CHAPTER SEVEN$ CHICKEN FOR TOMORROW$OR NEXT WEEK.
In an ideal world, we'd always have food at its freshest and we'd eat it right after it was prepared. In the real world, though, there are many, many times when cooking ahead is useful. You're giving a party and you don't want to be frazzled the day of the event. Or you've got a busy week coming up and you want to do better by your family than just giving them calorie-laden, greasy take-out food. Or you're having house guests, and you want to spend the time with them instead of in the kitchen. Or maybe there's only one or two of you at home, and you've discovered that it's simpler to make a recipe for four and freeze part of it for use later.
In my own case, my freezer is always full. One reason is that Frank often invites three or four people the last minute, and it helps to have emergency food on hand. Equally often, after I've made a meal, he'll call at 6:00 p.m. and tell me that we're eating out with one of the poultry distributors or suppliers, and I end up freezing what I've just cooked. As I wrap the food in foil and wedge it into the freezer, I remind myself, "This meal isn't going to waste, it's a head start on a future meal."
When you know the principles for successful freezing$and I'll get to them in a moment$you can freeze just about any of the recipes in this cookbook. The recipes in this chapter are different from the rest because they not only can be cooked ahead, often they should be cooked ahead. Some of them require marination, others improve with age, and still others adapt so well to cooking the day before that they belong in this chapter. Use this chapter for recipes to use when you want to cook a day or so ahead of time, and also, use it for tips on how to freeze foods successfully.
There are just a few principles needed to master the technique of cooking ahead, and once you know them, you'll have faster, better-tasting, healthier and safer meals to show for it.
_The biggest boon to food preparation ahead is the freezer. Everything freezes from the point of view of food safety, but there's a lot of variation in palatability. For best flavor and texture, don't freeze the following foods in your home freezer:
_Milk products $ they'll curdle.
_Boiled eggs $ the whites get watery.
_Custards $ they'll lose texture, get lumpy.
_Mayonnaise $ it may separate.