Tips and tricks for the Kitchen – Day Three
Cooking for a large numbers often sends many into a panic; pans of vegetables boiling away, broccoli heads dissolving, greens going brown, potatoes overcooked. This would be natural in any good professional kitchen as well, so we don’t cook every vegetable when somebody orders it. A professional kitchen would prepare and trim what is required, drop it all into pots of salted, boiling water and when almost cooked, take it out and drop it into large bowls of iced water and allow it to cool before storing it in the refrigerator. Therefore the vegetables remain green, slightly firm and just undercooked, ready to be reheated for just a minute or so when an order is taken. You can do exactly the same in your own house to avoid getting into a spin! Extra tip: What I do at home is cook all my vegetables as above first, place them in the fridge and concentrate on the main course – the one that takes the majority of time, without any pressure. And finally, here is the third course for our June 5th wine evening featuring Fiona Beckett: Flat iron steak, nettle risotto, beef reduction Tomorrow, another tip and another course, and I will let you know what Fiona matches with this at the end of the week. – Paul...Tips and tricks for the Kitchen – Day Two
Why the customer is always right. I have always answered 99 per cent of our customer feedback, whether they are letters of compliment or of complaint, and recently we had a couple of adverse comments regarding our Heathcotes burger in the Olive Press. I found it difficult to understand as it seemed that we were doing all that we had done previously. Nonetheless, this was a good opportunity to revisit ourpast recipes and through a lot of hard work and a lot of tasting, we have changed our burger recipe, which has inspired me for today’s tip. The product or the ingredient is always the most important but sometimes what you do with it can then make a difference. If you want to cook a steak – or a burger, for that matter – brush with a little oil, season with salt and pepper, then cook on a hot pan and fry on one side only until near the end, before finally turning over to cook the other side of the meat. Cooking mainly on one side in a smoking hot pan is the key. Here’s some guidelines for timing: Blue: 90 seconds, flip over for 30 seconds Rare: 2.5 minutes, flip over for 30 seconds Medium Rare: 3.5 minutes, flip over for 30 seconds Medium/Well done: 4.5 minutes, flip over for 30-60 seconds And finally, here is the second course for our June 5th wine evening featuring Fiona Beckett: Scallops “just cooked” with lime and caviar Tomorrow, another tip and another course, and I will let you know what Fiona matches with this at the end of the week. In the meantime,...Tips and tricks for the Kitchen – Day One
Many are fascinated by how menus are compiled; what we sell, how we cook and prepare enough for each day – hopefully without running out. Well, I can tell you – it’s no secret – we occasionally do run out of certain dishes. But after a while, you build up an understanding of what sells and what is slow or less popular. It’s also useful to have a number of common ingredients on dishes so if, for example, you buy a box of wild mushrooms, you might feature it on two dishes but in fact you use it on three or four dishes, including a starter, not always naming the ingredients in the dish. So here’s today’s tip for any budding amateur cooks: If you have ever made a sauce and you’ve added enough salt and pepper but it still doesn’t taste right, try adding a few drops of lemon juice. We all know what lemon juice does to your palette – just try licking a lemon. So how does this work? That little bit of acid that you’ve added to your sauce changes its characteristics and livens your taste buds. It’s a tip I learned from Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. Finally, on the 5th of June, we have one of the the UK’s finest food & wine matchers and author of 20 books, Fiona Beckett, as guest speaker on our Wine Evening. I’m looking forward to working with her again and over the course of this week, she will be matching wines to go with a five course meal. Our starter features burrata, the king...St. George’s Day
I remember my first few years at catering college back when I was 17. The restaurant business looked very different back then. English cooking had a very poor reputation; all-day breakfast was the highlight. In those days, to try and think of any British chef would stretch most diners’ imagination. How things have changed. These days, if the general public was asked to name a celebrated or well-known chef, the chances are the same names would repeat over and again, and the vast majority of them would be English. So I think it only fitting that our St. George’s Day menu pays homage to some fine English chefs. I’ve had the pleasure of eating all of these dishes at some time or other during my career and I think they are truly worthy of a St. George’s Day menu. You can view our special menu below, and book online by clicking here. Menu Cream of tomato, apple & celery soup ‘Miller Howe” (v) Heathcotes black pudding with sweetbreads, bay leaf & baked beans Parsley pie “George Perry Smith” (v) Marinated salmon “Sharrow Bay” *** Roast scallops, pea puree with mint “Rowley Leigh”, tomato & gem salad Faggots & mash “Gary Rhodes” Goosnargh duck, cider potatoes, baby turnips & carrots, caramelised onion puree Wild mushrooms on toast, poached egg, wild garlic “Terry Laybourne” *** Chocolate tart with honeycomb ‘Bruce Poole”, malted milk ice cream Heathcotes bread & butter pudding Plate of Lancashire cheese Treacle tart “Heston Blumenthal”, vanilla cream *** Coffee & mini Eccles cakes ...10% Student Discount
Students can now enjoy The Olive Press Preston's authentic range of Italian pizzas, pasta and grills for 10% off their usual price. Just book in advance and bring a valid NUS card when you visit us. Terms & conditions apply. See link below for details.