Weekend Cooking: Demo videos on Knife Skills and Making Vinaigrette by Kathleen Flinn author of The Kitchen Counter Cooking School

In last week's Weekend Cooking post, I spotlighted Kathleen Flinn's new book, The Kitchen Counter Cooking School that will be released on October 3, 2011 from Viking and posted a book trailer. (Go HERE, to see the post) This week I want to spotlight two great cooking related videos by Kathleen Flinn where she teaches cooking lessons from The Kitchen Counter Cooking School. 

Learn Knife Skills Video

The first video is on learning knife skills where she shows you how to properly hold and use a chef's knife. I found this a helpful video for anyone who enjoys cooking and wants to learn more about basic knife skills. I've always wanted to know the "proper" way to cut an onion and Kathleen explains and demonstrates this well. I definitely plan to give this a try, although I need to find a better set of sharper knives. Kathleen makes it look pretty simple. 

Vinaigrette Lesson

The second video is on how easy it is to make your own vinaigrette salad dressing. I found this video to be very informative, I am definitely going to make my own vinaigrette salad dressing. I also learned that a simple balsamic vinaigrette has a longer shelf life unrefrigerated than I realized. Also, it is all natural and you can add different ingredients easily to make your own vinaigrette. 

THE KITCHEN COUNTER COOKING SCHOOL is essentially “What Not to Wear” meets Michael Pollan.  Inspired by a supermarket encounter with a woman loading up on processed foods, Le Cordon Blue graduate, and author of The Sharper Your Knife the Less You Cry, Kathleen Flinn decided to use her recent culinary training to help a group of nine culinary novitiates find their inner cook.  These students invited Kathleen into their kitchens where she took inventory of each person’s refrigerator, cabinets and eating habits.  After kitchen “makeovers” and a series of basic lessons where they learned to wield knives, trust their taste and improve their food choices, the women found a common missing ingredient—confidence.  In this new book, Flinn follows these women’s journeys and includes practical, healthy tips to boost readers’ culinary confidence, strategies to get the most from their grocery dollar and simple recipes to get readers cooking.   

From Viking; On-sale: October 3, 2011

* I would have loved to be part of this cooking school to learn culinary skills from Kathleen Flinn. I'll be posting a review closer to the release date of the book in October and have a great giveaway scheduled. I'm also going to post more Demo and shopping tip videos from Kathleen, recipes and information on the volunteers in my upcoming weekend cooking posts. 

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