Cooking Hints & Tips Archive 21
Cooking Tip: Most cookie doughs freeze extremely well and can be kept frozen for up to 3 months.
Cooking Tip: Always store cookies after they have cooled completely. If still warm, they will get too soft and moist from condensation.
Cooking Tip: One common cause of cooking failures is inaccurate measurement of ingredients. You can use the best ingredients in the world, but if you do not measure correctly, the recipe will not come out properly. Always use level measurements as all measurements in a recipe are level.
Cooking Tip: Smell and taste nuts before using. Oils in nuts can turn rancid quickly. Store any leftover nuts in the freezer for longest shelf life.
Cooking Tip: Cookies spread across a cookie sheet when a they have too little structure and cannot hold their shape. Whether this is desirable or not depends on what kind of cookie you wish to bake, but often some spread is desirable.
Cooking Tip: In double acting baking powder, carbon dioxide is produced when moisture is added, and again when it is heated. Using too much baking powder will produce a product with a coarse grain, and broken cell walls in the air bubbles, which will cause the product to eventually fall. When you use too little, the product will not rise enough and will be heavy.
Cooking Tip: When you are going to beat egg whites, let the eggs sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before using them. The egg whites will beat to a greater volume. They will beat faster and higher if you add a pinch of salt.
Cooking Tip: >The kumquat is a tiny orange/yellow, football-shaped fruit native to Eastern Asia, and closely related to citrus fruits. They are unusual in that the edible skin is sweet and the flesh is quite tart, and the combination leaves a pleasant citrus taste in the mouth. Kumquats are eaten whole, candied, pickled, and used to make relishes, preserves and marmalades.
Cooking Tip: The liquid in canned salmon comes from the fish itself, whereas tuna has oil or water added in the canning process.
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: To peel tomatoes, fill a saucepan with enough water to cover tomatoes; bring to a boil. Immerse tomatoes about 30 seconds; drain and cool. Remove stem ends and slip off skins.
Cooking Tip: To seed tomatoes, cut them in half crosswise. Gently squeeze each half, using your fingers to remove seeds. To reserve the juice for use in dressings, sauces or soups, seed the tomato into a strainer held over a bowl.
Cooking Tip: To roast tomatoes, Preheat oven to 450F degrees. Halve tomatoes crosswise. Place halves, cut side down, on a shallow baking pan; brush with oil. Roast until lightly browned, about 20 minutes; cool. Remove skins and stem ends.
Cooking Tip: To slow-cook tomatoes, preheat oven to 300F degrees. Remove stem ends; slice tomatoes. Place slices on a shallow baking pan; brush with oil. Cook until tomatoes soften and shrink, about 45 minutes.
Cooking Tip: To make tomato shells, cut a 1/2 inch slice off the stem end of each tomato. Using a spoon, scoop out the pulp.
Cooking Tip: When using a broiler to cook steaks, pre-heat oven until it's really hot. This will sear the outside of the meat and keep the juices in. Don't use a fork to turn the steaks, use tongs or a spatula to prevent juices from leaking out.
Cooking Tip: Try using carrots instead of sugar to sweeten your sauces.
Cooking Tip: When buying cabbage, look for heads that appear heavier than their size with crisp leaves.
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: To roast garlic, sprinkle the bulb with a little olive oil and white wine, salt and pepper, wrap it in tin foil and roast in a 350F degree oven for approximately one hour.
Cooking Tip: Add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon baking powder to a frying batter for an especially delicate crust.
Cooking Tip: Place an open box of hardened brown sugar in the microwave oven with 1 cup hot water. Microwave at high for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes for 1/2 pound of sugar or 2 to 3 minutes for 1 pound of sugar.
Cooking Tip: For a juicy grilled hamburger, add 2 tablespoons cold water per one pound ground beef.
Cooking Tip: Mushrooms freeze well. Wash quickly, dry, then put them, sliced or un-sliced, in a plastic bag and freeze. Use them without defrosting. In any cooked dish, they will taste exactly like fresh mushrooms.
Cooking Tip: To clarify a quart of stock, beat 2 teaspoons water with 1 egg white, then add the eggshell (crushed into small pieces) and stir into the stock. Boil 1 or 2 minutes, then strain through a square of fine cloth draped over a large strainer.
Cooking Tip: Traditionally served at Hanukkah, the latke is a pancake usually made from grated potatoes mixed with eggs, onions, matzo meal and seasonings. It's fried and served hot as a side dish.
Cooking Tip: Used primarily in Middle Eastern cooking, tahini is a thick paste made of ground sesame seed.
Cooking Tip: From the Japanese words dai (large) and kon (root), the daikon is a large Asian radish with a sweet, fresh flavor. The daikon's flesh is crisp, juicy and white, while the skin can be either creamy white or black.
Cooking Tip: Although quinoa is new to the American market, it was a staple of the ancient Incas, who called it "the mother grain." Quinoa contains more protein than any other grain. It's considered a complete protein because it contains all eight essential amino acids. Quinoa is also higher in unsaturated fats and lower in carbohydrates than most grains, and it provides a rich and balanced source of vital nutrients.
Cooking Tip: Agave grows in the southwestern United States, Mexico and Central America. Though poisonous when raw, agave has a sweet, mild flavor when baked or made into a syrup. The syrup can be used much the same as honey.
Cooking Tip: Do not wash asparagus before storing. Wash it just before using. To store, wrap in a paper towel and place in a plastic bag that is not airtight, or place upright in a jar or glass containing 1/2 inch of cold water.
Cooking Tip: Rinse fish with cold salt water and pat dry with a paper towel. Wrap it with wax paper or plastic wrap and place it in a self sealing bag. Have a pan of ice ready and place the bag on the bed of ice. Place the pan of ice with the fish in the refrigerator.
Cooking Tip: Meat should be stored tightly wrapped to prevent it from drying out. Whenever possible, leave the meat wrapped in its original package. If it is necessary to rewrap, wrap tightly in plastic wrap or foil.
Cooking Tip: Baked goods should be stored tightly wrapped to prevent them from drying out. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, foil, or in self sealing plastic bags.
Cooking Tip: When refrigerating poultry meat that has been cooked by itself or in a dish with other ingredients, be sure it is stored in a well sealed container so that it does not absorb any odors. If the meat is not combined with other ingredients it can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap or foil.
Cooking Tip: Measuring spoons generally consist of at least 4 spoons, which are made of plastic or metal. Measuring spoons are used to measure small quantities of both dry and liquid ingredients.
Cooking Tip: Dry measuring cups are plastic or metal individual cups of various sizes used for single measures.
Cooking Tip: Liquid measuring cups are glass or clear plastic containers with a pour spout and handle. They are generally available in 1 cup, 2 cup, 4 cup and 8 cup sizes, which have graduated measures on the side.
Cooking Tip: Balance or spring scales are used to measure the weight of ingredients. Balance scales will be more accurate than spring scales.
Cooking Tip: If the recipe provides a volume and weight measurement, use a kitchen scale and measure the ingredient by weight for the most accurate quantity. There can be a variance in how much of a dry ingredient, such as flour, is actually in a measuring device.
Cooking Tip: Slow cooking tends to mellow seasoning so be sure to taste your dish to see if you need to add additional salt and pepper at the end of cooking. Better yet, wait until cooking is nearly complete to season your dish. It's also a good idea to add fresh herbs near the end, as they have a tendency to blacken when cooked for any length of time.
Cooking Tip: In general, keep the lid securely on a slow cooker to avoid heat loss, which slows down cooking. It's ok to occasionally lift the lid and stir.
Cooking Tip: Delicate items such as rice, pasta, dairy products, and certain vegetables, should be added during the last hour of cooking when using a slow cooker.
Cooking Tip: Place ingredients that take a long time to cook - root vegetables and large cuts of meat, for example - on the bottom of a slow cooker so they have maximum heat exposure.
Cooking Tip: For best results, a slow cooker should be half to two-thirds full. When making soups and other dishes that need to simmer, leave a two-inch gap between the food and the top of the slow cooker.
Cooking Tip: Soft cookies should be stored in an airtight container to keep them form drying out. A rigid plastic container, a glass container with airtight covers or a sealable plastic bag can be used. If a container's cover is not airtight, a piece of plastic wrap can be placed over the top of the container before placing the cover on to help seal the container tightly.
Cooking Tip: Crispy cookies should be stored in a container that has a loose fitting cover, such as a cookie jar or stoneware with a loose lid, to allow some air circulation to maintain their crispiness, unless they are being stored in humid conditions. In humid conditions store in an airtight container.
Cooking Tip: Do not use cardboard containers to store cookies. The cookies can absorb odors and flavors from the cardboard, affecting the taste of the cookies. Also, cardboard boxes are generally not airtight, which will cause the cookies to dry out faster.
Cooking Tip: Most cookies can be frozen successfully except for meringue type cookies, those that contain cream cheese or are cream filled. Be sure to use the proper type of storage containers for short term and long term storage.
Cooking Tip: Most cookies can be stored for up to a week without freezing and still retain their freshness. For longer storage they should be frozen.
Cooking Tip: Trim off stem end of an onion and peel down to the root end. Leave root end on as long as possible because that is where the sulfur is most heavily concentrated. If possible cut, slice or chop the onion as much as possible before removing the root end.
Cooking Tip: Because of their high water content and thin skins, sweet onions do not store well, limiting their season in comparison to storage onions. Sweet onions also bruise more easily that storage onions so must be handled more carefully.
Cooking Tip: Grating a shallot instead of mincing or finely dicing, allows a greater amount of the essence to be released into the food while requiring only half of the amount of minced shallot required for a recipe.
Cooking Tip: All cut onions that have leftover portions can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Store cooked onions in an airtight glass or plastic container. Do not store in a metal container because the metal can discolor the onions.
Cooking Tip: Store unwashed green onions in a plastic bag with it wrapped around the onions and then placed in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator. To help prevent the odor from spreading to other foods, wrap the onions in a paper towel before placing in the plastic bag. Store for up to 5 days.
Cooking Tip: Brush some beaten egg white over pie crust before baking to yield beautiful glossy finish.
Cooking Tip: You can usually substitute fruit juice in equal quantities in a recipe that calls for a liqueur without a noticeable change in taste.
Cooking Tip: Avoid using plastic bowls for whipping egg whites as they can often harbor traces of grease, which will keep the eggs from ever whipping properly.
Cooking Tip: Make your own instant oatmeal by running regular oatmeal in a blender. Blending makes the oatmeal the same as instant.
Cooking Tip: Keep your rolling pin and pastry cloth in the freezer before using to help keep dough from sticking.
Cooking Tip: A classic bouquet garni is made with 3 sprigs of parsley, 1 small sprig of thyme, and 1 small bay leaf. For a flavorful twist, lemon and orange zest can also be added.
Cooking Tip: Mace can be substituted for nutmeg or cinnamon to complement other foods.
Cooking Tip: Stay away from wooden kitchen utensils when mixing or preparing saffron as it tends to absorb the saffron.
Cooking Tip: When using fresh basil leaves rather than dried basil it is best to add toward the end of cooking.
Cooking Tip: Extended exposure to heat diminishes basil's distinct flavor. Dried basil can withstand longer cooking times.
Cooking Tip: Chop onions and dry in oven using lowest setting and remove when thoroughly dry but not brown. Store at room temperature in airtight container.
Cooking Tip: Chop and place onions on a cookie sheet in the freezer. When frozen, remove and place in freezer containers or bags, and seal.
Cooking Tip: Onions may be stored for up to six months without freezing by wrapping them separately in paper towels or foil and storing in the refrigerator.
Cooking Tip: To keep chicken pieces from sticking together in the freezer in order to remove the desired quantity without prying several pieces apart spread the chicken pieces in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Place them unwrapped in the freezer. Once frozen, remove chicken pieces from cookie sheet and store in polyethylene freezer bag. Place bag in freezer, label and date.
Cooking Tip: Freeze baked cookies for months of ready-made snacks. Cooled cookies, double-wrapped in plastic sheets or plastic storage bags will last up to 3 months. To thaw, remove cookies from freezer, unwrap and place them in a single layer on wire racks for 15 to 30 minutes. Store uneaten cookies in a tightly covered container.
