Kickin’ Kitchen Knowledge

Mis en place – The French term “Mis en place” is the most important philosophy in the kitchen. It translates into “Everything in its place.” Make sure that all of your food is prepped and your oven is preheated before you start cooking. Proper Preparation prevents poor performance, and you do not want to burn the food because you were unprepared.

Pallet - Your sense of sight, smell and taste determine how you actually taste and perceive the food.  Poop could taste like steak but you would never know because it looks like poop!

Sauté - Make the food jump out of the pan while cooking over medium high heat.

Sear - Browning the outside of the food over high heat. This creates a crispy crust on the meat that seals in the juices and taste awesome.

Broil - Quickly browning the top of your food in the oven. The high heat comes from above and will burn the food if you do not keep an eye on it.

Braise - Searing the food over high heat, dropping the heat to a low flame, adding a little liquid and slowly cooking until the food falls apart.

Boil - Cooking food in a large amount of water that has been heated to 212º F.

Dice - Cutting the food into identical cubes. You can make small, medium or large dice.

Slice - Cutting the food into identically thin strips using long smooth cutting motions.

Caramelize - Cooking your food so that the sugars inside the food heat up and intensify into a sweet flavor and dark color. Just like sweet gooey caramel.

Grill - Cooking food on grates over high heat. This can be done with gas, charcoal or electric. Go George Foreman, you rich, meathead genius of a man!

Beat - Mixing food in a bowl very fast with a Wisk. This will bring air into the food and make it lighter and fluffier.

Fold - To lightly mix food together so you do not break it up.