Tom Kerridge’s love of savoury flavours far predated his culinary career.
“I remember having corned beef and English mustard sandwiches on crusty bread while watching the Pink Panther cartoon show on a Saturday evening, sat with my mum and dad as a youngen,” the award-winning chef tells SBS. “Ever since then, I’ll always go to savoury flavours over sweet, every time.
“I don’t know whether I knew early on I wanted to be a chef, but I knew early on that I loved food.”
Raised in Gloucester, which he describes as a “solid working-class town in the southwest of England”, the co-host of SBS’s new series started experimenting in the kitchen earlier than most.
“I used to cook for my brother when we got home for school,” the chef tells. Later, as an 18-year-old wanting to earn some cash, he was drawn to the knives, fire and vibrant personalities he found in professional kitchens.
“I thought, ‘do you know what? This seems like a bit of a rock n roll place for me’, and I’ve been in the kitchen ever since.”
On Food Detectives, Kerridge is keen to share fast tips to help home cooks elevate humble everyday dishes to restaurant-quality fare. He’s already let us in on a for poaching the perfect egg, and now he’s sharing his top five kitchen hacks for transforming mediocre dishes into magic. (Thanks, Tom!)
get cracking
The ultimate hack for a perfect poached egg
1. Butter up
“Don’t be scared of using a lot of butter in cooking,” reassures Kerridge, for three reasons: “Butter adds so much flavour, it will give that colour and caramelisation to meat or fish – especially when it starts to burn and develop those beautiful nutty flavours – and, it supports dairy farmers.” If you’re worried about fat content, don’t; you’re generally just basting ingredients in the butter before removing them from the pan.
Tom cooks a perfect piece of fish in Food Detectives - yep, with butter. Source: BBC / Michelle Owen
2. Slow it down
“I love putting things in the oven and leaving them in there for five or six hours. That’s when flavours become really good friends,” the chef says. “The longer they’re in a pan together to slowly emulsify, the more they become really good mates.” Kerridge also recommends cooling the dish, refrigerating it and then enjoying it the next day rather than diving straight in, to really let the flavours mature.
3. Water isn’t just for blanching
“So many people think that water is just for boiling vegetables, but it’s a flavourless liquid that draws flavour from other ingredients.” If you don’t have stock, don’t be scared of covering vegetables in water, says Kerridge. And conversely, not using water where you traditionally would is a great way to maximise flavour. “Put things like broccoli or cauliflower straight into a sauté pan instead of boiling it, with a drizzle of olive oil, a good pinch of salt and a tiny splash of water from the kettle. Put the lid on and let it steam in its own juices. That’s how really good classic Chinese cookery in woks works; they’re not actually stir-frying things – most of the time, they’re steaming things in their own juices.”
And think before you throw soaking water away - in Food Detectives, Tom helps a home cook improve her risotto. One of his tips? Don't throw out the water she soaked porcini mushrooms in. Keep it and use it when adding liquid to the dish during cooking.
4. Brining
If you’ve got enough time, brining proteins (a process of marinating meats in a salt-based solution) helps seal in moisture in whole chickens, pork, lamb and even fish, says Kerridge. “That brining process in the salty, sometimes sugary solution before cooking it helps to make things crispy, but it also gets that seasoning right through the meat rather than just on top. And, it keeps the meat moist as well.”
Extra tender: maple syrup in the brine kicks things up a notch in this .
Source: Brooke Bass
In Food Detectives, Tom shows how brining also keeps meat lovely and juicy. "In the cooking process it can lose up to 30 per cent of its weight and moisture, just in evaporation in that tray whilst it's in the oven. Now what's happen with the brining process, is it helps to lock in a lot of that moisture; that can reduce that figure down to around about 15 per cent," he explains.
"The dissolved salt causes the cells of the meat to absorb the water in the brine. This water binds with the proteins of the meat locking the moisture inside."
5. Tasty toppings
“So many people worry about cooking things properly, but you can always enhance something with finishings,” Kerridge believes. And his finishing of choice is good quality (cold-pressed, extra virgin, if possible) olive oil. “It works really well with chocolate, salads, and brings poultry and meats to life, too.
Catch 8.35pm Thursdays on SBS, then watch it on . Missed episode one? Find out all about the show and watch the first episode .
