I’m sorry.  This is a teaser.  I promised a post about the most delicious orange chicken you’ve ever had and I’m giving you a post about ginger.  But, I felt like what Ben the Chef taught me was worth it’s own blog post.  Full on orange chicken is coming tomorrow.  Pinky promise.

I’m gonna back track and say that I was sent to the market with a list.  Whole ginger was on the list and it was the first time I had ever purchased it.  I always use ginger from the jar.  I’m a stickler when it comes to fresh garlic, but I was just a little intimidated about those big knobby fingers in the produce aisle.

The first thing I was taught is that you should not use a microplane.  It shreds the ginger and you end up with a hairy mess.  What you should do is peel it.  With a vegetable peeler?  No.  A spoon.  That’s a pro-tip right there.  Peeling ginger with a spoon is the fastest and easiest way.  The fibers will run length-wise through the stem, so cut it against the grain (so it looks like small circles).  Then, you’ll want to make vertical slices, then turn the other way to create a mince.  We added the minced ginger to the orange chicken sauce for a perfectly infused ginger flavor without any fiber-y strings.

Thanks Ben!