

 

It's all up to your preference.

Spicy Chicken and Spelt Salad

 

This is a vibrant, flavorful chicken and spelt salad with a special soy sauce dressing.

 

Ingredient

¼ cup soy sauce

3 tablespoons Asian sesame oil

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter

⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

1 tablespoon grated fresh garlic

1 serrano chile peppers, minced

1 cup spelt kernels

6 cups water

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1-quart water

½ teaspoon salt

1 onion, peeled and cut into chunks

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced

¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley

¼ cup coarsely chopped cilantro

3 carrot, thinly sliced

2 cups thinly sliced red cabbage

 

In a small mixing bowl, combine soy sauce, sesame oil, olive oil, vinegar, peanut butter, cayenne pepper, ginger, garlic, and serrano; put aside.

In a dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast spelt kernels until browned and some have burst. Remove, pour through a mesh strainer, and rinse well with cold water. Drain. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil; add 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and toss in the spelt kernels. Return to a boil, then cover, lower to low heat, and cook until the potatoes are cooked for about 1 hour. Drain well and leave aside to cool.

 

While the spelt is cooking, combine 1-quart water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the onion in a pan. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until the chicken is cooked through about 15 minutes. Allow the chicken to cool after removing it from the liquid.

When the chicken has cooled enough to handle, shred it into bite-sized bits and throw it in a large mixing bowl. In a mixing bowl, combine spelt, bell pepper, green onions, parsley, cilantro, carrots, and cabbage. Pour the sauce over the salad and toss to mix.

Are you using the right Spatula?

 

Using the right spatula makes a lot of difference in how your food turns out. You may think you are but let's find out.

 

You would not believe how many different types of spatulas there are. And the one you choose makes a world of difference on the outcome of what you're cooking.

 

Silicone spatulas are one type, they are great if your baking or stirring your food. And did you know there are even spatulas to scrape food out of a jar, say for instance honey? There are even spatulas for nonstick pans.

 

If your using metal spatulas you need to focus on what you are going to use them for. Most of the metal spatulas you come across have square or rectangular heads. They could be slotted or even solid.

 

The next five popular spatulas are for fish. If you work in a restaurant you will find cooks have these as their favorite tools. Even though they are called fish spatulas they are great for other uses as well. Fish spatulas heads are extra long, tapered, and slotted, making them very easy to slip beneath fish and even to flip very delicate fish. Pancakes and eggs because they are delicate can easily be flipped with a fish spatula. Also if you are making hamburgers, fish spatulas flip them great as well. If your cooking a dish say like baked potatoes, a fish spatula is great for not only turning them but scrapping those bits on the bottom. Cookies, yes a fish spatula is great when turning your delicate sugar cookies. Not only is a fish spatula great for these types of foods, but you can use them in most of your cooking vessels, such as cast iron, stainless steel, and many more.

 

Now it's true you can use other spatulas for these tasks, what's important is the use of a good spatula that fits right in your hand when using it.

 

Another important thing to remember when using a spatula is to choose the right one with the correct extension for what you're cooking. For example, a conventional spatula that has a square or flat head makes them hard to use in tight pans. The extra length on a good spatula makes a wonderful difference in cooking.

 

Short spatulas can become damaged in tight spaces because they may hit the pan and become dented. Also if cooking burgers with a small spatula can cause the burger to slide off other than back into the pan! Short spatulas when turning delicate fish can cause them to flake or break apart. You want to make sure your spatula is not too flexible or too thin for what your cooking.

 

Using again a fish spatula gives you more control because they support foods that may be heavy and foods that you need to do some scraping on the bottom of the pan. Another great feature of the fish spatula is they can get into those tight spaces, like an eight-inch pan. Because of their length they give your food better turning in the pan. Also, a good tip to remember is the handle on your fish spatulas, giving you better control when flipping your food.

 

A handle too long will feel very clumsily and may destroy what you're trying to accomplish. Handles that are moderate, are the best to use. A handle too thick can make your hand tired when holding them while your cooking. On any spatula a handle made of plastic or wood is best, this gives you a better grip if they become wet or greasy.

 

So if you have not figured out by now, the best way to go as far as spatulas are the "fish spatula".