Win Tickets to Love Cooking!
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We’re at the Love Cooking festival in Bristol today where we’re picking up tips from top telly chefs Rachel Allen and James Martin. The festival is a touring one-day event, starting in Bristol and continuing to London, Harrogate and Edinburgh (full details at www.lovecookingfestival.com) where the UK’s top chefs take to the stage to show you how to do it.
So with the likes of Hugh talking about growing your own, Gino D’Acampo on Italian food and Gary Rhodes on British Classics, there’s plenty to see. You also get a free cookery book with your ticket plus the chance to browse stalls, win prizes and get your cookbooks signed by the chefs in question.
Courtesy of festival sponsor Bordeaux Wines, with new advertising that promises “Good Food Would Choose Bordeaux”, we’re also offering a pair of tickets (worth over £65!) to the afternoon session of the London event, taking place on 2 November at the Royal Festival Hall, 2-5pm.
You and a friend can watch Gino D’Acampo and Ainsley Harriot cook up a storm in two hour-long live cooking demos. To enter just leave a comment, sharing your best cooking tip. As a taster of what to expect, we’ve compiled our ten favourite cooking tips from James Martin’s session today. Good luck! Competition closes midnight Sunday 24 October and the person who’s tip we like the most will win the tickets. Good luck and feel free to spread the word with Tweets and Likes!
UPDATE: This competition is now closed. Linda Farrell, you are our winner! We love pigs in blankets, and any tips for making the task of cooking Christmas dinner easier are welcome! Check your email shortly for information on how to claim your tickets!
Cooking tips from James Martin
We loved the Saturday Kitchen chef’s demo this morning, where he cooked squid, duck and apple tart, peppered with tips, terrible jokes and some naughty asides about kitchen implements, and thought we’d share some with you…
- When cooking squid, you’ve got to do it very quickly or very slowly otherwise it gets very tough
- Saturday Kitchen’s sink isn’t plugged in – and last year, the Hairy Bikers drained some cauliflower into it and flooded the studio floor!
- Don’t do the silly thing with the two halves of the shells when you’re cracking eggs – crack them into the palm of your hand and the white will fall through your fingers, leaving the yolk in your palm
- Traditionally when you make mayonnaise you’d use egg yolks and vegetable oil. But these days, rapeseed oil is a very flavoursome oil to use too
- Sharp knives are the key to stopping your tears when chopping onions – sharp blades reduce the spray from the onions so you cry less!
- To make a nice and easy chutney, cook up red cabbage with rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, a shallot, butter and a little bit of chilli added half way through. Leave to reduce over heat – it’s easy!
- The heat in chillis isn’t in the seeds as commonly thought but in the white membrane. This should help when cutting them up!
- Dock puff pastry with a knife rather than pricking it with a fork – the larger holes in it allow the steam to rise better
- If you’re making apple pie, apple tart or even a crumble, adding vanilla and a little sugar to apples stewing in a pan makes it taste delicious
- Spun sugar twirls are an impressive chef’s trick that you can do at home. Just heat up white caster sugar in a pan and cool it once it’s caramelised by putting the base of the pan in cold water. As it cools it thickens. Draw an amount up out of the pan with a metal spoon and wrap it round a rolling pin or a steel. It hardens quickly and makes a lovely flourish for a dessert.
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The best addition to a boring bowl of oatmeal is sliced banana and a spoonful of peanut butter. On the stove let the bananas cook a bit with the oats and add the peanut butter at the end. In the microwave add them both before you zap it. So much better than plain oatmeal and adds protein to your breakfast.
The best way to melt chocolate [70% cocoa] is to fill a saucepan with boiling water from the kettle and then rest a glass bowl in the water, so it touches the water. Break in the chocolate pieces – cover the bowl with a plate and then leave untouched for about 10 minutes. Then stir gently with a metal spoon until blended to a glossy consistency. Wallah – perfectly melted chocolate. The bowl and the spoon must be bone dry as chocolate and water don’t like each other.
If you happen to get shell in your egg when you’ve cracked it, don’t try getting it out with your finger – use another piece of shell, it attracts even the smallest piece.
Chew a gum while cutting onions..its supposed 2 ward off those annoying tears:)
Here are a few Indian ones…my grand mum swears by…
remove the stem of green chillies and it stays longer in the refrigerator
boil garlic in water for a while and its easy to peal
rub the sides of a boiler with butter before boiling milk and it wouldnt boil over
My best cooking tip: find yourself a fella who is good at cooking and loves food! It makes cooking so much more fun and stops it from being a chore. Forget men with money, men who cook are seriously the most attractive thing! ; )
For that, I shall cook you a delicious chilli con carne tonight!
When making all those pigs in blankets for xmas day, DON’T use cocktail sticks use kebab sticks, saves you lots of time turning them, leaving you more time to do those other jobs :0)
My top tip would be – if you’re ever preparing meat, especially chicken, fill a washing up bowl with hot soapy water before hand, so you can wash and clean your hands easily during and after handling the meat. Just like they do on foody tv programs!
Saves getting germs and other things on your tap handles etc.