Andrew Rea's Lemon Zesting Tip Will Elevate Your Cooking Game

Andrew Rea, a self-taught chef better known by the "West Wing"-inspired name of Babish (according to Rea's website), rose to internet fame with his YouTube channel "Binging with Babish," where he whips up grub inspired by pop culture. Now, the channel has expanded into the Babish Culinary Universe, and Rea is a cookbook author and practically a household name, especially if the household is inhabited by aspiring cooks.

Aside from being a charismatic online presence, Babish encourages fans to get "the basics" of culinary techniques down pat before working up to the more elaborate and complex. In a YouTube video by Wired, he answers fans' cooking inquiries submitted via tweet. One Twitter user asks Rea about lemon zesting, which can be difficult to pull off. Fortunately, Rea has a hack to help with that.

"Zest" is defined by MasterClass as the outermost layer of skin on a citrus fruit, used as a recipe addition or garnish. The oils provide a sweet, fruity flavor, so don't throw those citrus rinds away! Zesting (the verb) is defined by the shaving of the fruit zest with some type of tool so that you only get that outer skin (per BBC Good Food). 

You should choose unwaxed lemons with good weight and bright color. It may be best to use organic fruits for zesting, because the outside of non-organic fruit can contain remnants of pesticides, according to Forbes.

In Wired's video, Andrew Rea is asked by a fan why zest always gets stuck in their grater. Rea brandishes a rasp-style grater, which he says he prefers because its design allows the lemon zest to rain down unhindered. He also advises to zest only the external yellow layer of the lemon peel, avoiding the bitter white pith. 

Rea, like the rest of us, still winds up with lemon lingering in the grater, but, as he demonstrates, it's only a matter of brushing it off. With a rasp grater, it's much easier than trying to scrape the zest out of a box grater that's become sticky with juice or a citrus zester, which can come with a learning curve. You can also use a microplane zester for fine Parmesan-like zest or a vegetable peeler for larger pieces, according to Insider.

Some of Andrew Rea's recipes that call for lemon zest include Lemon Cakes inspired by Game of Thrones (a favorite of Sansa Stark's), Death Sandwich from Regular Show, and Lemon Pepper Wet Wings inspired by Atlanta. There's also the Curb Your Enthusiasm Special, which features Rea's Palestinian Chicken that alludes to Larry David's love of a controversial restaurant's food. For the comfort food route, go with Rea's rich and tangy Pasta Al Limone, which he calls pasta aglio olio's "saucy cousin."

You can use zest in desserts like cheesecake, lemon scones, and Greek custard pie, savory dishes like planked salmon with dill and lemon, and as a sunny accent for decorating everything from cookies to cocktails. 

On top of being an ingredient and the action of producing it, zest can also mean "an enjoyably exciting quality" per Merriam-Webster, and Britannica chimes in to add that zesty food is "strong, pleasant, and somewhat spicy." It's easy to see why you'd want these qualities in your cooking, and now you know it's not as difficult as it seems. So get zesting!