I had great fortune for several days!
I met a chef who worked on cruise lines and in restaurants for many years, who was here on vacation and he cooked in my kitchen for three days.
What I learned from him was broad brush strokes, but they are so important.
He used far less equipment than me; didn't measure everything and didn't use an oven thermometer.
In short.
When making a sauce he put the ingredients into a large bowl: no measuring; and then tasted them until he was satisfied.
I always did the opposite :-(
He turned the heat on both the stove top and oven to almost full power, and then then turned them down when needed.
When he cooked soles, he tested the doneness by pushing the tip of the knife against the bone, and when the bone didn't quite separate he turned down the heat and tried again after a few minutes.
He was more than ready to substitute ingredients which I guess comes with lots of experience, and instead of using my sieves, simply used lids.
And somewhat surprisingly to me, he said that he mostly only uses one knife.
I asked him if he could recommend one and he told me without hesitation.
For price, usability and quality, you can't beat this!
http://goo.gl/7Y8urz
I ordered one and make no money from the link ;-)
Because I can't find Parmesan at a reasonable price here, a friend is shipping it from the UK.
The owner of my local café shops at Continente every day and he bought me tarragon and Dijon mustard.
So a good week to be sure as the Irish chef said ;-)
Michael
