Be sure to read a recipe all the way through before you cook. The time it saves you in the long run is invaluable. – Tom Douglas
In my ‘Big Dinners’ cookbook, I recreated my mother’s recipe for crab dip. The creamy dressing for this dip, made with mayonnaise, tomato paste, a touch of honey, sliced chives, lemon juice and zest, horseradish and Tabasco, is reminiscent of Thousand Island dressing. – Tom Douglas
In the restaurant business, there’s the concept of pivot. Pivot to the stove, pivot to the refrigerator. – Tom Douglas
I use ginger like garlic. I love it for steaming fish and making barbecue sauces or roasted chicken. – Tom Douglas
Support a small chef. Not these big chains… but support the people who are out there trying to do things right and working hard to do that. – Tom Douglas
Often we eat squid fried, so it’s fun to grill it for a change. To grill squid, slice the cleaned bodies open into two flat pieces and thread them, along with the tentacles, onto skewers, then grill quickly over a direct fire with the coals as close as possible to the grate, turning the squid several times. – Tom Douglas
I try to eat in one of my restaurants every day, and I eat out in another restaurant every day. It’s what I do. – Tom Douglas
It’s really fun to have a convection oven, even it if it’s a little convection toaster oven. It really changes the way you bake. – Tom Douglas
Oysters, such as Dabobs, Quilcenes, Westcotts, and Willapas, to name just a few, are often named after the place they are harvested. – Tom Douglas
One-pot meals make a lot of sense… because so much of what people hate about cooking is really the cleanup, the mess, the grease. – Tom Douglas
Some versions of crab cakes are mostly crabmeat lightly bound with egg, but I’m a firm believer that a crab cake should contain bread crumbs. – Tom Douglas
Thanks to the abundance of shellfish in Puget Sound, Washington State is the largest oyster producer in the country. – Tom Douglas
It’s hard to legislate what people eat. People are getting fed up with being told what they can and can’t do. It boils down to personal responsibility. People need to read labels, do their research and act accordingly. – Tom Douglas
To shuck oysters, you’ll need an oyster knife, a handy tool with a sturdy handle and a short, rigid blade which you can pick up for about ten bucks in a kitchenware shop or fish market. A quick trip online will yield any number of videos and slide shows with step-by-step instructions on how to shuck an oyster. – Tom Douglas
If deep-frying catfish, try a dredge of seasoned flour and cornmeal and add some bacon fat to the oil. – Tom Douglas
The two things that are going to make you a better baker without even trying are a scale and a thermometer in your oven. – Tom Douglas
There’s a restaurant in Manhattan called Balthazar, and next to it is Balthazar Bakery. It’s tiny, and it’s very charming to have that little retail outlet to sell the house desserts and breads. – Tom Douglas
Tender and sweet, Manila clams partner well with a wide variety of foods – white wine, sake, beer, butter, leeks, fresh herbs, roasted peppers, olives, and wild mushrooms, to name a few. – Tom Douglas
