Essential Kitchen Tips by Julia Child

Essential Kitchen Tips by Julia Child

The pages are filled with classic recipes, including roast chicken, boeuf Bourguignon, scalloped potatoes, and chocolate mousse, and yet it is hardly a book for novice cooks. In fact, in the introduction, Child very clearly addresses her audience as "those who are tolerably familiar with culinary language; whose kitchens are normally well equipped with such staples as jelly roll pans, a food processor, a decent rolling pin; and who know their way around the stove reasonably well."

Yet regardless of whether or not you own-or could even identify-a jelly roll pan, we think just about anyone can benefit from Julia's expertise. The book is filled with just the type of practical kitchen know-how we all so often need at our fingertips. We gathered 10 of Child's signature tips, including how to clean a burn-blackened pan and get some advanced cooking recipes, which wine is best to use when cooking, and tricks for disguising canned chicken broth.

Baking Powder

In an opened can loses its strength after about 6 months, so always test it by stirring a teaspoonful into 1/2 cup of hot water. If it doesn't bubble up in a lively way, throw it out. Before you use baking powder, be sure to smooth out any lumps.

Buying and Storing Eggs

It behooves us to choose eggs carefully and to treat them right. Because at room temperature they make a warm and comfortable home for evil bacteria, always buy refrigerated eggs, never buy cracked or dirty eggs, always bring your eggs home in a refrigerated container, and keep eggs chilled until the moment you are to use them.

Garlic Factoids

To separate the cloves from the head of garlic, cut off the top, then bang down on the head with your fist or the flat of a knife. To peel whole garlic cloves, drop them into a pan of boiling water and boil exactly 30 seconds; the peels will slip off easily. To mince garlic, smash a whole garlic clove on your work surface, peel off and discard the skin, then mince with your big knife. To purée, sprinkle a big pinch of salt on the minced garlic, then press and rub the garlic back and forth on your work surface with the flat of your knife, or pound with a mortar and pestle

Cooking with Wine or Without Wine

For red wine, use a young, full wine such as a zinfandel or a Chianti. White wines should be dry and full-bodied, such as a sauvignon, but because many of the whites are too acid, I prefer to use a dry white French vermouth. In addition to its strength and quality, it keeps nicely. Port, Madeiras, and sherries must be dry. If you do not wish to cook with wine, simply omit it, or add stock or more herbs.