What are the 20 Basic Cooking Skills?

[johnnyd]

Well, then...

Anybody else?!

I thought so!

Bravo Shalmanese! So beautifully wrought!!

(Please collect your winnings at the FOH while the rest of us finish cleaning up...)

Edited May 19, 2006 by johnnyd (log)

[BigboyDan]

I think that charcuterie and smoking meat are just about top 2 in my list of 20 cooking skills.

←

You've got that right.

[johnsmith45678]

I emailed Dan and this was his reply (Thanks Dan! He's a nice guy.):

1.  Knife skills

2.  Mise en place

3.  Weights and measures

4.  Roasting vegetables

5.  Roasting chicken

6.  Sautéeing

7.  Poaching

8.  Blanching

9.  Vinaigrette

10. Mayonnaise/Aioli

11. Pesto

12. Hollandaise sauce

13. Veloute sauce

14. Soup preparation

15. Salad preparation

16. Pasta cookery

17. Cooking fish

18. Properly cooking rice

19. Making ice cream

20. introduction to and use of kitchen equipment

Chef Daniel J. Witherspoon

The Gourmet Spoon

303-394-0167 Office/Fax

chefdan@thegourmetspoon.com

www.thegourmetspoon.com

Whadaya think?

[godito]

I emailed Dan and this was his reply (Thanks Dan! He's a nice guy.):

1.  Knife skills

2.  Mise en place

3.  Weights and measures

4.  Roasting vegetables

5.  Roasting chicken

6.  Sautéeing

7.  Poaching

8.  Blanching

9.  Vinaigrette

10. Mayonnaise/Aioli

11. Pesto

12. Hollandaise sauce

13. Veloute sauce

14. Soup preparation

15. Salad preparation

16. Pasta cookery

17. Cooking fish

18. Properly cooking rice

19. Making ice cream

20. introduction to and use of kitchen equipment

Chef Daniel J. Witherspoon

The Gourmet Spoon

303-394-0167 Office/Fax

chefdan@thegourmetspoon.com

www.thegourmetspoon.com

Whadaya think?

←

Most of them sound good. I would make some changes, though. Roasting chicken can be changed to just plain roasting and baking, Sauces can be summed up into one skill (instead of veloute and hollandaise). I would also try to add a more modern approach to sauce making. Mayonnaise should be a more general class on emulsions. Rice and pasta cookery I would combine and call Starch Cookery. Also, I would add Charcuterie (which includes smoking). I don't kniow. The items are good, and necessary, but I would regroup them differently. I'll think about it and post again with a new order

[johnsmith45678]

Sauces can be summed up into one skill (instead of veloute and hollandaise). I would also try to add a more modern approach to sauce making. Mayonnaise should be a more general class on emulsions.

Yep, I was thinking all of these could be combined into emulsions (and/or sauces):

9. Vinaigrette

10. Mayonnaise/Aioli

12. Hollandaise sauce

13. Veloute sauce

If I'm not mistaken, 10 and 12 are basically types of vinaigrettes (or require the same type of skill). I don't know if I've ever made veloute sauce.

Edited August 1, 2006 by johnsmith45678 (log)

[C. sapidus]

Shalmanese nailed it.

Chef Witherspoon’s list seems very Eurocentric. The first eight items seem fairly universal (except “mise en place” might be know as “chopping up your ingredients” in the local tongue), but some of the remaining skills seem pretty specific to particular European cuisines (pesto, Hollandaise sauce, etc.). Basic skills depend on what kind of food you are interested in making.

For example, basic skills for various Asian cuisines might include using a wok or balancing hot, sour, salty, and sweet flavors. For Mexican food, toasting and roasting chilies would be pretty basic. For the Southeastern USA, barbecue would be a basic skill. The various Indian cuisines probably have their own lists of basics.

I wonder what percentage of the world’s population primarily eats European-style food.