Undercover Chef Tip – Butter It Up
Undercover Chef Tip – Butter it Up for Baking Nothing is worse than starting a recipe and realising you need softened butter in a hurry. So how do you make your butter soft without risk of melting it or needing a micro wave? Grating it finely allows it to melt quickly into your mixes or …
Cooking with kids – age appropriate cooking
Teaching Kids to Cook at Any Age What tasks can your kids do in the kitchen? Discover what skills are great for each age group to get kids cooking in the kitchen with ease with our simple list below Toddlers – 6 yr old – Peeling fruit (mandarins) and eggs with hands– Juice citrus fruit– Crack eggs– Stir or whisk easy batters– Scoop batters or dough– Pour liquids– Measure dry ingredients with cups– Using cookie cutters These tasks are designed to get your youngest …
Cooking with kids – knife safety
Seven Tips for Knife Safety with Kids Cooking with kids is such a fun and memorable experience. Safety is one of the top priorities in any kitchen and using a knife safely is essential. Kids can learn kitchen confidence and become a willing helper in the kitchen with these safe tips to get them chopping, …
The road to becoming a chef – part two
Becoming an apprentice chef – the list of working conditions doesn’t exactly read like a career you would want to pursue – hot, busy, high pressure, antisocial long hours, standing all day, minimal pay. You must be crazy to go ahead on this path. My Dad certainly thought so – for him education was …
The road to becoming a chef – part one
My career has had some really interesting and hard moments contributing to some amazing opportunities and learning experiences. The path to being a chef is one that is chosen for a variety of reasons – some have a history of cooking in their family, some just like the idea of the job and for some …
Easy ways to cook well, eat well and have fun doing it
An interesting revelation has come to come me lately. I always had this preconception that as a chef just because I know how to cook I must know how to eat. Let me explain my logic here – when you can cook and anything and enjoy cooking surely you must only eat the very best …
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When is it convenient to buy ready made?
Ready made. Microwave meals. Convenient food. All becoming big no no’s in the culinary world. Why? I hear you ask. Depending on the quality of the product, made processed food items can contain more chemical numbers, salt and sugar than they do real ingredients. So when is it ok to buy ready made products and …
Undercover Chef Tip – Having your cake and cutting it too
Ever starting cutting up a beautiful birthday cake and found by the third slice it looks a little less than beautiful? So what to do? An easy solution is to warm up the knife in hot water to allow it to cut through the icing cleanly. So how do you warm up the knife easily? …
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The knives are out – how to choose a kitchen knife that works for you
Besides what is is my favourite food to cook, what type of knife do I use is another question I am often asked. So how do you know what type of knife to invest in, what to look for and where to save your dollars? Let’s start with some basic points to consider: 1. What …
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Undercover Chef Tip – Saving the Herbs
Fresh herbs are great when you are making a salad or cooking and sprinkling them in. But what do you do with them when no further recipe ideas call for them later in the week? A great way to preserve herbs is to freeze them in olive oil or stock for later use. You can …
Undercover Chef Tip – Garlic or Ginger In Recipes
Have you ever looked at a recipe that asks for finely diced garlic or ginger and just gone…ugh.. Trust me, even in a professional kitchen this step is a pain. So what to do to make it easier when all you need is a spoon of garlic so can’t use the food processor? A microplane …
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A picture is worth a thousand bites
Food photography. It can be a love hate sort of deal. Why are people taking photos of their meal? is a common refrain. As a chef, a photo of a meal can serve a multitude of purposes – as an example of how you’d like your meal plated so those replicating know exactly what goes …
Undercover Chef – Top and Tails
The last thing you want to do sometimes after a busy day is to prepare your vegetables for dinner – so how do you get your greens without having to stand in the kitchen for even longer? When you get them home from the market or shops top and tail them so they are ready …
Undercover Chef Tip – Keeping it Above Board
Wobbly chopping boards – the bane and danger of any kitchen be it household or commercial. Nothing is worse than trying to run your knife over some herbs and the board slips and slides. Or how about when you are trying to dice some meat for a casserole and each slice of the blade sends …
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