Basic Cooking Question: Zesting a Lemon

I hate to admit this, but there are some basics with cooking that I don't know how to do.
The one that came up today concerned zest of lemon (per a Wine Spectator recipe).
The recipe calls for "Zest of 1/2 lemon, cut into strips."
What is this, and how do I do it?

For what it is worth, here is the entire recipe: http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/43198

how do I do it

With one of these.

Zest is the very outside of the fruit, very bright citrus flavor, with none of the white pith which is bitter. Unless you have awesome knife skills, you pretty much need a tool that can shave just the outside without getting the pith.

Mike G wrote:

how do I do it

With one of these.

Zest is the very outside of the fruit, very bright citrus flavor, with none of the white pith which is bitter. Unless you have awesome knife skills, you pretty much need a tool that can shave just the outside without getting the pith.

If you're like me and you're not crazy about kitchen tools that only do one thing, you can use a microplane grater like this:

http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... EsQ8wIwAw#

Also useful for grating nutmeg, other spices, cheeses, etc.

You can use a potato peeler to carefully remove the yellow zest from the white pith. Then slice the peelings into strips.

Sounds like the second tool mentioned won't work because this requires strips.
I remove the skin of the lemon first, right? What is left should be the fruit, covered in white? The job then is to get the first layer of fruit, but without the white?

No, zest IS the outer skin, the very top yellow layer without the white pith underneath. (Clean well before zesting.) You're not touching the fruit inside in any way.

The microplaner can make strips if you're careful about turning the lemon as you grate so it keeps making one continuous piece.

See here:


Sorry about my recommendation. The microplane can work, but it's not the best tool. When I want strips, I use aschie's peeler-and-knife method.

Thanks Mike.
So what I'm doing is removing the skin, but without the white underneath?
That seems to make much more sense than what I had been thinking.

Yes, that's exactly it!

DML wrote:Thanks Mike.
So what I'm doing is removing the skin, but without the white underneath?
That seems to make much more sense than what I had been thinking.

Yes, and you can do it with a paring knife or a vegetable peeler (as noted). It's really not that hard if you have a honed, sharp knife, you just have to be very careful not to dig in too deeply.

edit: Huh. I don't know why I've never thought of this. Apparently, there's a really easy method to zest a lemon without any special tools that doesn't require any knife skills whatsoever. Just quarter and peel your lemon, then use a spoon to scrape out all the pith. Cut into strips.

i strongly urge you, DML, to buy an organic lemon, since you will be eating the outside, not just the lemon/juice. this way you avoid pesticides. whole foods and green grocer are my go-to places for organic fruits and veggies. justjoan

justjoan wrote:i strongly urge you, DML, to buy an organic lemon, since you will be eating the outside, not just the lemon juice. this way you avoid pesticides. whole foods and green grocer are my go-to places for organic fruits and veggies. justjoan

Nothing personal, but I would sooner eat my hand than buy organic.

DML wrote:

justjoan wrote:i strongly urge you, DML, to buy an organic lemon, since you will be eating the outside, not just the lemon juice. this way you avoid pesticides. whole foods and green grocer are my go-to places for organic fruits and veggies. justjoan

Nothing personal, but I would sooner eat my hand than buy organic.

Cirtrus has a hard, non-porous exterior so just give it a little scrub and you'll be fine.

For what it is worth, my objection to organic is on several grounds.
Initially, I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I don't believe that government is always lying. If government says pesticides are safe, I'm OK with it.
Second, if the issue is the danger from chemicals or other means used to fertizile, I would prefer the pesticides. The other methods are no safer. Cow feces or chemicals? I'll take the chemicals.
Third, the global impact of organic would be horrendous. Organic leads to greatly reduced yields. That might be OK for cabernet grapes, but for everything else it pretty much is a direct path to increased world hunger.
Fourth, I've tasted organic. I find no difference in taste whatsoever.
Fifth, it costs a lot more. A product that costs much more and has no benefit? Pass.
But we are off topic. Thanks everybody for the advice.
I got home late so I'm won't make the shrimp thing until tomorrow. I will let people know how it goes.

You bring up an interesting point, DML - there are a lot of things that people who cook regularly know and assume everyone else knows; this is one of the reasons I'm trying to teach Sparky to cook, so he'll be able to decipher words like "zest" that have no meaning without the context. Fannie Farmer actually became famous for addressing this issue with her cookbook, using specific measurements and explaining what each technique meant: in both the Fannie Farmer Cookbook and in Joy of Cooking there is a fair amount of time spent discussing cooking terms and techniques which can be looked up in the glossary.

It might be useful to start a full thread of these sorts of things, though - as I find it very useful to know which specific things are unclear. I tend to take a lot for granted.

Mhays wrote:
It might be useful to start a full thread of these sorts of things, though - as I find it very useful to know which specific things are unclear. I tend to take a lot for granted.

Please do... I hate recipes that call for a "cup" of something that does not lend itself to measurement by volume.
"2 cups packed basil leaves" Well, how packed? I'd rather read, 4 oz de-stemed, washed & dried basil.

My tip for strips of zest would be use a paring knife and then lay the zest side down and holding the knife parallel to the cutting board remove the leftover white pith.

mhill, I hate that one too. Some recipes will offer tightly packed or loosely packed, which helps a little, but still not as exact as the weight measurement.

Here's one that might be basic, but that irks me from time to time (mods, feel free to move if a more general thread is created):

In a recipe that calls for an ingredient to be modified and measured in the same line, potentially changing the amount needed for that measurement, in which order do you typically go, measurement first or modification first? One example would be "1 cup walnuts, crushed"... do you crush then measure 1 cup, or measure 1 cup whole walnuts then crush them? Yes, it probably doesn't matter for the final result, but I tend to be a stickler for details. Is there any hard & fast rule for this? Thanks for clearing it up!

One example would be "1 cup walnuts, crushed"... do you crush then measure 1 cup, or measure 1 cup whole walnuts then crush them?

I think in recipe writing, this is the difference between "1 cup crushed walnuts" and "1 cup walnuts, crushed"

rickster wrote:

One example would be "1 cup walnuts, crushed"... do you crush then measure 1 cup, or measure 1 cup whole walnuts then crush them?

I think in recipe writing, this is the difference between "1 cup crushed walnuts" and "1 cup walnuts, crushed"

Indeed, "1 cup crushed walnuts" means crush them first, then measure out a cup. "1 cup walnuts, crushed" means measure a cup of whole walnuts, then crush them after. This way is easier, otherwise you're guessing how much to take out of the bag.

Pie Lady wrote:

rickster wrote:

One example would be "1 cup walnuts, crushed"... do you crush then measure 1 cup, or measure 1 cup whole walnuts then crush them?

I think in recipe writing, this is the difference between "1 cup crushed walnuts" and "1 cup walnuts, crushed"

Indeed, "1 cup crushed walnuts" means crush them first, then measure out a cup. "1 cup walnuts, crushed" means measure a cup of whole walnuts, then crush them after. This way is easier, otherwise you're guessing how much to take out of the bag.

Thanks guys! This was my guess as well, but it's nice to have others corroborate it.

This also reminds me to note that there is "1 cup sifted flour" and "1 cup flour, sifted"

I think this is why I just ended up preferring recipes that go by weight, rather than volume.

mhill95149 wrote:My tip for strips of zest would be use a paring knife and then lay the zest side down and holding the knife parallel to the cutting board remove the leftover white pith.

That's my method. I just cut the peel off the whole lemon in big strips with a paring knife (the way you'd pare an apple, say), then I use the edge of the knife to scrape off any pith that's left. If you're uneasy about using a knife that way, try scraping with a grapefruit spoon. For most uses, it doesn't matter if there are a few traces of white left.

geno55 wrote:mhill, I hate that one too. Some recipes will offer tightly packed or loosely packed, which helps a little, but still not as exact as the weight measurement.

Here's one that might be basic, but that irks me from time to time (mods, feel free to move if a more general thread is created):

In a recipe that calls for an ingredient to be modified and measured in the same line, potentially changing the amount needed for that measurement, in which order do you typically go, measurement first or modification first? One example would be "1 cup walnuts, crushed"... do you crush then measure 1 cup, or measure 1 cup whole walnuts then crush them? Yes, it probably doesn't matter for the final result, but I tend to be a stickler for details. Is there any hard & fast rule for this? Thanks for clearing it up!

IMO, In non-baking situations (or with the nuts) I don't know that an exact measurement is crucial: there's room for some fuzziness. In particular, if you're talking about pesto, say - I start out with what the recipe asks for and then taste and add more of whichever I feel it needs. For flour in some kinds of baking, the exact measure is important (I've found that in piecrust, it's not as crucial, as you can add and subtract a bit there, too.)