This page has various notes on cooking methods and other miscellany. It's meant to help me remember things about cooking that I don't do often or want to share with others.
Beat the eggs gently, not vigorously, and only until they're just mixed.
If you're going to add salt to the eggs before cooking, do it immediately before adding the eggs to the pan, and not before. Otherwise, the salt will break down the structure of the eggs and wreck the texture.
Fill the pot 3/4 full of water, bring to a boil. Add aromatics, salt, and acid. White wine, lemon juice, or orange juice all work. Also add a ton of Old Bay seasoning.
Potatoes: 1/4 to 1/2 lb. per person. 20-25 minutes, depending on size.
Lobster: 1/2 to 1 lobster per person. 12-15 minutes.
Sausage: 1/8 to 1/4 lb. per person. 10-15 minutes. Prefer kielbasa or andouille.
Corn on the Cob: 1/2 to 1 cob per person. 10 minutes.
Clams: 3-6 per person. 10 minutes. Prefer littleneck, Manila, or steamer clams. Scrub before cooking.
Blue Crabs: 2-4 crabs per person. 10 minutes.
Crawfish: 3-6 per person. 8 minutes.
Mussels: 3-6 per person. 5 minutes. Wash and de-beard before cooking.
Shrimp: 4-6 per person. 3 minutes. The bigger, the better.
These are some principles of cooking vegetarian food. Since switching to the Mediterranean diet in an effort to be healthier, this has become very important to me.
Combine protein and fiber in each meal.
Slow roasting intensifies flavor and alters the texture of food.
This makes foods more filling and can mimic the meat-eating experience.
Savory flavor profiles have a pleasant rounding-out effect.
This is more of a general cooking principle than a vegetarian one. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
These are seasoning blends that are meant to typify a particular region or culture's cuisine.
The following are traditional roles in a French-style restaurant kitchen. This is referred to as the brigade de cuisine.
Then we have the chefs de partie - the station chefs.
After this, there's a few others.