- Welcome back to WBGU Cooks,
we are here with
another Falcon Foodie,
BGSU dinning chef,
Austin Rozelle.
Chef what are we gonna do today?
- So today we're gonna do a
little bit of knife skills,
and what we're gonna do to kinda
show off those knife skills
is we're actually gonna
make pico de gallo.
So it's a really simple
easy thing to make.
And it's kind of a nice
learning experience
because we've got
some round objects,
we've got some flat objects,
so it's kind of a nice
well rounded way to learn
some nice easy knife skills.
- And I think this will be
very helpful for our viewers.
Cause it's one of those
things even if you cook a lot
doesn't mean you know
how to use a knife.
- No absolutely,
yeah, absolutely.
- Which could be
a dangerous thing.
- Very much so, yeah.
- Speaking of which you
were gonna talk about
some knife safety.
- Yeah.
I think a good rule of
thumb, especially for,
you know, any home
cook, you should have
at least two really nice knives.
The first of which is just
a really nice chef's knife.
So what we have here, this one
is a six inch chef's knife.
You can get these
anywhere from six inches
you can get them up to
12, even 14 depending
on the manufacturer.
But one of these is kind of your
standard go to, use it for
anything kind of knife.
- Got it.
- The other knife, I don't
have one with me here today,
but a really nice
knife to have as well,
is a really nice pairing knife.
Which is, you know,
you can use them for
peeling small things,
or cutting small things,
but those two are really
kind of the perfect
staple knives for any home kit.
- And should maybe
spend a little bit more
than you normally.
- Yes, yes.
Definitely its not something--
Definitely its not something--
- But you'll have
them forever, right?
- Yeah, and that's the
thing is you know if you
really wanna get into
it, you can get online
and do a lot of shopping
cause there's different
and find the knife
that's right for you.
and find the knife
that's right for you.
- Okay cool, well are we
ready to start cutting?
- Yeah let's get into it.
So I'm gonna set this
off to the side here.
So the first thing that
we're gonna get into
is we're gonna go ahead and
just start with a tomato.
This here, I've just
got a beefsteak tomato,
but you can use either
a beefsteak or a roma,
they're about the
same, really it's just
the amount of juice inside.
And we're gonna use a
serrated knife for this.
And as you'll notice,
obviously this is round
it's kind of hard to cut.
So the easiest thing to do
is roll it up on its side,
and we're just gonna
cut off this top part
that's got the stem here.
And another thing too is
when you hold your knife,
so the easiest way to
do it, and it's kinda
awkward at first, but
you take your thumb
and your index finger
and you actually pinch
on the actual
blade itself, okay.
And then you take
your remaining fingers
and you wrap them
around your handle.
- [Tina] Okay.
- And this is gonna give
you the most control,
because you can kind
of tuck that handle
into your wrist, and the
thing you see a lot of times
is you'll see people
that kinda cut like this,
or they put this finger up here,
and you lose a lot of
control when you do that.
That's when your slips happen,
and you know bad things
usually happen from there.
So if you do it like this,
everything is kind of tucked in,
you don't have to
worry about it.
And the other thing
too is your hand
that isn't using your
knife, we like to refer
to it as kinda like
the claw or the C,
so you kind of just
make a C with your hand,
or think of like
the claw machine
at like a bowling
alley, you know.
And you kind of set it on top,
and you wanna tuck your finger
tips back a little bit, okay.
And what we're gonna do
is we're actually gonna
take our knife,
and it's gonna set
right against our knuckle, okay.
And that's gonna kinda
give us a guide for one
when we do our cutting, and
as well what it's gonna do
is it's gonna make sure
that our fingers are back,
we don't cut off our tips,
anything like that happens.
So now that we've
got this first,
we've got a nice flat
surface that we can cut with.
So now, I don't have to worry
about it going anywhere.
So what I'm gonna do is
I'm just gonna go through,
and go and cut slices here.
So I'm gonna kinda jump
over this bottom side here
so that's gonna be a
little bit of a bigger cut.
And then same thing for
this, I'm actually gonna go
and just kind of cut this
little bottom piece off here,
and set that off to the side,
again use it for your composts.
Now you can cut it as big
or as small as you like.
It really just kind of depends.
So for example, with the tomato,
I like to make that, to
me is kind of the most
important part of
your pico de gallo.
So I like to make that
a little bit larger.
And the other thing to
is you have to think
of what you're using it for.
So if we're using it for
something like a garnish
on a taco, you might wanna
go a little bit smaller,
but if we're doing
pico de gallo today,
- Yeah, yep exactly.
And that's just however
thick you wanna cut it.
Because at the end of the
day when it comes to cooking
there are guidelines but
there aren't a lot of rules.
You know I think that's
a lot of misconception
that people don't have.
- And that's what we like
to try and show our viewers.
That you know, especially
we were talking earlier,
you know, you can go out and
buy a jar of salsa, pico,
but it's easy to make it
fresh and it just tastes
so much better.
- Yeah, absolutely.
It's not the same
when you make it.
And the one thing is that
first time you make it,
you'll never wanna buy it again.
- Yes.
- [Tina] Yeah.
- Another thing
that we're gonna do,
is we're gonna do an onion.
So I'm gonna use a
red onion this time,
you don't have to
use red you can use
any onion that you like.
And same thing, it's a very
round kind of awkward object.
So for this I'm actually
gonna use our chef's knife.
So for this I'm actually
gonna use our chef's knife.
And what I'm gonna do is I'm
gonna turn off to the side,
and I'm gonna cut
off this top part,
depending on the style
of onion you buy,
and how your grocer does it.
Some onions have a lot of
extra skin on the outside,
and some don't.
This one I actually peeled
a little bit beforehand.
- Okay.
- But there is still
a little layer,
and I'll actually go
through and cut it.
- It's kinda waxy, right.
- Yeah, yeah.
So I'll go through
and kind of peel it.
And the thing is,
is it's kind of
misleading because, I didn't
get all the way through here.
It's kind of misleading
because on part of the onion
it'll look, you know, like
it's completely fine to use,
and then you get further
along, and it's got this
kind of awkward
chewy skin to it,
and it's not really something
that you want to eat.
- So you wanna make sure
to get down into the
meat of the onion.
- Yes, yep.
- You feel like
you're wasting it,
but it won't cut right anyway.
- Right.
- And it won't taste good.
- Yeah, it's not something
you really want to eat.
- Yeah.
- So, now that I've
cut off that top end,
what I'm gonna do is
I'm actually gonna leave
this kind of hairy part
on the bottom here,
and this is actually
the root of the onion.
And I'm actually
gonna go through,
I'm gonna cut it in half.
And then the reason
I left this root on,
is this is gonna kind of
hold everything together
for me for this onion,
and it'll make cutting
it a lot easier.
Cause a lot of times you
watch your cutting shows
and you know they cut an
onion 20 different ways
just to do something.
- [Tina] Yeah.
- And it's really not necessary.
Cause if you leave
that root end on there,
and you'll kind of look,
it's hard to see right now
for the viewers, but there's
actually these kind of
natural little like nooks
and crannies in this onion,
and if we follow those
when we go through and cut,
so we're just gonna
go around our onion.
- [Tina] And again
you have your claw.
- Yep.
And then what you're
doing is you're just kinda
going through and we don't
wanna go all the way through
to that root end, okay.
You wanna stop just before it.
And we're just gonna
kinda follow that natural
curve of our onion, and
again you can cut this
as large or small as you like.
We're just gonna go all
the way around here.
- You make it look so simple.
(laughing)
- I've cut an onion
or two in my time.
- I need to go
home and practice.
- Yeah.
So now that we've
got these little,
you know, these kind
of fingers if you will,
again we're just gonna
do a 90 degree turn,
and then we're just gonna
go the opposite direction,
and then if you'll look once
we kinda get that initial cut,
you've got a nice.
- It's all ready cause
of the way the onion.
- All ready diced onion
because of the way the onion is.
People on television they're
like you have to cut it
this way and this way,
it's a lot more work
than you need to do.
So but we're just
gonna go through,
I'm gonna run through and cut
this onion here real quick
so we've got it for
our pico de gallo here.
And again, once you
get to that root end
you can go through and
kinda trim around there.
This part you obviously
don't wanna eat.
And then just save
it for your compost.
So I'm gonna set this
into this bowl here.
And another thing
too as you can see,
I'm using the knife to kinda
scoop things into my hand.
If you're not
comfortable doing it,
that's not necessary.
- [Tina] Now they have
scrappers and yeah.
- They make like little
plastic scrappers
that are always great for that,
especially again if
you're cooking with kids,
that's not necessarily
something you want them doing.
So but we've got
our onion there.
And then the next
thing I wanna touch on
is our pepper.
So today we're gonna
use a jalapeno pepper.
That's just for a
little bit of heat,
but the other thing
too that I think people
don't understand is
you don't have to use
what I would think of as
kind of like a spicy pepper.
You could always use bell pepper
so you get that same
flavor and texture,
but you don't get that heat.
- Right.
- However, what you can do is,
you can go through and
actually kind of take
out a lot of the heat
because the majority
of the heat inside your pepper
is actually in the seeds.
- So if you wanted the heat,
you would leave the seeds?
- Right, so like what
we'll do, is we'll kinda
go and cut our stem off.
And then I'm gonna just
kinda hold it on its side
and pinch around it.
And then just kinda
come down the middle
and cut it in half.
And then all these seeds in here
is where the majority
of your heat is.
So what we can do
is, we're gonna go,
and just kinda take your finger,
and just kinda take your finger,
and kind of scrape that
out and we'll just set
it off to the side here
again for our compost.
So now that I've got
this cut in half,
again, I'm gonna put that
skin side down, okay.
And again we're just gonna
cut it into long strips.
Now when I do a jalapeno, I
like to cut it pretty small.
And I do it for a
couple of reasons.
One I feel like I
get a little bit more
of a distribution of that heat,
and the other reason
is I similar to you,
I'm not a huge spice guy.
Like I'm not.
And the thing is,
there's a very fine line
between flavor
and just overkill.
- Some people just want
the hotter the better.
I don't understand.
- Yes, nope not for me.
Not for me.
- To each is own.
- Right.
Right no definitely not for me.
- And actually, that's why
I like that you are cutting
them smaller because
then you can, you know,
get some of the flavor,
and not necessarily feel.
- And the thing to is as I was,
or when I went
through and cut this,
But when I went
through and cut these,
something smaller like this,
what you actually do is you
actually leave your knife
on your board,
and you kind of do
like a rocking motion, okay.
So the tip of your
knife stays on,
and it's just kind of
a down and forward,
and back again.
Think of kind of
like an old train,
you know what I mean?
Where you kind of like the bars
that keeps all the wheels going.
It's kind of like that.
So, that's the motion
that you wanna go for.
- And I suppose the more
you do this, the better.
Cause you see some people.
You know that are really.
- Just like anything
in life, you know,
I mean it's just practice,
it's a lot of practice.
So and then the last thing
that we're gonna cut here
is I've got a little bit
of fresh cilantro here.
And the one thing that
I personally really love
And the one thing that
I personally really love
about cilantro, and I don't
think a lot of people know this,
is cilantro is actually
one of the few herbs
where you can use the stem.
- I was gonna ask about
that cause it's hard
to get all the.
- Yes, yes.
It's a lot of work to go through
and kind of pick each one.
And cilantro is one
of those herbs where
there's a lot great
flavor in the stem.
And the stem is actually
somewhat, I almost want
to say tender, so you
don't have one of those
things where if you
were to use like basil,
or something like
rosemary, where's it like
you're chewing on a tree
branch kind of a thing.
Now grant it you don't
wanna use all of it.
So what you can do is
once kind of where your
leaves start to finish
off and that stem starts,
just go through and
kind of twist it.
And then what you
do with your herbs,
is you just kind of
bunch them all together.
Okay.
And we're just kind of making
a tight little package here,
and again we're just gonna
kind of put our knife
right against our knuckle
and just back and forth.
And we're gonna just kind
of scoot our hand backwards.
And it's one of those
things where if you're
not comfortable doing
that, you could always
kind of stop and move your hand,
and then keep going.
So but we're gonna go
through and just kind of
work over this.
- [Tina] And you probably just
keep cutting until you get
the fine whatever you want.
- Yeah exactly so you
could leave it like this
if you want, really course.
Or if you want a little finer,
what you can do is you actually
just set your knife down,
take your other hand and
set it on top of your knife
like this, and you
just same motion,
and what you do is
you just kind of rock
back and forth
through your herb.
- Now I have a
question about cilantro
and washing it.
And because I've
done this before
and it's a wet mess.
- Yeah, yes.
So the one thing
cilantro especially
is a very wet herb.
And the one thing to is
unlike a lot of other herbs,
cilantro actually can
bruise very easily.
So what happens if,
if I were to sit here
and keep cutting and
cutting and cutting,
eventually it would almost
get a black color to it.
And it's super unappetizing.
It doesn't taste any
different, it just doesn't
look as nice.
So what the easiest way to do it
is when you get it
at the grocery store
and it comes in
that little bundle,
take it out of that
bundle and run it under
some cool water, and
then the easiest thing
I find is some paper towels
or like a kitchen towel,
just kind of spread
it out in there,
and then just pat it dry.
Is the easiest way to do it.
- [Tina] So it should be dry?
- Yes, you don't want it to be,
you don't wanna like sit
it out in your kitchen
for like a week so it dries.
- Its a very finicky herb.
- Yes very much.
- I mean I've tried growing it,
and it just--
- Yeah cilantro is, it's
definitely something
that is, I by no means
have a green thumb,
this is one thing I can't
do is like grow herbs.
But cilantro is definitely a
little bit more temperamental
than most.
- Yes, definitely.
- But now that we've
got this ready to go.
Now comes the easiest
part and it's just putting
it all together.
- So do you wanna talk
about garlic for a minute.
- Oh yeah absolutely, I
actually forgot about that.
Thank you.
- That's okay.
- So another thing
too is garlic, yeah.
So garlic when you
get it at the store
it comes a nice
little bulb like this,
it's got all this
paper around here.
And you know you're
kinda like what do I do,
how do I get this
all out of here.
So first thing is
when you get it,
just kind of push down on it.
And what that will do
is that will actually
cause all of these
cloves to pop off.
And then you can take
that, and now that you
have your cloves, again
what we're gonna do
is we're just gonna go and
just kind of set your knife
on it real flat, and
just kind of (pounding)
give it a little whack.
And what that'll do
is that'll actually
split that paper on there,
and you can just go through.
- So you end up with what
you need to end up with.
- Yep exactly, you peel
all that paper off,
and then you've got a
nice clove of garlic.
And another thing too
that's really nice
is when you do that,
it smashes it down
because I've got some
here that you'll see.
Again it's pretty round
and kind of awkward.
So once you've got it
smashed down like this,
and I'll do this one as
well really quick here.
Is once it's smashed
down you've got a nice
broad easy flat surface
that you can cook on again,
or you can cut on rather.
So now that we've got that,
same thing as everything else,
but this one is gonna
be more like a herb
where, I'm not worried
about it being too fancy,
you know, I really just
kinda break it down.
So I'm just gonna kind of run
my knife through it one way,
and then I'm gonna
just kinda scoot it
into a nice pile.
And then go back
and forth with it,
and just kind of cut it down.
So, and as you'll notice
I'm not being too overly
clean with my garlic
getting into my cilantro,
because we're all
gonna put it together.
So it's okay.
This is one of those
things where it's okay
to be a little bit messy.
You know you don't
have to be too clean
about it since it's all
gonna kinda go together.
- Well before we put
all this together,
I thought we'd talk a
minute about the teaching
kitchen here at BGSU.
- Yeah absolutely.
So the one thing
that's really nice
about the teaching
kitchen that I don't think
a lot of people realize
is it's not just for
students, or faculty, and staff.
We've actually
throughout the summer
we're going to the farmers
market and reaching
out to the community
because anyone can come.
You know, you just
go to our website
for BSGUdining.com,
you can go on there
and sign up, we have a
calendar with all the classes
we offer, the costs
associated, the time,
the menu, who's teaching
it, super informative,
and then there's
also a contact page.
So we've done a
handful of professors
on the university,
we've done some private
events for them, some
birthday parties,
we've done kids
birthday parties.
- [Tina] Yeah, cause there
are kids classes as well.
- Yeah, yeah we
do tons of stuff.
- It's really a fun time
and you learn things.
I mean it's amazing.
We saw earlier the
tacos that's Joe,
he got something
out of that class.
- Yeah absolutely.
Yeah.
So let's go ahead and
the easiest thing now is
like I said, it's just kinda
putting everything together.
So we've got some diced
tomatoes there, go ahead.
So we're gonna do
some diced tomatoes.
We've got our diced
red onion here as well.
- And we're gonna
just add everything.
- Yep you can go ahead and
do everything in there.
- Probably not salt and pepper.
- Yeah so what we're
gonna do is we've got,
we'll just do a little
bit, I'll do this
since you don't have a glove on.
We're just gonna go just a
little bit of jalapeno in there.
And we can always go
back and add more.
So I'm gonna go through,
and I'm gonna put our garlic
in here, and then a little
bit of our cilantro.
- [Tina] And it's just the
fresh ingredients are just,
you just can't beat it.
- Yeah absolutely.
And again once you
make this at home,
you know, you're not gonna
wanna go and buy it again.
But I think people
don't realize is it's
really not that hard.
- [Tina] It isn't.
- I've got some fresh
squeezed lime juice here.
And again this is
one of those things
where it's, you know,
kind of what you want.
So I put in probably about
three tablespoons there.
We can always go
back and add in,
we can't always take it out.
So we've got that.
Here's a spatula, if
you wanna kind of give
that a go for me real quick.
And then the last
thing that we'll do
is a little bit of salt
and pepper in there
at the very end.
So, now the one thing that's
really nice about this
is much like, you
know, a lot of things
that you make at home,
especially like soups,
and stews, things like
that, if you were to
make this the night before,
and then eat it the next day,
it's a whole another
world of flavor.
Because those flavors
can sit together,
they meld together, you
get a little bit of that
the acid from the lime
juice kind of brings out
some of that natural
flavor in those tomatoes,
and it's just a whole
other thing to enjoy.
So it's always one of
those things you can make
the night ahead of time,
right before a party.
- That's always a plus.
- Oh yes absolutely.
Little less work for the day of.
- So how much salt and
pepper would you add?
- So again, personal
preference really.
So I usually do, pepper
I go a little bit shy on.
So I'm thinking you know
maybe just a little pinch,
we're talking not even
an eighth of a teaspoon
kind of a situation.
And then I do a little
bit heavier on the salt,
so I'm thinking more
of like, maybe a teas,
or not a tablespoon, I'm
sorry a teaspoon or so,
just a little bit in there.
So and again we can
always go back and add in
if we'd like after the fact.
- Which is the best
part about cooking,
is you can do it
the way you want to.
- Exactly, yeah.
- And that's what I always say
if I'm cooking it's gonna
be the way I want it.
- Yeah at the end of the
day you have to think
you're cooking for yourself
and for your audience.
- [Tina] So I'm gonna try this.
- Yeah absolutely.
- Looks yummy and..
Mmmm.
Great flavor, you can
taste the cilantro,
the onions aren't too bad.
- No, no and again it's
one of those things
where if you're not
a big onion person
you don't even have
to put it in there,
you could always put
a little bit less.
- And I didn't really
taste the jalapenos either.
- Yeah, yeah.
See by cutting it smaller,
you're kind of distributing
throughout and it's a lot
more getting that flavor,
since we got those
seeds out we don't have
a lot of that heat.
- It's just so fresh.
Thank you so much for
coming on, Chef Austin.
And thank you viewers
for watching this episode
of WBGU Cooks.
To watch this program and
other episodes online,
or to make a
donation to WBGU TV,
head to WBGU.org.
See ya next time.
