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Cooking Tips
CLICK THE SUBJECT BELOW TO BE TAKEN TO THE TIP
there are more tip categories in the menu on the left - enjoy
BACON
Minimize bacon shrinkage by
running bacon under water before frying.
BEANS
A
tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda in a large pot of beans
while soaking them, the 'flatulence' caused by the beans is
kept to a minimum
BOILING EGGS
Add a little salt or
vinegar to your boiling water when cooking eggs; a cracked egg
will stay in its shell this way.
BOILING OVER
Rub
butter or margarine on the rim of a pot in which you cook rice
or macaroni and it won't boil over.
CAKES
A cake
will keep longer if you place half an apple in the cake tin
when storing.
CHOCOLATE CAKE
Make a better chocolate
cake by adding a teaspoon of vinegar to your cake
mix.
SCALING FISH
Soak fish in salt water before
descaling and the scales will come off easier.
FROZEN VEGETABLES
A quick way to separate frozen vegetables is to
pour boiling water over them through a colander and then add
them to your casserole or pot to finish
cooking.
GRATING CHEESE
To easily shred cheese, let
sit in freezer for 30 minutes.
ICING TIP
Add a
pinch of bicarbonate of soda to your icing and the icing will
stay moist and prevent cracking.
JELLO MOLD
To
easily remove a jelly from the mold, lightly brush mold with
oil before pouring in the mixture.
PANCAKES
Adding
a little sugar to the batter of pancakes and waffles will make
them brown more quickly.
PIE PASTRY
For flakier
pastry, substitute 1 teaspoon vinegar for 1 teaspoon of the
cold water called for in the recipe.
RIPEN FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
A lots of fruit and veg found in
supermarkets today look ripe, but are hard as a rock. Put them
in a brown paper bag and hide the bag away in a dark cupboard
for a day or two. Use This is great tip for items such as
avocados, bananas, kiwi fruit, peaches, nectarines, and many
more.
SOUPS
To remove some of the fat in soups by
add a lettuce leaf to the pot. Remove the leaf after fat
removal.
Place a raw potato in salty soup. The potato will
absorb the extra salt.
TENDERIZE MEAT
One to two
table spoons of vinegar with your meat while boiling will
tenderize it. Even the toughest meat will be so tender
you can cut with fork or will fall off the
bone.
WILTED VEGETABLES
Perk up wilted
vegetables. Soak in 2 cups water, 1 tablespoon vinegar
WOODEN SKEWERS
When using wooden skewers for
kebabs, soak in cold water for 10-30 minutes to prevent them
from burning.
ROASTED CHESTNUTS IN THE MICROWAVE OVEN
Buy the Italian
chestnuts (they work well in the microwave). Punch a hole in
the large round end of the nuts to vent. Cook about 1 minute
on high. Remove carefully and shell them. Dip in garlic
butter.
TO PREVENT BOTTOM CRUST FROM BECOMING SOGGY
Partially
bake pie shell at 375° for 6 minutes if using a filling that
must later be baked, but at 375° for 8-10 minutes or til
golden brown if using a filling that does not require baking.
Either way you will remove from oven after the appropriate
baking time and brush or wipe entire surface of warm crust
with light Karo syrup. Return to the 375° oven for about 3-5
minutes or til it begins to sizzle and turn golden when using
either baked or unbaked filling. When using the filling that
requires baking, add filling to the crust coated in Karo,
baked as directed above. Continue to bake filling per filling
recipe. Add unbaked filling to the crust with the Karo applied
to it and baked as directed above.
HOW TO UNSTICK MARSHMALLOWS IN A BAG
Add confectioners sugar
or cornstarch and shake it up in the bag (that dries them out
a little bit) and you can pull them apart. Some of them may
still be stuck, but you pull or cut them apart by hand. The
next time you purchase a bag of marshmallows, take them out of
the bag and put them in a freezer-safe container and
freeze.
TO CRISP UP CELERY OR CARROTS
Dissolve 1/2 t.
sugar in some cold water. Place cut up vegetables in the water
and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes to a couple of
hours.
SOFTEN BROWN SUGAR
Break off a chunk of the brown sugar (if you
can). Wrap it in foil and bake in a 300° F oven for 5
minutes.
GET RID OF SAND AND GRIT FROM CLAMS
Add corn meal to the
soaking water. This will irritate the clams and they will
expel the sand and grit while trying to get rid of the corn
meal.
TO TAKE THE HEAT OUT OF RED ONIONS
Slice the red onion.
Put slices into a bowl of cold water and soak for 10
minutes.
PEELING HARD BOILED EGGS
Fresh eggs may be hard
to peel. Use eggs stored 7-10 days. To help make peeling
easier, cool eggs immediately in cold water after cooking. To
remove the shell, crackle eggs by tapping gently all over.
Roll the eggs between your fingers to loosen the shell, then
peel starting at the large end. Hold the eggs under running
cold water or dip them in a bowl of cold water and ease off
the shell.
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