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By Root 664 0

the amount of olive oil as you have mignonette. For example, if you have 1 tablespoon of mignonette left over to make the vinaigrette, you’ll need 1½ tablespoons of olive oil. Slowly whisk the oil into the mignonette or buzz up the mignonette in a blender and gradually drizzle in the olive oil.

Yield: Approximately 1 cup of mignonette

Software :

1 cup champagne vinegar

2 tablespoons finely chopped

shallots

1 tablespoon Champagne

½ teaspoon white pepper

Olive oil

Hardware :

Cutting board

Chef’s knife

2-cup glass measuring cup

Whisk or blender

Chocolate Mint Sauce

I also call this the “Elixir of Life.” You may choose simply to pour this into shot glasses and cut out all that ice-cream nonsense.

Application: Boil

Place cream, corn syrup, butter, cocoa, and salt into a 3-quart saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add the bittersweet chocolate and allow to sit, undisturbed, for 5 minutes. Add the peppermint extract and whisk gently until well combined. Serve immediately over ice cream or other dessert.

Yield: 2 cups sauce

Software :

1 cup heavy cream

¼ cup light corn syrup

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate,

chopped fine

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

Hardware :

Cutting board

Chef’s knife

Plunger cup

3-quart saucepan

3-quart saucepan

Whisk

Dutch-process cocoas are slightly redder in color than natural cocoa and disperse more easily in liquids.

Could you use semisweet? Yes, but there’s already a lot of sweetness in this concoction, so you may want to think twice. That said, you don’t want to go crazy and use unsweetened chocolate either.

CHAPTER 9

Eggs

Eggs are the plastic of the kitchen. There’s very little they can’t do.

Eggs-cetera

Legend has it that each fold on a chef’s toque, that tower of power that perches upon the pates of chefs worldwide, represents a method by which eggs may be cooked. A tall tale? Yes, but I’d buy it. The humble chicken egg is arguably the most versatile food on earth. It can be fried, poached, roasted, coddled, scrambled, pickled, boiled, and broiled. Were it not for the emulsifying power of the fatty yolk, we would have neither mayonnaise nor hollandaise, nor would we have custard. Were it not for the amazing foaming flexibility of the white’s unique proteins, there would be no mousse, no meringue, no soufflé.

In short, were it not for eggs, life as we know it would not exist—in the kitchen, or anywhere else for that matter.

All this power and versatility can lead to confusion when one simply wishes to cook an egg for eggs’ sake. I finally came to terms with egg cookery when I realized that eggs are essentially liquid fish.35 I admit, this is not an especially appealing idea, but it makes a lot of sense when put into practice.

Like fish, eggs don’t like to be pushed around thermally. When exposed to the right temperature for the right amount of time, their proteins denature and then coagulate into a nice soft gel. But when pushed too far or for too long, these proteins turn into little chemical fists and wring all the moisture right out. That’s why scrambled eggs often appear (and taste) like yellow bits of rubber floating in water.

Unlike eggs, fish have the advantage of being solid, which means they may be dredged, battered, or breaded. This gives the cook the ability to apply high heat and create a golden brown exterior. I have yet to see this work with eggs, though I’ve heard that recent advances in zero-gravity cooking look promising.

So, here are some rules for fish and eggs: fried eggs, eggs over easy, eggs sunny-side up, scrambled eggs, omelets, quiche, flan, custards,36 and egg-based sauces such as hollandaise.

1. Heat a non-stick pan over the lowest heat your cook top can muster.

An 8-inch pan is best for 1 to 2 large eggs.

2. Add a small amount of fat to the pan using a basting brush for thin, even coverage. You can use either butter or oil or (my preference) a combination of the two. Why