Faking fancy
It all started with a fillet of fish and a sheet of brown parchment paper. When Amber Bailey used the two in a recipe, she knew cooking could be her career. “It’s like magic in your mouth,” says Bailey, now a personal chef in New York City. But you don’t have to go to culinary school to make fish en papillote, which has few ingredients and takes only 10 minutes to cook. “If a stranger on the street asked me for an easy recipe that will make their guest impressed, this is it,” Bailey says. Here are her and other pros’ tips for faking your way to the culinary top:
1. Keep it simple.
When chef Ina Garten of “Barefoot Contessa” invites guests over, she doesn’t serve a five-course meal featuring truffles, souffles and slaved-over sauces — even though she could. She’s known to serve spaghetti and meatballs, says her friend and fellow chef Phoebe Lapine, who lives in New York City. Novice chefs should follow suit. “Don’t choose a chef recipe when just starting out,” says Lapine, who recommends making “peasant food,” or rustic, classic dishes like pasta Bolognese or “humble, one-pot meals” like cassoulet. “It’s not that hard to impress guests,” she says. “We’re lucky to have any sort of homemade meal.”
2. Don’t be salt-shy.
It only takes one bite for Lapine, author of “The Wellness Project,” to identify a novice chef. “The biggest mistake beginner cooks make is not using enough salt,” she says. Don’t give yourself away; instead, top off your dish with some thick flakes of sea salt, Lapine suggests. “People love biting into that little crunch of salt, and it makes you look more sophisticated than you are,” she says. Brad Farmerie, executive chef of AvroKO Hospitality Group, which operates five New York City restaurants and bars, agrees that amateur chefs often under-salt. “That tiny bit of salt can work wonders and make it a little bit magical,” he says.
3. Get to know garnishes.
A pan of enchiladas could be a family weeknight dinner; top it with some fresh sprigs of cilantro, and it’s suited for a weekend dinner party. Same goes for lasagna, which shines with fresh basil leaves, or lamb patties, which pop with parsley. Too often, Farmerie says, “that last fresh element is missing” when novice chefs take the wheel. “If you had just whacked a little fresh chives or tarragon on there, you get something completely different, and it just pops.”
4. Get saucey.
Lapine is a “condiment junky.” For her, hitting a dish with an unexpected spicy sauce — be it harissa, a North African red pepper sauce, or gochujang, a fermented Korean chili paste — can take it from fine to fantastic. “It sounds fancy, and they each have their own flavors,” she says. Bailey suggests making your own sauces — pesto, chimichurri or vinaigrette will do. “Dry chicken? Sauce will fix that. Salted your beef too much? Add a red wine sauce and under-season it. Cooking for a big party and want to make everything in advance? Food cooked in sauces not only keeps moist, but also tastes better when it sits in the sauce,” she says.
5. Add acidity.
For Farmerie, an unbalanced dish is a dead giveaway of a clueless cook. “Acidity is almost always missing, so the whole dish comes across as being pretty flat,” he says. To pump up the acid, try adding a surprising ingredient such as pickled chilies, capers or a hot sauce. “People can load their fridges with huge flavor bombs that are a staple and will last a long time,” says Farmerie, who’s partial to Peppadew peppers and feta cheese. Bailey recommends loading up on lemons. “I am honestly not sure if there is anything that can be cooked that doesn’t taste better without that finishing touch of acid,” she says.
6. Invest in good cookware.
Sometimes, a less-than-stellar dish has nothing to do with the chef, the ingredients or the cooking technique. It can be all the cookware’s fault, says Farmerie, who still has the same skillet he bought 14 years ago. “If you have cheap aluminum pans, it will radiate inconsistent heat,” he says. Farmerie likes blue steel (a type of carbon steel) cookware and recommends investing in a colorful Dutch oven or casserole dish that can transfer directly to the table. He often uses his pink one for both cooking and serving. “It goes with everything, then you can just throw fresh herbs and bread crumbs and cheese on top, and it’s naturally beautiful,” he says.
7. Step away from the stovetop.
Cooking a meal on the stovetop is literally playing with fire. “There’s a worry that something is going to burn,” Lapine says. Instead, roast vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper, and braise meat like lamb or beef. “Once [the meat] is in the oven, you have two hours before it has to come out,” Farmerie says, giving you time to socialize with guests. Better yet, braising meats leaves plenty of room for error — an extra 30 minutes in the oven won’t ruin a lamb shank the way an extra 30 seconds on the stove might destroy a fish. “You have a huge window of opportunity of when it’s perfectly cooked,” he says.
8. Make it your own.
Just like wearing the same great dress to different weddings, cooking the same signature meal for different guests can boost your kitchen cred. But when choosing which meal to master, think outside the box, Farmerie suggests. “Don’t try to own burgers, chicken wings, steak, lasagna — the stuff that a lot of people do,” he says. “Carve your own niche.” Even if you choose a familiar dish, break the mold by calling it a fancy name — salad becomes “mixed greens with kimchi carrot dressing,” baked fish can be called “snapper en papillote” and steak and potatoes taste better as “peppered tenderloin and garlic-scalloped spuds.”
9. Taste.
Waiting to taste your food until your guests are served isn’t polite — it’s setting everyone up for disappointment. “If you don’t like it, then why would anyone else?” Bailey says. Farmerie recommends tasting it throughout the cooking process to “build up your own mental inventory of what’s happening.” (A lick of raw egg in batter doesn’t pose a big enough risk to worry about, he says.) Tasting your food while you cook is one way to remember that cooking is as much about the journey as the destination. “Don’t overthink it, and don’t stress out too much,” Bailey says. “Food … brings us together, it helps build memories, and it gives us patience.”
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9 Cooking Tricks That Will Make Everyone Think You?re a Great Chef originally appeared on usnews.com