Just a few extra tips

C-CAP Preliminaries begin this coming Saturday, and if you're a student getting set to compete, take a deep breath now, just for practice.

Shake out your hands….ready? Here are just a few more hints for you (and make sure you check the tips and lists posted through January, too!).

You have your equipment, you've memorized the recipes (c'mon - how hard is it to remember the salad dressing must be completely emulsified and the eggs must be beaten completely so that no strands of egg white show through your omelet.)

REMEMBER: in the preliminaries, kitchen skills count for 80 points. Presentation and taste count for 30.

C-CAP Arizona director Jill Smith offers a few more thoughts:

• · Watch the seasoning in your omelets - you need salt and pepper and enough of both to be apparent in the final dish
• · Keep shaking your omelet in the pan until it is almost stops moving - the inside should never be wet, but it should glisten
• · Taste your vinaigrette as you are making it; it needs to be balancing tart and sweet
• · Use the tip of your paring knife to move your cucumber slices up/down after you unmold the salad
• · Make sure your salad reaches just to the top of your mold
• · Do not "dress" your salad with cilantro or parsley sprigs on top, along side or ANYwhere at all
• · Make sure you have completely drained the vinaigrette from your salad; wipe up any "weeping" from around the unmolded salad before you put the plate down
• · Have fun! Cooking and food make people happy. You should feel happy with your work and your food!