Teach me how to cook faster, through videos.
March 10, 2018 10:35 AM Subscribe
I enjoy cooking. I am very slow at it. Recipes generally take me 2-3 times longer than the internet would lead me to believe. I want to get better at chopping/prepping/multitasking/(washing?).
Are there YouTube videos that will, in-depth, teach me the fastest ways to chop every vegetable? When I'm chopping a bunch of kale I am doing it one leaf at a time. That can't be right, right? What about washing carrots/beets? Should I be doing it in a colander? Regular people probably don't clean EACH mushroom one by one with a paper towel, right?
If you're prepping many vegetables at once, where do you put the vegetables after you chop them? Does each go in its individual prep-bowl? This seems like a lot of dishes to wash.
In addition to the very basic "here's how you cube a sweet potato in less than 4 minutes," I would love recipe videos/episodes that include instructions on "while this simmers, this would be a good time to do this other thing, and here's exactly how you do it."
I can be better at this. Please help.
Are there YouTube videos that will, in-depth, teach me the fastest ways to chop every vegetable? When I'm chopping a bunch of kale I am doing it one leaf at a time. That can't be right, right? What about washing carrots/beets? Should I be doing it in a colander? Regular people probably don't clean EACH mushroom one by one with a paper towel, right?
If you're prepping many vegetables at once, where do you put the vegetables after you chop them? Does each go in its individual prep-bowl? This seems like a lot of dishes to wash.
In addition to the very basic "here's how you cube a sweet potato in less than 4 minutes," I would love recipe videos/episodes that include instructions on "while this simmers, this would be a good time to do this other thing, and here's exactly how you do it."
I can be better at this. Please help.
This is a great start for developing an understanding for kitchen timing.
posted by nightrecordings at 10:48 AM on March 10, 2018
posted by nightrecordings at 10:48 AM on March 10, 2018
Sharpen your knives! My mother used to prep all food with a parting knife and I can’t even fathom doing that. It would take me years to make a meal that way. Do you have a dishwasher? That makes the extra prepbowls worth it. Even if you don’t just give them a quick rinse and they’re fine to use again.
Could you watch a friend prepare a simple meal youmake or vice vers and they give you tips on what could be exposures?
Btw I don’t think I ever do more than rinse mushrooms muchless dry each one individually.
posted by raccoon409 at 10:50 AM on March 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
Could you watch a friend prepare a simple meal youmake or vice vers and they give you tips on what could be exposures?
Btw I don’t think I ever do more than rinse mushrooms muchless dry each one individually.
posted by raccoon409 at 10:50 AM on March 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
As to where to put chopped vegetables, I put them in the same bowl if they go into the pan (or whatever) at the same time. In general, I go through a lot of dishes while cooking, but I've also adapted by buying tons of little dishes to use for this mise en place business.
posted by rhizome at 10:55 AM on March 10, 2018
posted by rhizome at 10:55 AM on March 10, 2018
Yeah, there are a host of videos and guides on knife usage. Your search phrase is "kitchen knife skills." Here is one such video. Another. Part of the trick is having a sufficiently sharp knife, and the right kind of knife (you don't chop onions with a paring knife). Part is just practice and confidence. In most knife-handling training videos, the cooks are moving slowly so you can see what's going on, but they go a lot faster when they're really cooking.
Here's a video with some basic kitchen techniques. There are lots more. Shoot, onion-chopping videos are a subgenre unto themselves.
I've got the luxury of a butcher-block counter, so I can just leave the vegetables there, but I do have a flat stainless tray that I use to transfer chopped vegetables from there to stove-side. I cluster them on the tray in the order in which they'll go into the pot/pan. Depending on how complicated the spices are, one of the first things I'll do is make up a small bowl or bowls with the spices that get added at the same time. All of this relates to what is called mise en place (literally "put in place"), which is organizing what goes where in your kitchen when preparing food for best efficiency.
Any decent cookbook recipe will be written in an intelligent sequence, so that you don't spend a lot of time waiting around. If you need to boil a pot of water and then throw a bunch of chopped vegetables in it, you can figure that it will take longer for the water to boil than it will for you to chop the vegetables, so you can start the water first. In any case, it helps to A) read the recipe completely before starting and think it through, B) prepare that recipe more than once, so you can figure out where you can optimize your execution.
posted by adamrice at 10:55 AM on March 10, 2018
Here's a video with some basic kitchen techniques. There are lots more. Shoot, onion-chopping videos are a subgenre unto themselves.
I've got the luxury of a butcher-block counter, so I can just leave the vegetables there, but I do have a flat stainless tray that I use to transfer chopped vegetables from there to stove-side. I cluster them on the tray in the order in which they'll go into the pot/pan. Depending on how complicated the spices are, one of the first things I'll do is make up a small bowl or bowls with the spices that get added at the same time. All of this relates to what is called mise en place (literally "put in place"), which is organizing what goes where in your kitchen when preparing food for best efficiency.
Any decent cookbook recipe will be written in an intelligent sequence, so that you don't spend a lot of time waiting around. If you need to boil a pot of water and then throw a bunch of chopped vegetables in it, you can figure that it will take longer for the water to boil than it will for you to chop the vegetables, so you can start the water first. In any case, it helps to A) read the recipe completely before starting and think it through, B) prepare that recipe more than once, so you can figure out where you can optimize your execution.
posted by adamrice at 10:55 AM on March 10, 2018
Yep, speed comes with practice. When I was first teaching myself to cook about a decade ago, I would occasionally buy really cheap veg (think "discounted daikon radish at the Chinese grocery store" cheap) to just practice on.
There are some tasks where I know I need to get them done first, in order to free up capacity to do things I'll need down the line. For instance, if I'm doing something where I'm frying tofu (which is slow), I'll prep the tofu first, get it in the pan, then start prepping my other vegetables and keep a vague eye on the tofu. You develop a sense of timing, but I'd describe cooking (at least in a home environment) as an exercise in limited parallelism. You can do some things in parallel, others require that you do them in serial, but you don't want to be working only in serial, because then it will take forever.
Also: prep bowls, lots of prep bowls are your friend. It's rare that I cook anything and don't use at least a couple small (~4-6 ounce) glass prep bowls and one larger bowl. Even without a dishwasher, I didn't balk at using half a dozen if that'd make my life easier.
posted by Making You Bored For Science at 10:57 AM on March 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
There are some tasks where I know I need to get them done first, in order to free up capacity to do things I'll need down the line. For instance, if I'm doing something where I'm frying tofu (which is slow), I'll prep the tofu first, get it in the pan, then start prepping my other vegetables and keep a vague eye on the tofu. You develop a sense of timing, but I'd describe cooking (at least in a home environment) as an exercise in limited parallelism. You can do some things in parallel, others require that you do them in serial, but you don't want to be working only in serial, because then it will take forever.
Also: prep bowls, lots of prep bowls are your friend. It's rare that I cook anything and don't use at least a couple small (~4-6 ounce) glass prep bowls and one larger bowl. Even without a dishwasher, I didn't balk at using half a dozen if that'd make my life easier.
posted by Making You Bored For Science at 10:57 AM on March 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
The best thing I ever did as a home cook is take a knife skills class. The class was way less sexy than the other classes offered by the culinary school, but it's something I use every time I cook.
There are tutorials online showing you all the skills I learned in that class, but having 3 hours dedicated to it with a skilled instructor made the difference for me.
posted by Betelgeuse at 11:09 AM on March 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
There are tutorials online showing you all the skills I learned in that class, but having 3 hours dedicated to it with a skilled instructor made the difference for me.
posted by Betelgeuse at 11:09 AM on March 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Truly sharp knives— I thought I was just talentless, slow, and uncoordinated, until I got good knives. If they’re not going through onions like butter, they’re too dull and slowing you down.
Mandoline slicer-- oh, so that’s how pizzerias have all those beautiful, perfectly even, thinly sliced toppings.
A huge butcher block/cutting board— upped my prep game significantly and I am opposed to dirtying bowls just for holding stuff. If the board is big enough, you can push stuff into piles in the order you’ll need to slide them into pans, etc., and still have room to work.
Pre-prepping— I’m too lazy but lots of folks will dice veg to use throughout the week (you can even buy em that way!)
Yes to videos, basic cooking shows, skills classes, and watching how experienced cooks work.
posted by kapers at 11:16 AM on March 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Mandoline slicer-- oh, so that’s how pizzerias have all those beautiful, perfectly even, thinly sliced toppings.
A huge butcher block/cutting board— upped my prep game significantly and I am opposed to dirtying bowls just for holding stuff. If the board is big enough, you can push stuff into piles in the order you’ll need to slide them into pans, etc., and still have room to work.
Pre-prepping— I’m too lazy but lots of folks will dice veg to use throughout the week (you can even buy em that way!)
Yes to videos, basic cooking shows, skills classes, and watching how experienced cooks work.
posted by kapers at 11:16 AM on March 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oh, and familiarize yourself with the concept of mise en place. Get everything prepped and measured before you cook anything. Then you won’t ever get to the point in the recipe where you suddenly need to add three cups of kale, cut into 1-inch ribbons, and you have an unwashed unchopped unwieldy bunch of kale to deal with while garlic is burning in the pan.
posted by kapers at 11:21 AM on March 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by kapers at 11:21 AM on March 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
It may not make you any faster, and may make for more dishes, but setting up your mise en place will do wonders for your cooking workflow. Get everything washed and chopped/diced/sliced/minced or otherwise prepared and in it's own bowl before you begin. Once you begin cooking, you'll have everything ready and the whole process will go so much smoother, with significantly less chance or burning something as you feverishly attempt to prep the next ingredient.
posted by kmkrebs at 11:23 AM on March 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by kmkrebs at 11:23 AM on March 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
I too bought lots of little prep bowls (which are also perfect snack bowls). Mise en place really helped me get faster by starting off orderly. If something needs to be preheated or boiled or softened, start that first, then mise en place, and then go from there.
I know serious foodies mock them, but I find Rachel Ray's 45min meals and Ree Drummond's Pioneer Woman to both be good shows to figure out how to multi-task with cooking (with Pioneer Woman you can find just the recipes without all the 'and now I take sandwiches to the farm for the guys!' bits).
Another thing to keep in mind - recipes lie, like all the time. "Simmer for 5min" "Caramelize onions for 10min" etc - to get to a simmer takes quite some time (if you do it without scalding) so you expect that will be 5 min but it's actually like 15-20min. Caramelizing onions cannot happen in short amounts of time. So if things take you longer, realize that might be because you're doing things right.
posted by I'm Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today! at 11:24 AM on March 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
I know serious foodies mock them, but I find Rachel Ray's 45min meals and Ree Drummond's Pioneer Woman to both be good shows to figure out how to multi-task with cooking (with Pioneer Woman you can find just the recipes without all the 'and now I take sandwiches to the farm for the guys!' bits).
Another thing to keep in mind - recipes lie, like all the time. "Simmer for 5min" "Caramelize onions for 10min" etc - to get to a simmer takes quite some time (if you do it without scalding) so you expect that will be 5 min but it's actually like 15-20min. Caramelizing onions cannot happen in short amounts of time. So if things take you longer, realize that might be because you're doing things right.
posted by I'm Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today! at 11:24 AM on March 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
If you are going to get a mandoline, please get a good no slice glove or a highly rated one with a good guard. Even the pros are known to occasionally take some of their finger off.
posted by I'm Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today! at 11:28 AM on March 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by I'm Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today! at 11:28 AM on March 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
Also, on the subject of videos -- there are a number of cooking courses on Masterclass. They aren't free, but I've been especially enjoying the course by Thomas Keller.
posted by kmkrebs at 11:34 AM on March 10, 2018
posted by kmkrebs at 11:34 AM on March 10, 2018
nth'ing the practice advice. Recently I've been thinking a lot about how effortless prepping is for me today, compared to just 10 years ago. It is actually a real pleasure, I don't even get tears in my eyes over the onions anymore. Today I spent more time looking for some corn starch I thought I had (I didn't) than cutting up the vegs for a wok dish. (No, you cannot substitute polenta for corn starch, but it was still ok).
Also nth'ing the sharp knives recommendation. Really sharp knives improves your life, and IMO they are safer, because it's often when you are struggling with something that you cut yourself.
posted by mumimor at 11:50 AM on March 10, 2018
Also nth'ing the sharp knives recommendation. Really sharp knives improves your life, and IMO they are safer, because it's often when you are struggling with something that you cut yourself.
posted by mumimor at 11:50 AM on March 10, 2018
Large plastic rubbish bowl. Don't keep taking rubbish/peelings etc to the bin, dump them in a rubbish bowl on your counter. I keep mine in one side of my sink right next to my chopping board & just scrap the rubbish in.
Gather all your ingredients together before you start chopping.
Have a dinner plate or plastic plate out for your prepped veggies, lots of little bowls is a waste of time & effort & more stuff to organise, unless you're preparing a lot of food, it's not the end of the world if a tiny bit of carrot touches your onions or whatever.
Have a sharp knife & a sharp veggie peeler and a good sturdy chopping board that won't move. A scrapper to help you lift up the chopped items is handy & can save time as you can actually get everything in the bowl on the first sweep.
posted by wwax at 12:22 PM on March 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Gather all your ingredients together before you start chopping.
Have a dinner plate or plastic plate out for your prepped veggies, lots of little bowls is a waste of time & effort & more stuff to organise, unless you're preparing a lot of food, it's not the end of the world if a tiny bit of carrot touches your onions or whatever.
Have a sharp knife & a sharp veggie peeler and a good sturdy chopping board that won't move. A scrapper to help you lift up the chopped items is handy & can save time as you can actually get everything in the bowl on the first sweep.
posted by wwax at 12:22 PM on March 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Another thing to keep in mind - recipes lie, like all the time. "Simmer for 5min" "Caramelize onions for 10min" etc - to get to a simmer takes quite some time (if you do it without scalding) so you expect that will be 5 min but it's actually like 15-20min. Caramelizing onions cannot happen in short amounts of time.
There was a fun rant about that specific lie what turns out to be six years ago now.
I generally assume that any recipe that doesn't specifically account for prep time (i.e. washing, chopping, mise en place) is explicitly fudging by excluding it from the total. If I determine that fudging has happened, I just assume I have another 20-30 minutes of undocumented work ahead of me before the recipe even starts.
posted by fedward at 1:05 PM on March 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
There was a fun rant about that specific lie what turns out to be six years ago now.
I generally assume that any recipe that doesn't specifically account for prep time (i.e. washing, chopping, mise en place) is explicitly fudging by excluding it from the total. If I determine that fudging has happened, I just assume I have another 20-30 minutes of undocumented work ahead of me before the recipe even starts.
posted by fedward at 1:05 PM on March 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
I often meal prep, dividing cooked dishes into multiple single-meal containers as soon as they cool. If I need to stash washed, chopped vegetables for a few minutes before cooking them, I just put them in the Pyrex dishes that I will use later for my finished dishes.
Usually, I don't wash dishes that only held washed, chopped veggies. I just give them a good rinse. They don't have lipids; water will wash away residue just fine.
Practice chopping vegetables.
Run multiple recipes at once, and think about what steps can be done simultaneously. Granola takes an hour or two to bake, so I start that first. Then I put the rice on the stove to cook and throw in some items for stock. Then chop some onions. While the onions are browning, I might chop other veggies. Then everything simmers while I knead some dough for the week's bread.
I make ample use of my slow and pressure cookers, too - they cook some things while I'm out running errands. As you become more experienced, you'll learn how long it takes you to do tasks so you can multitask well.
Lastly, it generally takes ANYONE much longer to make recipes. Recipes almost always fudge their 'total time' to seem more appealing. Caramelizing onions is a classic example - it doesn't take 10 mins, it takes like 45. Recipes don't include prep time, either. So don't beat yourself up about it. Besides, cooking should be relaxing and enjoyable, and it should make you feel good about the finished product, not about how fast you got there.
posted by aquamvidam at 1:55 PM on March 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Usually, I don't wash dishes that only held washed, chopped veggies. I just give them a good rinse. They don't have lipids; water will wash away residue just fine.
Practice chopping vegetables.
Run multiple recipes at once, and think about what steps can be done simultaneously. Granola takes an hour or two to bake, so I start that first. Then I put the rice on the stove to cook and throw in some items for stock. Then chop some onions. While the onions are browning, I might chop other veggies. Then everything simmers while I knead some dough for the week's bread.
I make ample use of my slow and pressure cookers, too - they cook some things while I'm out running errands. As you become more experienced, you'll learn how long it takes you to do tasks so you can multitask well.
Lastly, it generally takes ANYONE much longer to make recipes. Recipes almost always fudge their 'total time' to seem more appealing. Caramelizing onions is a classic example - it doesn't take 10 mins, it takes like 45. Recipes don't include prep time, either. So don't beat yourself up about it. Besides, cooking should be relaxing and enjoyable, and it should make you feel good about the finished product, not about how fast you got there.
posted by aquamvidam at 1:55 PM on March 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Sorry to add - to address your specific examples, try this. Wash your kale (I actually do this leaf by leaf, since stuff gets stuck in the curly edges), then stack them with all the stems aligned. Draw your knife longitudinally from stem toward the tip on either side of the stems to remove them. Then chop them into pieces.
You don't need to dry each mushroom. They don't soak up that much water.
I have an old sponge that I use to scrub clean each root vegetable, if I'm keeping the skins. Much more efficient and thorough than hand washing.
Pay attention to the chopping technique in YouTube cooking videos. Those helped me a LOT.
I don't know of any videos that specifically address multitasking, but Maangchi and Food Wishes in particular do a good job of explaining what should be done in what order to maximize efficiency.
posted by aquamvidam at 2:01 PM on March 10, 2018
You don't need to dry each mushroom. They don't soak up that much water.
I have an old sponge that I use to scrub clean each root vegetable, if I'm keeping the skins. Much more efficient and thorough than hand washing.
Pay attention to the chopping technique in YouTube cooking videos. Those helped me a LOT.
I don't know of any videos that specifically address multitasking, but Maangchi and Food Wishes in particular do a good job of explaining what should be done in what order to maximize efficiency.
posted by aquamvidam at 2:01 PM on March 10, 2018
I am a firm believer in mise en place. I use little bowls but coffee filters or a large plate are fine options. I measure all herbs and spices before I begin.
Foods can be prepped ahead of time. Like the day before. Deciding what's for dinner tomorrow means only chopping onions once for two meals.
One thing I do that hasn't been mentioned is that I use the microwave to pre-cook veggies. I dice onions then nuke for a minute then saute. Same for bell peppers. And carrots. Etc. It makes for faster cooking.
If you have access to a salad bar at your grocery, buy chopped veggies until you have developed a work flow. Trying to learn to chop and managing having a whole meal ready at the same time can be daunting.
posted by daneflute at 2:22 PM on March 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Foods can be prepped ahead of time. Like the day before. Deciding what's for dinner tomorrow means only chopping onions once for two meals.
One thing I do that hasn't been mentioned is that I use the microwave to pre-cook veggies. I dice onions then nuke for a minute then saute. Same for bell peppers. And carrots. Etc. It makes for faster cooking.
If you have access to a salad bar at your grocery, buy chopped veggies until you have developed a work flow. Trying to learn to chop and managing having a whole meal ready at the same time can be daunting.
posted by daneflute at 2:22 PM on March 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Only because you mention that you cut kale one leaf at a time: When you dice carrots, do you cut the carrot into manageable lengths, cut slices, then sticks with stacked slices, and then dices across bundles of aligned sticks? Same with scallions, celery (it is already in a slice, just a bent one, so celery goes straight to sticks), etc.
Are you using a knife meant for chopping and not for sawing (i.e. are you using a chef's knife and not a serrated knife)?
You don't need a separate tiny bowl for each spice, but it is nice to measure out all the spices that get added at the same time and combine them in a tiny bowl. Same with chopped vegetables -- if you're making mirepoix for soup, the onions / carrots / celery can go together.
And I treat recipe prep times as complete lies. If someone is authoring a recipe, they've done it enough times that I can expect them to be faster -- or they've completely guessed on the timing because they've been photographing every step.
[also, you don't need to wash mushrooms; they'll get waterlogged! Mass-cultivated ones are grown in sterile soil, and I assume hand-foraged ones are pretty well-brushed. Give them a general shake and dust, pick off any egregious clods of dirt, and go forth.]
posted by batter_my_heart at 2:28 PM on March 10, 2018
Are you using a knife meant for chopping and not for sawing (i.e. are you using a chef's knife and not a serrated knife)?
You don't need a separate tiny bowl for each spice, but it is nice to measure out all the spices that get added at the same time and combine them in a tiny bowl. Same with chopped vegetables -- if you're making mirepoix for soup, the onions / carrots / celery can go together.
And I treat recipe prep times as complete lies. If someone is authoring a recipe, they've done it enough times that I can expect them to be faster -- or they've completely guessed on the timing because they've been photographing every step.
[also, you don't need to wash mushrooms; they'll get waterlogged! Mass-cultivated ones are grown in sterile soil, and I assume hand-foraged ones are pretty well-brushed. Give them a general shake and dust, pick off any egregious clods of dirt, and go forth.]
posted by batter_my_heart at 2:28 PM on March 10, 2018
A kale washing tip - fill a sink w/ enough water that the kale can float and be fully submerged by hand. Then throw all the kale in the sink, woosh it around, leave it for a minute, woosh again and pull it out. all the sediment/dirt/etc will fall to the bottom. Only dry the kale if you're making kale chips.
posted by I'm Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today! at 2:32 PM on March 10, 2018
posted by I'm Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today! at 2:32 PM on March 10, 2018
I stack all the half-leaves of kale (chard, wevs) up on top of each other, and when all done or the pile is toppling, I roll them up together to make a fat short cigar and slice across the cigar. (This has a proper french knifework name depending on how thick the slices.) This makes ribbons, which cook fast and are pretty, and if I want fragments I chop again a couple times across the slices.
There are tricks like this for every vegetable and every goal -- Julia Child's original _Mastering the Art of French Cooking_ pretty much starts with how to chop an onion.
posted by clew at 2:42 PM on March 10, 2018
There are tricks like this for every vegetable and every goal -- Julia Child's original _Mastering the Art of French Cooking_ pretty much starts with how to chop an onion.
posted by clew at 2:42 PM on March 10, 2018
Recipes generally take me 2-3 times longer than the internet would lead me to believe
Something on the internet is radically misrepresented? I am...aghast! Srsly, there is no such thing as '5 minute lasagna'. You are probably doing just fine.
posted by sexyrobot at 2:59 PM on March 10, 2018
Something on the internet is radically misrepresented? I am...aghast! Srsly, there is no such thing as '5 minute lasagna'. You are probably doing just fine.
posted by sexyrobot at 2:59 PM on March 10, 2018
(I have been cooking for years and it always takes like 3 times as long as the recipe says no matter how fast you move)
posted by sexyrobot at 3:00 PM on March 10, 2018
posted by sexyrobot at 3:00 PM on March 10, 2018
" I would love recipe videos/episodes that include instructions on "while this simmers, this would be a good time to do this other thing, and here's exactly how you do it." "
I literally sit down with my recipes and an open google doc, write the time I want to have the meal on the table, and work my way backwards. "Okay this has to bake for 30 minutes, so it has to go in the oven at 5:30, which means I have to start the oven preheating at 5:15. I'll need the chicken and these six vegetables, so I'll have to sear the chicken around 5:20 -- oh, but then I won't be able to also start the sauce, I can't manage both at once, so what if I sear the chicken at 5:10 and set it aside? Cool, sauce at 5:20."
If I'm doing multiple dishes, I start with the most important one first (because you can always swap side dishes if they absolutely won't work) and type out its schedule, and then I work in the other dishes around it, figuring out what can be done earlier, what has to be done last-second, where I have some down time and can do chopping or table-setting or whatever. I make one master schedule and I hang it on the cabinet above my main prep counter (using a command adhesive clip). (I also, when I have finished the schedule, go through it and make sure I know which pots and pans and serving dishes I'm using for each step, so I'm sure I have enough.)
It also helps that I know things about my specific kitchen -- I know that my favorite pasta pot takes a while to get to a boil, so I need to give it ten minutes so I'm not staring at it waiting for the water to boil because I only gave myself five minutes. I know my oven heats ungodly slowly, so I need to account for that when I preheat, and if I need to change oven temperatures. Knowing those sorts of things, which comes from experience, helps a lot in setting out your timing.
I realize this is insanely anal retentive and I get mocked all the time, but I also get dinner on the table when I tell people I will, and even when I have disasters I'm rarely more than 15 minutes off my promised timing, and I don't get flustered cooking big holiday feasts because it's all laid out in a master document. No one ever comes to my house and eats two hours late because someone forgot to thaw a chicken!
(Plus once you work it out, you can just SAVE THE DOCUMENT and the next time you're doing roast beef with Yorkshire puds and whatever other side dishes, you can just pull up that one and print it out, or substitute in a couple changed side dishes, and you're good to go.)
I also make notes in my cookbooks/on printed-out recipes, for simpler things -- like I have a notes on a long-simmering bean stew that I make when to mix and knead and bake a loaf of french bread to have it come out of the oven at the same time as the stew is done. Or in a curry I have noted, "[this unattended step] takes 10 minutes - make a salad." Or another might say "frantic at end -- cold sides only" or "no au gratin potatoes, won't fit in oven [with main]." (Also things like "destroyer of cookie sheets" and "this is awful" and "kids won't eat," my cookbooks are full of commentary!)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 3:04 PM on March 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
I literally sit down with my recipes and an open google doc, write the time I want to have the meal on the table, and work my way backwards. "Okay this has to bake for 30 minutes, so it has to go in the oven at 5:30, which means I have to start the oven preheating at 5:15. I'll need the chicken and these six vegetables, so I'll have to sear the chicken around 5:20 -- oh, but then I won't be able to also start the sauce, I can't manage both at once, so what if I sear the chicken at 5:10 and set it aside? Cool, sauce at 5:20."
If I'm doing multiple dishes, I start with the most important one first (because you can always swap side dishes if they absolutely won't work) and type out its schedule, and then I work in the other dishes around it, figuring out what can be done earlier, what has to be done last-second, where I have some down time and can do chopping or table-setting or whatever. I make one master schedule and I hang it on the cabinet above my main prep counter (using a command adhesive clip). (I also, when I have finished the schedule, go through it and make sure I know which pots and pans and serving dishes I'm using for each step, so I'm sure I have enough.)
It also helps that I know things about my specific kitchen -- I know that my favorite pasta pot takes a while to get to a boil, so I need to give it ten minutes so I'm not staring at it waiting for the water to boil because I only gave myself five minutes. I know my oven heats ungodly slowly, so I need to account for that when I preheat, and if I need to change oven temperatures. Knowing those sorts of things, which comes from experience, helps a lot in setting out your timing.
I realize this is insanely anal retentive and I get mocked all the time, but I also get dinner on the table when I tell people I will, and even when I have disasters I'm rarely more than 15 minutes off my promised timing, and I don't get flustered cooking big holiday feasts because it's all laid out in a master document. No one ever comes to my house and eats two hours late because someone forgot to thaw a chicken!
(Plus once you work it out, you can just SAVE THE DOCUMENT and the next time you're doing roast beef with Yorkshire puds and whatever other side dishes, you can just pull up that one and print it out, or substitute in a couple changed side dishes, and you're good to go.)
I also make notes in my cookbooks/on printed-out recipes, for simpler things -- like I have a notes on a long-simmering bean stew that I make when to mix and knead and bake a loaf of french bread to have it come out of the oven at the same time as the stew is done. Or in a curry I have noted, "[this unattended step] takes 10 minutes - make a salad." Or another might say "frantic at end -- cold sides only" or "no au gratin potatoes, won't fit in oven [with main]." (Also things like "destroyer of cookie sheets" and "this is awful" and "kids won't eat," my cookbooks are full of commentary!)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 3:04 PM on March 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
If it helps, here's the timing sheet for a three-course meal I made for my husband's birthday last month. Since I was making this for my family, dessert is bang after dinner because children's tolerance for long times at the table is very limited. (If I were making it for adult guests I'd eat, and THEN start the pies, and then eat them an hour after dinner.) You can see the things I pre-prepped (i.e., the mini pies) don't have a recipe -- those are separate -- but for the things I made during the cooking time itself, I included abbreviated recipes so I didn't even have to look at a second sheet of paper (unless I was completely flummoxed). At about 4:30 I got out all the ingredients and cooking implements I was going to need, to make sure everything was available and I wasn't frantically searching for the mustard that my children had hidden in the back of the fridge or anything!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 3:27 PM on March 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 3:27 PM on March 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Pomiane's French Cooking in Ten Minutes lays out menus for everyday meals that can be cooked quickly, and tells you what order to do what in.
(He assumes you have an hour at home for lunch during the workday, and only want to spend half an hour actually cooking and eating, because you and your friend want to relax over the final coffee and cigarette. !!! The ingredients lists are also a little old-fashioned but not as impossible to recreate as that.)
posted by clew at 3:51 PM on March 10, 2018
(He assumes you have an hour at home for lunch during the workday, and only want to spend half an hour actually cooking and eating, because you and your friend want to relax over the final coffee and cigarette. !!! The ingredients lists are also a little old-fashioned but not as impossible to recreate as that.)
posted by clew at 3:51 PM on March 10, 2018
Does each go in its individual prep-bowl? This seems like a lot of dishes to wash.
They have only held pre-washed chopped veggies for between 30-60 min. They don't need to be put through a dishwasher or scrubbed (except for bowls that had smelly or starch-releasing veg), just swiped out with a soap-dampened dish brush/rag and rinsed. I sometimes use plastic containers (e.g. old yogurt containers) instead because these are less likely to break when dropped (i'm a fumble fingers in the kitchen).
posted by holyrood at 4:07 PM on March 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
They have only held pre-washed chopped veggies for between 30-60 min. They don't need to be put through a dishwasher or scrubbed (except for bowls that had smelly or starch-releasing veg), just swiped out with a soap-dampened dish brush/rag and rinsed. I sometimes use plastic containers (e.g. old yogurt containers) instead because these are less likely to break when dropped (i'm a fumble fingers in the kitchen).
posted by holyrood at 4:07 PM on March 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
While you’re waiting for onions to turn translucent, or for a pot to boil, use the time to hand wash your mise en place bowls and your knives etc. My kitchen is usually pretty clean by the time food is ready to be served, so after meal clean up just involves putting plates and pots and pans into the dishwasher.
posted by monotreme at 4:54 PM on March 10, 2018
posted by monotreme at 4:54 PM on March 10, 2018
For the kale question specifically:
I tear the leaves off my kale by gripping it loosely at the base of the stem and drawing the leaf through my fingers. The leaves pop right off until the stem gets weaker than the leaf-stem attachment. So I then get the last inch or two of thin, weak stem mixed in with the leafy bit, but that seems fine since I eat the stems too (chopped separately and cooked more thoroughly).
posted by d. z. wang at 7:34 PM on March 11, 2018
I tear the leaves off my kale by gripping it loosely at the base of the stem and drawing the leaf through my fingers. The leaves pop right off until the stem gets weaker than the leaf-stem attachment. So I then get the last inch or two of thin, weak stem mixed in with the leafy bit, but that seems fine since I eat the stems too (chopped separately and cooked more thoroughly).
posted by d. z. wang at 7:34 PM on March 11, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by nightrecordings at 10:43 AM on March 10, 2018 [6 favorites]