Julia's Kitchen Wisdom (29 page)

SWEETENED WHIPPED CREAM.
For 2 cups, whip 1 cup heavy cream or
whipping cream
as directed in the box. Just before serving, sift on ½ cup of confectioners’ sugar and fold it in with a large rubber spatula, adding, if you wish, ½ teaspoon of pure vanilla extract.

Kitchen Equipment and Definitions

KITCHEN EQUIPMENT

Oval Casseroles

Oval casseroles are more practical than round ones as they can hold a chicken or a roast of meat as well as a stew or soup. A good pair would be the 2-quart size about 6 by 8 inches across and 3½ inches high; and a 7- to 8-quart size about 9 by 12 inches across and 6 inches high.

Saucepans

Saucepans in a range of sizes are essential. One with a metal handle can also be set in the oven.

Baking Dishes

Round and oval baking dishes can be used for roasting chicken, duck, or meats, or can double as
gratin
dishes.

Chef’s Skillet and Sauté Pan

A chef’s skillet,
poêle
, has sloping sides and is used for browning and tossing small pieces of food like mushrooms or chicken livers; the long handle makes it easy to toss rather than turn the food. A sauté pan,
sautoir
, has straight sides and is used for sautéing small steaks, liver, or veal scallops, or foods like chicken that are browned then covered to finish their cooking in the sauté pan.

BESIDES THE USUAL ARRAY OF POTS, ROASTERS, VEGETABLE PEELERS, SPOONS, AND SPATULAS, HERE ARE SOME USEFUL OBJECTS WHICH MAKE COOKING EASIER:

Knives and Sharpening Steel

A knife should be as sharp as a razor or it mashes and bruises food rather than chopping or cutting it. It can be considered sharp if just the weight of it, drawn across a tomato, slits the skin. No knife will hold a razor-edge for long. The essential point is that it take an edge, and quickly. Plain rustable steel is the easiest to sharpen but discoloration is an annoying problem. Good stainless steel knives are available in cookware and cutlery shops, and probably the best way to test their quality is to buy a small one and try it out. The French chef’s knives, pictured here, are the most useful general-purpose shapes for chopping, mincing, and paring. If you cannot find good knives, consult your butcher or a professionally trained chef.

Knives should be washed separately and by hand as soon as you have finished using them. Tarnished blades are cleaned easily with steel wool and scouring powder. A magnetic holder screwed to the wall is a practical way of keeping knives always within reach and isolated from other objects that could dull and dent the blades by knocking against them.

Wooden Spatulas and Rubber Scrapers

A wooden spatula is more practical for stirring than a wooden spoon; its flat surfaces are easily scraped off on the side of a pan or bowl. You will usually find wooden spatulas only at stores specializing in French imports. The rubber spatula, which can be bought almost anywhere, is indispensable for scraping sauces out of bowls and pans, for stirring, folding, creaming, and smearing.

Wire Whips or Whisks

Wire whips, or whisks, are wonderful for beating eggs, sauces, canned soups, and for general mixing. They are easier than the rotary egg beater because you use one hand only. Whisks range from minute to gigantic, and the best selections are in restaurant-supply houses. You should have several sizes including the balloon whip for beating egg whites at the far left.

Bulb Baster and Poultry Shears

The bulb baster is particularly good for basting meats or vegetables in a casserole, and for degreasing roasts as well as basting them. Some plastic models collapse in very hot fat; a metal tube-end is usually more satisfactory. Poultry shears are a great help in disjointing broilers and fryers; regular steel is more practical than stainless, as the shears can be sharpened more satisfactorily.

The Vegetable Mill (or Food Mill) and Garlic Press

Two wonderful inventions, the vegetable mill and the garlic press. The vegetable mill purées soups, sauces, vegetables, fruits, raw fish, or mousse mixtures. The best type has 3 removable disks about 5½ inches in diameter, one for fine, one for medium, and one for coarse puréeing. The garlic press will purée a whole, unpeeled clove of garlic, or pieces of onion.