Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course (33 page)

WHAT IT SOMETIMES TAKES EVEN
PROFESSIONAL CHEFS A WHILE TO
LEARN IS THAT COOKING IS A CRAFT
RATHER THAN AN ART.

By that I mean that it is about learning a set of rules, the right way to do things, rather than simply flying by the seat of your pants. The vast majority of what you do in a kitchen is based on a series of basic techniques that come up again and again, and it’s not until you have understood and mastered these core skills that you can start to experiment a bit more and get creative.

During the filming of my TV series
Kitchen Nightmares
a few years back, when I’d travel the country putting failing restaurants back on their feet, the biggest problem I came across was chefs who were trying to run before they could walk. They’d come into the kitchen full of swagger and start trying to stamp their personality on the menu, yet they had no idea how to do the most basic things like cook an omelette or make a stock. There they were, trying to reinvent the Caesar salad with scallops or langoustines, and yet they couldn’t even dress the leaves properly. They were putting out truffled woodland mushroom lasagne but didn’t know how to make a béchamel sauce.

They were on a hiding to nothing, of course. All cooking has to be underpinned by an understanding of the basics. These are the building blocks you need to construct a dish. And, like any building, without them your cooking will always fall flat. In this chapter you’ll find nine recipes that demonstrate different techniques or processes that come up again and again in cooking. Whether it’s poaching an egg or making a beautiful glossy mayonnaise, these are skills needed in countless recipes. Get them right and you’ll already be a better cook than an alarming number of so-called professionals.

POACHING EGGS

This seems to defeat so many people, but couldn’t be simpler provided you follow a couple of rules. First, use really fresh eggs. The fresher the egg, the more viscous the white will be, and the better it will cling to the yolk. Second, use a deep saucepan of very gently simmering water: deep because the egg will take longer to fall through the water, which will give more time for the white to set around the yolk, gently simmering because a rolling boil will disperse the white and make it rise to surface in a horrible scum. You can, as an extra precaution, add a splash of white wine vinegar to the water, which helps the white to coagulate, but it shouldn’t be necessary if you get the other elements right – and there’s always the danger you’ll taste it in the final dish.

Once your water is simmering, crack the egg into a cup and use a slotted spoon to swirl the water round, like a mini-whirlpool, creating a well in the centre. Now, very gently, ease the egg into the water. It should be carried by the current and slowly spin to the bottom. Don’t drop it from too high or the yolk will fall through the white: the idea is that it becomes enrobed as it falls. You can cook up to four eggs at a time, but make sure the water is spinning before you add each one. You can either cook these fully now, for 3–4 minutes, or do as we do in the restaurants and remove them after 1½–2 minutes and ‘shock’ them in iced water to stop the cooking process. Now you can drain them on kitchen paper and trim the white to neaten them up. Cover them with cling film and store in the fridge until needed. To reheat, either plunge them in boiling water for a minute, or baste them in hot butter, perhaps flavoured with thyme or spring onions, in a pan for a richer, creamier result.

The recipe for Noodle Soup with Poached Egg (
see here
) is an opportunity to practise your poaching technique.

SOUFFLÉS

Soufflés are one of those dishes that people can’t help but be impressed by. They see that beautifully risen crust and assume they are in the presence of a master chef. It’s true that soufflés take a certain amount of practice and confidence to pull off, but they are not actually that difficult.

The secret is to ensure that the egg whites are folded evenly through the mix for an even rise, but to take care that you don’t knock the air out of them while doing so. The other trick is to apply a double layer of softened butter to the ramekins in upward strokes. This will also encourage the soufflés to rise evenly. You can then dust the butter with flour, grated chocolate, blitzed air-dried blueberries, sumac – whatever suits the style of soufflé. If you get your soufflé mixture to the right consistency, it will hold in the fridge for up to 1½ hours, so you can make it before your guests arrive and cook it at the last minute. The final trick before cooking is to run your finger around the edge of the soufflé to make a slight indent just inside the rim. This also will help it to rise. Try the recipe
here
.

ROUX

The Macaroni and Cauliflower Bake with Three Cheeses (
see here
) incorporates one of the most important kitchen skills, namely making a béchamel or white sauce. You’ll come across this again and again in things such as moussaka, lasagne or fish pies. You combine equal parts butter and flour in a pan and cook them together over a medium heat until they turn golden, then you add your liquid – normally milk or stock. The secret for a smooth sauce is to add the liquid very gradually, especially at the beginning, and to whisk it in completely after each addition. If you add all the liquid at once, it is much harder to get rid of any lumps. Once all the liquid has been incorporated, the sauce needs to be gently simmered to cook out the flavour of raw flour.

OMELETTES

The secret to any good omelette is to use a lightly oiled heavy-based pan. Add a knob of butter and only once it starts to foam do you add the eggs. Then you stir the eggs constantly to beat in some air, and tilt the pan from side to side to make any uncooked egg run to the sides. If you are adding lots of fillings to your omelette – ham, leeks, tomato, or bacon for example – make sure these are all well caramelised
before
you add the lightly beaten eggs, which will cook in 2–3 minutes. I tend to use a fork to gently stir the mix to ensure it is evenly distributed. Once the top is almost set but still moist and creamy (we call it
baveuse
in professional kitchens), lift the edges of the omelette to see you have got a touch of colour on the bottom and then take straight off the heat.

The traditional way to serve an omelette is folded threeways. You tilt the pan away from you and flip the edge closest to the handle to the middle, and then roll the omelette so it folds over itself. But to be honest, I often don’t bother. There’s nothing wrong with an open omelette, especially if you’ve got a nice vibrant filling such as prawns, feta and tomato (
see here
).

MAYONNAISE

It’s worth learning how to make a basic mayonnaise because it is such a versatile condiment that you can take in so many directions. I’ll often flavour mine with basil or tarragon, garlic, lemon, lime, capers, watercress – even anchovies (see the lovely variation
see here
).

You start with your egg yolks, vinegar, mustard and salt and then very gradually add your oil, whisking furiously all the time, to create a rich, thick sauce. The greatest danger is that your sauce will ‘split’ (it will look curdled and the oil won’t emulsify with the egg yolk). To prevent this happening, make sure your ingredients are all at room temperature to begin with, and add the oil almost drop by drop at the beginning and never at more than a slow trickle. If the worst does happen, simply beat another egg yolk in a clean bowl and slowly add your split mixture, whisking all the time. It will soon come together and re-emulsify.

You can use any oil you like in mayonnaise. I find extra virgin olive too rich and overpowering so like to use groundnut, which has a very neutral flavour. A further way to make it less cloying is to let it down at the end with a couple of tablespoons of iced water. This will not only make it a nice white colour, but means it will coat salad leaves more easily.

CHICKEN STOCK

Classic French cooking used to rely on lots of heavily reduced veal and beef stocks, but the fashion now is to use more chicken stock, which gives a far lighter result. This is good news for the home cook because of all the stocks, chicken is the easiest to make, yet will absolutely transform your cooking. There are times when you can just about get away with a good stock cube – making gravy, for example, where the pan juices will already have plenty of meaty oomph – but nothing comes close to providing the same body and depth of flavour that you get from a proper home-made stock. If you eat much chicken in your house, the biggest favour you can do yourself is always to buy whole birds, use the meat as you want – roasted whole or jointed as you need it (
see here
) – and then use the carcass to make the most fantastic versatile stock. This will be your secret weapon, your way of injecting so much more flavour into your cooking – and, as I’ve said elsewhere, that is half the battle. The Spiced Lentil Soup
here
is a good example of using stock to great effect, as the lentils readily take up the extra flavour it provides.

There are two styles of chicken stock: white and brown. White is made with uncooked carcasses and vegetables, and produces a much paler, more delicate stock, which is used for light broths, risottos and the like, where you are looking for a lighter flavour. Brown stock is made with roasted carcasses and vegetables, sometimes with the addition of tomato purée. The result is much richer and more intense, and is great for sauces, stews and hearty soups such as French onion. Both are made in roughly the same way. I reckon on making about a litre of stock from one carcass.

For a white stock, place your carcass bones plus any white vegetables in a large saucepan. Onions, leeks, celery, garlic and turnips are all good additions, but not potatoes as they’ll make the final stock cloudy. Add a bay leaf, a sprig of thyme and a few peppercorns, then pour in just enough cold water to cover the carcass, and slowly bring it all to a simmer. The water must be cold to begin with so that any fat will solidify and rise to the surface, where you can skim it off. Bring the stock to the gentlest simmer, so you can see just the occasional bubble breaking the surface, and cook for up to 4 hours, skimming scum from the surface regularly. Pass the finished stock through a sieve, leave to cool, and keep in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to three months.

A brown stock is made in just the same way, but you need to roast the carcass and vegetables first. Place the carcass in an oven tray and roast for 15 minutes at 200°C/Gas 6, then dust it with a couple of tablespoons of flour and cook for another 5 minutes. The flour will not only act as a thickening agent, but will also absorb the fat and stop your stock from being greasy. Meanwhile, chop your vegetables into rough chunks (this time including carrots if you like, as well), and sauté them in oil in your stockpot for a few minutes, stirring regularly, until golden. Add a tablespoon or two of puréed tomatoes (passata) or a small squeeze of concentrated tomato purée, and cook for 5 minutes. Then add the roasted bones and continue as for white chicken stock, but cook for about 1 hour instead of 4.

VINAIGRETTE

A vinaigrette is so much more than just a dressing for salad. We use it in the restaurants to finish anything from fish, and even meat, to spring vegetables (see the recipe
see here
). It’s a lovely way of bringing freshness to a dish and is much healthier than covering everything in butter. You can also use it to mark the seasons, adding citrus flavours in the summer and robust herbs like rosemary and thyme in the winter. It helps to think of it more as a seasoning than just a dressing.