Test Kitchen video tip: Choosing a bread wash

Bread recipes often call for some sort of "wash"  or glaze before baking, sometimes egg, sometimes milk. Even butter. Different washes are used to achieve different results:

• Brushing with beaten whole eggs will give both color and sheen to a bread. Egg yolk provides rich color, browning easily in the oven. Egg white provides a nice sheen.
• Brushing with milk will help to color the crust, the sugars in the milk helping to brown the crust.
• Water is often sprayed or brushed onto bread before it is placed in a very hot oven, and during baking, to give the bread an extra-crisp crust. Water added to an egg wash helps to thin the wash so it brushes more easily.
• Butter will give the bread a softer crust and richer flavor.
• Sweeteners--honey, syrup, etc.--will give bread a sweeter, softer crust.

If you have any kitchen tips or questions you'd like me to explore, leave a comment below or shoot me an e-mail at noelle.carter@latimes.com.

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Video credit: Myung Chun / Los Angeles Times

Test Kitchen tips: Storing knives in a knife block

Quick tip on storing knives: If you have a knife block with vertical slots, like the one shown above, consider storing your knives so the edge of each blade is facing up. This will help to keep your edges sharper. When knives are stored with the edge facing downward, the edge has to slide along the bottom of the slot as the knife is housed, dulling the blade.

You might also consider a horizontal knife block (the slits run side to side); I picked one up a few years ago for my extra knifes at home and fell in love with it. Or do as Times restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila does and go for a magnetic knife rack.

If you have any kitchen tips or questions you'd like me to explore, leave a comment below or email me at noelle.carter@latimes.com.

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134 recipes for your favorite restaurant dishes

What's hot: Recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen

Browse hundreds of recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen

-- Noelle Carter
You can find me on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter

Photo credit: Noelle Carter

Test Kitchen video tips: Measuring butter without a wrapper

You have a recipe that calls for 4 tablespoons of butter, but you're out of those nice sticks with the measure on the wrapper, and have only unmarked ends in the back of the fridge. What do you do?

Not to worry! Fill a measuring cup part-way with cold water, and drop in your butter bits until the measure reaches whatever you need. For 1/2 cup, or 8 tablespoons of butter, fill a measuring cup with, say, one cup of water. Add butter until it reaches 1 1/2 cups, and there you have it.

This trick will even work with butter that has been left out at room temperature; just make sure the water is very cold so the butter doesn't melt as it's added and measured.

If you have any kitchen tips or questions you'd like me to explore, leave a comment below or email me at noelle.carter@latimes.com.

If you have any kitchen tips or questions you'd like me to explore, leave a comment below or email me at noelle.carter@latimes.com.

ALSO:

Go behind the scenes at the Test Kitchen

134 recipes for your favorite restaurant dishes

Browse hundreds of recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen

— Noelle Carter
You can find me on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.

Video credit: Myung Chun / Los Angeles Times

Test Kitchen video tip: Butcher's slip knot and tying a roast

Whether you're tying a roast or trussing a chicken, knowing how to tie a good knot can save you time and stress when you're preparing a big meal. This knot, often called a butcher's knot, is simple and sturdy, always good to know in the kitchen.

And while most butchers can truss a roast for you, you never know when you might need the skills in your own kitchen. Watch the video above for a quick demonstration.

For a quick demo on how it's done, click here.

If you have any kitchen tips or questions you'd like me to explore, leave a comment below or email me at noelle.carter@latimes.com.

ALSO:

Go behind the scenes at the Test Kitchen

134 recipes for your favorite restaurant dishes

Browse hundreds of recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen

— Noelle Carter
You can find me on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.

Video credit: Myung Chun / Los Angeles Times.

Test Kitchen video tips: Skimming fat with a paper towel

If you need to remove a small amount of fat from the surface of a soup, stock or other hot liquid, skim the fat using a paper towel. Gently lay a flat paper towel over the surface of the liquid, and pull it across the surface to absorb the fat. Continue until the fat is gone, using new paper towels as needed. This won't work for large amounts of fat (best to break out the ladle for that one), but is a great tip when you want to catch that last little bit on the surface of your soup.

If you have any kitchen tips or questions you'd like me to explore, leave a comment below or shoot me an email at noelle.carter@latimes.com.

ALSO:

134 recipes for your favorite restaurant dishes

What's hot: Recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen

Browse hundreds of recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen

-- Noelle Carter
Twitter/noellecarter

Video credit: Myung Chun / Los Angeles Times

Test Kitchen video tip: Cleaning tamarind pulp

I love the tart, bright flavors of tamarind. It's a perfect ingredient when you want to add a fresh "zing" to a dish. The photo above is from a recipe for salmon skewers with tamarind sauce, adapted from a recipe by Marcus Samuelsson and a favorite go-to dish when I'm grilling on a summer evening.

The flavor is magical, but tamarind can come across as a difficult ingredient if you've never used it. While seedless pulp is available at many markets, it's commonly found packaged in blocks — the pulp (or paste) is often packed with bits of seed and solids, which need to be strained before the pulp can be used.

But the method is simple:

Take a block of tamarind (14 ounces), place it in a large bowl and soak it in about 2 cups of really hot water. The hot water helps to loosen the block. Set it aside for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the block is softened and the water is cool enough to handle. Work the block with your fingers, breaking up the block and massaging the pulp to dislodge the solids. Run the pulp through a strainer, discard the solids, then cover and refrigerate the pulp until needed. This makes a generous cup of seedless pulp (amounts can vary by brand and amount of solids packed with the block), which should keep for a good week in the refrigerator.

You can increase or decrease the amount of water for soaking depending on how strong you want the finished product.

Depending on the recipe, you might also want to make tamarind liquid. We ran a recipe, along with a great story on the many uses for tamarind, a few years ago.

Enjoy!

If you have any kitchen tips or questions you'd like me to explore, leave a comment below or email me at noelle.carter@latimes.com.

ALSO:

134 recipes for your favorite restaurant dishes

What's hot: Recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen

Browse hundreds of recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen

-- Noelle Carter
Twitter/noellecarter

Video credit: Myung Chun / Los Angeles Times

Test Kitchen tips: Scaling fish (without the mess)

If you've ever tried scaling fish at home, you know what a mess it can be. Scales everywhere, just like confetti. Except they can be even more difficult to clean, because scales seem to stick to everything.

Don't worry. It is possible to scale fish without the gigantic mess. Simply use a trash bag. Place the fish in a large plastic trash bag (not a plastic grocery bag, you need a big garbage bag so you have room to work), and cover the fish and your arms as you scale to contain the mess.

And while you can buy fish scalers to do the job, I find a nice, somewhat flat soup spoon works just fine to pry the scales. Just be sure you don't put too much pressure on the fish as you scale, or you can bruise the flesh. (Gutting a fish is for another post, but I promise to cover that soon.)

For some great whole fish recipes from Food editor Russ Parsons, continue reading below.

If you have any kitchen tips or questions you'd like me to explore, leave a comment below or shoot me an e-mail at noelle.carter@latimes.com.

ALSO:

Go behind the scenes at the Test Kitchen

134 recipes for your favorite restaurant dishes

Browse hundreds of recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen

-- Noelle Carter
You can find me on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter

Photo credit: Myung Chun / Los Angeles Times

Test Kitchen tips: Peeling peaches and stone fruits

Because peach skins can be overly tough for certain dishes, recipes sometimes call for peeling peaches before using them in pies and cobblers.

There's an easy way to peel them -- and the method works for peeling many fruits and vegetables. Simply mark an "x" on the bottom of the fruit, dunk it in boiling water to loosen the skin (about 30 seconds for a ripe peach, slightly longer if the peach is somewhat firm), then chill the fruit in an ice bath to cool. The skin should come off easily.

Continue reading the step-by-step below to see how easy the process is; we demonstrate using a tomato, but the peeling method is the same.

If you have any kitchen tips or questions you'd like me to explore, leave a comment below or shoot me an e-mail at noelle.carter@latimes.com.

ALSO:

Go behind the scenes at the Test Kitchen

134 recipes for your favorite restaurant dishes

Browse hundreds of recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen

-- Noelle Carter
You can find me on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter

Top photo: Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times. Step-by-step photos below: Noelle Carter / Los Angeles Times

Test Kitchen video tips: Brown butter for flavor

To give your dishes extra depth and richness, consider adding browned butter to the recipe.

Browned, or brown, butter (known in French as beurre noisette) works wonderfully in both sweet and savory recipes, whether you drizzle it over sauteed vegetables or fish, or fold it into cake batters or fudge. It can give a dish added complexity with its rich nuttiness when you're looking to enhance mashed potatoes, and is a perfect finishing touch for sauces, such as when you want to add some dimension to a sweet doughnut or cake glaze (as with the maple brown butter glaze recipe given below).

To brown butter, melt unsalted butter in a wide, shallow pan over medium heat, and cook until the water evaporates and the butter solids  turn a rich golden-brown (they will sink to the bottom of the pan). Whisk or stir the butter freqeuntly as it cooks so it browns evenly. Use immediately, or cool and chill until needed.

If you have any kitchen tips or questions you'd like me to explore, leave a comment below or shoot me an email at noelle.carter@latimes.com.

If you have any kitchen tips or questions you'd like me to explore, leave a comment below or email me at noelle.carter@latimes.com.

ALSO:

Go behind the scenes at the Test Kitchen

134 recipes for your favorite restaurant dishes

Browse hundreds of recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen

-- Noelle Carter
You can find me on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.

Video: Myung Chun / Los Angeles Times

Kitchen gadget: Barbecue mop

If you love outdoor cooking, there's nothing like taming a tough cut of meat through the mastery of a low and slow fire, or deftly handling a lean cut quickly over a hot grill. But often it's that signature touch -- a thoughtfully honed sauce -- that separates barbecue masters from weekend warriors.

And while you can baste the meat with almost anything -- paintbrush, fancy silicone kitchen brush, wooden spoon -- nothing does the job better than a basic barbecue mop.

A barbecue mop looks just like a old-fashioned floor mop, but on a much smaller scale. Typically a cotton mop head fitted on a wooden handle, these gadgets are great for soaking up sauces and basting mixtures so you can lovingly slather all that great flavor over your charred masterpiece as it cooks to perfection.

When looking for a mop, there are a couple things to keep in mind. Look for one with a longer handle (at least 12 inches), so you've got some distance between you and the food in case there are any flare-ups. And go with a classic cotton mop -- silicone may be nice, but I've found it doesn't hold a sauce or liquid as well when basting (that, and silicone is so much more expensive than a sturdy, inexpensive cotton mop). If you can't find a mop, I've found a small kitchen terry cloth towel works in a pinch; simply use a pair of tongs as a handle to baste with the soaked cloth.

Barbecue mops can generally be found at cooking supply stores and wherever barbecue and grilling supplies are sold (including some hardware stores), and are easily found online. A basic one should set you back no more than $5.

If you have any kitchen gadgets or tips you'd like me to explore, leave a comment below or shoot me an email at noelle.carter@latimes.com.

ALSO:

Go behind the scenes at the Test Kitchen

134 recipes for your favorite restaurant dishes

Browse hundreds of recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen

-- Noelle Carter
You can find me on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.

Photo: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times