How to Open Clams

I'm back!  Well, I've been back since Monday, but I've been crazy busy getting the house in order and ready for school to start back up next week.  Oh, and working like crazy!

It was definitely nice to have a break away from it all and to hang out with a big bunch of our friends.

Anyway, I've been in a really big how-to mode lately, so here's another one.  I promise I'll get back to recipes soon enough!

I know what you're thinking.  Why on Earth would I want to open up a clam when I can just steam the sucker and have it open up on it's own?  Well... personally, I don't like picking through clam shells in a dish.  If it's just a bowl of clams, then yeah, that's okay.  But if I'm having a bowl of pasta and clam shells keep me from just shoveling it all in my mouth (attractive, right?), then opening these bad boys up before hand is a useful task!

A lot of people prefer to have an actual clam knife for the job, but I find a normal butter knife does well in a pinch.  Especially if you don't have clams very often, it would be pointless to run out and buy a clam knife for a once a year task.  Right?  Right.

It's also a lot easier to do if you rinse the clams under cold water, then place them back in the refrigerator for about an hour so they have time to "relax" - their shells won't be so tightly sealed.  Alright, so let's get to it.

#1.  Hold the oyster in the palm of your hand, with your thumb on the "bump" of the clam gently holding it down.  Place the blade of your butter or clam knife in between the clam shells, and with the same hand you're holding it with, gently, but forcefully push the knife through the shells.

  

#2. Pull the knife through until it cuts through the muscle.  Twist the knife to pry the shells apart and slide along the top shell to cut the other muscle.  Break the shell free from the hinge and discard.

 

#3.  Use the knife to release the clam from the bottom shell.  And voila, shelled clams! 

Do you shell your clams?  Or do you not mind rooting through the shells in a dish?

How to Fillet a Roundfish

How is everyone doing today?  It's really starting to look a lot like fall around here and I LOVE it!  It's definitely my favorite season of the year!

We're going on a boat trip next weekend, and I'm sure we'll be doing a lot of fishing, so I thought this tutorial would come in handy! 

Believe it or not, filleting a fish isn't the same from fish to fish.  Some fish are bottom-feeders (flat fish) and some are upright swimmers (roundfish).  Since most of the fish people eat are roundfish (i.e. salmon, tilapia, snapper, bluefish, etc.), I figured this way of filleting a fish would be most useful.  That's not to say you couldn't figure out how to fillet a flat fish (i.e. sole, flounder, etc.) with this tutorial.  You just end up with 2 extra fillets, but it's obvious how you get them.

Anyway, let's get to it. 

This bluefish was calling my name at my fish monger's counter, so I just had to bring him home!

#1. With a chef's knife, cut down to the backbone of the fish, just behind the gills.  Be careful not to remove the head.

#2. Turn the knife toward the tail to make a 90 degree angle.  Using smooth strokes, cut from the head to the tail, parallel to the backbone.  

  

You should feel the knife glide along the backbone so that you get the most flesh as possible.  You'll also hear "clicking" noises.  That's just your knife cutting through the small pin bones and gliding along the backbone.  Continue until the fillet is cut completely from the bones.  

  

Flip the fish over and repeat on other side.

#3. Trim any excess skin or belly fat from the fillet.  Remove any leftover pin bones in the fillet.

#4.  You can use this fillet skin-on or skin-off.  If you wanted to skin the fish, cut a vertical slit on the tail end of the fillet, about 1 inch inward.  Don't cut all the way through, just until you reach the skin.  Then hold your knife flat, but at a little bit of an angle, so that it glides against the skin, but not the flesh.  With your other hand, hold the piece of skin and simultaneously push your knife forward while pulling on the skin end.  And voila, skinned fillets!

We ended up making fish tacos out of this beautiful bluefish, and I kept the carcass for fish stock. 

How do you fillet your fish?!

Hope you guys have a great rest of your weekend!  I'll be working away!

How to Truss a Chicken (or any poultry, for that matter)

Happy Monday, guys!

How was everyone's weekend?!  Ours was crazy busy!  Not only did I have to work both Saturday and Sunday, but on Saturday morning we had a massive yard sale to clear all the clutter out of our house!  We ended up making over $700 (which well surpassed our goal!)  We managed to sell more than half of our junk and make a little cash in the process! Score!

So chickens.  I love cooking whole chickens.  Number one, it's a lot cheaper than buying broken down pieces.  And two, anything I have left over always gets used up for something else - i.e. bones = stock, meat = chicken salad.  We've been loving some chicken salad here lately.

To make sure your whole chicken cooks evenly and that it retains as much moisture as possible, you definitely want to truss your chicken.  That's basically the process of tying the bird into a compact shape.  Don't know how to do it?  Well, it's your lucky day because that's what we'll be doing!  So get your chicken and get your twine and let's do it!

Square up your bird using your hands to press it firmly on both sides.  You can either choose to tuck the wing behind the back or trim off the first and second joints of the wing.  Personally, I like keeping the wing in tact - it's just a better presentation, in my opinion.

  
Cut a piece of butcher's twine about 3 times the length of the bird.  Keeping the breast side up and the neck towards you, slide the twine under the bird, about 1 inch in front of the tail.

Bring the twine up around the legs and cross the ends, making an "X" in between the legs.  Bring the ends of the twine below the legs.

Pull the ends of the twine tightly under the thigh joint and over the wing. 

Pull the string tight and tie just above the neck.

Voila!  You're ready to oil this baby up, season her with salt and pepper (and any herbs you see fit) and roast her to a nice juicy, golden brown!

How to Prepare an Airline Chicken Breast

Not the BEST example in the world - but delicious, nonetheless

Sometimes you just want to impress your dinner guests.  Sometimes you're on a tight budget.  What cut of meat would you choose?  Obviously a chicken!  There's about a million+ ways to prepare a chicken and make it look presentable, but have you ever tried to airline your chicken breast?

What does it mean to airline a chicken, you ask?  It's basically a boneless chicken breast with the first wing bone still attached.  Why on earth would you ever want to do something like that?  Well, personally, I think it makes the chicken breast look a bit neater and more attractive.  It also make it look a little bigger, portion-wise.  And it shows you have a little skill with breaking down your chicken.

It's extremely easy, so there's no reason why you wouldn't want to do it!

Start with a whole chicken.  Remove the leg by pulling the leg and thigh away from the breast and cutting through the skin and flesh toward the thigh joint.

Cut through the thigh joint, releasing the thigh and leg from the carcass.  Repeat with other leg.

Turn the chicken over, back-side down.  Locate the wishbone and trim around it to remove it.

Cut along one side of the breast bone, carefully separating the meat from the bone.

Continue along the rib cage until the breast is removed from the bone.

When you reach the wing joint, cut through the joint, leaving the wing attached to the breast.  Finish cutting the breast from the carcass.

Make a cut on the back of the joint between the first and second wing bones.

Break the joint and pull the meat and skin back to expose a clean bone.  Trim the wing bone, if necessary.

You now have an airline chicken breast!  You can choose to leave the skin on or off - but we all know crispy skin is delicious, so I usually choose to leave it on!

Prepare your chicken any which way you like - I chose to make some crispy deep fried chicken breasts with orange sauce (recipe over at Rock Recipes).  It was DELICIOUS! 

Hope you guys have a great week!

How-To: Boil Water

Hello again!  Remember me?  It just seems like my breaks between posts keep getting longer and longer, don't they?  But I promise I'll always return!

Anyway, we're down to 36 days until the wedding!  Can you freakin' believe it?!  Just yesterday, I could remember it being ages away (like 2 years away!).  And it's coming up quickly.  We pretty much have everything taken care of, just need to make the final payments on some things and we'll be good to go. 

I'm in between quarters at school (next quarter starts Monday - BAKING! - so expect a bunch of baked goods in the near future) and catching up on some spring cleaning, so I haven't done much cooking - especially since life is crazy busy!  I know the title of this post may deter some of you, I mean, hell... shouldn't we all know how to boil water?  Believe it or not, I've actually seen a lot of people that do this incorrectly!  Take my lovely other half, for instance.  I find him putting the pasta in the pot, covering it with water, and THEN putting it on the stove.  I can even admit that I'm guilty of this every now and then.  A lot of people think that it's faster to do it that way, but honestly - it just wastes more time! 

So this isn't necessarily a "how-to" per se, but more of a post of tips.  So let's get to it!

1. Starting with cold water, put enough water into a pot to cover whatever you'll end up boiling (i.e. pasta).  Bring water to a boil over high heat.  Add salt to season.

2. Add your desired food to the water (in my case, pasta).  The temperature will drop when you add the food, so you'll want to keep the heat on high to bring it back to a boil.  Then reduce the temperature, as needed, just to maintain a boil.

3. Cook the food until it reaches your desired texture/doneness.

You want to serve boiled food right away, unless you plan on shocking it after (placing in ice water). 

I know this may have seemed like a pointless post to some of you, but I've come to learn that the little things are what make your meals amazing.  Whether it be properly heating up a saute pan, bringing water to a full boil, or even something as simple as adding a pinch more salt to something.  It's the little things that don't get the credit, but it's also the little things that bring something from "meh" to "wow, what's your secret?!" 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  I've got to work at the restaurant tonight, but I've got the whole weekend off.  Andy and I are planning on being lazy - but that never works out!  See you guys in a few days =)

How-To: Dice an Onion

So I asked if you guys wanted some knife skills posts and there was a resounding yes!  I'm glad you guys are excited - because I love having an excuse to bust out my knife set!

Anyway, this may seem like a roll-your-eyes kind of post because I'm sure many of you know how to cut up an onion.  But if maybe you're like me (before culinary school), you may just roughly chop and not try to get it too precise.  I've noticed that since I've been in school (5 weeks already and I feel like I've learned such a vast array of tasks!), I find myself wanting perfect and symmetric everything.  It's getting to be a little OCD almost.

So I chose to show how to dice up an onion because I practically use an onion for almost every dish I cook.  It's crazy when you think about it, you know?  So we'll ease into something easy, and then I'm open to taking suggestions for future knife-cut how to's (anything in particular you guys want to learn how to do?  If I don't already know how to do it, we'll learn together!).

You won't need anything fancy.  Just an onion, a (really sharp) chef's knife, and a cutting board.

Honestly, you want to have a really sharp knife.  You're more apt to cut yourself with a dull knife than a sharp one.  So invest in a whetstone if you don't already have one (they average about $10 and last a really long time, so there's no reason to not have one).

And another thing, don't "saw" at anything.  You want to strive for one fluid motion through whatever you're cutting.  No back and forth action. 

So you'll want to take your whole onion and before you peel it, cut it in half, from the root to the top.  Then peel your onion.  Set the onion flat and make a diagonal cut to trim off the top. 

So now you're left with the top (which you can just pitch) and the rest of the onion. 

You'll want to put the heel of your palm on the top of the onion (or make a fist and put the tops of your knuckles on the top of the onion) to hold it in place.  Starting with the bottom edge of your knife, you want to make one fluid horizontal slice (about 1/4 inch from the bottom of the onion), pulling the knife closer to you as you cut and ending just before the root - no sawing motions, so this is why it's very important you have a really sharp knife! You want to keep your onion in tact, so make sure not to cut through the root! 

You'll just want to slide your knife through, and if you don't make it close enough to the root, it's okay - no biggie

Then you'll go up about 1/4 inch from your first cut and make another horizontal cut the same way.

Depending on how big your onion half is, you might be able to get one or two more 1/4 inch-spaced horizontal slices.  I think I did one more with this one.

Next you'll want to turn the onion 90 degrees (so that the root end is at the north end).  Then you'll make a vertical cut (about 1/4 inch from the left or right, it doesn't matter which end you start).  Remember, you don't want to go all the way through, cut before the root so your onion still stays in tact.

If you want, you can hold the sides of the onion together so it's easier to cut, just watch your fingers and be careful!  Space the vertical cuts about 1/4 inch apart (we're going for consistency here, right?)  I think I got about 5 or 6 vertical cuts.

After you make your vertical cuts, you'll want to turn the onion back 90 degrees (whether you're left or right handed, it doesn't matter, my root end was to the right because I'm left handed).

The key to an even chop is to have a stable, sharp knife.  Make one fluid cut.  No sawing.  I know I've said that a million times, but seriously.  Having my chef say it over and over made a difference with me and a lot of the other of the students.  I used to be a "sawer".  I'll admit it.  But I can't go cutting anything like that any more, regardless of what it is!

Anyway, make sure the tip of your knife is on the cutting board (in front of the onion, and just bring your knife down to make a vertical cut - 1/4 inch spacing!).

Stragglers are okay - no biggie

Continue to make 1/4 inch-spaced vertical cuts until you get to the root.

Don't hold the onion or knife like I did (I have no idea why I'm doing that lol) - you're apt to cut yourself

And voila - you've small diced (1/4 x 1/4 x 1/4) an onion.  Of course, an onion is round and layered and you can't really get a perfect 1/4 inch perfect cube, but it's close enough! 

I'll hopefully pop in during the weekend (can't make promises!), but if not, we've got Espagnole sauce next sometime next week!  And if you have any knife cuts you want to learn - let me know and I'll try to feature them next!

Have a great weekend guys =)

How-To: Break Down a Chicken

It's been almost a week, but I'm back with my first how-to post!  There are probably just as many ways to break down a chicken as there are ways to fix eggs, but the way I was taught in our second week of classes is by far the easiest way I've come across!

I did a Google search on "how to break down a chicken" and found video after video tutorial.  But I don't think I found a single post (or maybe Google just didn't recognize any) with a picture-by-picture tutorial.  I don't know about you, but I learn better with still images.  Videos are great, but I don't want to have to watch a whole video or pause every 5 seconds while I'm trying to learn how to do something.

So I can use the excuse that because there were so many pictures in this post, that that is the reason it took me so long to get another post up!  But we all know that isn't the case.  I'm just a busy bee - I had my first day in a restaurant kitchen last Thursday - It was definitely a LOT to take in, and a completely different scenario than cooking in my own kitchen (duh!).  So I'm excited about going back this upcoming Thursday and learning more!

Anyway, this post is going to be long enough, so I'm sure you want me to stop yapping!  Let's get to breaking down this chicken!

So let's see what we need...

 You want a bowl of ice so that you can keep your chicken at a cool temperature.  If you just set it out on the cutting board, 1. you'll run out of room quick, and 2. the warmer your chicken gets, the more it's prone to grow bacteria (and that's a bit gross, now don't you think?)  After each piece is cut off the chicken, you'll put it in this bowl.

And I didn't label it, but it should be obvious... you'll also need a cutting board.

So the first thing we do is cut off the wing.  You'll want to spread the arm out and look for the ligament between the wing and the drummette. Most important part here is to cut through the cartilage (the soft cushioning between bones)... NOT through a bone. 

Use the dotted line as a guide

Right through the cartilage - if you have any resistance, you're cutting through bone, not cartilage.  Cartilage should be as easy as cutting through butter.

 And you'll want to do the same thing with the other arm/wing area.  (Every step will be done twice, obviously - so I won't restate the obvious from here on out.)

Next we'll take off the thigh and the leg.  It's easier to see what you're working with if you grab the chicken by both legs and sort of bend them down - this pulls the meat away the carcass and allows you to better see the "hip knuckle" that you cut behind next.

 The knuckle should be in the crease between the thigh and the carcass.  Once you find it, you'll make your cut behind it, cutting the leg from the carcass.

Follow the line, not my knife

Cut off any excess fat, as desired

So if you like having the whole leg quarter then you don't need to go any further.  But if you want to break this down even more and end up with a thigh and a drumstick, then we make this cut...

You'll want to find the natural fat seam between where the drumstick and thigh meet. 

Then score against the fat seam until you can find the cartilage between the bones.  Remember, we cut through cartilage, NOT bones!  

 Then you can make a clean cut to have that leg separated into two pieces - the thigh and the drumstick.

And the final components to remove from the chicken are the breast and the drummette.

You'll want to score the middle of the chicken until you find the Keel Bone. (It's a small flat bone that divides the chicken.  And technically, it's more cartilage than bone, but we won't get into specifics).

Once you find the Keel, you'll want to make long strokes along the side of it, running your knife along the outside of the ribs, as well.  You can pull gently on the breast to peel it away from the middle, but a good 4-5 strokes of your knife (if it's properly sharpened, that is) should do it.

When you're close to having the breast almost removed, grab the drummette and breast in one hand.

 Find the cartilage in between the carcass and breast and make a clean cut through that cartilage to release the breast and drummette.

To remove the drummette from the breast, find the cartilage in between the breast and the drummette.  Cut behind that to remove the drummette from the breast.

Remove the skin from the breast, if you'd like, and remove any excess fat.

There should be a small flap-like piece of meat on the breast, which is the tenderloin.  Just lift it up and make a clean cut to remove it from the breast.

And you've got yourself a breast and a tender.

And now all you should be left with is a carcass!

So I know this was long, but I hope it was helpful!  If not, it at least helped me "study"!  Knowing how to break down a chicken saves you money in the long run!  A whole chicken costs way less than the already cut up parts - and is an invaluable skill to possess! 

In the next couple of posts, I'll be doing recipes with what to do with all that cut up chicken - so the only waste we will have had is the excess fat.  And honestly, if you wanted to, you could use it, but we don't want to be too glutinous over here!

See you guys in a couple of days!

How do you break down a chicken?  Was this helpful to you?  Do you like these "How-To" posts?