Blog — Food Preparation

The first step to great food is great knife skills. Check out more Knife Skills this way! [Photographs and video: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt] Learning how to cut properly can make the difference between seeing kitchen work as a chore and a joy. It can mean the difference between unevenly cooked dishes and poor flavor development, and excellence. There's a good reason why the very first class any culinary student takes and the very first job any starting cook has in the kitchen is knife work. Cooking without mastering these basic strokes is like trying to run without knowing how to tie...

There are only three knives that are crucial in a kitchen: a chef's knife, a paring knife and a serrated knife. Any other knives are a luxury--they can make cooking easier and more enjoyable, but are unnecessary.A chef's knife (sometimes called a cook's knife) is the most important knife to have in your kitchen. It has a wide blade between six and ten inches long and is used primarily for chopping, though it can be used for anything you want to do. The blade of a classic, French-style chef's knife curves upward toward the tip. A Japanese-style Santoku knife can...

Eating nutritious foods isn't enough to keep you in good health -- you also need to prepare these foods the right way. While no one cooking method is perfect, using a combination of different healthy food preparation methods will help you get the most nutrients from your food while lowering your disease risk. Avoiding Food-borne Illnesses Limit your risk for food-borne illnesses by keeping both your hands and your work surfaces clean, separating raw foods and cooked foods and using different utensils and dishes before and after cooking foods. Don't use expired food, and wash fruits and vegetables before you...