Cooking Hints & Tips Archive 20
Cooking Tip: Use canola oil for frying. It is low in saturated fat, has a high burning point, and does not detract from the flavor of the food you are frying.
Cooking Tip: To restore color and shine to an aluminum pan, boil some apple peels in it for a few minutes, then rinse and dry.
Cooking Tip: Store buttercream icing in an air tight container in the refrigerator. Fresh is best, so don't make buttercream icing in advance if possible.
Cooking Tip: Buy an icing spatula to apply icing. A good icing spatula will enable you to work faster and the results will look great.
Cooking Tip: Use icing as soon as it is made. All icing sets up quickly.
Cooking Tip: When making pies at high altitudes, pie crusts are not greatly affected. A slight increase in liquid may help keep them from becoming dry. Use as little flour as possible when rolling out the dough.
Cooking Tip: Cool baked pies on a wire rack set on the counter. The rack allows air to circulate under the pie, preventing it from becoming soggy from the steam remaining it in.
Cooking Tip: Use a glass pie plate or a dull metal pie plate for making pies. Shiny metal pans keep the crust from browning properly. If using a glass pie plate, reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees. Do not oil or grease pie plates.
Cooking Tip: Double cream is the British term for what is called heavy or whipping cream in the United States, but it is a little thicker whipping cream. It contains approximately 48% butterfat.
Cooking Tip: You need to cook a sauce for at least 20 to 30 seconds after adding wine to it to allow the alcohol to evaporate. Since alcohol evaporates at 172F degrees (78C degrees), any sauce or stew that is simmering or boiling is hot enough to evaporate the alcohol.
Cooking Tip: Place prepared stuffing in turkey just before roasting. Do not stuff a turkey the night before roasting.
Cooking Tip: Within two hours after roasting, remove stuffing from turkey and carve the meat off the bones, then store in refrigerator or freezer.
Cooking Tip: Before roasting a turkey, brush the skin with vegetable oil to prevent the skin from drying. Further basting is unnecessary.
Cooking Tip: Just before roasting a turkey turn the wings back to hold the neck skin in place. Return legs to tucked position if untucked. No trussing is necessary.
Cooking Tip: A frozen turkey must be defrosted prior to cooking. Thaw the turkey in its original wrapper in the refrigerator. A 12-pound turkey takes approximately 2 days to defrost and a 24-pound bird takes approximately 3-4 days.
Cooking Tip: When you poach eggs, try adding a little vinegar and salt to the water. Vinegar helps the egg to hold its shape by causing the outer layer of the egg white to congeal faster. Without it, the eggs will become skeins of protein tangling up in the water.
Cooking Tip: The best eggs for poaching are the freshest eggs you can find. If eggs are more than a week old, the whites thin out. Whites of fresh eggs will gather compactly around the yolk, making a rounder, neater shape.
Cooking Tip: Air, heat, and light will cause olive oil to turn rancid, so it should be stored in a cool place in an airtight container. Store at a temperature below 14C degrees or 57F degrees.
Cooking Tip: Olive oil can be refrigerated, but doing so will cause it to congeal and turn cloudy. This should not affect flavor. Refrigerated, olive oil will return to its original liquid state when warmed to room temperature again.
Cooking Tip: To soften hard dry cookies put them in a sealed container with a piece of bread or apple.
Cooking Tip: For many bread recipes the final rising is often the second rising, while other breads may require two or more cycles of rising, punching, and kneading before being shaped and allowed to rise for the final time. This final rising period, known as proofing, is faster (usually about half the time of the initial rising period) due to the abundance of yeast cells that are present in the dough from the previous fermentation period.
Cooking Tip: Active dry yeast comes in a granular form and is usually available in small packages. To prepare the yeast for bread making, pour some warm water (the quantity specified in the bread recipe) into a bowl. Add the specified quantity of active dry yeast to the water.
Cooking Tip: Like active dry yeast, quick-rising active dry yeast is also a granular product available in small packages. It can be added directly to the flour and other ingredients without having to be activated in warm water first. Simply blend the specified quantity of yeast with the other dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Cooking Tip: When using fresh cake yeast (also known as compressed fresh yeast) for a bread recipe, the yeast should first be crumbled into a bowl or it can be broken up using a wooden spoon. Use the quantity of yeast specified in the recipe.
Cooking Tip: Breads prepared with yeast that has first been activated in warm water before mixing with the other ingredients to form the dough, is the simplest method for preparing yeasted breads. This method, known as the direct or straight yeast method, is the method most familiar with home cooks.
Cooking Tip: To prevent egg shells from cracking, add a pinch of salt to the water before hard-boiling.
Cooking Tip: Brush some beaten egg white over pie crust before baking to give it a beautiful glossy finish.
Cooking Tip: A crock-pot makes the ideal serving container for a hot punch or hot dip. Keep it on the Low setting to maintain the proper serving temperature.
Cooking Tip: Keep your rolling pin and pastry cloth in the freezer before using to help keep dough from sticking.
Cooking Tip: Before you stuff a turkey line the inside of its cavity with cheesecloth, then put in the stuffing. After the turkey is fully cooked, pull the cheesecloth and the stuffing comes right out.
Cooking Tip: A dampened paper towel or terry cloth brushed downward on a cob of corn will remove every strand of corn silk.
Cooking Tip: Microwave garlic cloves for 15 seconds and the skins slip right off.
Cooking Tip: Lettuce keeps better if you store in refrigerator without washing first so that the leaves are dry. Wash the day you are going to use it.
Cooking Tip: Let raw potatoes stand in cold water for at least half an hour before frying to improve the crispness of french fries.
Cooking Tip: To slice meat into very thin strips, partially freeze it and it will slice easily.
Cooking Tip: When selecting ears of corn, look for bright green husks with damp, light yellow silk poking out.
Cooking Tip: The simplest way to eat berries, other than straight from the carton, is to toss them in sugar and let them stand at room temperature for an hour - sugar draws out their juice and concentrates their flavor.
Cooking Tip: Berries freeze well. Put dry berries on a cookie sheet in a single layer, and stick it in the freezer. Once the berries are frozen, put them into a container or plastic bag and leave it in the freezer for up to one year.
Cooking Tip: Berries have a very short shelf life - their peak flavor and texture only lasts two to three days. To prolong it, immediately discard moldy or overripe berries. Put the remaining berries, unwashed, into a container lined with paper towels to absorb decay-hastening moisture. Refrigerate.
Cooking Tip: Strawberries should be fragrant and bright red, with no white or green patches near their stems; blueberries should be firm but not hard; raspberries and blackberries should be plump and shiny.
Cooking Tip: Leeks are full of hard to get at sand and dirt, chop them first, then give them a bath in cold water and drain in a colander.
Cooking Tip: Mushrooms should be wiped off with a damp cloth and not washed under the faucet since they are like sponges and will absorb the water.
Cooking Tip: When buying cabbage, look for heads that appear heavier than their size with crisp leaves.
Cooking Tip: Use a potato with a high starch content, such as a russet and Idaho, for baked potatoes. It makes for a puffier baked potato.
Cooking Tip: Acids help proteins coagulate, so adding either vinegar or lemon juice to water used for poaching eggs helps keep the eggs from spreading out.
Cooking Tip: Hard-cooked egg yolks can be frozen to use later for toppings or garnishes. Carefully place the yolks in a single layer in a saucepan and add enough water to come at least I inch above the yolks. Cover and quickly bring just to boiling. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, in the hot water about 15 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain well and package for freezing.
Cooking Tip: To freeze whole eggs or yolks crack them into a bowl and gently stir to break up the yolk somewhat. Try not to incorporate air into the eggs. Label the container with the date and the number of eggs. They can be kept frozen for a year, and should be thawed in the refrigerator the day before you intend to use them.
Cooking Tip: Avoid iron or copper pots or pans for frying oil that is to be reused. These metals accelerate rancidity.
Cooking Tip: The more you use an oil, the more slowly it will pour. Its viscosity changes because of changes to the oil's molecular structure.
Cooking Tip: Olive oil can be refrigerated and doing so will cause it to congeal and turn cloudy, but should not affect flavor. If refrigerated, olive oil will return to its original, liquid state when warmed to room temperature again.
Cooking Tip: Refrigerated raw eggs will generally keep without significant quality loss for about 4 to 5 weeks beyond the pack date or about 3 weeks after you bring them home.
Cooking Tip: Whipped cream freezes well but must be sweetened and flavored before freezing. Whipped cream should not be kept frozen longer than two months before using.
Cooking Tip: Preheat the oven 10 to 15 minutes before you begin baking cookies. These is usually consistent unless a recipe specifically calls for you to start with a cold oven.
Cooking Tip: Don't substitute flour. If your recipe calls for all-purpose flour, that's what you need to use. Cake flour and bread flour will not behave the same.
Cooking Tip: Baking Powder is a leavening agent that consists of a combination of baking soda, cream of tartar, and a moisture absorber like cornstarch. It has the action of yeast but it acts much more quickly. It's used in batters where there is no acid present.
