Chef's Secrets
Tricks of the TradeFinally, a book that tells you how to tenderize octopus with wine corks! You don't find that useful? I guess you have a better way of tenderizing octopus. For the rest of us, there'sChef's Secrets: Insider Techniques from Today's Culinary Masters(Quirk), by food writer and former caterer Francine Maroukian. Actually, most pages of this pocket-size book are filled with more prosaic, infinitely more helpful tips, like how to fold a burrito, how to roast a chicken perfectly, how to ripen fruit quickly, and how to boost the flavor of pasta. The people dispensing the advice are renowned chefs among them Charlie Palmer, Roxanne Klein, and Norman Van Aken and following each of the kitchen hints is a short Q&A; with them. So now we know: The three foods that Scott Conant, chef at Manhattan's L'Impero, will never get bored with are mortadella (a.k.a. bologna), Skippy extra-chunky peanut butter, and sea urchin -O Magazine