Here's my sweet little technique for supreming (* get it?!?) various types of citrus fruit so you can eat it like a civilized human.
Buy an orange. Bring it home. Rinse off the germs of all the people who man-handled it before you.
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| so far, so good |
Using a paring knife, cut the orange in half along its north-south pole.
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| or, as Carissa says, "from nipple to nipple" |
Admire your handiwork and quickly realize your orange has a parasitic twin. Spend fewer than 20 seconds looking at Google images of parasitic twins (EEEWWW!) before resuming the process.
Set aside one half of the orange. With the one in front of you, rest the blade of your knife just outside the spongy center membrane thingy. This part is not good eats so you'll cut it away.
Cut yourself two or three soccer-game-half-time wedges like this. The width of each slice should be no more than 1" when measured across the rind. Narrower wedges make for more fruit harvesting since you're going to be cutting on along the inner curve of the rind.
Still working on just the first half of your orange here. You should be left with one wedge that has the spongy center membrane thingy still attached. Lay it flat on your cutting board and slice it off. Discard the spongy center membrane thingy.
Again, admire your work.
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| it's like a pretty little list of orange wedges all lined up |
Set the wedge rind-side-down on the cutting board. As with all kitchen cutting, it's safest to work with food that will lay relatively flat on the cutting board.
Cut carefully between the fruit and the pith (the spongy white stuff, which is bitter and inedible).
When you're done cutting, you will end up with a delicious and completely edible and pretty orange segment separated entirely from the rind and pith.
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| ... and, in this case, the remnants of my orange's parasitic twin |
These supreme oranges are perfect for a salad. Just toss with lettuce, your favorite veggies, salt & pepper, and a little red wine vinegar.
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| I won't tell you how many times I tried to spell 'vinegar' |
Finally, upon creating and enjoying the delicate and perfect little orange supremes, don't be afraid to eat an orange wedge. Make sure you don't realize you selected the one with the grocery store sticker on it till after taking a self-portrait.
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| *ting* |
