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Application: Sautéing

Place the oil, popcorn, and salt in a large metal mixing bowl. Cover with heavy-duty aluminum foil and poke ten slits in the top with a knife.

Place the bowl over medium heat and shake constantly using a pair of tongs to hold the bowl. Continue shaking until the popcorn finishes popping, approximately 3 minutes.

Remove the bowl from the heat and carefully remove the foil. Stir in any salt that is on the side of the bowl.

Melt the butter in the microwave and then slowly drizzle it over the popcorn while spinning the bowl. Serve immediately.

Yield: 3½ to 4 quarts

Note: Although kosher salt works fine, popcorn salt—with its extremely fine grain size—will stick better. Does that mean you should buy popcorn salt? No. It means you should take some kosher salt (say, a cup) for a spin in ye olde food processor. I find that 10 to 12 two-second pulses do the job nicely. You’ll be left with about ¾ cup of popcorn salt.

Software:

3 tablespoons peanut oil

3 ounces (about ½ cup) popcorn

½ teaspoon salt (see Note)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Hardware:

6-quart metal mixing bowl with

sloping sides

Heavy-duty aluminum foil

Kitchen knife

Tongs

Swiss Chard with Garlic and Tomato

If you haven’t made chard welcome at your table, you might want to do so. It tastes like a slightly bitter, slightly salty version of beet greens and it’s packed to the gills with goodness, especially vitamins K, A, C, and magnesium, iron, and potassium. It’s a super-food, all right, and this dish is designed to get more of it into you.

Application: Sautéing

Blend the butter and flour in a small bowl until a smooth paste is formed.

Heat the olive oil in the sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes, and sauté until the onions turn golden, about 7 to 10 minutes.

Drop the heat to medium-low, whisk in the flour and butter mixture and cook for 5 minutes.

Next, introduce the tomatoes to the party and keep whisking for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and whisk until the sauce is smooth and creamy. Add the cooked pasta and the chard and stir until heated through.

Finish with the Parmesan and rosemary. Taste and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to your heart’s content.

Yield: 6 servings

Software:

2 tablespoons butter, softened

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ cup diced onion

8 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 cups canned crushed tomatoes

1 cup chicken stock

16 ounces dry bowtie pasta, cooked

1 bunch Swiss chard, trimmed,

blanched, and chopped

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary,

chopped fine

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Hardware:

Cutting board

Chef’s knife

Can opener

8-quart pot for blanching chard

6-quart pot for pasta

Colander

Small mixing bowl

Whisk

12-inch sauté pan

Cheese grater

CHAPTER 5

Boiling

Boiling . . . sure, you know it when you see it, but do you really know it?

Water Works

Dictionaries may define cooking as the application of heat to food, but there have been plenty of food thinkers through the ages who have postulated that cooking has less to do with heat than it does with water management. After all, there is no food that doesn’t contain water and the changes that take place in food during cooking can largely be quantified by what happens to the water in question. Water is not only our most common cooking environment, it is the only one that can act as a heat conduit and a solvent at the same time, which is especially important in the making of stock. The stuff is everywhere and yet science has yet to get a good grip on water. You, as a cook, must get your head into water before you can get it around cooking.

What Is This Stuff, Anyway?

Begin by putting on a Mickey Mouse hat. Now stand in front of a mirror and take a serious look at yourself. Yes, you do look silly but you