I’m always looking for new ways to heighten flavor in dishes, but especially in summer, when spirits and appetites flag. It’s the best possible time to pursue light, sprightly tastes and surprising combinations and to go easy on fat, sugar and salt.

Which is why I use the fresh, fragrant herbs from my garden and local markets as often and as creatively as I can. As the best cooks know so well, herbs provide an array of weapons in the never-ending culinary battle against blandness.  Just a few fresh snippets of the right herb can brighten a dish, offset oiliness, add zip, increase complexity, refresh, and clear the head.

If you’re a newbie, the starting point for tapping into the power of herbs is simply to spend time tasting and smelling an assortment of them. You’ll immediately notice for instance, that rosemary and oregano have an assertive pungency and an invigorating, almost piney scent. Parsley, in contrast, goes low profile with a subtle, clean-green aroma and taste. If you’ve always relied on dried parsley as well as the dried versions of basil, cilantro and many other herbs, the fresh forms will be a revelation. The mints and dill are cooling, which is partly why they appear in mojitos, raitas and cucumber salads. Basil is a complex, aromatic blend of peppery, spicy, bitter and sweet.  No wonder it’s a key component in pesto, a brilliant recipe for transforming a plain bowl of pasta into a feast. Once you get to know each herb’s distinctive properties it’s much easier to take advantage of its appeal.

Initially, I gained insights into how to use fresh herbs just by trying out traditional pairings: tomatoes with oregano, salmon with dill weed, baked potato and sour cream with chives, beef bourguignon with thyme. The next step was riffing on those combinations: Because oregano enlivened tomato sauces and salsas, I guessed correctly that it would be dynamite in a salsa featuring the tomato’s cousin, the tomatillo. Because chives perked up baked potatoes, I successfully threw the herb into potato soups and salads, and then branched out by tossing chives into other starchy dishes such as breads, crackers and biscuits.

Gradually I’ve gotten bolder, especially in exploring what has become downright trendy: the use of herbs in sweet baked goods, fruit dishes and desserts. I took a cue from a luscious truffle made by a chocolatier friend and paired chocolate with tarragon and grapefruit in a sorbet. The citrus and anise flavor notes are not only unexpected but utterly addictive. I had originally assumed that lavender was for soaps and sachets but after experimenting, realized its slight zest and sweet spiciness add dimension to cooked blackberry and raspberry sauces and apple compotes. I’d thought that the resinous qualities of rosemary made it better suited to savory than sweet dishes but have found that flour somehow tames it, yielding pleasing cookies and sweet muffins and breads.

Here are some ideas for using the herbs I love most that can usually be found in their fresh form.

Basil: Try it with sautéed spinach, braised broccoli, mild white
beans, pasta dishes, mixed vegetable soups, Thai- and
Vietnamese-style soups and stir fries, simple fish and chicken
entrees, nontraditional oyster stew, tomato and cheese dishes and, of
course, pestos and pizzas.

Chives: The loveliest, most versatile oniony herb. Use them to
enliven cream cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream, yogurt, ricotta,
raitas, vegetable dips, compound butters, mustard cream sauces and
vinaigrettes. Sprinkle them over cooked veggies and frittatas and in
omelets. Stir them into pasta, rice and mixed vegetable salads. Fold
them into potato, tomato, root vegetable and creamy onion soups,
broths and wherever you need a substitute for the flavor of green
onion.

Dill: It has a pleasing presence when accompanying cucumbers,
pickles, slaw, potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, beets, summer squash,
smoked and fresh salmon, lemony and mustardy salad dressings, briny
sauces and deviled eggs. It ratchets up flavor yet soothes and
refreshes in raitas, dips, chilled tomato soup, carrot soup, muffins,
quick breads and savory yeasted loaves.

Oregano: A must in many pasta sauces, salads, salsas, full-bodied
meaty soups, minestrones, lasagnas, pizzas, hearty bean dishes,
chilis and spanakopita. A nice addition to lamb, pork and,
occasionally, beef.

Rosemary: This highly aromatic herb teams beautifully with lemon or
orange in cookies, muffins and other sweet baked goods. It brightens
up focaccias, breadsticks, rustic boules, stuffings, roasted
potatoes, bean and lentil dishes, pork, lamb, beef and even venison.

Tarragon: Use it to spark vinaigrettes, wine vinegar, bearnaise
sauce, herb butters, heady mustards and even some tapenades. Good
with chicken, turkey, fish, lamb and vegetables. Adds a pleasing
anise accent to chocolate ganaches, sauces, buttercreams, ice creams
and sorbets.

Thyme: The herb I most often reach for, it brings out the best in
mushrooms, beets, cooked tomatoes and nearly all red-wine dishes.
Adds depth to stocks, broths and ragouts; vegetable, meat and seafood
soups; Indian-style curries, beef stews, gumbos and fricassees. Zips
up seafood, lamb, pork, beef, poultry, bread and rice stuffings, corn
bread and other dishes too numerous to mention.

 

It brings to food additional layers of flavors and aromas that harkens back to a more primal time in humankind’s history.  While our ancestors, both ancient and not so ancient, relied on live fire to cook, we no longer have to mess with it.  Yet every summer people across the

US spend countless hours standing over grills and barbecues doing just that.  Not because we have to but because we want to.  While much of the world still relies on open fires for cooking, modern Western man does not.  Instead, through the marvels of electricity and natural gas, all we need to do is turn a knob and/or push a button to heat up an element that we can then cook over. 

Live fire cooking has become a “luxury” for us and not a necessity like it has been for everyone up until the early parts of the 20^th century. For some of us, grilling has become an art form, while for others, they are just lucky to have not charred the food beyond recognition or to have burnt down the house.  This series is devoted to the latter person, though even the grill jockeys among us might learn a thing or two. While there are many good places to start, in a discussion of grilling, we will start with the first decision everyone, who wants to grill, needs to make. 

 Should I choose gas or charcoal?  Contrary to what many grill masters, who most often prefer charcoal, will tell you, the decision is not quite as simple or cut and dried as it seems.  There are various factors to take into account, from flavor, to time invested, to environmental impacts. 

My recommendation would be to have both as it gives you the best of both worlds, but I understand that for many people, that isn’t an option due to space constraints, budget constraints or merely trying to explain to your significant other just why you need two grills.  Some people just don’t understand!    

It should be noted that when I speak of “gas” grills I am speaking of those that run on liquid propane that is contained in a small tank, usually attached to the grill.  Some gas grills run on natural gas, but those are built-in jobs that have been connected to the house’s gas line.  These can be expensive, thus not seen terribly often.  In general though, with some exceptions, most statements I make about gas are relevant to both.   Let’s face it, when it comes to the time issue, gas beats charcoal hands down.  With charcoal, one has to light the fuel then wait for 20-30 minutes for the charcoal to burn down until it is covered in ash and only then is it ready to use.  With gas, a few turns of a couple of knobs, the flick of a button and a short, 5-10 minute preheating time and you are ready to cook. 

After a long day of work, when all you want is a quick burger on the grill, you can’t beat the speed of gas. There is also less clean up involved in gas grills as there is no build of spent ash that needs to be removed from the grill on a regular basis, though occasional cleaning is necessary.    

 In terms of flavor, the best choice is charcoal.  Gas is inherently flavorless.  The flavor created cooking on a gas grill is provided by the charring action of the hot grates and any smokiness comes from the burning and vaporizing of melted fats and meat juices.  Gas is also a moister heat since, when propane burns is creates carbon dioxide and water, which can somewhat inhibit getting a good carmelization on the meat.  On the other hand, charcoal not only provides flavor from the above reasons but, being made from wood, also provides its own smoky character.  In addition, charcoal oftentimes burns hotter allowing for better charring and caramelization. 

Flavor is the number one reason grill jockeys prefer charcoal over gas.     When it comes to controlling your heat, both gas and charcoal have their advantages and disadvantages.  With gas overall heat is much easier to control.  Turn the gas up for more heat and down for less.  It is much more complicated with charcoal and involves lowering or raising the grill grate, removing or adding more charcoal, etc.  But where charcoal shines is its flexibility.  With gas you are bound to the way your burners are set up.  There are only so many options and configurations open to you if you have a gas grill.  Charcoal on the other hand is almost infinitely variable.  You can move charcoal around your grill to give you hot spots and cool spots.  You can create various configurations for indirect grilling, or by moving all your charcoal to the sides, create a more oven like environment.    

While I could go on and on about the differences between gas and charcoal, I have listed the most important differences between the two.  As you can see, each has its good points and its drawbacks.  My gas grill gets lots of use due to the convenience of it, but there is just something so primal about cooking over the live “flames” of charcoal that draws me in, and the flavor just can’t be beat.  In the end though, it doesn’t matter whether you choose gas or charcoal.  What matters is getting out there and grilling!

The term “sushi” is often synonymous with “raw fish“ in many diners minds but it in fact refers to the vinegared rice in the dish, not the topping or filling which may or may not consist of raw fish. Just like Spanish jamon, French confit or Korean kimchi, sushi was originally created as a means of preservation. At some point before the 16th century, it was discovered that salted fish packed in rice underwent a particular form of fermentation that not only preserved the fish, but created a whole host of the savory flavors prized by the Japanese and now identified as umami.

Fish would be preserved for a period ranging from several months to several years. The rice was discarded, and the fish was consumed either thinly sliced, or as a flavoring in other dishes. By replacing the fermentation process with a splash of vinegar and sugar and using fresh fish instead of fermented, modern sushi was invented in early 19th century Edo (modern day Tokyo).It’s really the Japanese version of the sandwich.

Now, now, I know you’re asking what’s meat between a couple slices of bread have to do with raw fish and rice? Well, just like sandwiches, sushi is a convenience food intended to be eaten directly out of your hands. In fact, when modern sushi was invented, it was served primarily out of street pushcarts, as theater concessions, or as snacks in gambling halls. Indeed, tekka-make (tuna rolls) are named after the tekkaba (gambling halls) where they were commonly served. Though there are regional specialties from every corner of Japan (and even

Korea!),

The Rice

Vinegared rice (sumeshi) is the most important aspect of any form of sushi. It’s made by combining rinsed and steamed short-grain rice, rice vinegar often flavored with kombu, or sea kelp, sugar, and salt. Balancing the sweet and sour flavors and achieving the perfect rice consistency are the challenges. The process for making sumeshi may seem a bit fussy at first, for anyone who appreciates sushi.  The results are worth it, and the steps become simpler and simpler as you go on.

• Step 1: Rinse the rice. Use a high-quality short grain rice (koshihikiri is the most respected variety) specifically labeled for making sushi. My favorite homegrown brand from California is Tamaki Gold. Measure out the rice, place it in a strainer, and rinse it under cold running water until the water coming out runs clear. This extra starch would make the rice far too sticky if left on the grains.
• Step 2: Steam the rice. The easiest way by far is to use a rice cooker. Add the rice to the machine, add water in a ratio of 1.1 cups of water per cup of rice, turn it on, and forget about it. If you want to do it the hard way, bring the rice and water to a simmer over high heat in a pot with a tight-fitting lid. Place the lid on the pot, reduce the heat as low as it’ll go, simmer for 15 minutes, remove from heat, and let it sit until all the water is absorbed, about ten minutes longer.
• Step 3: Make the vinegar. Combine vinegar, sugar, salt, and a strip of konbu in a small saucepot and heat until the sugar and salt are dissolved. The ratio of this mixture may vary according to taste, but I generally use 1/4 cup of rice vinegar, 3 tablespoons sugar, a teaspoon of salt, and a 2×2 strip of konbu per cup of uncooked rice.

• Spread the rice. Here comes the fussy part. You need to transfer the rice into a non-reactive container that will allow it to sit in an even layer no more than 2 inches thick. There are bamboo containers called sushi oke specifically designed for this task, but any container will do really. I suggest a glass Pyrex casserole dish, or a plastic lexan container.
• Fan and season the rice. If you’ve got someone willing to sit next to you and fan your rice as you mix in the vinegar solution, you are a luckier man than I. I resort to attaching a clip-on fan the my kitchen cabinet door and have it blowing across the rice as I sprinkle it with the vinegar solution and gently fold it into the rice with a cutting motion using a rice paddle. The goal here is to season the rice without crushing and cutting the grains, all while removing as much excess steam and moisture as possible.

If all goes well, your sumeshi should come out slightly sweet and tart, full of distinct grains, and have a texture that holds together when compressed, but is not overly sticky. If it all seems to go south, don’t despair. Just remember that in

Japan, there are young apprentices who take two years perfecting their sumeshi preparation!In the meantime, I promise your results will still be perfectly edible, and probably delicious. Excited yet? You’d better be, because we just passed the point of nori turn! 

Growing up in the 1980s, I was pretty sure what made Jell-O Pudding Pops so delicious was that every batch had been lovingly made by Bill Cosby, naturally. Now that I’m older and wiser, I know that the secret behind that singular texture and flavor isn’t Bill’s secret family recipe. But what I didn’t know was that these sweet summertime treats are, seriously, the easiest thing ever to make. Even better? At home varieties also offer the freedom to showcase less celebrated pudding flavors like butterscotch or rice pudding pop, anyone?

Or to create your own new flavor by making two tone pops in complementary flavors. I had great success with the popsicles I made for our pool party I figured I’d share this .

Homemade Pudding Pops

1 package (3.9 oz.) Jell-O Instant Pudding, in the flavor of you’re choosing (or for a two-tone variation, see note below)
1 cup cold half and half
1 cup cold milkNote: To make the two-tone variation shown at the top of the post, make two batches of the above, using different flavors of Jell-O pudding; fill the bottom half of each cup with one flavor, and let set for about 5 minutes; pour the second flavor on top, insert popsicle sticks and cool as specified below.  The two-tone pops will yield 12 popsicles.1. Beat ingredients with a whisk until smooth and incorporated, 1-2 minutes by hand.2. Pour into 6 paper or plastic cups. Insert wooden pop stick or plastic spoon in center of each cup.3. Freeze for 5 hours or until firm. Peel off paper cups before serving.

One day in culinary school, I watched a friend’s mom, an Indian home cook, roasting spices in a ladle over a gas flame. I was transfixed, both by the novelty of the technique and the scent that wafted towards me. So much of what I learned in those school years has been forgotten but I still think of that moment at the stove every time I marvel at the nuanced layers of spice in Indian cooking.

Roasting spices is one of several ways of coaxing flavors out of spices. You can also steep them in hot liquids or fry them in oil. For example, each one contributes something different to a dish. The thing that is special about toasted spices is the way the dry heat transforms them both drawing out their aromas and adding a mellow, toasty complexity.

They can be used to finish a curry or other spiced dish adding a final layer of spice and rounding out the dish in much the same way some brown butter or toasted nuts would. They also add a mellow spiciness to baked goods, pickles, dressings, rubs, marinades, sauces, compound butter, or added to your favorite hot beverage.

Just for fun I compared the flavor of several roasted and unroasted spices. I found that cinnamon developed a deeper, woodsy flavor, not quite as spicy as before roasting. The bitter notes of cumin were diminished with roasting, highlighting its earthy qualities. Fennel got my vote for most improved with roasting. The seeds took on a beautiful toasty yellow color, pleasant crunch, and the scent of fresh straw and toasted marshmallows, I have been smelling on them all week.

Finally, I am a huge cardamom fan but without roasting. I will admit this spice can have a somewhat numbing menthol-y quality. Roasting mellows it out and brings out its warm sweetness. It is really easy to experiment with roasted spices in your cooking. I would love to hear your favorite uses for toasted spices. And if you have any favorite places to buy spices, please chime in and add to this post with your recommendations! 

I speak about this all the time on my weekly cooking demos. So here it is in black and white .The difference between a sauté pan and a skillet is a subtle but important one, and it all comes down to shape. A sauté pan, from the French verb meaning “to jump” (sauter) has a wide flat bottom, and relatively tall, vertical sides. A skillet, on the other hand, has sides that flare outward at an angle. But the real question is, when should you use each one, and do you really need both?

The difference in shape affects five main factors: surface area, volume, weight, tossing ability, and evaporation.

Surface Area

Pans are measured according to the diameter of the lip, not the diameter of the cooking surface. Most home burners can only comfortably fit a pan of around 12-inches in diameter. Because of its straight sides, a 12-inch sauté pan will also have a large, 12-inch wide cooking surface about 113 square inches. A skillet, on the other hand, loses at least an inch on each side, making the effective cooking area only 10-inches wide about 79 square inches. That means that given a skillet and sauté pan of equal diameter, the skillet will have 30% less cooking area than the sauté pan. That’s not an insignificant amount. I can quite comfortably fit 12 pieces of chicken in a 12-inch sauté pan a task that takes two batches with a skillet.

Volume

Again, the straight sides of a sauté pan allow you to fit a higher volume of liquid into the same amount of oven space. Straight sides also make it less likely to splash out as you move the pan around or transfer it in and out of the oven. It also allows the lid to fit more tightly, minimizing evaporation. This extra volume is a great boon when performing tasks like shallow-frying a pan full of meatballs in a 1/2 inch of oil or braising a dozen chicken thighs in white wine.

Weight

Because of its wide base a sauté pan is significantly heavier than the equivalent skillet, often necessitating the addition of a “helper handle” on the opposite side of the main handle to facilitate lifting and moving. While this weight is no problem when the pan is sitting still on the stove top or oven, the lighter weight of a skillet makes it superior for shaking and stirring to promote even cooking of vegetables or pieces of chopped meat.Tossing AbilityIronically, a skillet is actually far superior at sautéing food than a sauté pan. To properly sauté, small to medium sized pieces of food are cooked rapidly in hot fat while constantly stirring. The sloping sides of a skillet allow you to easily shake the pan, performing the jump-flip maneuver that cooks like to show off with. It’s more than just ego-padding though. It’s the most efficient way to redistribute the food in the pan, ensuring even cooking for all pieces. While it is possible to sauté in a straight-sided sauté pan, it’s not easy, requiring constant stirring and turning with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Evaporation

The geometry of a pan can affect how easily moisture is driven off of food, and how rapidly a sauce will reduce. It’s often claimed that the sloped sides of a skillet help moisture exuded by cooking meats evaporate more rapidly, allowing you to sear more efficiently. And this is true, but only given the same cooking area. In other words, a 12-inch skillet with a 10-inch cooking area will sear foods more efficiently than a 10-inch sauté pan. The corollary to this, of course, is that given an equal amount of food that needs searing over super high heat (some steaks, for example), the large surface area of a sauté pan does not offer any significant advantages over a skillet you’ll still have to cook in just as many batches.Same goes for reducing sauces. Sauces will reduce just as fast in a 12-inch sauté pan as in a 12-inch skillet.

So Which One Is It?

When it comes down to it as far as high-temperature (as for steaks) searing goes, both pans are equally efficient. A skillet offers advantages when sautéing and a sauté pan offers advantages when shallow frying, moderate-temperature searing (as for chicken pieces), or braising.

In an ideal world you’d have both, but if I had to pick one, I’d go with the skillet as sautéing is a step in nearly every recipe I make.Whichever pan you choose there are a few things to keep in mind while shopping.

• Look for triple-layer construction. Triple-layer products generally consist of a layer of aluminum clad between two layers of stainless steel. Aluminum transmits heat very rapidly, while stainless steel heats much more slowly and can maintain its temperature better when cold foods are added to it. Put these two characteristics together, and you’ve got a pan that heats evenly, and maintains its heat for more even sautéing and searing
• Avoid disk-bottomed pans. Disk-bottomed pans are stainless steel pans with an aluminum disk welded to the bottom of them. Conceptually they work the same way as clad products but the disks have a tendency to fall off. They also don’t distribute heat to the sides of the pan.
• Look for riveted handles. Welded handles fall off with repeated use. Riveted handles should last a lifetime
• If it’s your first pan, don’t buy a nonstick. A nonstick pan is great for some uses. Eggs, pancakes, super delicate fish, but a stainless pan is far more versatile. You can heat it hotter, giving you a better sear. It is also superior at developing fond the flavorful browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan after searing that are the base for any number of pan sauces
• And the number 1 rule: You get what you pay for. Those $24.99 13-piece pan sets look like a great deal until you try sweating onions in them and find half your onions burning while the other half are raw, or realize that it doesn’t retain enough heat to sear more than half a steak at a time

All-Clad remains the industry standard for high quality cookware, and their 12-inch Stainless Fry Pan with Lid is a steal these days at only $89.99. Remember, this is a pan that will last you a lifetime.The only cheaper pans I’ve used that have come close to All-Clad levels are found at Walmart.  I think there called  Tramontina Stainless line which comes at about half the price though with no lid. Only time will tell of the longevity of the cheaper knock-offs.

 

 Spring and summer might not seem like prime deep-frying season that is, until you remember it’s the time of year for soft-shell crab sandwiches, battered oysters and clams, fried chicken, chips and guacamole, and salty fries as a side to the perfect lobster roll or burger.

Got your attention now? I used to think that in order to deep-fry, you needed a deep-fryer. Not so. To do it at home, just grab a stockpot, wok, or deep-walled saucepan, and a candy or deep-fat thermometer, and go to town.

How to Prepare

The best frying oils have high smoke points so they won’t burn under the high temperatures required for crisping. Some good candidates are peanut, grapeseed, pecan, and vegetable or canola oils. Fill your pot of choice with a moderate amount maybe around a quart or two for an at-home-sized batch of fried food, depending on the size of your pot and the amount you’re cooking. As a general rule, it should be just enough to fully cover a batch of whatever you’re frying. Set up a thermometer to keep track of your temp, and place the pot on the stovetop over a medium flame. While it heats, prep the items you plan to cook by cutting or breaking them down so they’re all similar in size to one another. This will ensure everything cooks at the same rate.In the art of deep-frying, drying is key.In the art of deep-frying, drying is key. Since adding water to hot oil will cause the oil to jump, and sometimes even boil completely cover the pot.   Food should have no excess moisture on it when it goes into the fryer. Thoroughly dry each piece with a towel or paper towels before cooking. Post cooking, the food will need another drying session this time to rid itself of extra grease so set up a sheet pan lined with a few layers of paper towel or a drying rack somewhere near the stove. And if you don’t plan on serving food immediately or have may batches to fry, you’ll need a warm oven to keep it crisp. Set yours to its low setting, or somewhere around 200°F.

How to Deep-Fry

The goal is to maintain the temperature of the oil, and adding too much food at a time will cause it to plunge. When your oil reaches the desired temperature this depends on the food and varies with the cook.  But if your recipe doesn’t suggest one, 325 to 350°F should be a decent starting place.  Gently lower in a small batch of food, such as one large handful of clams or a few pieces of chicken. The goal is to maintain the temperature of the oil, and adding too much food at a time will cause it to plunge. If you’re up to temp, the oil around the food should immediately start to bubble. Use a spider or other slotted metal or bamboo utensil to nudge the pieces away from one another so they’re able to crisp on all sides. When the frying items are looking golden brown and irresistible remove and sprinkle with salt or seasonings. Repeat with the remaining batches stop when the oil starts to brown or gives off a strong smell.Finally, call me over. I’ll bring the beers.

Buying ingredients for cooking, like many other pursuits, is a constant compromise for most of us. We’d love to subsist entirely on organic, local food, but we settle for splurging only on grass-fed meat. We’d love to use the finest implements and tools, but we content ourselves with a few high-end pots and supplement those with some bargain dishes and silverware.

Anybody who cooks from scratch on a regular basis has most likely run into the herb conundrum as well: is it worth it to buy them fresh, or is using store-bought dried herbs an acceptable substitute? In a perfect world, we’d all have beautiful, healthy herb gardens where we grew our own specimens of parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, and delicately tended the plants until we harvested their aromatic bounty.

 But let’s get real how many of us are really growing all our own herbs at home? Few, if any, and the alternatives are equally frustrating. If we buy fresh herbs, they can go bad before we’ve had a chance to use them all.  If we buy dried herbs we lose out on flavor. Utilizing herbs wisely and frugally depends on knowing which herbs are worth buying fresh, which dried herbs you can use to cut corners, and what to do with all those bunches and bottles to maximize their effectiveness once you’ve brought them home.Best When Fresh: Basil , Cilantro/Coriander , Dill , Parsley , Mint , Chervil , Tarragon These herbs all feature broad, flat leaves and are very high in moisture. Since they can lose much of their essential oil if they’re dried, they’re best when used fresh and it’s usually worth the cost. However, if you don’t use all of them right away, these are also the herbs most likely to wilt and discolor after just a few days in the refrigerator.

 To preserve the life of your fresh herbs, snip the stems as you would a bouquet of flowers, and stand the bunch upright in a glass of cool water. Cut several ventilation holes in a plastic bag, and then place it on top of the leaves. Cilantro should be kept in the refrigerator, but other herbs can stay right on the countertop. Preserving herbs this way and changing the water in the glass every few days can help them last up to two weeks or more.Fine When DriedOregano , Rosemary , Thyme , Sage, Bay leaf These herbs are different from moist, delicate, leafy herbs. They have a woodier, oilier texture and lower moisture content.  So it’s perfectly fine to buy them dry and store them in the cupboard. Dried herbs should be kept in sealed glass or plastic jars, away from light and heat sources. If they’re stored properly, they can last for several years without a noticeable degradation in flavor. 

“Food should start cooking the moment it hits the pan, not gradually while the pan warms.”

Sautéing is the Way and the Truth when it comes to giving foods a golden, crispy crust and a juicy, tender interior. But there’s more to pulling it off than food-to-pan contact. Behold the commandments of proper sautéing.

1. Honor Thy Pan Choice

You want something wider than it is tall, which encourages fast evaporation, in a size that can fit your food in a single layer without overlaps.  The foods on top will steam-cook, or too much empty space the oil will burn.The exception: Greens or foods like mushrooms which will cook down in volume as they release moisture. Those you can keep loosely mounded in the pan and add more as you go. Lastly, avoid nonstick pans.   The slippery surface will stop a good brown crust dead in its tracks. But my food always sticks to the pan, you say. Be patient I’m getting there.

2. Thou Shalt PreHeat Aggressively

To get a good sear, food should start cooking the moment it hits the pan, not gradually while the pan warms. This will help prevent it from sticking later. First, heat the pan over a medium-high flame a little lower is fine for white meats or thick cuts, fish, and vegetables that have already been blanched before adding the oil.   Then again for a moment afterwards. Good signs: You see the oil rippling or hear it foaming.    This pan is ready! Bad sign: You see smoke or smell the oil burning or your smoke detector goes off. In this case, turn off the heat, pour out the oil, and start over. Not sure you’re in business? Dip an edge of the meat into the pan and listen for the heavenly sound of a sizzle.

3. Thou Shalt Go Easy on the Fat

Use only enough oil or clarified butter to keep the pan lubricated. Any more than that takes you into pan-frying territory. If you tip the pan and see more than a teaspoon or two of fat drip to the side, be a good cook and pour some out, would ya?

4. Dry Thy Food Well

Be sure there’s no excess moisture or marinade when you add it to the hot fat. You’ve heard water and oil don’t mix seriously, listen.

5. Be Present, But Do Not Hover

The tension of holding a spatula can be more than you can bear it’s the human condition. You just want to nudge, flip, lift, or stir something. But, to quote my culinary school chef-instructor, unless you’re Jacques Pepin , you don’t need to stand there stirring or flipping for the camera. Instead, let the food develop the color and crust you want on one side before shifting it at all. When it’s done, it should naturally release from the pan. In the case of meat or larger foods, flip only once.  

Salt has been around since the beginning of civilization. Why is it we still can’t agree on how to use it? Almost every home cook I know has proudly declared, “I hardly use any salt in my cooking.” But when I ask them what makes restaurant cuisine taste so good, they all agree: it’s the salt. I feel their pain.

After all these years spent as a home cook, never once having made it through an entire box of salt, it’s unnerving to make your first foray into confidently salting food. But salt truly is the one factor that will give your food the pop, pizzazz and wow every cook craves.

Doing it right just takes a little trial and error. You don’t need to go out to a specialty market and buy the most expensive, trendy, or rare salt you can find, or a special grinder. Your fingers and whatever you have in your kitchen now is probably fine that is, assuming it’s kosher or sea salt, not table salt. This pulverized kitchen sand tends to be, “harsh and not particularly interesting.”

Kosher salt is beloved among chefs for its texture and flavor. It has a jagged, rough shape which helps it stick to food and feel substantial between your fingers you have more control of the amount you grab and release. Sea salt works for the same reasons and it’s a great finishing salt because of its coarseness, which helps it dissolve at different rates on the tongue.

Translation: You’re not hit with a startling, salty mouthful when you bite down. Proper salting results in being able to taste the ingredients better, not the salt. That brings me to my next topic: tasting saltiness. Sometimes this is nice, in the case of caramels sprinkled with sea salt or hot French fries covered in a dusting of the stuff. But, mostly, a proper salting results in being able to taste the ingredients better, not the salt.

The trick: Season along all stages of the cooking process (not just the end) and continue to taste, taste, taste as you go. Each time you add something to the pot (unless it’s an ingredient like bacon or capers that has a naturally salty flavor), go ahead and season it. You’ll find you don’t use significantly more salt, but that the foods will develop flavor as they cook in the proper seasoning. Plus, if you over season it in one phase, you still have time to compensate. To avoid overdoing it: Keep in mind that saltiness can change as food sits or shifts in temperature (as in the case of preparing something in advance and storing it in the fridge), or can concentrate as liquids reduce.

It also tends to be absorbed or counteracted by adding dairy keep this in mind when finishing a soup with heavy cream or a sauce with butter. If you’ve overdone it: You can add a splash of cream or a dab of unsalted butter at the end. Starch, too, can have absorbing powers. Julia Child wrote that if you grate raw potatoes into a dish, let them simmer for 7 to 8 minutes, then strain, “they’ll have absorbed quite a bit of the excess salt.”

A final trick and this will feel posery at first, practice salting food at a height of about 10 or 12 inches above it. The distance gives a better sense of just how much salt you’re trickling and the granules will spread more evenly over the food’s surface. It gives the cook a certain sense of confidence, too. Chances are you won’t overdo it when salting in this fashion. But, I suppose that’s debatable.