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| KITCHEN
TIPS AND TRICKS |
COOKING
INFORMATION |
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Tips
& Techniques in the kitchen for food . . . and other
useful tricks
Dealing
with the garlic press
Everyone knows that cleaning a garlic press can be
tiresome and most chefs won't even use one because
of this fact. Try pressing the cloves through your
garlic press unpeeled. You will get a finer profile,
but just reach in and pull out the husk and see if
that doesn't change your mind about the garlic press.
(I do this all of the time - it works well).
The
fastest way to bake a Potato!
Wash the potato, coat it with butter. Stick a nail
into the center and bake on a sheet pan so that the
potatoes do not touch each other. This should reduce
cooking time by at least 20 minutes. The butter will
keep the skins from cracking and add flavor.
Cooking
Spaghetti Squash in the microwave
Pierce the squash with a big kitchen fork or a skewer
in many places. Put the
squash on a plate and "nuke" it until it
gets soft to the touch. Let rest for
10 minutes before slicing in half. Remove center and
scrape out the spaghetti
from the sides of the squash.
Cleaning
- Wooden cutting board
Most health inspectors will not allow wooden cutting
boards in commercial
kitchens any more, but if you have one in your home
and it gets mold and / or
mildew on it . . . scrub it with salt and lemon juice.
Getting
Egg off of your silverware and plates
Wash them with cold water first.
Cleaning
- getting the cheese off the Grater
To get the residual cheese film off of your grater,
just scrape a raw potato
and a little raw onion over the soiled surface before
it goes into the
dishwasher. Add a little egg to the grated potato
and onion and have a potato
pancake for lunch.
Miscellaneous
tips:
- Pull
to keep celery crisp, stand it up in a pitcher of
cold, salted water. Then refrigerate.
- Lettuce
and celery will keep longer if stored in brown paper
bags instead of cellophane.
- Chop
garlic in a small amount of salt to prevent pieces
from sticking to the knife and chopping board. Then
pulverize pieces with the tip of the knife.
- Exposure
to direct sunlight softens tomatoes instead of ripening
them. Leave tomatoes stem side up in any spot out
of direct sunlight to ripen.
- To
remove corn silk from corn on the cob, dampen a paper
towel or terry cloth and brush downward on the cob.
Every bit of corn silk should come off.
- Adding
a little lemon juice to beets before cooking will
allow them to maintain their color.
- To
absorb excess oil from gravies, soups or other dishes,
drop a few lettuce leaves in the pot. Watch the oil
cling.
- To
absorb excess salt from gravies, soups or other dishes,
drop a few chunks of raw potato in the pot and remove
before serving.
- To
better slice hot bread, place a knife in boiling water
for about 10 seconds before slicing.
- Bread
stores best in a cool, dry place. It may be kept in
the refrigerator but will get stale more quickly.
It will keep in the freezer for as long as three months
if tightly wrapped. Press out as much air as possible.
- To
prevent cut potatoes from turning brown, place in
a bowl of cool water until ready to cook.
- A
few drops of lemon juice in the water will whiten
boiling potatoes.
- Always
remove the tops of carrots before storing.
Tops drain the carrots' moisture, making them dry
and limp.
- Once
an onion has been cut in half, rub the leftover side
with butter and it will stay fresh longer.
- Thaw
frozen seafood in the refrigerator or under cold running
water, not at room temperature. Marinate seafood in
the refrigerator.
- Whole
fresh fish should have bright clear and shiny eyes.
Scales should be shiny and cling to skin. There should
be a slight, sea breeze odor, not a strong, fishy
odor
This
section was the idea of Shirley Cline from San Fransisco.
We all have useful little ideas or techniques we use
which are always worth passing on but we don't because
we assume everyone knows them already. The fact is we
don't.
Shirley
was a great inspiration when I first started working
on the idea of creating a recipe and cooking web site.
Not only did she encourage me but she also supplied
a great many recipes and other pieces which are featured
throughout the site. Her great achievement was to teach
me to cook risotto over the internet!
Although
I never had the chance to meet Shirley, or even talk
to her, I regarded her as a good friend. It was with
great sadness that I learnt that she passed away in
Autumn 2004 and that there would be no more emails.
I think she will be sadly missed by a lot of people
like me to whom she gave such pleasure with the sharing
or her recipes. The pleasure my children have had from
her recipe for Strawberries
with Balsamic Vinegar and Mint - not to mention
the fights for seconds - has been a joy to behold.
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