While some people are allergic to them, there are enough peanut lovers to make this “nut” (it’s actually a legume) the overwhelming nut of choice in America.

Although peanut butter makes up a large percentage, 67% of American nut consumption comprises peanuts. Almonds are second at 13%, with the remainder filled out by pecans (4%), pistachios and almonds (each 2%) and other tree nuts (12%).

Yet, the grand winner in the nut category is not an actual nut, but a legume—a botanical group that includes alfalfa, beans, carob, clover, lentils, mesquite, peas, soybeans and climbing vines like wisteria.

Peanuts actually grow underground,* as opposed to true nuts, which grow on trees (and in recent times have engendered the differentiating term, “tree nuts”). Tree nuts are packed with protein and other excellent nutrition; legumes, as a group, provide the best source of concentrated protein in the plant kingdom.

Today’s tip covers ways to use this nutritious nut/legume in cooking.

*As the budding pod begins to enlarge, it grows down away from the plant, into to the soil.

The most common way to eat whole peanuts is as a snack. But add them to your recipes as well. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

TYPES OF PEANUTS

There are four categories of peanuts; if you taste them side-by-side, you’ll notice subtle flavor differences.

 
Peanuts are grown mainly in southeastern U.S., Texas and Oklahoma; New Mexico grows the small crop of Valencia peanuts.

Thai beef salad. Photo by Nathalie Dulex |
Fotolia.

WAYS TO USE PEANUTS

There’s a world of peanut-liciousness beyond peanut butter, which is terrific in baked goods, sauces, and delicious peanut soup (try these peanut soup recipes). Many Asian cuisines add nuts to cooked dishes, from curries to stir frys.

 
We love the Thai Beef Salad recipe below. It’s just one example of how to add peanuts to dishes; serve it as a first course or main course. The recipe makes six first-course servings. Is from The Peanut Institute, which has many more peanut recipes.

Ingredients For Dressing

 
Ingredients For The Salad

 
Preparation

1. WHISK together all the dressing ingredients except peanuts. Stir in peanuts just before mixing with salad.

2. COMBINE the beef, cucumbers, snow peas, bean sprouts, peppers, cabbage and onions with dressing.

3. ARRANGE salad on lettuce leaves. Sprinkle with peanut garnish. Serve.
 

A BRIEF PEANUT HISTORY

Today, peanuts are grown in tropical and subtropical regions around the globe, but they most likely originated in South America. When the Conquistadors returned to Europe from Mexico in the early 1500s, peanuts went with them.

Traders brought peanuts to Asia and Africa, and the versatile legume made its way to North America on sailing ships in the 1700s. Yet, peanuts were not grown extensively in America; harvesting techniques were slow and difficult. Until the Civil War, the peanut was a regional food in the southern U.S. (It’s the “goober” in the famous Civil War song, “Eating Goober Peas”; and why Nestlé calls its chocolate-covered peanuts Goobers.)

After the Civil War, the demand for peanuts increased rapidly. According to PeanutsUSA.com, by the end of the 19th century, the development of equipment for production, harvesting and shelling peanuts, as well as processing techniques, led to the expansion of the peanut industry. Twentieth century labor-saving equipment resulted in a rapid demand for peanut oil, roasted and salted peanuts, peanut butter and confections.

You don’t want a bland chicken, so dig out
the spices and season away! Photo courtesy Butterball.

Barbecue sauce is the number one food that THE NIBBLE receives over the transom (and old publishing expression that means unsolicited). Barbecue sauce is expensive and totally unnecessary. Our mother rotisseried a wonderfully delicious, plump bird several times a week, using only garlic salt, onion salt and pepper. No bottle of barbecue sauce ever crossed her threshold.

Of course, there are many options between those two extremes: numerous different ways to season a chicken, drawing from just about every cultural influence. It can be as simple as trussing the bird, then sprinkling or basting with your favorite flavors. Or, you can be as imaginative as you like. Here are some suggestions that leave out the sugar, so you can enjoy a broiled, grilled or roasted chicken as the lower-calorie protein it is.

Here are tips from Chef Johnny Gnall, starting with a…

 
MAKE YOUR OWN SPICE RUB

If you want to use a spice rub but don’t have one on hand, it’s easy—and far more economical—to create your own out of the spices you have in your pantry. You can use a simple ratio of two parts salt to one part each of any other spice(s). Johnny’s favorite is two parts salt to one part each of chipotle chili powder, coriander, cumin and light brown sugar.

There’s need to buy spice rub: It’s a combination of the spices you probably have in the cabinet. Photo by Elena Elisseeva | IST.

WE’RE NOT ANTI BARBECUE SAUCE, by the way. Find our favorite barbecue sauces and rubs in our Rubs, Marinades, Sauces & Glazes Section.
 

HOW MANY PARTS OF THE CHICKEN CAN YOU NAME?

Check out our Chicken Glossary, which covers the different parts of chicken, the history of chicken and much more.

Last month we discussed the different uses for lemon juice.

Today we’ll tackle another delicious part of the lemon: lemon zest, the grated rind of the lemon. The rind is the top layer or skin of the peel; the peel also includes some of the white pith under the skin.

How to make lemon zest? Simply hold a washed, dried lemon in one hand and run a zester over it with the other (we use a Microplane lemon zester in the photo, which comes in a variety of handle colors and is a fun party favor for Mother’s Day). Zest lightly: You only want the yellow rind, not the white pith underneath it.

If you don’t have a zester, you can use any kind of grater.

Here‘s an easy way to have fresh zest on hand all the time: Just freeze a whole washed lemon in a plastic bag.

Few lemons should go unzested—and it’s so easy with a zester. Photo courtesy Microplane.

Freshly grated zest can make just about anything taste better. Take out the lemon and the zester as you serve:

 
*The difference between frosting and icing is that icing is made with confectioners’ sugar (also called icing sugar) and frosting with table sugar; but the two terms are often used interchangeably (that doesn’t mean correctly!).

The slender zest provides intense flavor.
Photo by Andre Karwath | Wikimedia.

ABOUT THE LEMON

The lemon tree, which has the botanical name Citrus limon, is a small evergreen. The fruit is used for primarily for its juice, though the pulp and zest are also used, mainly in cooking and baking. The tart taste of the lemon juice comes from citric acid, which comprises about 5% of a true lemon.

There are many different types of lemons; but the components of all lemons include:

Even though we stored our brown sugar in a supposedly airtight glass canister, it invariably became rock-hard in a few weeks, its natural high level of moisture evaporating into…well, who knows where it went?

The old “Hints From Heloise” on how to soften brown sugar don’t work if you’re in a hurry. They include putting slices of apple or a slice of fresh bread into the airtight container. In a day or so, the moisture from the apple or bread will infuse into the sugar and soften it.

But if you discover, as you’re making a recipe, that your brown sugar is one big hard lump, you need a fast solution.

This simple gadget keeps brown sugar soft. Photo courtesy Improvements.

We subsequently came across these Terra Cotta Brown Sugar Disks. Soak a disk in water for 15 minutes, then add it to the container of brown sugar. The terra cotta (which is porous, unglazed baked clay) holds moisture, and releases it slowly to keep brown sugar or other foods moist for weeks.

You can pick up a set of Terra Cotta Brown Sugar Disks ($8.99 for three) and give the other two to friends.

Should you happen to have a small piece of terra cotta hanging around, you can try it first. We used a shard from a broken flower pot, wrapping it in cheesecloth to ensure that none of the broken surface would come into contact with the sugar.

Chef Johnny Gnall takes on a relatively new ingredient, black garlic, which originated in Korea. It’s a fermented…If you have questions or suggestions for tips, email Chef Johnny.

Sometimes you can dramatically alter the flavor profile of an ingredient simply by leaving it alone; such is the case with my new favorite ingredient, black garlic. By letting raw garlic ferment for a month at high heat under specific conditions, it can be transformed into what appears to be something completely new and unique. Think of the process of caramelizing onions: the flavor, color, and texture of the onion are changed so dramatically by the end that if you didn’t know better, you might think you were dealing with a completely different ingredient.

Since garlic is even sharper and more acrid than onion when raw, the resulting metamorphosis is that much more dramatic and contrasting. Cloves of black garlic have a rich black hue and are soft enough to squish between your fingers. Tiny pockmarks and imperfections across its otherwise sleek, black surface give it the appearance of freshly laid tar on a blacktop. Its flavor, however, is where you can really taste the magic. With notes of dark beer, caramel, molasses, fig, and balsamic vinegar and an umami similar to that which you taste in soy sauce, black garlic could not taste more different than its raw garlic origin.

As with roasted garlic, you can spread the cloves on bread. Photo by Katharine Pollak | THE NIBBLE.

Where before there was acrid bite, there is now sweetness; the soft fruitiness is a sharp contrast to raw garlic’s pungent, often unpleasant odor. In essence, all the work of “taming” raw garlic has been done for you, so there is no need to roast, or sweat, or sauté, or blanch, or whatever other method you might choose to soften the potentially overpowering flavor of garlic. Make no mistake, however: garlic, when cooked and applied properly, is pure heaven (I think most people would agree). In fact, the makers of Black Garlic go out of their way to make it clear that they do, indeed, love regular garlic; they just also love black garlic. I can’t say I blame them.

When I recently got my hands on some black garlic (which comes in the form of whole heads, peeled cloves, and paste), I was excited to experiment. Having eaten it before, but never cooked with it, I wanted to try a variety of cooking methods across a number of different ingredients, both to test its versatility as an ingredient, and also to find the dishes and techniques that best showcased its unique and delicious flavor.

COOKING CHICKEN WITH BLACK GARLIC

I got myself a whole chicken and rooted around for a few other odds and ends (some stock scraps, butternut squash, and farro, among others), broke the chicken down into all its parts, and spent the next 6 hours in the kitchen, up to my elbows in black garlic. What follows is a chronicle of my findings as I cooked and ate my way through the discovery process:

Chicken Wings: Starting with the wings, I seasoned them with salt and pepper and shallow fried them in oil as I melted some butter and whisked in a couple of tablespoons of the black garlic paste. It was challenging to properly emulsify the butter and the all-natural paste, since “all-natural” means it contains nothing but finely smashed black garlic cloves. This is good for whole food purists, but bad for emulsifying.

Had I deep-fried the wings, it probably would have helped the butter mixture stick better, as would a light dredge in flour prior to the shallow fry. At any rate, I tossed the wings in the butter and drizzled the remainder over the top, then let them rest for a couple of minutes. Sure enough, the flavor got in there, even if the butter’s broken texture wasn’t exactly what you’d want on your wings. As far as the flavor, the black garlic was sweet, sticky, and rich in umami, which is exactly what you want on your wings.

It’s worth mentioning that you should use restraint with the salt, as you really want to let the black garlic flavor to come through, and chicken wings can get salty very quickly if you’re heavy handed when you season. All in all, they were super tasty; feel free to rub them with the paste and marinate them overnight to really let that flavor sink in.

Look for black garlic in sealed bags that
protect the product. Photo by Katharine
Pollak | THE NIBBLE.

Chicken Legs: The next piece I grabbed was a leg. I wanted to braise this one with some red wine, as I imagined the wine’s fruity yet earthy flavor profile would compliment the black garlic’s, their flavors melding and concentrating as they cooked. Unfortunately, I found that while the chicken leg turned a beautiful mahogany color, the black garlic flavor was lost in the wine. The meat was, of course, succulent and juicy, but it tasted nearly all of wine and I barely got the black garlic notes.

I had used 5 cloves of black garlic, about a cup of wine, and a cup of chicken stock; clearly I needed to up the black garlic content if I wanted to harmoniously blend these two flavors. The chicken now out of the sauce pot it was braised in; I added two heaping tablespoons of the black garlic paste and a few teaspoons of sugar, whisked it into the wine and stock, and set it to a low simmer.

After about an hour it was reduced by about half, and I tasted it: holy moly. The flavor was absolutely outstanding, sweet and round and full of umami. It was a flavor that would go well on just about anything, a perfect blend of wine and black garlic, and just enough savory to balance the sweet.

Chicken Breasts: I attempted a black garlic brine for one of the chicken breasts using a quart of water, ¼ cup of salt, 5 cloves of black garlic, 1 thai chile, and a few pieces of lime peel; after brining it overnight, I seasoned, seared and roasted it. I wanted the preparation after the brine to be as simple as possible so that I could really judge how much the black garlic flavor transferred to the breast.

In truth, there was not much infusion in the meat; while it was tender and juicy from the brine, it tasted like little more than chicken. Interestingly enough, I did notice that some of the drippings that had fallen as the breast roasted had caramelized on the roasting plan. I dipped my finger in them and tasted, and the favor explosion in my mouth caught me by surprise. Its concentration and richness were like that of the wine reduction, but this time the profile was much more savory, as it had now been combined with the flavors of well-seasoned chicken instead of sugar-rich wine. The caramel-colored goo tasted of umami, its flavors and texture akin to a rich, slightly sweet soy sauce.

Lessons Learned: I was starting to get a sense of how to cook with the black garlic, from both my misses and successes. It made sense that a very gentle method of developing its flavor wasn’t going to do much; after all, the garlic had already been through a very gentle and mellowed fermentation process to get to its current state. To unlock something even deeper, it was going to take more intense cooking: techniques that involved direct heat might be the key to getting something entirely new out of what is already quite the unique ingredient.

Infusing butter, brining, and braising didn’t quite work, perhaps because these are slow cooking methods deigned to gently coax the flavors out of ingredients. Roasting, on the other hand, applies direct, dry heat; harsher than a liquid simmer, that worked out much better, even in just a few drops of drippings. Reducing almost all of the water out of the black garlic and wine yielded similar, outstanding results.

Chicken Legs, Part 2: With this in mind, I rubbed the other chicken leg all over with a paste I’m calling a “Korean Jerk,” made from a tablespoon of neutral oil, a tablespoon of black garlic paste, salt, pepper, and a ¼ of a finely minced habanero (roughly a teaspoon or less), then I wrapped it tightly in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge to marinate overnight. The rub was a bit challenging to stick, so you could probably add a bit of corn starch if you wanted, but if you spend a minute really rubbing it in, that and the time marinating in the fridge will do just fine.

The next day I pulled the leg out and noticed the stunning change in color that it had picked up while marinating: it was now amber all over the skin, with tiny flecks of bright orange from the habanero and sexy splashes of deep black sheen from the paste. I hit it with a touch more salt and pepper and set it to roast at 350 for about 20 minutes, finishing at 450 with a drizzle of olive oil to help crisp up the skin a bit. This result was the best by far. The black garlic provided a nice, soft background for the heat of the habanero, just as you notice in traditional jerk seasoning, and it quite naturally went great with the chicken. All in all, the flavors were infused, balanced, and tasty.

In retrospect, I probably could have seared it if I wanted to really test my theories of intense heat and get a crispier skin, but I was worried about the black garlic burning. I guess we won’t know until you try it. So try it!

Next up were the thighs; these I was really excited about: I deboned them completely and stuffed them with a handful of cloves of black garlic and some very thin slices of lemon, rolled them up, tied them, and seared them on all sides. Then I whisked about a quarter cup of the black garlic paste into a cup of particularly earthy cocoa & coffee barbecue sauce I’d made the week prior. I placed the thighs back into the pan in which I’d seared them, added the black garlic barbecue sauce, finished with stock until the thighs were mostly submerged, then braised it, covered, at 350 for about 15 minutes.

This was another big success. The high concentration of the paste and the thick, rich sauce as a vehicle to carry its flavor meant that everything really came together; it was reminiscent of a red mole sauce, sweet and earthy as it clung to the chicken thighs. Moreover, inside the rolled thighs was another completely different flavor combination of bright lemon, sweet, rich black garlic, and savory dark meat, all keeping one another in check and adding even more overall depth to the dish. A bite containing a bit of everything together was almost indescribable: you got bright, tart, sweet, earthy, salty, tangy, and more, all hitting you at once. It was the veritable surprise party in your mouth that comes only from multiple layers of flavors and ingredients brought together with care.

On the side I made a simple green salad and dressed it with a black garlic vinaigrette, emulsified in the blender (hyperlink to emulsified vinaigrettes article) and containing 5 cloves of black garlic, about 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, some salt and pepper, and a slow stream of neutral oil (I used neutral as opposed to olive oil in order to let as much black garlic flavor come through as possible). The vinaigrette was subtle and pleasant, the black garlic adding a sweetness that was richer and more complex than if I had simply used white sugar.

I did notice that, even in the blender, there were still small bits of black garlic that did not blend into the dressing. This was not an issue because the little morsels were delicious, but it was worth noting the continued resistance to easily break down and emulsify. That being said, I think these tiny flavor bursts in the salad were as much a flavor ‘pro’ as they were a consistency ‘con,’ but if you’re not into it, you can always strain them out.

All the stock I used throughout the cooking process was a black garlic chicken stock I made by rubbing the chicken carcass, thighbones, and wing tips with black garlic paste before roasting them at 375 for an hour and a half; I also added a handful of cloves to the stock as it simmered. The color was absolutely gorgeous, sort of a chestnut brown; and the aroma that filled my entire house was like the combination of a magical forest and a dark chocolate sauna. It was nutty and sweet and savory and gamey, and it brought me several times to stand over the pot, inhaling deeply and smiling as its heavenly, honey perfume wafted about my head.

Unfortunately it tasted far more like chicken and stock scraps than it did like black garlic, even after it reduced for several hours; it was perplexing to get so much by smelling and so little by tasting, but I have had the same experiences with certain wines. Whether it’s me or what I’m smelling, I think I can pick up more complexity from aroma than I can from taste. It also may have to do with my previously noted observations of gentle versus harsher cooking with this particular ingredient: simmering stock is definitely on the gentler side, and there’s a lot of water, scraps, and bones to dilute the black garlic’s flavor.

I froze most of the stock, reserving just under a quart to keep on hand for one last use. I ended up using it to make farro the next day, and as the hearty grains of farro took their time soaking it up, the stock reduced to literally nothing, as it goes when you cook most grains. I ran my finger across the bottom of the pan after the farro came out, and when I tasted it, the sweetness was right up front, as if I had added a spoonful of caramel to the pot at some point. The hearty flavor and toothsome texture of the whole grain married with this sticky sweetness, straddling the line between sweet and savory, kind of the way a muffin sometimes does.

From this point I could have added dried fruit and nuts or fresh herbs and feta and either would been perfect. I went with a squeeze of lemon and some thinly sliced kale, then topped it with chunks of butternut squash that had been roasted in some of the leftover black garlic barbecue sauce, then tossed with a little mascarpone cheese.

There are literally thousands of other directions you could go with black garlic. Its flavors are very complementary and it’s hard to overdo it, which is most definitely not the case with raw garlic, as I’m sure you know. Plus it happens to be rich in antioxidants (twice the content of raw garlic) and cancer-fighting agents. Bonus!

Try marinating some Korean style short ribs (or almost any protein) overnight in a black garlic marinade to get the most out of its flavor. Better yet, go uber-simple and serve a pile of whole cloves on a cheese plate to really blow people’s minds. You can put time and love into taking its flavor to the next level, or let let the black garlic speak for its delicious self: both will be crowd pleasers. I’m glad I finally got to know this delicious and unique ingredient. It’s time you did the same!

THE ORIGIN OF BLACK GARLIC

It’s one of those things that you’d guess has been around for thousands of years, fermenting in crocks. But it’s quite new, created with a high-heat fermentation process that turns regular garlic into black garlic in 30 days. While it probably developed within the last 10 years in Korea, the American product was invented by a Korean-American named Scott Kim in Southern California, who has a patent pending on the process. He is currently the only supplier in the U.S.

MORE ABOUT BLACK GARLIC.

Today and tomorrow, chef Johnny Gnall takes on condiments: how your cooking can soar to greater heights by combining condiments in non-traditional ways. We got a lot of inspiration from his suggestions! Email your comments and suggestions for tips of the day to Chef Johnny.

You’re about to discover how to take your favorite condiments—ketchup, maple syrup, mayonnaise, whatever you have at hand—and combine them in ways that make them even more delicious.

Last May, when I reviewed The Flavor Bible, I talked about what I call “guerilla cooking.” Guerilla cooking is what being a chef should be all about: taking whatever ingredients are thrown at you, no matter how seemingly incompatible or mismatched they appear, and turning them into dinner. The meal doesn’t always fall under a specific cuisine or stay inside the culinary box, but with skill and knowledge, anything edible can be turned into a tasty treat (anyone who has watched an episode of Chopped knows this is true).

Combine balsamic vinegar with soy sauce? Who’d have thunk it? Photo by Rainer Zenz | Wikimedia.

COMBINE CONDIMENTS INTO A GREAT MEAL

Another key to the process of turning odds and ends into an exceptional meal is knowing how to maximize the potential of the common ingredients you have in your fridge or pantry.

Take the condiments group, a large set of ingredients bursting with opportunity. Anyone can drizzle truffle oil over potatoes to take things to the next level, but that’s so easy it’s almost cheating. Having the eye to spot a bottle, jar or can of something everyday and the imagination to apply it in an unexpected way can lead to signature dishes and great recipes that you never even knew were possible.

Here are a few not-so-everyday combinations and applications for ingredients you have in your kitchen right now. Use them as a jumping off point, but remember that the real magic will happen when you come up with something brand new and completely your own. Mix away!

BALSAMIC VINEGAR + SOY SAUCE = RICH, BALANCED UMAMI

These two ingredients are a match made in heaven: one intense and sweet, the other intense and salty, both rich and velvety and bold and overflowing with umami and tannins.

Add this combination to pretty much any vegetable and cook it however you like: The result will blow your mind.

To get the amounts right, whisk the two together first (before adding to veggies), adding each in small amounts until you achieve balance. A few grinds of cracked pepper or a pinch of chili flakes add even more zing.

Bear in mind, the better the quality of each ingredient, the richer and thicker your final product will be. The flavors will be there no matter what, but if you happen to have some of the good balsamic in your pantry, bust it out for this one. In addition to flavor, it will cling better to ingredients.

And use a good soy sauce—not the packets that come with Chinese food take-out.

Mix naple syrup and grainy mustard?
Magnificent! Photo by Arpad Benedek | IST.

HONEY + CHILI PASTE OR HOT SAUCE =
DELICIOUS DIP

Whether you’re dipping French fries, crudités, or chicken tenders, this sweet and hot combination is a true crowd pleaser. You may need to season with a little salt or soy sauce depending on what kind of chili paste or hot sauce you use, so test a dab before applying it.

You can go naughty and thicken the sauce with a little sour cream, or add depth with a few drops of sesame oil. You can also stir in fresh herbs or citrus zest to brighten things up.

MAPLE SYRUP + WHOLE GRAIN MUSTARD =
FINGER LICKIN’ CHICKEN

This is an easy one and it blows minds every time. A variation on honey mustard, the maple syrup delivers deeper flavor, and the whole grain mustard adds texture as well as clinginess.

 
MAYONNAISE + ANYTHING = GOOD

Mayonnaise is just so darn versatile: The version we know today was invented by the brilliant French chef Marie-Antoine Carême (1784-1833), founder of the concept of haute cuisine (here’s the history of mayonnaise). The key with mayo is to not go overboard on quantity and turn it into a cholesterol-fest.

 
TOMORROW: How to combine citrus zest, molasses, pickling liquid, sour cream, tomato paste and more into gourmet condiments.

FIND OUR FAVORITE CONDIMENTS & RECIPES IN OUR GOURMET CONDIMENTS SECTION.

*A tapas bar favorite, patatas bravas (also called patatas a la brava or papas bravas) is made from white potatoes that have been cut into small, irregular shapes, then fried in oil and served warm with a very spicy mayonnaise or tomato sauce.

Frying pans, like ovens, need to be pre-
heated before you add the food. Photo of
Calphalon cookware from
WilliamsSonoma.com.

Even if you cook relatively often, review these tips from Chef Danielle Turner. Chef Turner teaches cooking at venues such L’Academie de Cuisine, Whole Foods, Sur La Table and Williams-Sonoma, as well as on her website, CookingClarified.com (check out all the great tips there).

We adapted this tip from the original article on Care2.com.

Here are five of the most common cooking mistakes she witnesses, and how to avoid them.

MISTAKE #1: NOT FULLY READING THE RECIPE

You should never put yourself in the position of wondering, “What do I do next?” Read the recipe as many times as necessary to familiarize yourself with what you’ll actually be doing. This ensures that you have all the required ingredients and equipment; Re-read it right before you start to cook.

Cooking is chemistry: Adding ingredients in the wrong order, omitting them or using the wrong ingredient (baking powder instead of baking soda, for example) can compromise your dish, which wastes your time and money.

MISTAKE #2: USING A COLD PAN

You wouldn’t put an unbaked cake or chicken into a cold oven: Preheating is essential for a successful outcome. It’s the same with stove top cooking. Unless the recipe specifies a cold pan, give the pan and any oil (or other fat) a little time to heat up before adding the food.

Heat encourages the ingredients to release the moisture stored inside them. Adding food to a hot pan creates an instant seal around the food that locks in moisture and flavor. Added to a cool or warm pan, the food will lose moisture.

A hot pan should give off a sizzle when you add food it. If you don’t hear the sizzle, pull the food out while you wait for the temperature to rise.

Of course, you’ve got to be careful not to overheat the pan and the oil. If the oil starts to smoke, remove the pan from the heat immediately and let it cool down. A pan that’s too hot will break down the oil, which can give the food an unpleasant taste—not to mention burning them. Worse, the oil can catch fire.

How do you know if the pan is hot enough? It’s something you learn to judge over time, but here are two tricks:

MISTAKE #3: OVER-FLIPPING THE FOOD

Some people like to flip, re-flip and flip again…and again. This is a bad habit: Give it up! The hot pan or grill is perfectly capable of cooking the food with minimal physical intervention. You still need to watch food, but most foods don’t require constant hands-on attention.

The heat from the pan or grill is transferred to the food through direct contact. The food has to reach a certain temperature in order to reach “doneness.” Every time you flip the food, it loses contact with the pan and has to start the heating process all over again. So by over-tending, you’re actually extending your cooking time and you run the risk of altering the food’s texture and color by moving it around too much. How’s your chicken breast going to brown if you keep interrupting contact with the pan?

Some foods do require constant attention and your recipe will so indicate (“stir continuously for 5 minutes,” for example).

Put down the flipper and tongs and Let them cook! Cookware from SurLaTable.com.

MISTAKE #4: NOT TASTING AS YOU COOK

Cooking without tasting is like painting a picture without looking at it. If you don’t taste the dish in progress, you may end up with unbalanced flavors or lack of seasoning. Good cooks season and taste, cook some more, then season and taste, regardless of what the recipe says.

Recipes are not infallible. There are typos and editing mistakes, and then, there are personal preferences. What is too much garlic or jalapeño for one household is barely a hint to another.

MISTAKE #5: BLINDLY FOLLOWING RECIPES

Recipes are good guidelines, but they’re not the last word. Every oven and stove cooks differently; cold ingredients cook more slowly than those at room temperature.

A recipe may instruct you to cook a piece of fish for 15 minutes; but if you don’t look at it until the timer goes off, you may have woefully overcooked fish.

Cooking is not always an exact science, unless you’re baking, which is an exact science (and requires an oven thermometer to ensure your oven is cooking at the right temperature).

With stove top cooking, you have to find a balance between your recipe and reality. Oven strengths vary. An electric cook top may not heat your sauté pan as quickly or evenly as the gas range used by the recipe writer/tester.

Check your food periodically and if the food is starting to burn after 4 minutes in the pan, lower the heat and flip it, even if the recipe says cook for 5 minutes per side.

Cooking is an art requiring practice, common sense and skill. The more you cook the better you get. And don’t hesitate to ask for help from others who cook. Or throw your question to the winds of the Internet.

Last year’s finalists’ dishes. Photo courtesy
San Pellegrino.

We love watching “Top Chef” on television: The creativity and skill (not to mention energy level) of the “cheftestants” is inspiring.

“Top Chef” draws its contestants from the kitchens of fine restaurants nationwide. But where do you turn for recognition if you’re not yet a chef, sous chef or even a line cook?

There are culinary school competitions, of course, and at least one of them—the San Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition—has a spectacular prize: $20,000 (nice) plus a year of paid internship at the restaurant of one of the finals judges (a great career opportunity). Contestants prepare a signature dish and are judged on technical skill as well as creativity and presentation.

While there’s only one top prize, every contestant is a winner, gaining exposure to prominent local chefs and members of the media who judge and mentor them along the way. As everyone knows, in life it’s not only about the talent, it’s about the connections. Everyone who enters gets to make good contacts. Since it was established in 2002, the program has helped to launch hundreds of culinary careers.

Last week we were invited to attend the Northeast regional competition, which crowned a regional winner and a People’s Choice winner. The 10 regional winners go to the finals in Napa Valley, held March 8-10 at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone.

Judges for this year’s finals include executive chefs Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, Jean Joho of Everest in Chicago, Susur Lee of Lee Restaurant in Toronto, Tony Mantuano of Spiaggia in Chicago, Mark McEwan of One in Toronto, Rick Moonen of RM Seafood in Las Vegas and Michel Richard of Citronelle in Washington, D.C.

The national winners from 2011 and 2012 both hailed from Kendall College in Chicago, and are now working at two of Chicago’s finest restaurants: Blackbird and Everest. The 2010 regional winner is now teaching at Kendall College.

However, the Kendall winning streak was interrupted this year: While a Kendall College student won the regional People’s Choice Award, the regional winner headed to Napa Valley hails from from Sullivan University in Louisville, Kentucky.

See the beautiful food and the winners on the Almost Famous Chef Competition Facebook page.

Popcorn as a soup garnish. Photo courtesy
Vilseskogen | Flickr.

Today is National Popcorn Day. We asked chef Johnny Gnall to come up some alternative ways to enjoy it. He fired back with: POPCORN: IT’S NOT JUST FOR MOVIE NIGHT ANYMORE. Enjoy his recipe ideas, below. If you have questions or suggestions for tips, email Chef Johnny.

In honor of National Popcorn Day on January 19th, I spent some time popping a heck of a lot of popcorn and finding stuff to do with it—besides eating my weight in popcorn while watching a John Hughes marathon.

Popcorn is pretty cheap, so feel free to stock up and then try as many of these as you want.

Each of the ideas below can be used with plain popcorn if you want to keep it neutral. But feel free to spice things up, so to speak: You can flavor your popcorn with anything from Tabasco to ginger to garlic to nori powder.

 
SOUP: MAKE YOUR SOUPS “POP”

From a steaming bowl of chowder to cool, clean gazpacho; from creamy puréed cauliflower soup to tart cherry soup: Popcorn is the garnish that adds a pleasant, fluffy bite to any spoonful. It’s also a dazzling garnish when placed delicately upon the surface of a beautiful soup.

FRIED CHICKEN OR FISH: BATTER UP

Pop some popcorn, then crush it by placing plain or flavored popcorn in an unsealed plastic bag; gently roll over it a few times with a rolling pin or a wine bottle. Put it aside and prepare your mise en place for fried chicken or fish: egg wash, flour, oil, etc. After you dredge the chicken, roll it in the crushed popcorn as your last step before frying. You can press the crushed kernels gently into the chicken/fish to help them stick. Don’t try to entirely cover the protein in popcorn, or it may burn before the chicken cooks.

PICNIC SALADS: POPPING UP

Popcorn is a terrific addition to comforting food salads like chicken salad, potato salad, even pasta salad. As mentioned above, hold off on adding popcorn to the dish until just before serving, to keep the kernels from getting too soggy. You can use the popcorn as a foil to the richness of a salad by seasoning it with bright, clean flavors: Lemon zest and a little cayenne works like gangbusters.

THE UN-CROUTON

Croutons add a swell crunch to salads; but for those who can’t stomach gluten, croutons are obviously a no-go unless you make them from gluten-free bread. To get that crunch and add another layer of flavor to any salad with less effort, pop some popcorn (corn is gluten free) and toss it with olive oil, spices, salt and pepper. Then, sprinkle it over a bowl of salad. You may end up swearing off croutons altogether, opting for this healthier, whole grain, air-popped alternative.

GOAT CHEESE: LAYER YOUR LOG

You may be surprised at what a delight can come from a store-bought log of chèvre (goat cheese), some popcorn and a little imagination. Pop, season and gently crush the popcorn as described above, then set aside. Remove the log of chèvre from its packaging and bring it to room temperature; then drizzle it with a little olive oil and roll it in the plain or flavored popcorn to coat evenly. You can also mix the crushed popcorn with some chopped nuts or dried fruit to add a variety of flavors and textures. We love pistachios with dried cherries, or sliced almonds and orange zest.

Get the recipe for this popcorn and chickpea salad from EpicureInLight.com.

MOULES FRITES: HOLD THE FRITES

When you’re having a big, steaming bowl of mussels or clams, one of the best parts is sopping up the hearty, sumptuous broth at the bottom. Crusty bread is perfect, and crispy shoestring fries are a close second. But for those who seek a healthier alternative, popcorn may be just the ticket.

Yes, we have been avoiding getting our popcorn soggy up to this point, but when the stuff doing the sogging is rich, warming, white wine and shallot and butter perfection, we don’t mind a mouthful of popcorn soaked in it. You may even want to keep a bowl of the popcorn at your side to re-up throughout the meal.

THE ICING ON THE CAKE

Most people love popcorn, and most people love desserts. So it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that popcorn on or in dessert is a home run. You can look to the obvious, caramel corn, and all of its scrumptuous forms and variations: popcorn balls, Fiddle Faddle, Moose Munch from Harry & David…the tried-and-true team up of popcorn, caramel and virtually anything else is likely to end up delicious.

But a combination I find even more enticing (thought admittedly more naughty) is the pairing of lightly salted popcorn with cake frosting. I go crazy for a chocolate-frosted layer cake sprinkled with gently crushed, salted popcorn; a single, flavored (or even chocolate dipped) kernel of popcorn at the peak of cupcake is an easy, tasty garnish; and for kids, a fluffy popcorn rain that covers the whole cupcake can be even more fun, both to assemble and to eat!

MOVE OVER, MICROWAVE

Enjoy these simple, creative ways to get the most out of what most people know only as a snack food; and never be afraid to think outside the kernel (pun inevitably intended). Get popping (no pun intended), and remember that microwave popcorn should never be an option!

Stove-top popping takes literally five minutes and is easy as can be. You’ll also avoid diacetyl, a chemical used in the production of microwave popcorn that has caused “popcorn lung”—a disease that’s not at all tasty.

HOW TO POP CORN ON THE STOVE TOP

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PLACE the oil in the pot and bring to temperature over a medium-high heat.

2. ADD three “test kernels.” When one or more of them pop, add the remaining popcorn kernels. Stir to coat with oil and cover with the lid.

4. SHAKE the pot gently to prevent the kernels from burning. Continue to shake until you can no longer hear kernels moving on the bottom of the pan. Err on the side of caution; popcorn burns easily.

6. TURN OFF the heat and continue to shake the pot. When you hear no movement, cautiously open the lid: You can get hit by flying kernels.

7. ADD optional seasonings immediately: Warm popcorn better absorbs butter, grated cheese, chile oil, spices, etc.
 
FIND MORE OF OUR FAVORITE POPCORN SNACKS AND POPCORN RECIPES.

Regardless of how much cooking experience they have, many cooks don’t know the basics of cooking healthy meals. On the other hand, some people can’t cook at all, so rely on prepared foods packed with salt, sugar and bad fats.

That’s why our final pre-Christmas tip is to give yourself or your loved ones healthy cooking classes. It’s smart to include adolescents, teens and young adults: Most eating habits are learned at home.

That’s why we love the gift of understanding how to make nutritious and calorie-wise foods:

Vegetables can be as exciting as any other foods. Photo courtesy KamalKapoor.com.

 
And it’s a great last minute gift: You need only a holiday card. Just write, “This card entitles you to a gift of healthy cooking classes at the school of your choice.”

WHERE TO FIND HEALTHY COOKING CLASSES

You’ll find healthy cooking classes at local cooking schools, Ys, community colleges, adult education centers and natural foods stores such as Whole Foods Market.

Just search “healthy cooking classes” and your town.