Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Plastic Wrap Star

After big holiday meals, my mother in law frequently requests that I do any wrapping that requires plastic cling wrap.  She seems to think I have magical powers, but wrapping things up snugly in plastic wrap is practically the first thing anyone learns in a professional kitchen.  A well wrapped container is a container safe from the normal jostling, rearranging and frenzied shuffling that is common in restaurants; it keeps the liquids contained and the contaminants firmly away.

I think the reason kitchen folk are so adept a handling plastic wrap is because everything in a kitchen needs to be done quickly and speed is the key to becoming a wrap star.

We've all seen the effect even a tiny puff of air has on the dangling edge of the wrap, it folds in on itself and adheres tightly so that it's almost impossible to separate them again.  Don't give the air time to puff!  Stretch out the length of wrap you require and tear if off quickly; immediately place the center over the wrappee...

Don't stop to think about this, just do it all in one fluid motion...

Now grab up those two free ends on either side and firmly tug them down and around, hopefully until they meet on the bottom.  Stretching plastic wrap out makes it more clingy, so be FIRM, and pull it tightly around the wrappee.

This entire process should take just a second or two, you have to move faster than the air.  It is not as hard as it sounds, I think you would be surprised at the number of complex things you do in just one or two seconds every day.

Ok, that's it!  It really is that easy, just be quick and be firm.  Much like Luke Skywalker in that drainage ditch on the Death Star at the end of Star Wars, see it happening first and then just do it.

3 comments:

  1. I haven't seen problems with leftovers not being covered completely, then again, our left overs don't last long.

    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com

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  2. I've given you a Super-Sweet Blogger award! It's here:
    http://www.marianallen.com/2013/05/9-storyadaymay-surprise/

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  3. Yeah, right! I'd write more but I am trapped in plastic wrap.

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