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Monday, November 23, 2015

How to: Chopping Vegetables

Here are some quick and easy steps to minimize prep time in the kitchen and allow you to get on the best parts of cooking: the eating!

Most importantly: Choose a knife that you are comfortable using. There are a variety of knives that "should" be used for specific purposes. I've never held to this belief, although to some extent using a thin boning knife is easier to filet a fish and using a shorter paring knife is easier to carve and peel. In general though, I recommend that you find a knife that you are comfortable using. If you are comfortable with your knife there will be less mistakes and the possibility of accidents in the kitchen. I prefer to use a knife with a heavy handle and a long and smooth blade for chopping.

Step 1: Slice the vegetables into manageable pieces. I like to chop everything in half first, which keeps the pieces from rolling around the cutting board. Keep in mind that all vegetables are made a bit differently, for example, bell peppers must be cored and de-stemmed and onions grow in layers.

Step 2: Slice your pieces into strips roughly the size that you want the final pieces to be. The wider the strips, the larger the final pieces. The thinner the strips the smaller the final pieces.

Step 3: Chop across your strips to dice into final pieces. Don't worry about making each piece the same as the last, your goal is to eat the vegetables, not show them in an art gallery. This is key to minimizing prep time in the kitchen. Just let your OCD go and chop!

Monday, November 16, 2015

Southern Louisiana Gumbo


Check out the YouTube video!

Medium Difficulty,
a simple recipe, but the difficulty lies in the amount of cook time.
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 4 hours

8-10 Sausages
1 whole Chicken, quartered
1 medium Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1 medium Green Bell Pepper, chopped
2 medium Onions, chopped
2 large stalks of Celery, chopped
1 cup Parsley, chopped
4 cups of Dry Roux (link to recipe) OR 2 cups of Wet Roux (link to recipe)
1 Tbl Gumbo File powder
1 Tbl White Pepper powder
1 Tbl Cayenne Pepper powder
3 Tbl Salt

Served over rice. I recommend 4-6 cups of rice made, depending on your usual rice serving. 

Step 1: Saute the Vegetables, set them aside to add in later.

Step 2: Brown the Meats, add them to to largest pot you have and cover in water, leaving a couple of inches from the rim of the pot free of water. Keep in mind that the gumbo needs to cook for several hours, so either cover the pot or be prepared to add in more water a couple hours in.

Step 3: Add Water, Roux and Spices, stirring occasionally.

Step 4: Add Sauted Vegetables and Put Rice on to Cook, once the meat has begun to fall off the chicken bones. This is the determining factor for the gumbo. The reason it cooks for so long is so that the ingredients are all very tender and have the maximum amount of time to absorb the roux and spicing flavors. The vegetables cook very quickly in comparison to the other ingredients
so they should go in very last. After the rice is done, the gumbo should be ready to eat!

Serve over rice and enjoy!