Whether you're an experienced home cook or
don't know the difference between a souffle
and a saute
Sola
Wali. It's a new book. Start here.
Instructions for becoming a better cook will improve your culinary game.
And she's here in the studio to show us some
of the cooking skills that make all the difference.
Welcome. Hey, thanks for having me.
So I'm excited to see what we're gonna do over here.
Your book start here has lots of instructions on
different cooking techniques.
Why did you want to include those skills alongside the recipes?
Well,
I want you to get to know core techniques so
that you can go free break free from the recipe,
you know, go have fun in your kitchen because if you wanna cook every day,
you gotta let go of recipes, you gotta get some like techniques built into your soul.
So you can pop into the fridge,
pick up some kale and know what to do. I love that techniques built into your soul.
So let's get some tips from your book.
How do you make homemade whipped cream without a machine?
You don't need anything really? For whipped cream?
You need cream and a whisk, but there are little key things to know.
You wanna make sure your cream is really cold.
So we got this right out of the fridge. You need a big bowl
and then you need a little elbow grease. So uh
you're gonna do a little work today
when I get in there. You wanna let me see your whip form? Let me see how I can help you.
Ok, so
am I
wrong? You are doing it wrong? Perfect. Let's work on that.
So when you go like this, you're you're not moving all the cream around.
So what you wanna do is you wanna get in here and move all
the cream around the bowl use make use of your big bowl space.
So we're moving all the way around
and by uh holding it like overhead have a little bit more control. OK?
So let's go forget it. Let's try it. OK?
So as I'm whipping this,
what I want to know is how do you eventually fold
freeze dried fruit or other ingredients without making it flat?
Because I can see myself doing this for a long time.
I'm gonna have to have my kids help me with this. You're gonna keep going.
It's gonna get there, it's gonna get there, it's gonna get there.
Now there's different ways to make your whipped cream more stable.
I don't know if you've noticed sometimes when you
make whipped cream after a while it gets like
I've never made whip crepe
after a while. It gets a little black.
So we're gonna stabilize it with a few different things.
You can use yogurt or sour cream.
The extra protein in there will stabilize your cream.
You can use a little jam or I love adding freeze dried fruit because it's,
it soaks up a lot of moisture
in the cream.
So it makes it more thick and stable like a mousse,
but it also adds a lot of fruity flavor.
So how do you whip it
in
there? So you just, you're gonna keep going.
And eventually after you, I got another one, I got, I got a
once you get to this thick kind of Greek yogurt consistency.
That's when you can add a lot of fun things. So I'm gonna add some sour cream
and a little bit of raspberry jam
and it's gonna add flavor and body and make it really stable
here. I'll let you switch to one that's done. Look at that.
Oh You did that television magic.
Just, just keep, just keep swishing it around
and you're gonna have this really stable and flavorful whipped cream
that you can add between layers of cake topping pie.
I'm really excited about this, but I want to get to chopping as well. Let's
chop, let's move on to the chopping.
You have a whole section of your book
about having the right cutting boards and tools.
Why is that so important?
Well, you know,
if you're not set up with the right cutting board and tools cutting is a lot harder.
So I got a nice wooden board.
I got a nice sharp knife and then that makes everything a lot easier.
I'm gonna show you how to do it, basic skills with onions.
So you wanna take a look at your onion.
You got this like fuzzy hair part, you got 20 seconds. Come on,
we chop,
cut it in half and then we're gonna peel it
and then um
it's really important to just know how to hold your knife.
So you wanna use your thumb and forefinger to grip,
use these knives to lightly hold and you got a lot more control.
I like that. The thumb and the forefinger.
So in addition to having a brand new book, you were also a new parent.
Congratulations. How has that impacted your home cooking?
I don't sleep a whole lot and I've gotten really good at cooking with one hand
cooking with one hand
with the screaming baby in the other hand, I've been there. I got twins. So I know we
got double trouble. Congratulations. I love that image of you.
So what's something that you would encourage more people to try making at home?
Um You know what, get creative and try making your own bread.
It's a lot of fun. There's a lot of easy breads in the book.
Flatbread is a great place to start.
I love making tortillas and it's just one ingredient.
I gotta try making tortillas. Ok. So
uh we're just a couple of weeks away from the biggest
cooking day of the year for so many of us Thanksgiving.
I'm talking about what's one skill that you should
practice to make sure your Thanksgiving table is perfect.
You gotta have a game plan.
So I love setting up an Excel spreadsheet. My
favorite thing,
break down my week. It's like countdown to Thanksgiving.
So five days out, you gotta do your shopping.
You gotta call your friends find out their dietary restrictions.
Maybe four days out, make your pie crust,
three days out, make your gravy.
Just, just make sure you have a plan so that you're not rushing around the day of.
I love it. Make sure you have a plan. So you're not rushing around.
Thank you so much. The chef and author Sola
Whaley. Her book start here is out now, wherever books are sold.