BN Cuisine with Chef Fregz: Making Your Kitchen Better

Salut a Toutes!

I would like to say thank you to Seyi who emailed me saying she really enjoyed the fish cakes from last week she made them for her “boo” and I think she scored some wife points there. Readers like her make me feel all L’oreal and things.

Today, I have decided to move away from the recipes and give a few tips and talk about some “random” things you can do in your kitchen to make it a better place.

These tips and pep talks are in no particular order but they are all aimed at making sure you’re a better cook this year.

Invest in Mason Jars
I would blame this on the simple green smoothie account I follow on Instagram. I swear one day I will start and finish my 30 day plan. But yes Mason jars. They are very useful in the kitchen. On this side of the world we are not the type to make homemade jam and send to our neighbours. However, they are perfect for storing spices, dried stuff like crayfish, seeds like Ogbono, short pasta, Garri and what have you. Storing in these jars keep things air tight and make your kitchen extra good looking.

Feel free to make labels by writing in a strip of paper tape placed over it. You can also use whatever sticky labels you can find. You can place small batches of sauces, stock and marinades and place in the fridge for a few days (make sure your power is good though). Mason jars are great for storing homemade mayonnaises, or whatever experimental, but successful paste or spread like almond butter or homemade peanut butter. Mason Jars make you look organised, refined and less cluttered.

They are available in Shoprite and Game in both Lekki and Ikeja. You could always ask someone to buy a few for you.

Let’s move on to fridge tips.

Store items in your fridges and/or freezers with ice packs. This way you have a cooler for longer environment when the power runs out, or if you are not that fancy, just use “sachet” water. Stick them in your freezer and have ready to go ice packs and emergency ice!

Set a reminder to do a fridge clean out.

Do not waste money buying new groceries, especially if you buy and just allow them rot in the fridge then throw them out. Try and find ways to use up leftovers and vegetables before they go off. If in doubt to what to do with things like herbs just blend them with olive oil and place in the freezer for up to two weeks that way you have herb olive oil to make a sauce or a salad dressing.

Make sure you divide soups and stews into 2 or three servings in small containers like tupperware or disposable packs. That way you control what you take and are not tasked with defrosting the whole bowl of soup or stew and risking bacterial growth and forced thawing in the microwave.

Make your own spice mix.

I cannot say this enough. The other day I put of a picture of “OUR seasoning mix”. It’s what we use at Chef Fregz Catering. We blend a bunch of spices and use as a general seasoning for almost everything. Also, when we want to make things like Chinese five spice chicken, we actually toast our own cinnamon, sichuan peppercorns, star anise, fennel and cloves all measured in the quantities we want and blitz in our spice grinder and boom we have our own mix. Try your hand on a spice mix today and see how you can improve your cooking and have something handy that never fails.

Clean up as you go.

This took me a really long time to learn. Ladies and Gentlemen it is also the truth! I blame this not on chef school, but when you have my mother and grandmother who watch over you, you learn how to clean as you go.

While cooking just make sure before you start another process you have cleaned up the preceding one. While the soup is boiling away, take a second to wash what’s in the sink. Have damp cloth on standby to clean the splatter that comes from either bubbling stew or hot grease. When the gas is hot is usually the best time to clean it as the steam action helps get it off quicker.

When you have finished using one thing just put it back. Done with that butter? Put it back in fridge as soon as you are done. Done with that sugar? Send it back into the cabinet. Measure out the palm oil you would need into a stainless bowl and keep the big keg or bottle away. I specifically stated stainless because oils and fats never really get off plastics. Stainless is better with ororo.

Cleaning up as you go helps; especially when the cooking is finally done. The final clean up isn’t so colossal that you pass out just from the thought of sorting out.

Shop Smarter

When you go to the supermarket, make sure you do a few things:
1. Follow your list
2. Follow your list
3. Follow your list

If you follow the above you find you save more and are not like me who always goes way above budget and get home and wonder why I spent all that money. Also, look at the aisle or lane that has the “reduced to clear” stuff. Especially if you are going to use them immediately, it’s way cheaper for you and really its “best before” – doesn’t really expire till about a month after the BB date. {Naija Sense}

For bulk shopping on household things if you are feeling brave I would recommend Oke Arin market in Lagos Island. You find everything American and English there and yes China too. Holloway has the kitchen and gift stuff and everywhere else is bursting with drinks, toiletries etc. Do not mock that “it is market”. A lot of what you see in the supermarket is there and good quality.

If you just cannot deal with “Market”, just make sure you do the rounds and find where you can save money and where you have to splurge to get the unique stuff.

Last but not the least-
Recipes are guidelines

I cannot ever feel the need not to stress this. Feel free to make adjustments to your taste when you see a recipe. Find out what can be replaced if you do not like an ingredient in the recipe or how you can make it spicier or less sweet. Just be bold in your kitchen. After you follow the recipe once or twice, continue that recipe but tweak it to your specification.

So that’s all folks!

P:S Dear Guys, I advise you catch up on next week’s post. Prepare to win your lady’s heart in the kitchen and stand the chance to win a limited edition gift for you both to share!

The only clue I can give out for now is that it’s going to be sparkly and European.

Truffle Regards!
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Chef Fregz loves to cook! He is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Paris Culinary Arts School in France and hosts monthly “Chef Fregz Specials” where he whips up a yummy menu with a different theme each time then everyone enjoys a taste. He also caters special events and private dinners. To find out more visit www.cheffregz.com. Chef Fregz provides premium private catering services. For bookings and orders email [email protected] – @Chef_Fregz on Instagram and Twitter. You can check out the Chef Fregz Page on Facebook as well.