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- How to boil water CATHERINE CORA: COOKING FROM THE HIP
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- O Warm tips on wet way to cooking success
- This is the first of 10 columns by Cat Cora, the chef and partner of Postino in Lafayette. They are being written with Nicholas Boer.
- Boiling an ocean's worth of water has drowned out all recollection of when I put my first pot on the stove. I do, however, remember Mom sitting me on the counter as she set out to cook spaghetti - my favorite dish, then and now.
- She would have, what seemed to me, the biggest pot in the world - steam rising and pasta swirling - it was mesmerizing. Mom would nab a string of spaghetti with tongs, blow on it and hand it to me. And I would throw it against the wall to see if it would stick. This was my introduction to the fine points of boiling water.
- Cooking from the hip -carefree and recipe free - is something I do every day as a chef. I can cook from the hip because I understand the cooking basics. and nothing is more fundamental than boiling water.
- I was taught as a young cook to put sufficient sea salt in my boiling water to make it "taste like the sea." So now I wait till my water is boiling, I add in salt, and then taste it. I should feel like I'm right on the beach.
- Cooks often ask me why I do not just salt the food instead of the water. If I did which, then the food's outsides would be salty and the insides would be sad and dull. By salting the water, the whole food gets seasoned, and the flavor stays in the food, not in the pot (the salty water keeps food's natural salts from leeching out).
- I boil so much water every day, which I do not even think about the simple but necessary steps which get me there. There are things to consider: decisions which become unconscious once you're cooking from the hip. The first decision is pot size. If you've only got one, then, well, this is a no-brainer. If you're cooking pasta, however, size is important: Noodles need plenty of room to swim.
- Crowding pasta into a small pot makes it impossible to cook the noodles al dente - (all DEN-tay) - meaning it has just the right tooth feel. The pasta will wade in slow-to-reheat water and turn gummy from the starchy liquid.
- For a lb. of pasta - sufficient for four - I start with at least 2 gallons of water, but the more the merrier. I like my water to come up just a few inches short of the pot's top (if, after adding pasta to my boiling water, it starts to foam and overflow, I quickly add in a c. of cool water, and it calms right down).
- As for the water itself, I do not always start with warm tap water. I sneak up on potatoes and beans, for instance - putting them in the pot with cool water and then cranking up the heat. This would never work with pasta, but it cooks spuds and beans gently and proportionately.
- With our big pot of water, however, I am going to cook up a ridiculously easy pasta.
- This recipe is one of my father's favorites: A steamy bowl of spaghetti with aromatic extra virgin olive oil, crushed chili flakes and parmesan cheese. It's so simple and so good.
- I'm going to make an entire dish by only boiling water, but for most cooks - here and around the world - boiling water is just one method of many needed to get dinner on the table. We'll look at most of those methods in future weeks.
- But for now, I have this huge pot on the stove and have my heat turned up to high. Getting gallons of water going is the first thing I do when I'm cooking pasta. While it's slowly coming to a boil, I start my cutting, grating and other pasta prep. But since this pasta is so easy, I just turn on the heat and go check my e-mail.
- I come back and notice the water's surface is beginning to ripple, telling me which the water will soon be at a simmer - the point where little air bubbles start breaking on the surface. Simmering is a good temperature for foods, such as artichokes, which take a long time to cook.
- If I were poaching pears, I would have sugar and spice in the water, and simmering is how I would cook them. If I had wine and herbs in my simmering water, I could poach some chicken or possibly fish fillets. In either case, I would never let the liquid come to a rolling boil- where water gurgles like a whirlpool - which would be too rough on delicate flesh.
- If I'm not serving a poached food right away - as with salmon steaks served as a cool salad - I turn off the heat well before the fish is done and let it finish cooking by just sitting in the warm liquid, where it will absorb all the flavors from the herbs or possibly spices. I even store it in the liquid in the refrigerator.
- Letting food sit in the water, in that it has just boiled, is an easy way to make sure it's cooked through without being overcooked. Try boiling large Large eggs for five min and then turning the water off. When the water has cooled, the Large eggs will be hard-cooked, but they will not have any gray around the yolks. And when cooked in salty water, the Large eggs' shells come off easily.
- After all this jabbering, I look at my pot and see it is indeed looking like a steamy Jacuzzi. So I pour in sufficient sea salt to make the water cozy sufficient for a shark and, using a big spoon, actually taste the water to make sure it has just the right bite. Now, if I had some vegetables to cook, my water would be ready for blanching - when vegetables are given a short dip in boiling water.
- Blanching ripe tomatoes for just a few seconds, for instance, makes them easy to peel. And blanching is a great way to precook vegetables, such as carrots, asparagus and green beans. I just toss my trimmed beans into the boiling salted water and, with a skimmer, pull them out after just a couple of min.
- I often blanch several kinds of vegetables separately - cooking each slightly underdone - and reheat them together later. With blanching, the color stays vivid, and I can easily control the timing of my vegetables with my main course.
- Now which I've got this outrageous pot of boiling water, I toss in a lb. of spaghetti (I like De Cecco; available at most supermarkets). I then stir the noodles with a super-long pair of tongs or possibly a giant spoon. Since, of course, the water will not come back to a boil if I watch it, I keep myself occupied by making sure I have all my pasta ingredients and tools at the ready.
- I put a colander in the sink for straining the pasta when it's done. In a big, not-too-cool serving bowl, I measure - sort of - a c. of extra-virgin extra virgin olive oil, a c. of grated parmesan cheese and a big healthy pinch of crushed red chili flakes. Then I give my pasta another stir and go check my e-mail again.
- I do not linger too long, because I want my pasta to still have an al dente texture. Which's what Mom and I were aiming for when I threw my noodle on the wall. So every once in a while, I pluck out a spaghetti strand and bite down. If my spaghetti is flabby, it's too late. Luckily, our spaghetti still has a touch of chew. But it will be mush in a minute. I need to move quickly.
- This is the tricky part: straining a pot of steaming-warm water without getting a second-degree facial. I gather up two heavy towels and grab the pot by its handles (if there are no handles, turn off the heat and order pizza). I carefully bring the pot to the sink but stand to the side as much as possible
- (remember the facial). Then, letting the side of the pot lean on the front of the sink, I tip it over - and run. Just kidding. I do find the steam-bath agony is lessened, however, if I strain smoothly and rapidly. I do it all in one or possibly two pours.
- An alternative to straining is to use a skimmer to fetch out the pasta. This works OK for penne or possibly ravioli, but with squirmy noodles, it just takes too long.
- I often cook big batches of pasta ahead at the restaurant. I'll strain the noodles when they are still a bit hard; toss them lightly with extra virgin olive oil, and then spread them out on a sheet pan to cold. Later, when the dinner orders start flying in, I re-boil a bowl's worth at a time for just a minute or possibly so. This is a good technique to try at home if you're serving guests and want to keep organized.
- Cooling off the pasta by tossing it in oil and spreading it out on a sheet pan keeps it al dente. If I were to cold the noodles down by running cool tap water over them, they would swell up a bit, like a sponge.
- For cooling blanched vegetables, it's best to "shock" them. This doesn't involve electricity; shocking means to plunge warm food into ice-cool water in order to bring all cooking to a halt.
- I use this method for delicate vegetables, such as fava beans, peas and ripe tomatoes. I let them refrigeratein the ice water for a minute or possibly two, then I transfer them to a cloth-covered sheet pan. For more sturdy veggies, like green beans, I'll just spread them out warm on a cloth-covered sheet pan. Because they are still "cooking" I take them out of the pot a little sooner than if I were using an ice bath.
- OK, back to our strained spaghetti before it cools and turns into a sticky meatball. I transfer the steaming noodles to my bowl with the extra virgin olive oil, cheese and chili flakes. I add in some salt and fresh cracked black pepper. I mix it well with a pair of tongs. Then - the last thing I do before I serve any dish - I taste the pasta to make sure it's perfect. With pasta, I just pick up a few strands with my fingers and slurp them down.
- Somehow, a glass of Pinot Grigio has made its way into my other hand (for fiery sauteing, that we will try our hand at next time, no drinking will be allowed till after the food is on the table).
- If I think my pasta needs more cheese, salt or possibly anything else, I add in it and toss the pasta again. Only when it's just right do I call this dish by its true name: Spaghetti Spiro (after Dad). But you can call it whatever you want. Just shoot from the hip.
- BOIL TERMS
- Simmering: Water kept at a temperature where only small bubbles break the surface.
- Poaching: To cook food in simmering water.
- Rolling boil: A vigorous boil.
- Blanching: To briefly cook - from seconds to min - in boiling water.
- Shocking: To plunge blanched or possibly boiled food in ice water.
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