Some tips for garde manger cooks out there tasked with making family meal salad every day. Learn to think outside of recipes for vinaigrettes and creamy salad dressings. 

Mastering Salad Dressings

Making an aïoli is something every cook should be able to do without a recipe. I’d even go so far as to argue that aïoli is a mother sauce of the modern restaurant kitchen. 

There’s no recipe required for Mayonnaise

Culinary school can teach you so much about cooking, but it's a mighty questionable value proposition. Is it worth it? 

Should I go to Culinary School?

Michael Cecchi-Azzolina’s Your Table Is Ready, Tales of a New York City Maître D’ is here.

The Next Big Industry Read Has Arrived

The very essence of cooking lies in learning to make use of the mealy bits - the bones, the vegetable trim, the parsley stems. The good news is that making stock is way less complicated than the culinary Gods want you to believe.

Stock is a necessary touchpoint on the road to culinary enlightenment

The story behind the genesis of usefirst.com. How a New York City line cook used his down time during Covid to try and change the industry for the better.

Why I Built Use First

Tips on how to show up for that big first restaurant job interview. First appearances are everything. Make sure you’re not ice-capading around the kitchen in a hairnet in front of your future comrades and other lifesaving tips.

What tools should you take on a restaurant trail?

Ever wonder how professional line cooks make use of cake testers to hit the pass with perfectly cooked proteins every time? Here's everything you need to know to become a ringer on grill.

How To Use A Cake Tester

A cartouche is a piece of parchment paper cut and tinted over a braised food item while it cooks. The goal of a cartouche is to prevent the item from drying out during the braising process.

Braising is a moist heat cooking method in which a large, typically multi portion serving of meat is semi submerged in cooking liquid and simmered until tender. Tough cuts of meat are typically ideal for braising such as chicken legs, veal or lamb shanks, short ribs, or brisket, and pork shoulder. 

Once the food item has been optionally seared and placed in liquid, a piece of parchment is cut to cover the meat with the goal of retaining moisture around the exposed surface of meat. This is a cartouche. When cooking in a hotel pan, a half sheet of parchment is typically laid over the food and then covered with a lid. When using a smaller pot or rondeau, the parchment can be folded and cut into a circle with a tiny vent hole cut in the middle to prevent full on steaming. 

Cartouche