6 recipes
Salads
A Cobb is a chopped salad laid out in rows, so every forkful can be a little different. It's a good way to practice several small jobs, each done well, that come together on one platter: chicken poached gently enough to stay juicy cold, bacon rendered crisp, eggs cooked just firm, and a vinaigrette you taste and set yourself.
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Soups
This soup is really a lesson in caramelizing onions. Three pounds of them cook down slowly until they're deep brown and jammy, and then broth, a splash of wine and a bubbling cheese crust do the rest. Once you can judge caramelized onions by color and smell instead of by the clock, you'll use them on burgers, in dips and on pizza too.
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Salads
A composed platter of potatoes, green beans, eggs, tuna, tomatoes and olives, pulled together by a mustardy vinaigrette. It teaches you to run one pot of water for three jobs and to season each part as you go, so every piece tastes finished before it reaches the plate.
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Soups
Tom yum shows how a handful of hard, fragrant aromatics becomes a whole broth in minutes, and how Thai cooks balance sour, salty, hot and sweet at the very end. The shrimp shells you peel off become a quick broth, so nothing goes to waste.
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Soups
This soup is a deep red broth made from toasted dried chiles and charred tomatoes. You add poached chicken to the pot and crisp fried tortilla strips at the table. It also teaches two Mexican kitchen techniques that give any broth more depth: toasting dried chiles and frying the blended sauce.
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Soups
Wonton soup is two small skills in one bowl: a filling stirred until springy and juicy, and a fold that seals with no air inside. The broth stays clear because the wontons cook in their own pot of water. Fold a double batch and freeze half; next time, the soup is on the table in about fifteen minutes.
View recipe · 4 servings