Garlic is good, and confit garlic...

Garlic is one of the most popular ingredients in the world, it grows everywhere and is used in virtually all cuisines. Garlic has a huge number of pluses, but it needs to be used carefully, otherwise it can end up making a dish too sharp or bitter, and it can overpower subtler ingredients.

Confit garlic is a good way to overcome those problems, it has a mellower and more subtle taste than raw garlic, but can be used in all of the same ways.

I really like garlic, and I love confit garlic. You can do just about anything with it, substitute it for fresh garlic in any recipe, just use double the amount.

Personally, I like to add it to pasta sauces, make a simple dip by combining it with natural yoghurt and lemon juice, make the best garlic butter in the world, or just squish it straight onto hot toast.

Making confit garlic also has an additional bonus of ending up with a fantastic garlic infused oil as a byproduct.

What is confit?

The French word confit literally means conserved, and is most often applied to duck or other meat that has been slowly cooked in its own fat.

Things, like garlic, which don’t have their own fat can be slowly cooked in fat or oil for a similar result. For this confit garlic recipe, we are going to use olive oil.

Ok, then let them confit

There are a couple of different ways of making confit garlic, some people do it in a pan on the hob, but I prefer to do it in the oven. Once you have peeled the garlic you just throw it in and forget about it.

Absolutely nothing is difficult here. The only hassle is peeling all of the garlic cloves, I know that you can buy pre-peeled garlic cloves in Asian shops, but I’ve never tried them.

1. Preheat your oven to 90°C.

2. Peel all of the garlic cloves.

3. Place the peeled garlic cloves in a small oven proof dish, and pour in enough oil to just cover them.

4. Bake the garlic for about 2 hours.

You can store the garlic in the oil for about a month in the fridge, and once you have finished the garlic you are left with the lovely garlic infused oil, which is perfect for adding to salad dressings.

Simple citrus spirals

Not just lemons

A lot of people seem to be a bit obsessed with lemon twists as cocktail garnishes, and forget about the rest of the citrus fruits. Whilst lemon twists certainly have their place, it’s not always the best citrus fruit to use, think about the flavours in the drink that you are making and try to match your twist to that.

Why not garnish your G&T with a nice lime twist, or float an orange twist on the top of a screwdriver.

The following techniques will work with any citrus fruit, although the ‘in advance’ way is a bit trickier with larger oranges or grapefruit.

To pith or not to pith?

Yes, it can be a bit bitter, but in my opinion you really do want just a little bit of the pith attached to the skin in your twist.

It gives the whole twist some substance and helps it stay in shape instead of just becoming a floppy mess.

The on the fly method

Take a channel knife or zester, and run it around the fruit until you create the length of twist that you want.

The only thing to remember here is that you should do it over the drink, or over the glass that you are going to serve the drink in, so that the oils that come out of the fruit while you are doing it aren’t wasted.

If you don’t have a channel knife or zester then you can use a vegetable peeler for a very similar result. The only difference is that your spiral will be a bit more rustic looking.

The in advance method

1. Cut both of the ends off of the fruit.

2. Take a spoon (a bar spoon works well, but it can be any) and push it into the centre of the pith until it is about halfway down the fruit. It should slide in easily between the flesh and the skin of the fruit.

3. Work the spoon all of the way around the fruit, using it to seperate the flesh from the skin.

4. Turn your fruit over and repeat the same action with the spoon.

5. Now you should be able to just push the flesh of the fruit out, leaving you with a cylinder of fruit, and an empty loop of skin.

6. Make a cut vertically down one side of the skin loop, so that you are left with one large flat (well, curved) piece of skin.

7. If your fruit has a lot of pith, then flatten the skin out and use a knife to remove some of the pith.

8. Roll the skin up tightly along it’s natural curve, and use a toothpick to hold it in the rolled up cigar shape.

9. Throw it into the bowl of iced water for about 5 minutes, the cold will make it tighten up and retain its shape when you use it in a drink.

10. You can now slice twists off of this roll of skin as and when you need them.

You can keep them in the fridge for a few days, but the longer you keep them the less oil they will give out into your drinks.

It's so pretty, how can it ever be leftover?

I’ve just sat here for the last five minutes staring vacantly into space and trying to remember a time when I’ve had a problem with leftover wine.

I can’t.

I cannot remember a single time when there has been a bottle of wine left on the table and I’ve thought ‘oh shit, I can’t possibly drink that. What on earth am I going to do with it.’

I do realise however that there might be people out there who do have such a problem sometimes, some people who possibly drink slightly more sensibly and sometimes make the hard decision that they have had enough, or who are driving later and just want one glass to drink.

If you find yourself in such a tragic position, then don’t panic. There are in fact a number of clever (and sometimes not so obvious) ways to keep your wine from being wasted.

1. Keep it in the fridge

Whether it is red or white, the principle is the same, cooling down the wine means that oxidisation and the chemical reactions that turn the wine bad take place more slowly. Just remember to let red wine warm up again before you want to drink it, as it loses all of it’s depth and warmth of flavour when it is cold.

2. Use a pump

Vacuum pumps are designed to suck the air out of a bottle of wine and then reseal it. Obviously if there is little or no oxygen in the bottle, then little or no oxidisation can take place.

There are different kinds of pumps on the market, I don’t know much about them as I’ve never used one. I would recommend the type bought from a wine merchant rather than a sex shop though.

3. Decant it into something small

It’s exactly the same concept as using the pump. If there is less space between the wine and the top of the bottle/jar/whatever, then there is less space for air and therefore there is less oxygen to react with the wine.

4. Freeze it in cubes

Pour the left over wine into ice cube trays and freeze it.

The next time that you need some wine in a dish you are cooking, you can just use a cube or two straight from the freezer instead of opening a new bottle, and then having to suffer the trauma of drinking what you don’t use.

5. Pour it in the bath

Now, this is where it all gets a little less obvious, try pouring leftover red wine (NOT white) into your bath water.

Red wine contains polyphenols which can do all sorts of healthy things for you. They give your circulation a bit of a kickstart, improve your skin elasticity, and can even boost skin cell renewal.

One of them is that sharp knives are easier and safer to work with than blunt ones, and that changing your knife for a new sharp one will instantly make you feel like a better cook.

To put it bluntly (pun intended), if you don’t use a good sharp knife then a couple of things are going to happen.

1. You are going to tear and bruise whatever lovely ingredients you are working with.

2. You hugely increase the risk of losing the end off of one of your fingers.

The problem lies in the fact that good quality knives are anything but cheap, and it’s one of those areas where you really do get what you pay for. Try not to scream as you hand over your cash or card, and just buy them – your fingers are worth it!

Once you’ve splashed out on them though, make sure that you potect your investment by keeping the blades sharp.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Not sharpening them, but keeping them sharp.

Unless you are very highly skilled, it is virtually impossible to regain a sharp edge to a knife at home, once you have lost it. What you need to do is make sure that you don’t lose that sharp edge in the first place.

Cleaning

It’s important to keep your knives clean. Don’t be tempted to leave them with the rest of the washing up in a pile until the morning. Do it when you have finished using them.

Wash knives in hot soapy water, and then rinse them off with clean hot water. Either wipe them dry, or leave them to dry so that the blade is vertical and not touching anything else.

Using a steel

To keep a good edge on your knife you should use a steel on a regular basis. A steel is a ridged rod made of (not suprisingly) steel, if you don’t have one then you can find one whever you bought the knives from or in any kitchen equipment shop.

There are two methods for sharpening a knife using a steel, and which one you use is completely up to you. They will both get the job done, the first one is easier, but the second will make you look more like a celebrity chef.

Method 1

1. Put a chopping board onto your worksurface (preferably a heave one, as you don’t want it to slip and move).

2. Stand your steel vertically at 90° to the board, holding the top with one hand and pushing downwards onto the board to keep it still.

3. Hold the knife in your other hand, and place the base of the knife at the top of the steel (just below the handle).

4. Run the knife down the steel until the tip of the knife reaches the tip of the steel. This should be done with the blade of the knife at an angle of about 30° to the steel.

5. Move the knife so that the opposite edge of the blade is placed at the same angle on the other side of the steel (at the bottom).

6. This time, run the knife up the steel until the base of the knife reaches the top of the steel.

7. Repeat the process about 10 times on each side.

Method 2

1. Hold the steel in one hand, with the shaft pointing upwards at an angle of about 45°.

2. Hold the knife in your other hand and place the base of the knife against the tip of the steel.

3. Run the knife down the steel until the tip of the knife reaches the base of the steel. This should be done with the blade of the knife at an angle of about 30° to the steel.

4. Move the knife to the opposite side of the steel and run it back up the steel from the top of the knife and base of the steel to the base of the knife and the tip of the steel.

5. Repeat the process about 10 times on each side.

If you lose the edge

If you have lost the edge on your knife then the steel really isn’t going to help you, you can buy all sorts of fancy knife sharpeners, or you can try your skill using a carborundrum stone.

Or, assuming that you have any kind of relationship with your local butcher (i.e. you buy meat there instead of the supermarket occassionally), then you might like to go and ask him nicely if he wouldn’t sharpen your knife for you. Believe me, he will make a much better job of it than you or I could.

I was wrong though it seems, the Swiss eat them as well served with raclette, in Hong Kong they are served as an appetizer in Cantonese restaurants, and the Americans (allegedly – according to an American) make horrible soggy ones.

I’m going to skip over all of that for a minute though, and stick to what I know, the traditional English pickled onion.

Pickling is an old way of preserving food, dating from before we had refrigeration, and you had to do something with the crop. In the Western world it’s all but superfluous for practical reasons, but we are still using this antiquated method just because it tastes so good. Simple dishes like crusty bread and cheese get a big wake up kick with the addition of a pickled onion or two.

A good pickled onion should be intense, both in flavour and crunch, if it doesn’t give you some stong resistance to being bitten, followed by a satisfying crunching sound, then you may as well just throw it away as far as I’m concerned.

You can buy special ‘pickling vinegars’ which will give you the generic pickled onion taste, but there is no reason why you can’t use any kind of vinegar that you like. White wine vinegar has been historically used, as has spirit vinegar, but I think that the best and deepest flavour comes from plain old malt vinegar. You can also pickle the onions just on their own, or add spices to the vinegar to give them a bit of a kick.

In theory there is no reason why you can’t use any type of onion that you like, but there are a couple of reasons why every commercial jar of pickled onions that you buy uses small varieties, like Pearl onions or Cipolla. The most obvious reason is that they fit into the jars, and the second reason is that the bigger the onion the longer you have to pickle them for before you can eat them and get that lovely vinegary taste all the way through. My personal favourite is to use shallots, they give a fantastic flavour when pickled, they are just a bit of a pain to peel.

There is no real recipe for pickling onions because really there are no hard and fast rules, some people will give you incredibly complex directions calling for various different types of spicing, or which need you to soak the onions in fresh brine two or three times. I’m not going to argue that none of that is good or that it doesn’t give good results, but here is the simplest basic technique that works well, and you can experiment and modify it as you like.

1. First make some brine by dissolving salt in boiling water, you should use about 100g of salt for every litre of water, when you have done this leave the water to cool down, because if you put the onions in when it is still hot they will go soft. You will need enough brine to cover however many onions you are planning to use.

2. Peel your onions, and then put them into the brine and leave them for at least 24 hours. You need to make sure that all of the onions are covered, which can be a bit tricky as they like to float up to the top, the easiest answer is to put a plate or saucepan lid with something heavy on top of it, on top of the onions.

3. Take the onions out of the brine solution and drain them thoroughly.

4. Pack the onions into jars, and cover them with your vinegar of choice. If you are planning to use any spices in the vinegar, then the best thing is to boil them in the vinegar beforehand, but make sure that the vinegar is completely cool again before you pour it over the onions or they will go soft.

5. Seal the jars and leave them in a cool place to mature

You can eat the onions after about a week, but obviously the longer you leave them the more the flavour develops. I’d recommend leaving them for at least 6 weeks before using them.

When it comes to humans, the moistness of the breast isn’t really a huge factor in deciding its quality, but with chicken it’s all a bit different.

I’ve read a few different articles and blog posts over the past few days about chicken breasts, with people saying how much drier they can be than other bits of the bird.

If you have a problem with dry breasts then there are some excellent creams available, just ask your local pharmacist. With regard to your bits of chicken though, it’s all about the way that you cook it.

Grilling or frying chicken breasts can leave them dry, but here is one cooking method that will leave you with beautiful succulent meat every time. We are going to poach it.

1. Start by seasoning your chicken breasts with salt and freshly ground pepper, then wrap each breast tightly in clingfilm – this will ensure that the meat will keep it’s shape while cooking.

2. Heat a saucepan of water to a gentle boil, gently put the chicken into the water, and poach it for about 12-15 minutes.

3. Remove the chicken from the water but don’t unwrap it, and leave it to rest for 10 minutes.

4. Heat some butter in a frying pan, unwrap the chicken and add it to the butter. Cook the chicken slowly in the butter until the skin has a beautiful golden colour.

One of the key things it to always buy chicken breasts with the skin on them. They simply taste better (they are also cheaper)!

Serve it however you like, the meat will be nice and moist so you don’t need to cover it in a creamy sauce.

It’s also a bit of a bugger to work with, as it has a tendency to split and to burn easily. Melting it is no exception, but there are a couple of simple rules to follow, to not end up with a lumpy mess.

White chocolate should be melted in the same way as any other type of chocolate, in a bowl over gently simmering water. Don’t even think about trying to melt it in a microwave, you might as well just throw the packet in the bin before you start.

Because white chocolate has a very low burning point (about 44°C) you need to be careful about a couple of things. First make sure that the bowl your chocolate is in does not touch the water, and secondly make sure that the water is simmering very gently and not bubbling away madly.

It’s important not to let any water get into the bowl with the chocolate, because this will cause it to turn lumpy and grainy. Make sure that your bowl is dry before you start and don’t cover it with a lid, condensation will form on the underside of the lid and drop back down into the chocolate. You should also stir the chocolate with a metal spoon, instead of with plastic or wood, because both wood and plastic can contain moisture, and the melting chocolate might not like it.

If some water does manage to sneak in, then you can re-emulsify the chocolate as below.

The incredibly frustrating thing is that even when you do everything right, the cocoa butter in white chocolate can decide to split and leave you with a lumpy oily mess. If this does happen, don’t panic, remove it from the heat for a minute and whisk in a small amount of butter, until the whole lot re-emulsifies.

No, those aren't cornflakes

IMPORTANT NOTE: Tempura is not a Japanese creation!

Yes, we all think they made it up themselves, but actually Tempura was introduced to Japan by the Portuguese in the mid 16th century. Any history book will probably tell you why there were there, but to be honest I have no interest at all. I am however very glad that took tempura with them, and that the Japanese have stuck with it and exported it back to the rest of us.

For anyone who not only didn’t know that it wasn’t Japanese but also doesn’t have a clue what it is, traditonal Tempura is a deep fried vegetables or seafood in a crisp fluffy batter.

Tempura batter is light, fluffy, and crisp, and I love it. As part of lunch today I had tempura vegetables, they were in a less than spectacular chain of pubs in the UK, and yet they managed not to bugger them up and they tasted great. They did this because apart from tasting great, Tempura is stupidly easy to make.

What to tempura

The great thing about tempura is that you don’t have to stick to tradition, and you can basically cook just about anything in it, from lobster to ice cream. Personally I just love tempura batter, and to a certain degree what is in the middle doesn’t really matter too much, as long as it is is wrapped up in that crispy goodness.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be adding recipes for some different tempura dishes to the site, so check back for those. In the meantime, be a bit creative and throw anything you like in there.

Carbonation or no carbonation?

You will find that a lot of recipes for tempura use carbonated water instead of still water.

In England you will often find fish fried in a beer batter, and a some other batters use tonic water. All of these recipes use carbonated liquids for the same reason.

The science in this is super simple. What we are trying to end up with is batter that is as light and fluffy as we can, and what makes batter light and fluffy is having air in it. When you use carbonated water (or any other carbonated liquid) to make batter, then the bubbles in the liquid leave tiny spaces in the mixture which fill with air, and give you a lovely light batter.

Traditional tempura recipes don’t use carbonated water, possibly because they didn’t have it in the 16th century, and if you are careful it is possible to make good tempura with still water.

The following recipe will work perfectly well with either still or carbonated water, so feel free to try both and see which result you prefer.

Tempura batter recipe

1. In a large bowl, mix together the cold water and the egg yolk, using a fork or a pair of chopsticks.

2. Add the flour a little bit at a time, gently mixing it in until the flower is all incorporated.

3. That’s it, dip whatever it is that you are cooking into the batter to coat it, and fry for 1 to 2 minutes in oil at about 180°c.

Notes on the recipe

As you can see below, making tempura is incredibly simple, there are just three important points to bear in mind before you start:

The water used in the batter must be VERY COLD, preferably iced.

The batter must not be overmixed. Just use your fork (or chopsticks if you have them) for literally a few seconds to combine the ingredients. Lumps of unmixed flour are fine and perfectly normal. Overmixing so that gluten is released and your batter goes sticky is not fine, as this will make your tempura heavy greasy.

Only make the batter when you are ready to fry it. Tempura batter is not like pancake batter which will be much better if it is left alone for half an hour after mixing. If you don’t use the tempura batter straight away then it will lose all of its fluffiness and become thick and heavy.