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82 lines
7.4 KiB
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---
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title: Techniques
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sort: 130
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section-id: site
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keywords: cooking techniques, mise en place, deglazing, rendering fat, emulsification, caramelisation, blanching
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description: A guide to the fundamental cooking techniques referenced throughout The Kitchen Table blog.
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language: en
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---
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# Techniques
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This page is a reference for the fundamental techniques that appear repeatedly throughout the blog. Understanding these techniques means you can adapt any recipe rather than just follow it. I will keep adding to this page as new techniques come up in posts.
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## Mise en Place
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*Everything in its place.*
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Mise en place is a French professional kitchen concept that translates simply as preparing everything before you start cooking. Chopped vegetables, measured spices, stocks ready, equipment assembled. Before the pan goes on the heat, everything should be within reach.
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Why it matters: Heat does not wait. When a pan is at the right temperature, a sauce is reducing, or an omelette is setting, you cannot stop to find the lid or chop the garlic. The moment you turn away, something burns. Mise en place is the habit that gives you control.
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At home, this does not require professional kitchen organisation. It means: read the recipe all the way through before you start. Then prepare everything the recipe will need before you light the first burner. Chop, measure, bring things to room temperature, get your tools out. Then cook.
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The five minutes of preparation pays back ten minutes of calm.
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## Deglazing
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Deglazing is the technique of adding liquid to a hot pan after searing or roasting, then using that liquid to dissolve the caramelised bits (the *fond*) stuck to the bottom.
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The fond — the browned proteins and sugars that have cooked onto the pan surface — contains enormous flavour. It is not burnt food to be discarded; it is concentrated, caramelised flavour to be incorporated. Deglazing releases it.
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**How to deglaze:**
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1. Remove the meat or vegetables from the pan, leaving the fond.
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2. If there is excess fat, pour most of it off (leave a tablespoon or so).
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3. With the pan still hot, add your deglazing liquid: wine, stock, water, cider, brandy.
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4. The liquid will steam violently. This is correct.
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5. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon or spatula as the liquid comes up to temperature. The fond will dissolve into the liquid.
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6. Reduce the liquid to a sauce consistency, or use it as the base for a longer braise.
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Wine (red or white) and stock are the most common deglazing liquids. The choice shapes the flavour of the resulting sauce.
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## Rendering Fat
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Rendering is the process of melting fat from meat (bacon, pancetta, guanciale, duck) over low heat so that it can be used as a cooking medium. The remaining solids — called lardons, when the meat is pork — become crispy and flavourful.
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**Why render rather than add oil:** The rendered fat carries the flavour of the meat and will flavour everything cooked in it. Pancetta-rendered fat is the starting point for many Italian dishes. Duck fat is the basis for confit. The flavour integration is a feature, not a byproduct.
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**How to render:** Start in a cold pan. Cut the fat into small pieces and put them in a cold, dry pan over low-medium heat. Resist the urge to turn up the heat. Low heat melts the fat without burning the surrounding meat. As the fat melts out, the temperature of the pan stabilises. Stir occasionally. After 8-15 minutes (depending on the fat), the pieces will be golden and crispy. Remove them with a slotted spoon and proceed with the recipe using the fat in the pan.
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## Emulsification
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An emulsion is a stable mixture of two liquids that would not naturally mix — most often, fat and water. Vinaigrette, hollandaise, mayonnaise, and the sauce on a properly-finished pasta are all emulsions.
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Emulsions are stabilised by emulsifiers — molecules that have both fat-soluble and water-soluble ends, allowing them to bind to both phases simultaneously. Egg yolk lecithin is the most common culinary emulsifier; it is why hollandaise, mayonnaise, and carbonara work. Mustard contains emulsifying compounds, which is why a vinaigrette made with mustard stays together longer than one without.
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**Temporary emulsions** (like vinaigrette whisked quickly) separate when left to stand — the fat globules coalesce and the water phase settles out. **Permanent emulsions** (like mayonnaise) remain stable because the egg lecithin has formed a physical barrier around each fat droplet, preventing them from merging.
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**When emulsions break:** A hollandaise that breaks — where the sauce separates into greasy pools and watery liquid — has lost its emulsification. The fat and water phases have separated. The causes: too much heat, too much fat added too quickly, or not enough lecithin to stabilise the amount of fat. The fix is in my hollandaise post.
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## Caramelisation and the Maillard Reaction
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These are two distinct chemical reactions that both produce browning and flavour, and they are frequently confused.
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**Caramelisation** is what happens when sugar is heated: it breaks down into hundreds of flavour compounds, producing the characteristic nutty, complex sweetness of caramel. Caramelisation requires temperatures above 160°C/320°F. It is what happens when you make caramel sauce, when you caramelise onions over low-medium heat for 45 minutes until they are sweet and deeply brown, or when the sugars in a crème brûlée crust.
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**The Maillard reaction** is a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that produces browning, complex flavour, and hundreds of flavour compounds. It requires temperatures above approximately 140°C/285°F. It is what produces the crust on bread, the sear on a steak, the colour on roasted vegetables, the golden skin of a roast chicken. It is not caramelisation — it involves proteins, not just sugars — and the flavour compounds it produces are different and more complex.
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For practical cooking: both reactions require high heat and low moisture. Wet surfaces steam rather than brown. This is why you pat meat dry before searing, why you roast vegetables at high heat with space between them, and why bread crust forms in the dry heat of the oven rather than the moist heat of a steamer.
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## Blanching
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Blanching is the technique of briefly cooking a vegetable in vigorously boiling, generously salted water, then immediately transferring it to ice water to stop the cooking.
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**Why blanch:** The brief cooking sets colour (the vibrant green of blanched green beans comes from heat driving air out of the cells and stabilising the chlorophyll). It also softens vegetables enough to make them pleasant to eat while maintaining their texture. The ice bath stops the cooking instantly at exactly the moment you choose.
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Blanching is the technique behind *mise en place* vegetable prep in professional kitchens: blanch the vegetables in advance, ice-bath them, then finish them in butter or olive oil at service. The hard work is done; the final cooking takes two minutes.
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**Ratios and timing:** Use a large pot of water — the more water, the faster it returns to the boil after you add the vegetables. Salt it generously (the water should taste like pleasant seawater). Timing varies by vegetable: green beans 2-3 minutes, asparagus 1-2 minutes, broccoli 2 minutes, potatoes longer. The goal is "just cooked but still with texture."
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---
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*More techniques are added regularly as they come up in posts. Check the blog or use the search function to find technique discussions in specific recipe posts.*
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