9. When cooking vegetables, blanch them in boiling salted water, then plunge them into iced water to retain their vibrant colour. When it comes to serving place the vegetables in a bowl, add a knob of butter and reheat in the microwave for 1min. This will make your life easier when trying to serve everything hot at the same time.
10. Always use fresh herbs, dried herbs do not have the same flavour.
11. When cleaning mushrooms, never soak them in water as they will absorb the water and dilute their favour. Wash them quickly and drain on a kitchen cloth.
12. For the perfect roast potato, cook in salted water until slightly softened on the outside, drain in a colander and let them steam dry for 20min. Heat a pan with beef dripping until very hot, add the potatoes and place in a hot oven until golden brown. Then season with salt( by seasoning them after they are golden, they will not stick to the pan)
13. For the perfect seasoned boiled potato add 15g salt for every litre of water
14. To tenderise tough cuts of meat, add chucks of pineapple and leave for 2 hours
15. To remove the skin of Dover sole, dip the tip of the rear fin into hot water. The skin will start to come away from the flesh, grab the skin using a cloth and slowly pull and remove from the flesh.
Enjoy cooking!
Jun Tanaka