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Browse published articles attributed to Chef Todd Mohr, with full-archive search.
I’ll admit it. You’ll never try this consommé recipe. Even my students in culinary college will make it once and probably never again. I try to bring you the best aspects of cooking and make it simple. But, there’s no way to make this clear and flavorful broth easily. It’s a professional level skill reserved only for the finest restaurants.
If you love cooking healthy using fresh ingredients, you’re in good company. The trend today is away from the large, corporate agri-businesses and in support of your local farmer. This is great news as you can have more healthy cooking using locally grown, fresh produce. And, nothing helps your cooking to taste fresher than cooking with herbs especially those grown locally. Sometimes, you may gets a great deal on your herbs and decide that you need to dry them. This week, you’re going to learn about what to do with your local herb bounty as well as the secret to drying herbs.
Have you ever wondered how a chef can be told to cook with a few ingredients and they can pull together a dish without using a cookbook? How is that possible? It’s possible because there are chef secrets that we use in cooking every day. They’re the same chef secrets that I teach in my online cooking classes. If you think about it, I’m sure there are many things you can do very well without having to look for instructions each time you begin.
I’d be worried if I made cookies for Santa and he didn’t eat them. What would that mean? Was I too naughty this year for him to even take a bite? Or, is Santa expecting more from me than stale cookies from the store? Santa expects cookies from scratch and I’ve let him down in past years. That would probably explain the amount of coal I’ve been receiving.
Simple cooking is the best cooking. There, I said it for the 1000th time! No matter where I travel, no matter to whom I speak, those people and cultures that know good food say the same thing. In Paris, the spice store shared his incredibly simple secret to eating healthy, “Simple things are good things”. In a fish market on Hawaii, the local fish monger advised me to cook my tuna very rare and very simply. “Only scare the fish with a fry pan, it will be Ono”, he said. Ono is “delicious” in Hawaiian.
Butter cake recipes will always be disappointing if you don’t use the correct mixing method. While most people blame the oven for cake faults, the problem is not in the baking. The most common cake faults stem from mistakes made during mixing. Mixing methods are the most important step in creating a great cake, no matter what the recipe. The “Creaming Method” is used for high-fat cakes. In butter cake recipes, there is usually a great proportion of butter in the formula. Bu
When you cook green beans this holiday season, will you open a can of condensed soup and let the beans bake for hours? Most people do. Baking vegetables over a long period of time reduces their nutrient value. Plus, if you are trying to have a stress-free holiday cooking experience, you’re probably preparing the casserole a day in advance. That large casserole dish takes up a lot of room in your refrigerator. And, since it’s flat, there are usually items piled on top of it,
I’ve said it before, “the Food Network is the MTV of cooking.” MTV used to play music, now they’re entertainment about music. Food Network is entertainment about food. They don’t teach anyone to cook. Last week, I was listening to my favorite band, The Gin Blossoms on my iPod while cooking with steam when someone reminded me of my cynical quote about MTV and Food TV. “Huh”? I said as I removed one ear-bud. I must have missed the entire comment, but it gave me a great idea.
I’m inspired to create this “Grilling How To” because outdoor cooking season is now upon us! It’s my favorite cooking time of the year, but before I actually get grilling, I’ll have to inspect my barbeque and decide whether it will survive another summer. My poor, poor barbeque grill, it took some abuse this winter. It had snow piled on top of it, freezing temperatures, spiders, dust, and carbonized pieces of last year’s hamburger spend an intimate winter with it. A clean g
I have a friend that plays guitar. He can hear a song and figure out how to play it. This has always impressed me. I watch him intently listening to the song, nodding his head, humming a bit, and then his fingers go to work. The left hand forms chords, the right strums or picks at the strings. “Oh, it’s A, then C, then D,” he mumbles. Because my friend knows HOW to play guitar, because he knows the basic chords he can recreate any song he hears. Why doesn’t he just buy the sheet music.
I’m inspired to create this “Grilling How To” because outdoor cooking season is now upon us! It’s my favorite cooking time of the year, but before I actually get grilling, I’ll have to inspect my barbeque and decide whether it will survive another summer. My poor, poor barbeque grill, it took some abuse this winter. It had snow piled on top of it, freezing temperatures, spiders, dust, and carbonized pieces of last year’s hamburger spend an intimate winter with it.
No recipe will tell me what to do when it’s strawberry season. It’s one of the great seasonal joys in fresh food, and I take full advantage of the short time. The best strawberries come from your local farm, local farmer, local rain and soil. I celebrate the beginning of strawberry season with a visit to DJ’s Berry Patch and speak with Jessica, the owner/farmer. Strawberries are one of the most difficult crops to grow because of the long season, hard labor, and fragile natu
Christmas dinner ideas are harder to come by than any other holiday menu. Most people have deep traditions when it comes to their Thanksgiving table, but Christmas presents a great opportunity to try new things, new ideas for the coming new year. Let’s start with starch. Potatoes are high in calories, high in carbohydrates, high in starch and sugars. For nutritional value, you’re better off with complex grains, but who wants quinoa next to their holiday ham? No one. If we want to change something, let’s change the potato.
If you could cook like me and create quick dishes every night of the week, you’d never need a recipe book. Without a recipe book, you’d never need to stress about dinner. It’s the written recipe that causes so much anxiety about preparing family dinners. Are you always trying to figure out “what’s for dinner”? Is it a constant battle of finding recipes, sharing recipes, deciding which recipes work and which don’t? Before you start cooking, do you have to search for a recipe first?
Would you break into a sweat if you had to create a 6 course French dinner for friends? Most people would, it can be intimidating cooking for other people. What makes this cooking stress even greater is trying to follow written recipes. Cooking is fun. Referring back-and-forth to written instructions is not. I avoid recipe stress entirely by ignoring recipes and using the basic methods I know to be successful along with the ingredients I desire. I call it “living a no recipe lifestyle”. It makes cooking so much easier, quicker, and enjoyable.
Making your own brown sugar ham glaze is so simple that you won’t need to buy a commercially prepared sweet-baked ham this year. You can save money by buying, baking, and glazing your own ham this holiday season. Brining Turkey is Better Than Burning Down Your House was my advice for people to avoid the dangers of deep frying turkeys this year. It may seem a contradiction to now advise you to apply a blowtorch to ham, but the flame that caramelizes sugar is a much more targeted use of heat than dropping a whole carcass into boiling fat.
Eating healthy is not just a fad. It’s not just for hippie granola types, it’s not something to practice only under a doctors direction. Carefully choosing the foods you eat has an impact on every aspect of your life, happiness, social interactions, and overall well-being. However, eating healthy means different things to different people, and that’s okay. To some, it means salads and carrot sticks at every meal. To others, it’s simply finding a new way to enjoy more wholeso
They asked me to make Bourbon Chicken for the Beer Bourbon BBQ Festival this year. The mistake they made was asking me to send the recipe. They should know better than to ask the guy famous for burning recipes to write something down. That’s just the point, I don’t use recipes. Bourbon Chicken could be White Wine Chicken or Tequila Chicken using the same basic cooking method. Knowing how to saute allows you to create simple and quick dishes using the ingredients you desire.
I have a friend that plays guitar. He can hear a song and figure out how to play it. This has always impressed me. I watch him intently listening to the song, nodding his head, humming a bit, and then his fingers go to work. The left hand forms chords, the right strums or picks at the strings. “Oh, it’s A, then C, then D,” he mumbles. Because my friend knows HOW to play guitar, because he knows the basic chords he can recreate any song he hears. Why doesn’t he just buy the s
I’ve got a lot of cooking turkey tips for you this year, but the very first must be choosing your bird. There are many different classifications and labels that are placed on Thanksgiving fowl, and it can be confusing knowing which type of poultry to purchase. A “Free Range” bird may not have as much free range as you think. The USDA requires only that birds have “some access to the outdoors”. It’s more important to know what your turkey was fed than the USDA label placed upon it by narrow definitions.
The best steaks for grilling are the ones that will return the best flavor and nutrition while retaining moisture and tende ess. To accomplish the best results, I always start with the best ingredients I can find.
Do you want to cook simply and still ensure that your kitchen is only producing healthy meals? Then you are going to love the idea that I'm going to share with you today. I just received my first produce box! This produce box is filled with healthy, fresh ingredients that practically guarantee that I will be cooking light recipes all week. Why A Produce Box?r
I’ve devised my 7 Tips for Healthy Eating at Home because I feel like crap. What the heck is going on? I’m a healthy guy, I’m not overweight. I exercise more than most people. I was the Executive Chef at a large hospital, so I know about nutrition and I can cook. Why do I feel lousy? Why am I exhausted by the television at 9:00 pm? Why do I sleep 8 full hours and wake up tired? Why do I feel like I need a nap in the afte oon? Why is my attention-span shortening? Why does my
I really need some tips for healthy living. The New Year is in full swing, and like I said earlier this week during my 7 Tips for Healthy Cooking, I feel like crap. Perhaps it’s not JUST the food I eat. Maybe there are items in my environment that could be affecting my mood, health and wellness.
I can cook better tha I ever have because I don’t follow recipes anymore. They’ve let me down too many times. However, if I don’t have written instructions, how do I create amazing meals at home? There are 5 elements, or necessary skills that I use to be able to cook the way I want, with the ingredients I desire. The first way to cook better is to change your thought process a bit. You must admit to yourself that recipes are good simply for ideas. Blindly following someone else’s idea of how something should be cooked is destined for frustration.
These canning how-to tips came out of necessity. You see, I’ve been making my own barbeque sauce since I was a kid, but it caused conflict in my household. I loved using the sauce as a grilling marinade so I’d make gallons of my “New York Attitude” Barbeque Sauce and portion it into used plastic Wonton Soup containers. The shear number of containers would fill my Mom’s refrigerator.
It’s turkey time! The bird is out of the oven and it’s time to carve turkey! Rather than trying to cut all the meat directly from the carcass at the table, consider creating an attractive platter behind the scenes this year. The turkey is fully roasted when my thermometer reads 165F (74C) at the thickest part of the bird. If you stuff your turkey in the traditional way, filling the cavity with your favorite holiday stuffing recipe, then the temperature should be taken there.
Fathers day presents from the kitchen are a great idea for the dad that cooks. Men and women cook differently. Men need gadgets, men like tools, and some of the best new dishes he’ll create may be because of the new device you’ve given him. Today, I’ll go through my kitchen drawers and share some of the small and large tools and gadgets I can’t live without in my kitchen. It might give you an idea for a fathers day present you never considered. Starting with the inexpensive
Even an American Idiot can learn there’s more than one method to poaching salmon. I’ve come to the realization that neither MTV nor Food TV are doing their jobs these days. MTV doesn’t play much music, and Food TV doesn’t teach anyone to cook. I’ll accept the challenge that’s been ignored by both media outlets. I’ll use their leftovers, their scraps, their b-sides to create a new and exciting combination of cooking and music. It’s my Food iPod. Green Day is cranked in my ea
Choosing a flaky pie crust or a mealy pie crust for you pie can mean the difference between pie pride and pie purgatory. It’s not that you need different recipes for the two types of pie crust, you just need to employ two different methods. Flaky pie crust will absorb more moisture than a mealy pie crust. Thus, they’re best used for a top crust or lattice design. The flaky variety is also great for cold pies when pre-baked and filled with mousse or cream fillings.
When I go clam digging and I am as successful as I was on this particular trip, my favorite clam recipe to cook is baked stuffed clams. Today, I’m going to share how I create this fantastic dish! Knife Skills First and foremost, all of the clams need to be cut into small, yet uniformly sized pieces. While you are chopping the clams, it’s good to keep a watchful eye out for pieces of shell. You may also feel these unwanted pieces with your hands. Into the Panr
I’d be worried if I made cookies for Santa and he didn’t eat them. What would that mean? Was I too naughty this year for him to even take a bite? Or, is Santa expecting more from me than stale cookies from the store? Santa expects cookies from scratch and I’ve let him down in past years. That would probably explain the amount of coal I’ve been receiving. I now know that cookies for Santa should be sugar cookies, and sugar cookies are rolled cookies. Rolled cookies are great
Clam digging is a tradition in my family. I grew up on the water, and had my own boat shortly after my first bicycle. It’s an activity that not only yields fantastic fresh ingredients for cooking, but a family activity that everyone enjoys. It’s one thing to buy fresh fish; it’s another to catch your food yourself. Heading out of the marina on the coast of North Carolina, we’re in search of fresh clams for dinner. It’s a beautiful day traveling on the water. The salt spray,
Boil corn on the cob and you’ll notice the corn tastes like water and the water like corn. If you think about it, you can make a flavorful vegetable broth by simmering onions, carrots, and celery in water. So, are you trying to cook your corn or make corn broth? Boiling is a moist conductive cooking process. This means that your corn is in direct contact with the heat, in this case it’s boiling water. The flavorless liquid takes on the characteristics of the item you’re cooking. Also, the cooked item absorbs bland water, affecting the taste of your fresh ingredients.
The idea of great cookies from scratch is what brings people back to their kitchens this time of year. Even people that don’t bake for the other eleven months of the year, somehow find themselves back in the kitchen for holiday cookie time. Whether you have fond childhood memories of baking with Mom or Grandma, want to be sure of the ingredients that go into your cookies, or share time with your children, making cookies from scratch is a great way to accomplish all these things.
Everyone loves to have their favorite foods cooked to perfection on the grill. And learning how to marinate is an important step in achieving this perfection. Marinating is a cooking method - or at the very least an important prelude to many cooking methods - that needs to be understood in itself. It is much more than simply soaking your favorite meat in your favorite salad dressing before slapping it on the grill. Or at least it should be! There are some tricks to getting it right and lucky for you, they are simple and you will learn them right here!
Clam digging is a tradition in my family. I grew up on the water, and had my own boat shortly after my first bicycle. It’s an activity that not only yields fantastic fresh ingredients for cooking, but a family activity that everyone enjoys. It’s one thing to buy fresh fish; it’s another to catch your food yourself. Heading out of the marina on the coast of North Carolina, we’re in search of fresh clams for dinner.
Cray-pe or Creh-pe, no matter how you say it, the simple French pancake makes an easy and elegant brunch menu idea. They’re incredibly simple to make, and flexible enough that they can be breakfast, lunch, dinner, or late night snack. However, their delicate nature makes them perfectly suitable for the meal between breakfast and lunch. The American Buttermilk Pancake cannot be compared to the Crepe! Mon deux! The brutish American looks so bourgeois next to the lacy and refin
I can cook better tha I ever have because I don’t follow recipes anymore. They’ve let me down too many times. However, if I don’t have written instructions, how do I create amazing meals at home? There are 5 elements, or necessary skills that I use to be able to cook the way I want, with the ingredients I desire. The first way to cook better is to change your thought process a bit. You must admit to yourself that recipes are good simply for ideas. Blindly following someone
Nutrients in vegetables usually wind up in the green colored water you’ve just cooked them in. Have you ever noticed that if you cook carrots in water, you’ve got orange colored liquid and carrots that taste like water? Where do you think the nutrients go? If you want to avoid destroying the color, texture, and nutrients in your vegetables, there are some simple adjustments you can make in your cooking. By controlling the heat and understanding the effect of acids and bases in cooking, you can make vegetables even children will eat!
The best soups and sauces are made from intensely flavored liquids. The question of stock vs broth must be considered when making either of these kitchen staples. What is the difference between the two? Why are they different? What effect will either have on my cooking?
Cray-pe or Creh-pe, no matter how you say it, the simple French pancake makes an easy and elegant brunch menu idea. They’re incredibly simple to make, and flexible enough that they can be breakfast, lunch, dinner, or late night snack. However, their delicate nature makes them perfectly suitable for the meal between breakfast and lunch.
The best soups and sauces are made from intensely flavored liquids. The question of stock vs broth must be considered when making either of these kitchen staples. What is the difference between the two? Why are they different? What effect will either have on my cooking? A stock is a flavorful liquid used to make a wide variety of other items in the kitchen. A well made stock is the key to a great sauce, soup or braised dish. It’s so important that the French term it “fond”,
Would you break into a sweat if you had to create a 6 course French dinner for friends? Most people would, it can be intimidating cooking for other people. What makes this cooking stress even greater is trying to follow written recipes. Cooking is fun. Referring back-and-forth to written instructions is not. I avoid recipe stress entirely by ignoring recipes and using the basic methods I know to be successful along with the ingredients I desire. I call it “living a no recipe
I get more baking-how-to questions about oven temperatures than any other query. Home bakers have been duped into thinking that somehow oven temperature and baking time are the keys to successful baked goods. It’s not true. The greatest amount of baked good worry from home bakers comes from what happens in the oven. “How long should it bake?” “What’s the correct temperature?” “How do I know when it’s done?” These are all conce s expressed to me that the baker has very little
Fathers day presents from the kitchen are a great idea for the dad that cooks. Men and women cook differently. Men need gadgets, men like tools, and some of the best new dishes he’ll create may be because of the new device you’ve given him. Today, I’ll go through my kitchen drawers and share some of the small and large tools and gadgets I can’t live without in my kitchen. It might give you an idea for a fathers day present you never considered. Starting with the inexpensive
When you follow a recipe to a disappointing outcome, you probably say, "well, that didn't cook right." What you don't realize is that the actual cooking is usually the least important factor in culinary success. In fact, most issues start right in the beginning with inadequate knife skills. Professional chefs know this, but they rarely share this simple truth with the public, which leaves very frustrated cooks out there, who are looking for answers. So, what is the essential cooking instruction that all home cooks need to know?
If you’re looking for easy cooking ideas, stop searching in recipe books! Instead, look at your cooking basics. One of the best basic cooking methods to employ for quick dishes is stove-top sauté. Sauté is a direct source, conductive cooking method that uses intense heat to cook and brown products quickly and easily. It’s the best way to get dinner done quickly, regardless of the ingredients you choose.
“Burn your recipes!” If you’ve been following me for any amount of time now, you’ve heard me utter that statement time and time again. It’s not that I’m entirely against using recipes for home cooking, it’s more because I see cooking meals as a personal art form or your kitchen culinary expression. In fact, home cooking recipes are especially useful if you’re looking for new ideas and flavor combinations. Recipes are useful for cooking meals if you want to try to duplicate something exactly. Here are some of the things that recipes will tell you: • The ingredients to user
Brining turkey is my favorite way to prepare my holiday turkey. People’s biggest fear is that their turkey will be dry after cooking it. This is a reasonable fear, because “roasting” is a dry-heat convective cooking process. When roasted, your turkey is cooked indirectly through the use of hot air. Hot air will evaporate moisture, making your turkey dry.