A Recipe vs A Technique

Are you as addicted to the Food Network as I am?  Probably not.  I'm kind of a freak about these cooking channels.  I love learning a new recipe, a new technique, or a new ingredient.  I was recently watching Cook Like an Iron Chef, and Chef Michael Symon said something to the effect of, "Learning a new recipe is great; but learning a new technique helps you learn 100 new recipes." 

I was intrigued by this idea.  What does he mean by that?  You can learn a new recipe, and guess what, you can cook a good meal.  But if you learn a new technique, perhaps something you've never learned before, that opens the door to lots of recipes you never tried before because you didn't know how to do a certain part of the recipe. 

An example of simple cooking techniques include: grilling, braising, baking, roasting, poaching, sauteing, stewing, or stir frying.  Think about it.  You've never poached something.  So if you learn to poach eggs that opens the door for other types of poaching.  BTW, poaching is a moist heat cooking method for eggs, fish, chicken, meat, even fruits and vegetables.   It's a gentle cooking method for maintaining moisture and nutrients in food. 


Have you ever poached an egg in water for Eggs Benedict, or poached a pear in wine for dessert, or even poached salmon in olive oil?  Once you figure out the method for poaching an egg, you can pretty much poach anything.  You increase your ability to make one recipe (Eggs Benedict), to making hundreds of recipes.  You can poach in water, wine, oil, or bouillion.  You can flavor the poaching liquid with herbs, vegetables, citrus, and spices. 

Once you learn to poach an egg, you've opened the door to hundreds of new recipes in your life, including:

• Basalmic poached chicken
• Poached salmon with dill and lemon
• Oil poached salmon or sword fish
• White fish poached in wine
• Orange rosemary poached catfish
• Poached apple with cinnamon
• Cider poached apples
• Muscato poached pears
• Vanilla poached pears
• Japanese veggies poached in stock with soy sauce
• Tea poached chicken
• Poached tomatoes
• Poached orange and fennel green beans

There are many reasons why you would actually want to poach your food, including:

• It is a fast method for cooking tender food
• During poaching food is moved as little as possible and does not break up or fall apart
• The poaching liquid can contribute to taste and make good bases for sauces
• Poaching keeps the flavor of food and does not add fats/oils (unless you poach in olive oil)
• It tastes great!

I'm sure there are plenty of cook books and websites that can teach you how to perfectly poach an egg, or a pear.  I'm not a chef, but as a foodie I do believe that learning one new cooking technique like poaching will open the door for you to poach other ingredients.

If you need any recipes for poaching, shoot me an email or comment on my blog.