Historically Historically pâté referred to a pasty crust surrounding a mixture of meat. Modern Day Pâté simply refers to the meat mixture itself. Salt & cold dishes When serving something cold you have to over salt the dish a bit as salt loses its savor in a cold dish. Lessons from Julia is a weekly…

Foamy Mousse = foamy Mousseline = even more light and foamy On Liqueur When using liqueurs, be sure and use a good quality liqueur. Why? Because you can taste the quality. If it is not good don’t use it and instead use orange juice or strong coffee to get the flavor you are going for….

Confidence I didn’t find myself learning much new in the ways of techniques during this episode. She trusses the duck, shows you how to prick the bottom portion of the duck to drain out some of the fat, makes a stock from the various giblets, etc. But the great thing about this episode is that…

Raise the temperature Adding oil to butter allows the butter to heat up to a higher temperature without burning. Reusing methods The method of drying, coating, and sauteeing the chicken livers is the exact same method she used for the scallops in season 1, episode 10. Finger test Chicken livers only take 3-4 minutes to…

Dry your lettuce! Salad dressing will not stick to wet lettuce. So after washing, lay the leaves down on a large light towel and gently roll it up. Then place the rolled up lettuce in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Then use as needed. Salad oil The French don’t use olive oil for their dressings…

Not just a bivalve mollusk Escalope = scallop = thin slice of meat. Don’t burn the fat! Keep your fat hot but not burning. You can tell it is burning if it turns dark brown. Remember, always regulate your heat! Lessons from Julia is a weekly series where I post what I am learning from…

Blanching the beans It is important to use a large pot and lots of water (8-9 quarts) for blanching green beans. Why? Because the larger amount of boiling water you have, the faster it will come back up to a boil after the beans are in. Give them mushrooms a squeeze When using mushroom stems…

Braised Rice Risotto = braised rice. The French use plain white long grain rice and don’t really cook it in the same manner as the Italians. Cook In Butter Browning the rice in the butter cooks off the floury coating on the rice. By cooking off the coating it prevents the rice from becoming gummy….

Incorporating sugar When incorporating sugar into egg yolks, always add in a little at time otherwise the yolks can end up granular. Scorching the cream If the pastry cream scorches, immediately move it to another pan. It isn’t worth scraping up burnt stuff into the cream. Using a heavy bottom pan should prevent this from…

Quiche A quiche stands in its own shell, nothing supports it. It is made up of a basic mixture of eggs + cream/milk + flavoring. A little on flour French flour – primarily composed of soft wheat with a little heard wheat = using all butter American all purpose – primarily composed of hard wheat…

Frozen scallops If you buy frozen, be sure there isn’t a block of ice at the bottom of the package. If there is, it means they have been frozen, thawed, and re-frozen. If it smells right They are in good shape if they smell good enough to eat. Substitutions Green onions can alway substituted for…

No stick-um pan A non-stick pan is a must. And theoretically, an omelet pan should only be used for omelets. Otherwise you run into sticking. Lunch or dinner The French serve an omelet for lunch or supper. Never for breakfast. Eggs Use 2-3 eggs per omelet inorder to ensure it cooks correctly and retain the…