Publix Aprons / What I Learned This Week

I have learned so much since I started working at Publix Aprons. I want to be able to document everything for you guys so you can follow me on my awesome culinary adventure. Each and every day I leave with some kind of newfound knowledge that I can bring home with me. This is the kind of work that you don’t mind bringing home, you know? I decided that I’m going to start a new series where I will note all of the tips, tricks and techniques I learn during the week.

So far, I’ve made fresh pasta and pizza dough, learned how to properly measure out flour for baking, made mother sauces and learned the best way to cut a pepper. I can cut an onion without crying and know that EVOO is not the oil you should cook with no matter what others may tell you. I can make “perfect rice” and my knife skills are improving everyday. I know that a “pinch of salt” is not going to kill you, but instead will make your food explode with flavor. My recipe collection is multiplying by the minute and I have a huge list of new kitchen gadgets on my wish list.

This week we had a sushi-making class. I’ve made sushi before and had a lot of fun, so I was excited to be able to help teach this class. We made a ton of rolls, nigiri, and the cone-shaped rolls, too. The best thing I learned? How to make eel sauce! I am never without eel sauce when I get sushi. I prefer it much more than I do regular old soy sauce. I always assumed it was some kind of complicated recipe. To be honest, I never wanted to look it up for fear that one of the ingredients would be eel guts or something gross like that. Lo and behold, it’s basically just sweet soy sauce! I still have no idea why they call it eel sauce, but I do know it’s just soy sauce and sugar with garlic and ginger. There will be another Sushi 101 class mid-June, so if you’ve never made it before and want to learn how, come join us!

I also learned how to peel a kiwi, which surprisingly, you do with a spoon and not a peeler. And most excitingly, how to cut mango! This is something I have been struggling with for quite some time. Those things are tricky. You have to pretty much take a guess at where the long, flat seed is and slice vertically on either side. If you’re wrong, you’ll hit the seed and then you need to start slicing elsewhere. Once you’ve successfully sliced open the mango, you make slits both vertically and horizontally , careful not to slice through the skin. Then you flip the skin and voilà. Out pops small little diced mango pieces. Freaking amazing.

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