The Cook’s Kitchen

Parchment paper is something of an unsung hero, but it’s truly a culinary wonder tool. The food section of the LA Times sings its praises this week (see the full article here). When I worked in a professional kitchen, we used it all the time, but it’s only been in the last ten years or so that parchment paper has been readily available to the consumer; Reynolds now makes it in rolls that are sized for home cooks and their pans, and it’s available from many online sources, including Amazon.com and KingArthurFlour.com.

Of course there are the obvious uses for it: lining cookie sheets or cake pans, making fish en papillote. But there are other uses for it beyond just keeping things from sticking.

A cartouche is a circle of parchment paper cut to fit a pot in which you’re cooking rice, or a braise or stew. Cut a little hole in the center to allow steam to release, and most of the heat and moisture will be kept in the pan, but just enough will be released to allow the liquid to reduce. If you have trouble with cooking rice—and many people do, finding that it either comes out underdone, or gummy and sticky—a cartouche may be a trick for you to try.

Of course, parchment paper is a staple in baking, for lining cookie pans and cake tins as aforementioned, but a sheet of parchment paper can also be a handy tool for moving ingredients. Lay a sheet out on the counter, and measure out all the dry ingredients on to it. Then lift it in a funnel shape and slide the ingredients right into the bowl. You can also use parchment to make stencils for cakes or cupcakes. You’ve probably seen the doily trick, where you lay a doily over the cake, then sift powdered sugar or cocoa on to the cake to make a design. Parchment paper can play the same role, only you create the design yourself. If you’re not much for drawing, cookie cutters can be used to trace shapes, or you could even get fancy and use a craft knife to cut out freehand anything you can think of: shapes, designs, words.

I confess I’ve never been much for fish en papillote (more because I’m not that avid a fish eater). The suggestion for cooking pasta in a parchment paper parcel, however, really piques my interest. Cook rigatoni quite al dente, and combined it in a parchment paper parcel with goat cheese, pine nuts, and some quickly sautéed greens (kale and radicchio cut into strips are what’s recommended, but of course any combination of greens could be used: spinach, mustard greens, broccoli rabe). A squeeze of lemon juice, a grind of pepper, and a scattering of chopped flat leaf parsley complete the mix, pop the packets in the oven, and you’ve got a quick meal with easy clean up.

This idea of cooking pasta en papillote has really got me thinking. The variations are endless. I think I know what I’ll be doing this weekend: getting cozy with a roll of parchment paper!

Photo from kingarthurflour.com