5 Home Cooking Hacks Using Science
Our guest today is J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, the managing culinary director of seriouseats.com and the author of the cookbook The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science. In this book, Kenji applies chemistry and physics to show home cooks how they can achieve better results in the kitchen, from egg poaching to making mac and cheese with the perfect texture.
Ever since his first Food Lab column on seriouseats.com about how to make the best hard boiled eggs, J. Kenji Lopez has been teaching his devoted audience about better home cooking through science. In his cookbook The Food Lab, he employs a lifelong curiosity about how things work to tackle some of the most classic kitchen dilemmas and queries. Here are some of Kenji’s tips and tricks:
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Use vodka instead of water in pastries and pie crusts.
This limits gluten formation, resulting in more tender and crisp pie crusts. This trick also works for tempura and beer batter, as the volatility in vodka contributes to a lighter crust.
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Add fish sauce to tomato sauce for pasta.
This adds an extra umami kick thanks to glutamic acid, which boosts savory flavors. Be sure to use it in small proportions to avoid overwhelming other ingredients.
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Invest in a good thermometer.
Everyone should have one, especially for cooking meat, to ensure perfect doneness.
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Use a mortar and pestle instead of a spice grinder.
Kenji prefers this tool because it’s easier to clean and extracts more flavor from ingredients when pounding aromatics for curry paste, guacamole, or pesto compared to a food processor.
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A bench scraper is essential.
It’s the best tool for quickly cleaning your cutting board and transferring ingredients from it to a pot or pan—using the edge of your knife can dull it.
Listen to the full interview in the top right hand player, or on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify (simply search the mobile app!). Don’t forget to sign up for the forthcoming Clever Cookstr newsletter, full of tips and tricks from the kitchens of the world’s best chefs.
Author photo courtesy of Vicky Wasik.