Dava’s concerns, questions, and mistakes:
What is shiso?
Basily Minty Japanese Green herb.
I’m worried about making gazpacho because it’s raw and when stuff’s cooked you can get away with it.
You mean like sake, hot sake is crap because the heat is supposed to mask the bad flavor?
Ya.
Well don’t worry, it’s super easy. You just chop shit up and throw it in a blender.
Well at least I can’t burn it then.
See?
For those of us who don’t have an herb garden, you can just go to the market and get some?
Ya, go to the market and get fresh herbs, and then you don’t have to deflower it yourself.
If you had to sub a fresh herb for a dry herb in a shaker, which..
I would rather die.
Ok, but which can you get away with?
I don’t think you can get away with anything dried in a shaker if there’s a fresh option, only dry options ie paprika, cumin, all ok.
But I think a major key to the kingdom in the kitchen is fresh herbs.
Any trick to reducing crying from the onion chopping?
Wear sunglasses.
Cool.
How do you know when the oil is ready for the onions?
I usually heat the oil and add one small piece of onion. When that little guy starts to bubble around the edges I throw in the rest of his friends.
That’s so smart.
Wooden spoons are your friend on the stove. I only use wooden spoons. I like the wood.
Really? Why?
It doesn’t scratch the non-stick finish and it’s a happy material.
Happy time, got it.
Is that a regular strainer
Yes
It’s nothing fancy?
Right.
It’s not like it’s a special watermelon strainer?
No.
OK, so we’re using a regular old strainer. Nothing fancy.
Disappointed?
These onions are beginning to brown but Jord says they’re not caramelized. What does caramelized look like?
Browner.
Why was that wrong how I cut that lime?
You want to cut the lime across the equator so that it cuts through every section and can release the most juice. A bartender has a different goal.
So watermelon and cucumber I don’t have to chop as finely because they’re mostly water?
Ya, they’ll blend right up.
Can you peel all roasted peppers like that or just the hatch?
All, even bell. Nobody’s special in the pepper family.
What’s a roux, besides a Winnie the Pooh character?
It’s a fat and a starch, usually butter and flour, for thickening and smoothing and sticking its little head out of a pouch. It’ll velveeta up a mac and cheese.
By the way, I got a muddler and it changed my life. This little thing.
No questions on that one.
Oh, you’re putting vodka in to muddle?
Just to get it wet a little. It doesn’t muddle together well dry.
Interesting.
Girls Guide to Sports 