Joris Barbaray’s Top 5 Kitchen Tips

In Food Heroes, Greenwich’s favourite foodies saves us from kitchen boredom. No more ready meals, we’re talking fresh food in minutes. Each month we’ll have a new feature and to kick us off we have Joris Barbaray, SE10’s charismatic l’Artisan, with his Top5 French Kitchen Tips for Mums. Enjoy!

 
1. l’Artisans 1 minute Sauce

When you pan fry any meat, at the last ‘minute’ before you take the meat out of the pan – add a drop of water or wine and leave it to reduce. Add a knob of butter and that’s it. Congratulations, you’ve just learnt how to ‘deglaze’.

 
2. The secret to eating non-pasteurised Cheese when pregnant

One of the things we’re asked a lot at the l’Artisan by mums-to-be is whether or not they can still enjoy non-pasteurised cheese as part of their healthy diet. Ofcourse the answer is yes; as long as you do the following. Cook your favourite fromage at a temperature of 150 degrees or more for than a minute and it is safe to eat – because you’ve pasteurised it yourself. Bon apetit.

 
3. A natural way to clean salad nasties

In France, to help Mums keep clear of Salmonella and Toxoplasmosis we wash the salad using vinegar not just water. To do this properly for a single salad bowl, add 5 tablespoons to your water, wash and leave your salad submerged in the mixture for at least 5 minutes. For larger amounts use a rough ratio of 5 parts vinegar to 30 parts water. NB – you can also use this with herbs and vegetables as long as they are not porous.

 
4. My favourite 5 minute Bechamel

Some might say it’s a little known fact, but making a great béchamel sauce once you know how is really easy. First thing to do is a ‘beurre manier’ which is half flour, half fat (for the fat instead of butter you could use margarine). Mix them together in a bowl using a 50:50 ratio and you’ll need 200g beurre manier per litre of milk. In a saucepan bring your milk to a boil before cutting the heat, add seasoning (nutmeg, garlic, salt, whatever you fancy) and spoon your beurre manier into the milk, until you get to your required thickness. The key here is the process of mixing the hot and the cold – its called ‘thermical shock’.

 
5. Bottle cleaning a’la francaise

I grew up in the Dordogne countryside, South West France and my mum always used to keep our egg-shells for a good reason – apart from feeding the chickens. This is because shells are a great way to clean baby bottles. The process? Literally, add shells to the bottles, a dash of soap, water and shake! This technique will get right into the corners, saving you from scrubbing or running the dishwasher.

Joris Barbaray is owner of the l’Artisan Delicatessen located at 93 Trafalgar Road, Greenwich. 020 8858 0918. He serves a great range of restaurant quality French food at affordable prices. Outside catering is even available. For more info you can also follow him on twitter at @artisanSE10.