Cooking tips, tricks, and advice from professional kitchens
Dry Storage
Fresh, home made chili powder
Jan 19th
Chili powder, commonly found in the grocery store, often isn’t simply powdered chilies. This Tex-Mex seasoning is a blend of dried ground chilies, garlic powder, onion powder, powdered cumin and coriander seed, oregano, allspice, and salt. As with most spice blends there are countless variations on chili powder.
I am guilty of buying this premade, but only because I go through so much of it. In a pinch, chili powder can be easily made at home, and it will be more aromatic and flavorful than the blends on grocery store shelves. If you can get your hands on powdered chilies, you can make a wonderful, smoky and rich spice mix. If not, simply use cayenne and paprika.
Recipe for home made chili powder. Yield about 1 cup (250ml):
| 4 tbsp / 60ml | Ancho chili powder |
| 2 tbsp / 30ml | Chipotle chili powder |
| 2 tbsp / 30ml | Paprika |
| 2 tbsp / 30ml | Ground cumin seed |
| 2 tbsp / 30ml | Onion powder |
| 2 tsp / 10ml | Ground coriander seed |
| 1 tbsp / 15ml | Mexican oregano |
| 1 tbsp / 15ml | Garlic powder |
| 1 tsp / 5ml | Ground allspice |
| 1/2 tsp / 2.5ml | Ground cloves |
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Make your own fresh Cajun seasoning and rub
Jan 4th
Cajun seasoning can be purchased in basically any grocery store or supermarket these days, but if you have a well stocked spice cupboard there is no reason to buy a prepackaged mix. Using freshly ground mustard seeds, freshly ground oregano, thyme, and cumin seed along with paprika and cayenne that isn’t stale will give you a much more fragrant blend than what’s been sitting on store shelves for months.
There are literally limitless variations on the standard Cajun spice blend, with ingredients added and omitted, and combined in various ratios. Here is a simple recipe that can be tweaked to your tastes:
| 3 Tbsp / 45ml | Paprika |
| 2 Tbsp / 30ml | Salt |
| 1 tsp / 5ml | Mustard seed |
| 1 tsp / 5ml | Onion powder |
| 1 tsp / 5ml | Garlic powder |
| 1 tsp / 5ml | Cayenne pepper |
| 1 tsp / 5ml | Ground black pepper |
| 1 tsp / 5ml | Thyme |
| 1 tsp / 5ml | Oregano |
If you’re using this recipe as a dry rub, add 1 Tbsp brown sugar. As a marinade, add 2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil and substitute onion powder and garlic powder for fresh onion and garlic. Use 3 tablespoons minced onion.
For the freshest tasting Cajun blend, crush red pepper flakes and substitute for cayenne, crush mustard seed rather than using powdered mustard, and crush dried thyme and oregano rather than using powdered.
Cajun spice mix. From top, clockwise: mustard, paprika, oregano, thyme, black pepper, cayenne, salt, onion powder. Garlic omitted.
My New Favourite Thing: Peeled Garlic Cloves
Dec 5th
Recently I discovered that my favorite veg store in town sells garlic in the way we get it at work; in whole peeled cloves. These are well priced and seem to, for some reason, keep better than all the other garlic I’ve ever bought before. In some shops, garlic cloves can be purchased IQF (individually quick frozen), but freezing isn’t necessary. The garlic will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator. If you’re worried about the odor, don’t be. Since the garlic still has the thin outer membrane intact, there is absolutely no smell at all.
While you’ve saved the time it takes to peel a clove, which is significant, you still have to chop it. For minced garlic, simply grate the cloves on a Microplane Grater/Zester.
The whole cloves are also perfect for tossing in oil and salt and roasting.
Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
Nov 8th
Lea & Perrins is one of those kitchen staples that I tend to not talk about a whole lot. It seems to have gone out of fashion with todays generation, if only because home cooking has too.
Lea and Perrins originated in the 1800s, a product of the British occupation of India. If you’ve never tried Worcestershire sauce, it is tart, sweet, and rich. Flavoured with tamarind, vinegar, molasses, anchovies, garlic, onions, sugar, amongst other secret spices. I just today figured out why I love the Lea and Perrins sauce, yet don’t care much for the Heinz brand – malt vinegar. Lea and Perrins, in Canada and the UK, uses malt vinegar. Heinz branded Worcestershire sauce is a different beast, so is the Lea and Perrins sold in the USA.
Other brands of Worcestershire sauce are available when you are in a pinch.
When I’m stuck with a dish lacking in flavour, Lea and Perrins often comes to the rescue. Think about what components make up flavours: salt, sweet, tart, bitter, and umami. All are found in this sauce.
Suggested uses:
A splash added to mashed potatoes
Cream of mushroom soup with a bit of Worcestershire sauce is delicious. The tartness cuts through all that fat, and helps to bring out the mushroom flavour.
Brush some on a grilled steak, or use it in a steak sauce.
Bologense sauce, or other rich meaty sauces can benefit from a splash.
Yes, I realize this post sounds like a product endorsement, but when you come across something as unique as Worcestershire sauce, it’s hard to find an alternative. It would be like saying that talking about Parmesan cheese is a product endorsement. Grab a bottle, of whatever brand you like, and experiment.
Frozen fresh herbs are economical and convenient
Sep 19th
Fresh herbs are wonderful ingredients that can add loads of flavour to your dishes, but they come at an often inflated cost. I’ve seen two 6 inch long twigs of thyme go for up to $5!
There’s always dried herbs as an alternative, and those are really good in things that will slowly rehydrate them such as pasta sauces and such. But in dishes that are finished with herbs, or for fresh herbed butter dried herbs just won’t cut it.
What can you do if you want fresh herbs on hand all the time but don’t want to spend an arm and a leg?
After seeing some new products in the freezer section of grocery stores for $6 for 80g of basil (and then it’s loaded with oil and salt), I got an idea.
Take whichever fresh herbs you like and ensure they are clean. Pick off the leaves, chop them, and moisten with a little water. Place them in a ziplock freezer bag and squeeze out as much air as you can. You can also do the same in ice cube trays, by placing your herbs inside and topping up with a little water. When you need fresh herbs, just chop off a chunk or pop out a cube. Fresh herbs freeze very well, but you will lose the colorful bright green if you freeze them.
Types of flour and their substitutions
Jul 14th
Lately, Culinary Tips has been getting a lot of searches for types of flour, substitutions of flour types, and uses of flour, so I’ve expanded the entry here on flour. Hopefully this helps answer some questions. If not, as always, drop us a comment below or email a question.
Firstly, to understand flour, it helps to understand its source, wheat. There are several varieties of wheat, which I won’t delve into here. They vary in colour, protein content, and texture. The seed of which, has three distinct parts: the hull or bran, the endosperm, and the embryo or germ. In whole wheat flour, the husk of the wheat grain is left on and ground, hence the term whole wheat. In white flour is it removed, and only the endosperm and embryo are ground.
Inside flour are two important proteins that make baking possible – glutenin and gliadin. When these are kneaded together in the presence of water, they interlink and form a network called gluten. Gluten gives baked goods a chewy/firm texture, and captures the gases released from yeast during fermentation, and the carbon dioxide released from chemical leaveners in baking.
For many baking projects the right type of flour can make all the difference, but how do you know what the right type is? First lets discuss the types of flour, and what they are used for. The four basic types of wheat flour on the market are:
- All Purpose
- Cake and Pastry
- Bread
- and Self-Raising
Apart from self-raising, which has a chemical leavener (baking powder) already added, the others differ from each other in respect to how much protein is left in during the milling process.
Though there are many different proteins found in flour, the ones that are of concern to bakers are gliadin and glutenin. These proteins form gluten. Gluten is what makes dough elastic. When making bread you want maximum gluten formation, so the CO2 from the yeast will have a place to stay, but when you’re making say, scones or pie dough, the less gluten the better so the product will not be chewy.
Strong / Hard / Bread Flour
Bread flour has the highest protein content of them all, and though it varies from brand to brand and place to place, the protein content is 12-14%. It is often made using a type of wheat called Durum. Due to the high protein content, when worked with water, the most gluten is formed resulting in a chewier product. Strong flour is typically used for making pasta, bread, and other yeast leavened baked goods. Strong flour is also the type that should be used when dusting a workbench because of the large particle size. Unless you are using yeast in your product, or making pasta, consider another type of flour.
All Purpose Flour
Next in strength comes all purpose, which has an 8-10% protein content, putting it basically in the middle of the road when it comes to gluten forming potential. It is a blend of hard and soft flours. If you are going to be making a variety of products, but only want to buy one type of flour, this is the one for you.
Cake Flour / Pasty Flour
At the grocery store, you will often see a single product called Cake and Pastry Flour, with generally the lowest protein content of around 7-10%. Cake and pastry flour has the lowest protein content of all common types of flour, and should be used in making products with a light texture as gluten development is to be avoided. For example, using a high protein flour will make your cake tough, causing it to not rise when baked.
If you only have bread flour and you want some scones tonight, by all means use it, but be extra aware that the potential for chewy scones is higher with bread flour than cake flour. If you are making bread, and you only have cake flour, you may be in for a little more trouble. Soft bread depends on proper gluten development to trap the gases from the yeast, creating leavening, and therefore a nice soft crumb. With cake flour, there is only about half the protein in bread flour, so the potential for gluten development is lesser. To get fully developed dough, you may have to knead for so long that the heat from the friction in the bowl kills the yeast, leaving you with a big sticky pile of mess.
Quite a few British recipes call for self-raising flour because in the UK, self raising flour is roughly the same price as regular flour. For each cup of unleavened flour, add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder. If you only have self-raising flour, and your recipe calls for regular, omit the baking powder and/or salt (if your flour already has it mixed in).
Make your own vanilla vodka or vanilla extract
Jun 8th
The Organic Vanilla Bean Company has very reasonably priced beans, so you can make the best vanilla vodka vodka or extract you’ve tasted. 
By submerging a few beans in a bottle of reaonsable quality vodka (at home, we’ve used about 10/750ml bottle) for between 1 and 6 months, you will have an amazing vanilla vodka (you can also use other alcohol such as tequila or rum). Just keep your bottle in a fairly dark and cool area to keep it fresh.
After 6 months, the liquid will be quite dark and can now be used as vanilla extract. With a large number of beans such as we use, you can re-fill the bottle when it’s getting low and not lose very much flavour. I think we’ve probably refilled at least twice over and it’s still almost black and just as tasty as ever.
Play around, if you can. Citrus peels, cinnamon, and green cardamoms can all be added for a more exotic infusion.
Use all of that expensive vanilla bean
Jun 7th
Lets face it – while vanilla beans add an unparalleled flavour to desserts (and some savoury items), they are more often than not outrageously priced. I’ve seen then as high as $16 each, so it’s helpful to squeeze every last drop of flavour out of them.
Most recipes call for the scraped seeds. For things like ice creams, creme anglaise and other wet items, it’s possible to add the scraped bean to the same liquid as the seeds, which will free any seeds left in the pod after scraping.
Side tip: Whenever you scrape a vanilla bean and add the seeds to a liquid, it’s helpful to strain the liquid where possible to remove any brown fibrous threads that line the inside of the bean, which no matter how carefully you scrape, inevitably end up in the mix. After heating with the liquid, or if you’re making cookies, or something else not involving infused liquid, the bean can be rinsed if it’s dirty, dried and kept for garnishing (Crepe sacs are often tied with strands of vanilla beans). The bean can also be added to a container of sugar (brown or white), or coffee, and will infuse a slight flavour. But make sure the bean is dry first, or all you’ll get is a sticky mess.
(If your recipe isn’t particularly wet, and you still want to infuse it with a vanilla bean pod, you can poach the scraped pod in any butter or oil you will be using over low heat for 15 or so minutes – Chris)
(If you do infuse your butter, be sure to return it to the consistancy the recipe calls for as butter at different temperatures and in different forms can have different properties – Victoria)
Turmeric
Mar 26th
Turmeric is a South Asian relative of ginger, so its not surprising that fresh turmeric resembles a yellow-orange ginger rhizome. In North America, turmeric is generally used dried, but when fresh it can be sliced and used in curries.
The bright colour of turmeric is due to the compound curcumin, which is commerically extracted and used as a food colouring. Along with being an excellent dye, curcumin is a strong antioxidant which can help prevent food spoilage. As an ingredient, turmeric is what gives blends of curry powder their yellow colour, and in cheaper mixtures is used as a filler. Turmeric contributes a woody, earthy aroma to dishes, but little flavour other than a slight bitterness and heat
Chinese Five Spice
Mar 24th
Five spice is Chinese and Vietnamese spice blend containing somewhere between 5 and 7 spices. It is commonly used on roast or braised meats with braised pork belly, beef brisket, or roast duck being a few classics. There are many recipes for this blend, but common ingredients are Sichuan pepercorns, cloves, cinnamon, anise seed, star anise, and ground ginger.
Five spice may be found in Chinese or Southeast Asian markets, but it is easy to make your own if you have a well stocked spice cupboard.
The five spice recipe I’ve been carting around for some time is:
- 30ml Sichuan peppercorns [black peppercorns may be substitued, but you'll lose the lemony flavour of the Sichuan pepper]
- 10ml fennel seed
- 10ml ground ginger
- 3 star anise pods
- 6 whole cloves
- 6 inches of cinnamon stick broken up
Yes, I know it has six spices.
