There’s more to food than recipes. We’ll approach the answers to growing questions, and new ways of taking on tricks of the food trade, and Boil It Down for you.
Deb (and probably Bob) has mentioned on a few occasions already that her father is one hell of a cook. A few times when I’ve watched him cook, he’s done this fancy pan flipping food thing that I’d only previously seen on Food Network shows. Up until recently, I’d been mixing my veggies and such using a spatula or a spoon, e.g. the total wuss way. That’s because flipping food in a pan isn’t as hard as it looks.
First of all, this video by the one and only Ming Tsai is a good place to start if you want to learn how to get the hang of the handy trick:
He makes it all seem so easy, doesn’t he? Well, the thing is, he seems to have left out a pointer or two.
First of all, it’s really, really hard to flip food in certain pans. Unless you’re a bodybuilder, you’re not going to find yourself flipping food all that easily in a cast-iron pan. No, you’ll want to do this with something like a stainless steel pan, like the one used in the video. Many of them are lightweight and easy to maneuver for a trick like this.
Secondly, the pan should have a good bowl shape to its sides. Sure, you can do the pan flippy thing with any pan, but you’re going to have a tougher time getting some good air from your veggies if you’re using a straight-walled saute pan. What I’ve found is that you use that rounded edge as a sort of ramp to lift the food out of the pan; you’re not really tossing the food up, you’re sliding it down, up and out, then bringing the pan back down under it. Make sense? No? Just look at the video above again and pay attention to what Ming’s doing and you’ll catch a little of it in action.
Follow these tips and, before you know it, the days of mixing your veggies and rice with a spatula in the pan will be ancient history. Impress friends at parties! Make the ladies swoon! Be the life of the bar mitzvah! Or, you know, just have one less thing to throw in the dishwasher.
Clacked by Keith McDuffee 
on Aug 12, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
It’s pretty simple… just jerk back real fast and forward to “catch” it. I forget when I figured this out. Probably after burning the garlic for the 5th time a row.