Secrets of the Best Chefs

In every cook’s life, there comes a moment. It’s not a moment you can anticipate, but it’s certainly one you can prepare for. It ...

the moment when you stop following recipes to the letter and start cooking based on what you know. Maybe it’s because of all tho ...

you, I’m just a normal home cook—not a noteworthy chef redefining the face of gastronomy—I notice things most cooks and chefs do ...

that knows, on a deep level, what you want something to taste like and then get it to taste that way. That’s what all of the che ...

What You Need to Proceed ...

Despite the wish list on your friend’s wedding registry, you don’t need fancy equipment to cook good food at home. When I ...

asked Hugh Acheson what his favorite kitchen tool was, he shrugged off the question: “It’s not about tools. You should be able t ...

You may not think much about the cutting board that you use to cut your vegetables, but chefs do. And most of them know somethin ...

A cast-iron skillet. A favorite among chefs because of the way it retains heat, this is also an excellent tool for replicating t ...

together, to reach the hard-to-get-to crevices in a pot or a bowl, and to smooth the top of a cake batter before it goes into th ...

with almost all of the recipes in this book. A food processor Because of its design, a food processor works differently than a b ...

Using unsalted butter is preferred because it lets you control the seasoning in your cooking, adding as much or as little salt a ...

chopped. Spices Your spice cabinet should contain whole nutmeg, cinnamon, ground cloves, chili powder, smoked paprika, regular p ...

A Note About the Recipes All of the recipes in this book are based on the notes that I took while cooking alongside each chef an ...

Ten Essential Rules for Cooking Like a Chef These are the most compelling and universal lessons that I learned from cooking with ...

over gets shoved into the fridge. Great chefs and home cooks go to the market and buy what’s beautiful and in season. Then—and h ...

all times. It’s encoded in their DNA. With practice, you can learn to have this internal timer too. 05 Control the heat. Very ra ...

kitchen. Most chefs rarely use pepper, and when they do, they use it in dishes that they think will benefit from a hit of the se ...

Once you make cleaning part of your cooking process, you’ll find it difficult to do it any other way. 10 Remember, everyone make ...

Jonathan Waxman Chef-owner, Barbuto New York, New York Up in the air the salad goes—arugula, multicolored cherry tomatoes, olive ...