An Important Word About Some Common Cooking Ingredients

BUTTER-Salt butter is tasty on English muffins and makes toast more palatable. But when cooking, please, always use unsalted butter. The rule among professional chefs is that unsalted butter allows you to control the amount of salt in a recipe’s salt content. Salted butter can contain up to 3% salt-about ¾ tsp. per stick.

SALT- When cooking, kosher salt is the best. With its coarse grain, it is superb for seasoning foods, because it’s easy to sprinkle evenly and because it does not contain magnesium carbonate, it will not cloud items to which it is added. Almost all chefs use kosher salt.

When baking on the other hand, table salt is the best, for two reasons. First, Kosher salt which is made up of large, flaky crystals, does not dissolve as readily as table salt. Second, when sifting dry ingredients together kosher salt can’t pass through the mesh sieve, keeping it from distributing evenly.

SEA-SALT -is made by allowing sea water to evaporate, leaving behind salt crystals. In its unrefined state, it may be known as “sel gris”, French for “Grey salt.” These salts are prized for their taste.

If you’ve over salted soup or vegetables, add raw potatoes and discard them once they have cooked and absorbed the salt.

PEPPER- Use a pepper mill to make fresh ground black pepper.

OILS- We all have our favorite tasting oils. In addition, be aware that cooking oils need to withstand medium-high or high heat without smoking. Most refined vegetable oils sold in the supermarkets with smoke points ranging from 400 to 500 degrees, unless labeled “unrefined” or “cold pressed”, are good choices for sautéing.

OLIVE OIL, with a smoke point of 320 degrees is best used in salads and low heat sautéing, but the less expensive pure olive oil has a smoke point of 410 degrees and can be used in high heat cooking.

CANOLA OIL is the darling of nutritionists because it contains mostly monounsaturated fat. It’s fine for most cooking with a smoke point of 400 degrees.

Among the boutique oils, grapeseed oil has a relatively high smoke point (420 degrees) and a light, fruity flavor.

SUBSITUTING DRIED HERBS FOR FRESH HERBS- Fresh herbs enliven many dishes, but are not always available or practical. The best herbs for using dry are the sturdy ones, such as marjoram, oregano, rosemary, sage, and thyme. They’re most effective when added at the beginning of recipes that contain ample liquid.

Dried tender herbs, including basil, cilantro, dill, and tarragon don’t have the appealing fragrance of fresh. But in a pinch, dried versions can be used, as long as they’re added toward the end of cooking.