Cooking Hints & Tips Archive 6
Cooking Tip: Pour pan drippings into a tall jar. The grease will rise to the top in minutes and can be removed for grease-free gravy.
Cooking Tip: For a juicier barbecued hamburger, rub both sides of the meat with cold water before grilling.
Cooking Tip: To preserve the creamy texture of a frozen cheesecake, thaw it in the refrigerator for 12 hours before serving.
Cooking Tip: Remember that every time you open the oven door the temperature drops about 25F degrees.
Cooking Tip: Don't add sugar to stewed fruits until they have boiled for 10 minutes. They need less sugar then.
Cooking Tip: Light-colored sesame oil has a mild flavor that's nice for salads and sauteing. Dark sesame oil has a robust flavor and aroma and should be used for flavoring.
Cooking Tip: Rub a little lemon juice on your fingers to neutralize garlic aroma, then rinse and wash with soap and water.
Cooking Tip: To peel hard-cooked eggs, crack them by tapping them gently in two or three places and place them in a pan of cold water.
Cooking Tip: Bananas are loaded with potassium, an important mineral that, along with sodium, helps control the water balance in the body.
Cooking Tip: Flank steak is a boneless, lean, fibrous cut from the lower hindquarters of a steer. To make the meat seem more tender, cut it very thin across the grain.
Cooking Tip: To get the best bananas, choose them at any stage of ripeness, from green to yellow. Ripen them at room temperature until they have a very healthy yellow color. Very ripe bananas are brown and make excellent breads and cakes.
Cooking Tip: To get the best cherries, select firm, brightly colored fruit and refrigerate in a covered container for up to four days.
Cooking Tip: To get the best kiwifruit, choose fruit that is free of bruises and soft spots. Ripen firm fruit by placing them in a small, clean paper bag. Loosely close the bag and store at room temperature and check fruit daily until ripe.
Cooking Tip: To get the best cranberries, avoid soft or bruised fruit. Refrigerate for up to four weeks or freeze for up to nine months.
Cooking Tip: To get the best apricots, look for plump, fairly firm fruit with deep yellow or yellowish orange skin. Refrigerate ripe fruit for up to two days.
Cooking Tip: Try using a miniature chopper or food processor to chop small amounts of vegetables.
Cooking Tip: Add a decorative and flavorful touch to ice cubes by adding pieces of fresh lime and lemon to the water before freezing the cubes.
Cooking Tip: Store strawberries in a moisture-proof container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Wash them just before use.
Cooking Tip: To slice tomatoes easily, use a sharp, serrated knife.
Cooking Tip: To determine the freshness of baking powder, add 1 teaspoon to 1/3 cup of hot water. If the water bubbles vigorously, the baking powder is fresh.
Cooking Tip: Fish is completely cooked when the flesh becomes opaque and flakes easily with a fork.
Cooking Tip: Add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to pasta cooking water to keep pasta from sticking together.
Cooking Tip: Purchase clean, fresh eggs from a refrigerated display case. At home, refrigerate eggs immediately, discarding any with cracked shells.
Cooking Tip: Store breads and rolls in resealable freezer bags. To thaw, remove from bag and wrap in paper towel. Microwave on HIGH just until no longer cold.
Cooking Tip: For perfect results every time, use the microwave oven to melt chocolate. Place one 1 ounce square in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH for 1 to 2 minutes. Chocolate will look shiny. Stir until melted and smooth.
Cooking Tip: Cold temperatures can destroy the flavor and texture of tomatoes. Store them at room temperature and use them within a few days.
Cooking Tip: Filet mignon comes from the small end of the tenderloin. It is very tender and thus more expensive than other cuts of beef.
Cooking Tip: To ensure you have a ripe cantaloupe, choose one with a sweet, fruity fragrance that yields slightly when pressed at the stem end. It should be heavy for its size, have a thick, raised netting, and show no signs of bruising or decay.
Cooking Tip: Curry powder is a blend of spices. The most commonly used are cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, fennel, nutmeg, turmeric, and chile. This strongly flavored seasoning loses its potency quickly, so store it in an airtight container.
Cooking Tip: Caesar salad was created in 1924 by an Italian chef named Caesar Cardini.
Cooking Tip: Cobbler gets its name from its biscuit topping, which resembles cobblestones. For a traditional cobbler, be sure the fruit filling is very hot when you drop the biscuit dough on it or the bottom of the topping might not cook properly.
Cooking Tip: Fruit betties are topped with soft bread cubes, rather than dry cubes as in a bread pudding. The bread is easier to cut if it's frozen; use a serrated knife and a seeing motion to cut the cubes into 1/2-inch cubes.
Cooking Tip: Fruit crisps are topped with a crunchy oatmeal mixture. The topping stores well, so try mixing a double batch and put the extra batch in a freezer bag; seal, label, and freeze it for up to a month.
Cooking Tip: A pandowdy is a baked fruit dish with a pastrylike biscuit topping and is usually served with light cream or a sauce. Traditionally, the topping is broken up with spoon and stirred into the fruit filling before it is served.
Cooking Tip: It's best to place a cookie or baking sheet under the baking pan of a fruit dessert while in the oven. This will catch any spills and make clean up easier.
Cooking Tip: To make chocolate curls for garnishing, carefully draw a vegetable peeler across the broad surface of a bar of chocolate.
Cooking Tip: To make chocolate leaves for garnishing, brush tempered chocolate on the underside of nontoxic leaves such as mint, rose, lemon, and strawberry. Let cool and carefully peel leaf away.
Cooking Tip: To make chocolate shavings for garnishing, use a vegetable peeler and make short, quick strokes across the surface of a solid piece of chocolate.
Cooking Tip: To make chocolate lace for garnishing, pipe tempered chocolate from a pastry bag onto a chilled, wax-paper-lined baking sheet; let dry.
Cooking Tip: To make chocolate gratings for garnishing, rub a solid piece of chocolate across the grating section of a handheld grater.
Cooking Tip: 1 pound bananas equals 3 medium or 4 small bananas equals 2 cups sliced bananas equals 1 cup mashed bananas.
Cooking Tip: 1 pound apples equals 4 small apples, 3 medium apples, or 2 large apples equals 2 3/4 cups sliced apples equals 2 cups chopped apples.
Cooking Tip: 1 pound apricots equals 8 to 12 whole apricots equals 2 1/2 cups sliced apricots.
Cooking Tip: 1 pound pears equals 3 medium pears equals 3 1/2 cups sliced pears equals 3 cups chopped pears.
Cooking Tip: 1 medium lemon equals 3 tablespoons lemon juice equals 2 teaspoons shredded peel.
Cooking Tip: Chipotle peppers are actually a dried, smoked jalapeño chili. They have a wrinkled, dark brown skin and a smoky, sweet flavor.
Cooking Tip: If you need a quick centerpiece, line a basket with a pretty napkin or towel. Arrange red and green apples in the basket.
Cooking Tip: Make a quick and easy room decoration by placing a string of miniature colored lights in a large crystal bowl.
Cooking Tip: If using a dark, nonstick baking pan, you may need to reduce the recipe's baking temperature by 25 degrees.
Cooking Tip: Watercress is a member of the mustard family and has a slightly bitter and peppery flavor.
Cooking Tip: A Bouquet Garni is a small herb bouquet, most often sprigs of fresh parsley and thyme, plus a bay leaf, tied in cheesecloth. It is dropped into stocks, stews, sauces, and soups as a seasoner and is removed before serving.
Cooking Tip: Antipasto is a selection of hors d'oeuvres, such as salami, marinated mushrooms, tuns, or anchovies, served before the meal.
Cooking Tip: Hors d'oeuvres are bite-size appetizers served with cocktails, generally at a party or dinner party.
Cooking Tip: Fines Herbes is a mixture of minced parsley, chervil, tarragon, and sometimes chives, used to season salads, omelets, and other dishes.
Cooking Tip: A Vinaigrette is a sauce, French in origin, made from oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and herbs; usually served on cold meat, fish, or vegetables.
Cooking Tip: To reduce a liquid, boil it uncovered to diminish the quantity an concentrate the flavor.
Cooking Tip: To plump raisins or other dried fruit, soak them in liquid until they almost return to their natural state.
Cooking Tip: Combine a light fluffy ingredient, such as beaten egg whites, into a thicker mixture with a gentle over-and-under lifting motion.
Cooking Tip: Loosen the browned bits in the bottom a skillet or roasting pan by adding liquid while stirring and heating; the resulting glaze is a flavor base for sauces and gravies.
Cooking Tip: To cream: beat softened, not melted, butter, margarine, or shortening, alone or with sugar until light, smooth, and creamy.
