Holidays and Cooking

For those that may be unfamiliar with my past, I am a trained chef. Now what does that mean? For starters I am qualified to work every evening, holiday, and weekend, for not that great a pay while standing basically in one spot for eight hours or more a day. It also means I know a fair amount about food and how to prep it.

For those who haven’t noticed, the Winter Holidays are upon us. We expect to entertain and be entertained and in our culture food – and the consternation that goes with it – is a large part of that entertainment. So, dear readers, here are a few gems that may set you apart from others in your social and familial spheres.

Eggs: they are pricey right now but are the glue that holds our baked goods together. If you are dealing with a modern recipe (say, since 1960) chances are the standard medium egg will work just fine. An older recipe though really requires jumbo eggs. I know, why? Because old recipes used duck or goose eggs not chicken eggs and their eggs are larger.

Butter: in a recipe that calls for butter, use butter, not margarine; the flavor profiles differ quite a bit as does the way the fat works in a recipe–margarine is mostly water.

Flour: modern milling methods produce a high quality product that is pretty much the same from brand to brand. The big difference is the gluten content and that really only varies if you abandon gluten or shift to an older grain verity such as spelt. Generally speaking, all-purpose flour will get the job done just fine regardless of what you are baking.

Sugar: Again is mostly all the same. Some purists will shout “only cane sugar will work” but for the most part, it’s just marketing.

Brown sugar: go dark and skip the light. Dark brown sugar has a higher molasses content and thus more flavor. It is also processed less and is closer to what came from the cane–nope, brown sugar cannot come from sugar beets.

Cocoa: I personally have found little variance here.

Oil: you really can’t go wrong with corn oil. Some people like myself can actually taste “vegetable oil” and that’s because of the process used to make it–look it up and be amazed at your own risk.

Olive oil: extra virgin or virgin, these are from the first and second pressings of olives; anything not thus marked is usually highly processed leftovers from the first two pressings.

Wine: if you won’t drink it, don’t cook with it, is a very good rule of thumb. You want to use something that is pleasing to your palette and not harsh to it. Feel free to substitute within the same group (white for white or red for red) to suit your taste.

Now for a few pro tips, vanilla is the basic all-purpose flavoring but not the only one. Try swapping rum extract into your butter cookies. Lemon flavoring is da-bomb in sugar cookies as is mint if you go lightly with it. Use clear almond extract in your frostings and you will be on par with most professional bakers. A dash of anise will completely change your chocolate cakes too.

The thing to remember is cooking is an art, not a science, and as an art it is open to artistic expression. Use good ingredients. Play around, have fun– maybe don’t experiment right before the in-laws come over for dinner though.