Posts by joanne
Salad Dressing: Can you give me an easy all-purpose salad dressing?
The Kitchen Shrink has gotten several requests for a good homemade salad dressing recently, so it seems like a good time to remind you of my favorite vinaigrette. My refrigerator is never without it. It is good on any basic savory salad and can be varied by changing the oil…
Meat: How Can I Thinly Slice Raw Meat?
Steve e-mailed the Kitchen Shrink to ask if there was a trick for thinly slicing raw meats for stir fry. As I mention in my recipe for Japanese Beef Fondue, the best way to thinly slice meat without a fancy slicing machine is to partially freeze the meat so it…
Japanese Beef Fondue
This recipe is based on a Japanese dish called shabu-shabu, but I left out the kombu (dried kelp) and the tofu, then poked it here and pinched it there, so I can’t pretend that my version is even remotely authentic. But both recipes are built around poached beef. I’d almost…
Burgers: How can I keep burgers from plumping in the center?
Whenever I demonstrate one of my burger recipes, someone asks if there is a way to keep burgers from plumping in the center and becoming smaller in diameter as they cook. My favorite trick to solve this problem is to create an indentation in the center when I shape the…
Buttermilk: What is buttermilk?
Rachel e-mailed the Kitchen Shrink to ask, “What is in buttermilk?” She said she had purchased some for a recipe and was surprised to find that, despite its name, buttermilk is low in fat. These days, most buttermilk is pasteurized low-fat milk to which lactic acid bacteria have been added…
Chilled Pea Soup with Mint, Curried Shrimp, and Peanuts
Cold soups generally leave me cold. They just seem like an excuse for a cold drink. But this one is an exception. Prepared with all the prescribed accoutrements – curried shrimp, shredded carrots, and toasted nuts – this dish is a perfectly refreshing warm-weather meal. Makes 4 servings Hands-on…
Two Melon, Prosciutto, and Feta Salad
This dish, from Sara’s Secrets for Weeknight Meals, is perfect for those warm summer nights when you don’t even want to switch on the stove. Melon and prosciutto is such a refreshing summertime appetizer that I wondered if there was a way to make it entrée-hearty without ruining its essential…
Melons: How can I select a good melon in the market?
In the middle of the summer a lot of e-mails arrive in my Kitchen Shrink inbox asking the same question, “is there a secret to finding a melon that is sweet and flavorful.” While that’s not so easy in the winter when melons come from far away as it is now that they are coming…
Shrimp: How can I cook shrimp so they will stay tender?
Terri e-mailed the Kitchen Shrink to ask for help in cooking shrimp. She said that no matter how she cooks them, her shrimp seem tough. Whether you deep fry, sauté, stir-fry, steam or boil shrimp, they cook to tender, juicy perfection very, very quickly and then overcook. Shrimp should be cooked just…
Carrot “Fettuccine” with Spicy Shrimp
This recipe from Sara Moulton Cooks at Home is the happy result of an unhappy incident. My friend and fellow chef Sandy Gluck was trying out for a job at a very fancy cutting-edge restaurant in New York City in the early eighties. One of the many reasons she decided…