Priceless jewels

Chefs share their pearls of wisdom for making life easy in the kitchen with Dan Stock

They spend their days pitting, peeling and plucking while simultaneously boiling, braising and baking, so if anyone knows how to save time in the kitchen, it’s a chef. In the professional kitchen multi-tasking is a means of survival. Here some of Melbourne’s top chefs share their best hacks for saving time — and money — in the kitchen at home.

1 Garen Maskal (above), executive chef of Sezar (CBD), The Black Toro (Glen Waverley) and the newly opened Shukah in Windsor, says pomegranate is a key ingredient used in his restaurants, but, as anyone who has tried using one at home knows, deseeding its juicy jewels can be a messy affair.

“We take the tops off our pomegranate and then follow the lines similar to how you would segment an orange to get wedges of pomegranate, then we peel off the seeds in a bowl of water so this stops any bursts of pomegranate juice,” he says.

“Any unwanted bits of flesh rise up to the top while the seeds separate to the bottom.”

2 “If you are making guacamole at home and you want it to keep fresh in the fridge, leave the avocado seed in the guacamole,” says Bill Makris of Tank Fish and Chippery. “This will keep it fresh and nice and green, rather than going brown.” He reckons it should keep fresh for up to a week.

3 Rotem Papo from L’Hotel Gitan has an easy tip for extending the life of fresh herbs and salad leaves. As soon as you come back from the market, fill a bowl with cold water and some ice. Put your herbs/salad leaves in for a few seconds, then spin them until they’re completely dry. Store in an airtight container lined and topped with paper towel. “They will keep fresh for at least a week,” he says.

4 The Marriner Group’s David Ricardo says firmly rolling a lemon or lime along the kitchen bench before juicing will provide more juice with less effort. “It breaks down the cells’ structure in the fruit, making juicing easy.”

5 Alternatively, save leftover fresh herbs by placing in ice cube trays, filling with olive oil and freezing.

6 “When blending for a smooth puree or sauce, add your liquids into the blender first and then follow with your solids,” Garen says.

“This allows the blades to spin better and pulls down the solids easier making whatever you blend super smooth.”

7 “I learnt this while doing private chalet work in France,” says Grosvenor Hotel’s Paul Tyas.

“I would make a large batch of sauce and freeze it in ice cube trays then put them in ziplock bags.

“I knew 1.5 cubes was a portion on its own, three was two portions and so on. Made all the effort of making a batch of sauce/jus easy and convenient.”

8 Soak garlic cloves or shallots in warm water for 10 minutes before you need them, suggests Paul Jewson from Roxborough in St Kilda. “It will make them a dream to peel.”

9 Adrian Li from Saigon Sally has another way to tackle garlic. Break into individual cloves and place them between two metal bowls.

“Shake violently for a few seconds. The vibrations from the cloves hitting the metal bowl should shred off all the skin, leaving peeled garlic,” he says.

10 Bill Makris says that when cooking fish in a pan, always season it before the fish hits the oil. “And if you think the pan needs extra oil after you have already started cooking the fish, add the oil to the edge of the pan. Once it has reached the middle of the pan, it will be at the correct temperature.”

11 “For a quick and easy ‘wow factor’ to replace your standard balsamic glaze, try pomegranate molasses,” says Charlie Elrahi of Zaatar Bakery and Cafe. “Pour the molasses into a dipping bowl and top with extra virgin olive oil. The sweet and tangy molasses mixed with fruity oil flavours will leave your guests wanting more!”

This can be used as a dressing or as a dipping oil mixed with zaatar spices.

“The latter is a delicious appetiser that takes only a few minutes to whip up!”

12 Garen says pickling is an easy way to make food last longer. “You can pickle just about anything,” he says. “It adds a layer of acidity and zing to every dish, it lasts forever, is easy to store and if you make a big enough batch you can use it multiple times.”

13 Use a spoon instead of a knife to peel ginger.

14“When sauteing chicken, marinating it in a splash of Thai fish sauce instead of seasoning with salt gives a well-rounded seasoning and great caramelisation in the pan, even in European dishes,” says Paul Jewson.

15 For the best-ever mash, Tom Brockbank from the new The George on Collins says baking instead of boiling potatoes is the way.

He likes to bake a waxy variety of potato on salt

16 Use unflavoured floss – or fishing line – to cut a cake. This provides easy, clean slices, with little mess or waste.

18 Paul Jewson suggests adding a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda when soaking dried borlotti or other beans, which gives a much creamier texture once cooked.

17 This is the way Daniel Wilson of Huxtaburger trusses a chicken without string.

First, tuck the wings underneath the bird to secure them, which also pushes the front of the breasts up. Next, cut a slit in the loose skin on either side of the cavity just slightly smaller than the size of the end of the drumstick. Add some onion, lemon, thyme, and seasoning into the cavity then push the drumstick through the hole on the opposite flap.

“Now the chicken is nice and plump and ready to be seasoned on the outside before going into the oven to roast,” he says.

19 “Use a cake testing pin to check the doneness on fish, poultry and vegetables,” says Shaun Sheridan from Half Moon in Brighton.

“This prevents you from serving undercooked fish or vegetables – especially important when entertaining or cooking under pressure. I learned this when I first moved onto the fish section as a commis chef; most of my peers kept a cake pin in their chef jacket sleeves.”

20 Mike Patrick from Fancy Hanks has a simple tip for taking your barbecue game to the next level: brining. He suggests a salt brine of 10 per cent salt to water. Add the salt to boiling water to dissolve, then cool the mixture with ice. Try brining potatoes with salt and herbs (rosemary, thyme) for 48 hours before roasting. Or brine chicken in buttermilk for 24 hours; the acidic buttermilk tenderises the meat.

“It adds a layer of acidity and zing, it lasts forever, is easy to store” GAREN MASKAL ON THE BENEFITS OF PICKLING