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Kitchen Design

Open, simple and flexible are the buzzwords to good kitchen design. Do not spend all of your budget up front keep some up your sleeve to fine tune once it has been built. A good kitchen is full of good food, make it a feature with glass fronted fridge or cupboards. Lighting is the most overlooked design element in domestic kitchens, take care of low cupboards and shelves and

Cook Books

The best cooking books are the ones with good pictures.  We all need inspiration and a picture tells a thousand words.  You need to buy a range of cook books.  Firstly you need a reference book; it will be large and thick and cover all of the principles of cookery, pay the money for it and keep it forever.

 

make sure that you have good light above your work area. Space is not always an advantage efficiency and time in motion is the key. Think about areas to cool food after it is cooked. Resting meats and cooling pastry/cakes are a key part of the end result. Most of all keep it easy to clean and allow for a very big bin or even a recycling system.

Next you need some books that are focused on your favorite style of food, Italian French, Asian.  They must include sections on the raw preparation of the basics.

Finally buy a book that you just love…. it can be from your favorite chef or restaurant keep this in your kitchen and keep it open at a different page every week, you will find your inspiration will flow.

Freezing

Is this a bad word when talking about quality food?  Learning how to use the freezer is a key part of successful entertaining at home.

Anything that is water based like stocks freeze really well they are also best made in bulk.  It’s great to have fish, vegetable or meat stock at hand. Pastry items like puff pastry and cream based mousses also freeze really well.  So if you plan a dinner party make one course pre prepared and in the freezer even a pear and almond tart can be made a week ahead frozen and then as long as it is baked on the day it will be a success.

Take care to wrap things in the freezer and label them with a date and description. Try to stack your freezer in categories so you know where to look for things, the worst thing is that you open the door too often and ice crystals form on the food. Try to defrost and review your freezer ever 3 months to avoid any nasty surprises.
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