Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Excellent advice from Bittman

Mark Bittman's New York Times column today offers nothing but great advice for the home cook. Print it out, keep it, hold on to it forever.

I already do a few of these things, Parmigiano-Reggiano is the undisputed kind of cheese, and I keep some in the house at all times even though it is a little pricey.

But I think the best tip of the lot is about the stock. I don't use boulion cubs, nothing but salt, but I sadly to use a lot of canned or carton stock and I hate it. But making stock is a pain in the ass for little reward. His advice to just throw an onion, carrot, and celery stalk into some water and let it simmer for a little bit is great stuff and I'm going to start doing it as soon as I can.

The only one I would take issue with is the bread crumbs. I guess I could make a batch and hold on to them, but it seems like such a pain.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My friend, making stock is easy. I put peelings from onion and carrots and the end of carrots and celery and string beans in a large plastic bag in the freezer 'til it's pretty full. Then I just put in a big stock pot with water, bring to a boil and simmer for an hour and then strain. Voila! I haven't yet figured out the best way to store. Use some tuperware and some other plastic bags that you can put in the microwave in a bowl to thaw when needed. It's easier than you think.