{"id":18696,"date":"2014-04-01T13:23:43","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T13:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/?p=18696"},"modified":"2017-01-19T02:56:57","modified_gmt":"2017-01-19T02:56:57","slug":"7-skills-learn-to-cook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/7-skills-learn-to-cook\/","title":{"rendered":"The Chef Test Reveals The 7 Skills You Must Have<BR>If You Want To Learn To Cook"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Over the years, I\u2019ve had to hire dozens of chefs and cooks.<\/strong> During their interview process, I don&#8217;t have them cook their signature dish. Just like the handful of dishes you can cook at home without a recipe, a chef has practiced their signature dish many times and that doesn&#8217;t help me to determine their overall cooking abilities. Instead, I want to see some basic skills.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Nti79Cj527g\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong>This is my chef-test and it highlights the skills everyone should possess if they want to learn to cook anything at any time and be confident it will always come out great.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I&#8217;m going to share with you the seven basic skills that I think everyone should have to cook food consistently<\/strong> in the kitchen and be proud of the results. If you already have all seven of these skills and cooking techniques, you can work for me. On the other hand, if you have only one of these skills, that&#8217;s fantastic! Why? Because I know you&#8217;ll want to add other skills and learn to cook based on the methods behind all recipes and <a href=\"https:\/\/app.webinarjam.net\/register\/171\/1d1eb3e40e\" target=\"_blank\">Make Your Cooking A Winner Every Single Time.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Here are my 7 chef tests to reveal their knowledge of basic cooking methods:<\/strong><br \/>\n1. Use a chefs knife correctly and cut vegetables into three sizes<br \/>\n2. Anticipate when oil is about to reach the smoke point<br \/>\n3. Develop color during saut\u00e9<br \/>\n4. Thicken a liquid to make a sauce<br \/>\n5. Softly poach an egg<br \/>\n6. Roast a delicate item like fish<br \/>\n7. Tell when a grilled steak is done<\/p>\n<p><strong>I\u2019ve blogged about fear of cooking, about doubts in cooking, about guessing in cooking, and now inconsistency in cooking.<\/strong> I&#8217;m sharing all of this with you because they all stem from the same basic root. Fears, doubts, and guessing come from a lack of knowledge about underlying cooking methods. In order to cook food like a chef, you need an understanding of the techniques that chefs use to cook food.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Think about watching a magician. Magic is always amazing when you watch the magician\u2019s hands like he wants you to.<\/strong> However, once you\u2019ve been shown how the trick works, you start looking for the re-direction. You now know his method, you can anticipate when he\u2019ll repeat it and the mystery and wonder is gone.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The mysterious magic and wonder in cooking is destroyed by repetitive cooking method.<\/strong> These are certain basic skills that you can duplicate again and again. Just as a magician can make a playing card, coin, dollar bill, credit card, all disappear in the same slight of hand, you can cook chicken, fish, steak, vegetables, pork, in the same repetitive method and the magic will appear for you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Here are the answers to my chef test:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Using a Chefs knife correctly<\/strong><br \/>\nThe first indicator of an experienced cook from a novice is the way they handle the most used tool in the kitchen, a chef\u2019s knife. In culinary college, my students have to cut carrots into three sizes: Brunoise, Batonette and Small Dice. Brunoise (\u201cbroon-wah\u201d) is the French word for an eighth-inch cube. It\u2019s a tiny little cut that you\u2019d find in chicken salad or soup. Batonette (\u201cBat-ton-et\u201d) is a 2 inch stick that\u2019s a quarter-inch on all sides. Small Dice is a quarter-inch cube. Small Dice comes from Batonette as cubes are always cut from sticks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pass: <\/strong>The result of this chef test should be three items that are precisely twice or half the size of the others. Consistency of cut is consistency of cook, so knife skills are very important for excellent results.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fail: <\/strong> Items are cut into a wide variety of shapes and sizes, or items all cut to the same size.<br \/>\nIf you\u2019re using two hands on the chefs knife in a \u201cmezzaluna\u201d motion, you\u2019ll create inconsistent cuts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Anticipate when oil is about to smoke<\/strong><br \/>\nThe skill here is understanding the convective cooking process. When liquid in a pan begins to move as it heats up, it rises to the top of the pan and cools again. You can actually see this movement in hot oil. Soon after this convection begins, the oil will begin to smoke. You know you&#8217;ve got this skill down when someone can put 3 oils in front of you and you can tell them which has the highest smoking point by observing their reaction to heat.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pass: <\/strong> The chef notices the oil changing from being perfectly smooth to beginning a convection process and adds the protein product to the pan just before there is visible smoke.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fail: <\/strong>The oil smokes and you have to start again.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Develop color during saut\u00e9 <\/strong><br \/>\nNicely browned foods are attractive foods. To develop a golden color in the saut\u00e9\u2019 pan, you have to get the sugars to caramelize at 320 degrees Fahrenheit. The key is getting the pan hot enough to start. You can observe this and quantify the temperature in a pan by sprinkling a few drops of water and witness the reaction.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pass: <\/strong> A chicken breast with a beautiful brown plate-appeal shows the ability to control heat so that the item develops color but doesn\u2019t lose moisture or burn.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fail: <\/strong> A chicken breast that is pale, that has shrunken, stiffened and lost moisture. This shows a lack of involvement with the preliminary steps in saut\u00e9.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Thicken a liquid to make a sauce<\/strong><br \/>\nThere are different thickening agents that can be used to make a sauce. For me, I would want my chef to be able to make a blonde, brown, or brick roux. Flour and cornstarch are wonderful thickening agents but you need to have an understanding of how much to use and this can only happen with controlling the process of gelatinization of starches.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pass: <\/strong>A cup of milk turns into a thickened sauce that is shiny, velvety and without lumps. This sauce should be pourable, not plop-able.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fail: <\/strong>A cup of milk that looks like mashed potatoes or cottage cheese. Without an understanding of how starches thicken liquids, it\u2019s difficult to make consistently great sauces.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. Softly poach an egg<\/strong><br \/>\nThis is a moist convective process and means that the chef would need to have an understanding of the difference between boil, simmer and poach. A common mistake of home cooks and chefs alike is always boiling items. Boiling is NOT a cooking method. Once you understand how to control the reaction of liquid in a pan, you will be able to perfectly poach a very delicate item like eggs without making Egg Drop Soup.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pass: <\/strong>A nicely poached egg that looks like it should be in a magazine. The egg should have a bright yolk that sits high on the albumen and should be fully in tact.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fail: <\/strong>An egg that has been busted up into pieces because of simmering or rapidly boiling liquid. This egg is dull, the yolk cannot be identified and won\u2019t be in a magazine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>6. Roast a delicate item like fish<\/strong><br \/>\nThis is the ability to control dry convective heat. In controlling dry heat, there is a fine line between the coagulation of proteins at 165 degrees Fahrenheit (when the food would stiffen and shrink) and 212 degrees Fahrenheit when moisture starts evaporating. The key to cooking in dry heat is being able to cook in that temperature zone where the food cooks before it dries out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pass:<\/strong> A piece of fish that is fully cooked and retains its moisture without drying out. With delicate items, convective heat will dry the item before sugars caramelize, so I don\u2019t expect the fish to be brown.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fail: <\/strong> A piece of fish that is brown and dry, it\u2019s much smaller that its raw state because of the drying effect of the oven. This chef doesn\u2019t know how to retain moisture in a dry cooking process.<\/p>\n<p><strong>7. Tell when a grilled steak is done<\/strong><br \/>\nThe best test that I can think of for this is to hand my chef three steaks and ask the chef to cook them to order: one rare, one medium, and one well done. So how do you do that? Use a thermometer. Cooking with a recipe and without a thermometer is like driving down the road with a map while you&#8217;re blindfolded. You&#8217;ve got all of the directions, but you&#8217;ll never know when you&#8217;ve gotten to your destination&#8230;.if you can even get close!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pass:<\/strong> Finished steaks that have attractive grill marks and are equally browned, but cooked to different internal temperatures. The cook that uses a thermometer passes this test.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fail: <\/strong> Three steaks all cooked to the same doneness, or the inability to tell which steak should be rare, medium, or well done. This chef can\u2019t control direct source conductive heat and would create waste rather than sales for the steaks being sent back to the kitchen.<\/p>\n<p><strong>This is what\u2019s going on in my kitchen! <\/strong>But if you want to cook great food more consistently and learn to cook in your own home, then you will want to pay attention to cooking techniques and have repeatable methods. These are the same methods I reveal in my webinar,<a href=\"https:\/\/app.webinarjam.net\/register\/171\/1d1eb3e40e\"> Discover the 3 Secrets to Making Your Cooking A Winner Every Single Time.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Understanding these methods will allow you to make sense out of any recipe or to not use a recipe at all<\/strong> because of your increased understanding of how different cooking techniques work. You\u2019ll be creating things the way you want them and be able to do it again and again.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<h2>Discover the difference between how professionals and home cooks are taught in my next<br \/>\nFREE Webinar Workshop<\/h2>\n<p>Claim your FREE Spot for the next webinar session by <a href=\"https:\/\/app.webinarjam.net\/register\/171\/8a8b40c96b\" target=\"_blank\">CLICKING HERE<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/app.webinarjam.net\/register\/171\/8a8b40c96b\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-25201 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/FREE-Cooking-Webinar-Event.jpg\" alt=\"FREE Cook Webinar Event\" width=\"810\" height=\"450\" target=\"_blank\" srcset=\"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/FREE-Cooking-Webinar-Event.jpg 810w, https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/FREE-Cooking-Webinar-Event-480x267.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 810px, 100vw\" \/><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the years, I\u2019ve had to hire dozens of chefs and cooks. During their interview process, I don&#8217;t have them cook their signature dish. Just like the handful of dishes you can cook at home without a recipe, a chef has practiced their signature dish many times and that doesn&#8217;t help me to determine their<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[54],"tags":[259],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18696"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18696\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18696"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=18696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}