Cooking Hints & Tips Archive 39
Cooking Tip: Keep flavored vinegars near the stove so you won't always reach for the salt. Acid enhances flavor.
Cooking Tip: Fry eggs the Spanish way: Get a good quantity of olive oil hot. Before you add the egg, heat the spatula in the oil first. That way the egg won't stick to it. Add the egg and fry it quickly, until it gets slightly browned edges.
Cooking Tip: Prolong the lifespan of greens by wrapping them loosely in a damp paper towel and placing in a resealable plastic bag. That local arugula will last about four days longer.
Cooking Tip: Want to know if your oil is hot enough for frying? Here's a tip: Stick a wooden skewer or spoon in the oil. If bubbles form around the wood, then you are good to go.
Cooking Tip: When a recipe calls for zest, instead of grating it into a separate container or onto parchment paper, hold the zester over the mixing bowl and zest directly onto the butter or cream. The aromatic citrus oils that are sprayed into the bowl will give the dessert a zesty finish.
Cooking Tip: To optimize the juice you get from a lemon or lime, roll it hard under your palm for a minute before juicing.
Cooking Tip: For perfect vegetable soup, start with diced carrots, onions, peppers and tomatoes sauteed in oil or butter before you add any liquid. This brings out the taste and caramelizes the sugars.
Cooking Tip: Have your mise en place ready: Do all of your cutting of vegetables and meat and make your sauces before you start cooking.
Cooking Tip: Try smoked fleur de sel: Use it sparingly to finish a dish and bring another layer of flavor.
Cooking Tip: Always buy the freshest garlic you can find; the fresher it is, the sweeter it will be. The best garlic has firm tissue-like skin and should not be bruised, sprouted, soft or shriveled. If you find cloves that have green shoots, discard the shoots - they will only add bitterness.
Cooking Tip: When you grill, pull your steaks out of the refrigerator one hour ahead of time so they can come to room temperature.
Cooking Tip: Always measure what you're baking. No shortcuts in pastry, it's a science.
Cooking Tip: When using fresh herbs such as cilantro or parsley, add whole stems to salads and sandwiches, and chop and stir leaves into salsas and guacamole.
Cooking Tip: If you don't have time to brine your chicken, use this simple trick: Heavily salt the chicken (inside and out) about an hour before you cook it. Then pat it dry and roast. This ensures crispy skin and juicy meat.
Cooking Tip: When made properly, risotto's richness comes from the starchy rice and the stock. As the risotto cooks, stir it with a wooden spoon in rhythmic movements that go across the bottom and around the sides of the pan. The rice should constantly be bubbling, drinking up the liquid as it cooks.
Cooking Tip: For better-tasting asparagus, cure the stalks: Peel them, roll in equal parts sugar and salt, and let them sit for 10 minutes, then rinse off and prepare as desired.
Cooking Tip: If you want to make a proper roux that's chocolate in color and rich in flavor, remember slow and low is the way to go.
Cooking Tip: When making mashed potatoes, after you drain the potatoes, return them to the hot pan, cover tightly and let steam for 5 minutes. This allows the potatoes to dry out so they'll mash to a beautiful texture and soak up the butter and cream more easily.
Cooking Tip: Don't go to the store with a shopping list. Go to the store, see what ingredients look good and then make your list.
Cooking Tip: When grinding your own beef for burgers, grind in some bacon to add flavor.
Cooking Tip: Fresh basil keeps much better and longer at room temperature with the stems in water.
Cooking Tip: Season all of your food from start to finish. Seasoning in stages brings the most out of your ingredients and gives you the most flavor.
Cooking Tip: Taste what you make before you serve it. People will follow a recipe but not taste the dish to see if it needs more salt, pepper or spices.
Cooking Tip: Season fish simply and cook it with respect. The flavor of the fish is what you want. When it comes off the grill or out of the oven or pan, finish it with a little squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Always. There is just something about lemon and fish that is heavenly.
Cooking Tip: If you're cooking cauliflower, add a bit of milk to the water with salt to keep the cauliflower bright white. Shock it in cold water to stop the cooking and then serve.
Cooking Tip: Invest in parchment paper for lining pans. It makes all of your baked goods super easy to remove, and it makes cleanup a dream.
Cooking Tip: After you drain pasta, while it's still hot, grate some fresh Parmesan on top before tossing it with your sauce. This way, the sauce has something to stick to.
Cooking Tip: Don't overcrowd the pan when you're sauteing - it'll make your food steam instead.
Cooking Tip: When you roast a whole chicken, the breast always overcooks and dries out because the legs have to cook longer. This is a really simple way to keep a chicken breast moist: Separate the breast and the leg. Season as you normally would and roast as you normally would, but remove the breast sooner than the leg.
Cooking Tip: Buy fruit at its peak at a farmers' market and freeze it in an airtight container so you can enjoy it year round.
Cooking Tip: Plunge vegetables in ice water after blanching them so they maintain a bright color.
Cooking Tip: Always use sharp knives. Not only is it safer but it will make your work much more efficient.
Cooking Tip: When seasoning a salad, use coarse sea salt mixed with a little olive oil. It will stay crunchy when combined with the vinaigrette.
Cooking Tip: Add cheese rinds to vegetable or meat broths for another dimension of flavor.
Cooking Tip: Marinating meat with citrus can give it a mealy texture. If you like citrus, a little squeeze of lemon or lime is always a good way to finish the dish instead.
Cooking Tip: To cut pancetta or bacon into lardons, put in the freezer for 15 minutes. This will firm up the meat and make it easier to cut.
Cooking Tip: A cast-iron pan is a valuable kitchen ally. It offers an even cooking surface and is a breeze to clean.
Cooking Tip: Smash garlic cloves inside a resealable plastic bag with the back of a knife. That way, your cutting board and knife won't smell.
Cooking Tip: To get nice, crispy caramelization on roasted vegetables, simulate the intense heat of an industrial oven: Bring your oven up as hot as it goes, then put an empty roasting or sheet pan inside for 10 to 15 minutes. Toss the vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper, and put them on the hot pan.
Cooking Tip: Invest in a bottle of high-quality olive oil. Just a small drizzle can really bring out the flavor of pizza, mozzarella, pasta, fish and meat.
Cooking Tip: When you're browning meat, you should blot the surface dry with a paper towel so the meat doesn't release moisture when it hits the hot oil. Too much moisture makes the meat steam instead of sear, and you will lose that rich brown crust.
Cooking Tip: When you're going to saute garlic, slice it rather than mincing it. It's less likely to burn that way.
Cooking Tip: For safety, put a wine cork on the tip of a knife before putting the knife in a drawer.
Cooking Tip: Do not use oil in the water when boiling pasta: It will keep the sauce from sticking to the cooked pasta.
Cooking Tip: Anytime you are using raw onions in a salsa and you are not going to eat that salsa in the next 20 minutes or so, be sure to rinse the diced onions under cold running water first, then blot dry. This will rid them of sulfurous gas that can ruin fresh salsa.
Cooking Tip: Instead of placing a chicken on a roasting rack, cut thick slices of onion, put them in an oiled pan, then place the chicken on top. The onion will absorb the chicken juices.
Cooking Tip: After cutting corn off the cob, use the back side of a knife (not the blade side) to scrape the cob again to extract the sweet milk left behind. This milk adds flavor and body to any corn dish.
Cooking Tip: Acidity, salt and horseradish bring out full flavors in food.
Cooking Tip: Recipes are only a guideline. Feel comfortable replacing ingredients with similar ingredients that you like. If you like oregano but not thyme, use oregano.
Cooking Tip: A braised or slow-roasted whole beef roast or pork shoulder can be made into several dishes and sandwiches all week.
Cooking Tip: When making meatballs or meatloaf, you need to know how the mixture tastes before you cook it. Make a little patty and fry it in a pan like a mini hamburger. Then you can taste it and adjust the seasoning.
Cooking Tip: For an easy weeknight meal, save and freeze leftover sauces from previous meals in ice cube trays. The cubes can be reheated in a saute pan when you need a quick sauce.
Cooking Tip: Homemade vinaigrettes have fewer ingredients and taste better than bottled ones. No need to whisk them: Just put all the ingredients in a sealed container and shake.
Cooking Tip: For best results when you're baking, leave butter and eggs at room temperature overnight.
Cooking Tip: If you keep it simple and buy ingredients at farmers' markets, the food can pretty much take care of itself. Do as little as possible to the food; consider leaving out an ingredient and relying on instinct.
Cooking Tip: If you find you need more oil in the pan when sauteing, add it in a stream along the edges of the pan so that by the time the oil reaches the ingredient being cooked, it will be heated.
Cooking Tip: When you deep-fry, hold each piece of food with long tongs as you add it to the oil. Hold it just below the oil's surface for five seconds before releasing it. This will seal the exterior and stop it from sticking to the pot or the other food.
Cooking Tip: For rich, creamy dressings made healthy, substitute half the mayonnaise with plain Greek-style yogurt.
Cooking Tip: When chopping herbs, toss a little salt onto the cutting board; it will keep the herbs from flying around.
Cooking Tip: Always season meat and fish evenly; sprinkle salt and pepper as though it's snowing. This will avoid clumping or ending up with too much seasoning in some areas and none in others.
Cooking Tip: Store spices in a cool, dark place, not above your stove. Humidity, light and heat will cause herbs and spices to lose their flavor.
Cooking Tip: Always make stock in a large quantity and freeze it in plastic bags. That way, when you want to make a nice soup or boil veggies, you can simply pull the bag out of the freezer.
Cooking Tip: Cook pasta 1 minute less than the package instructions and cook it the rest of the way in the pan with sauce.
Cooking Tip: After making eggs sunny-side up, deglaze the pan with sherry vinegar, then drizzle the sauce on the eggs to add another dimension to the dish.
Cooking Tip: After working with garlic, rub your hands vigorously on your stainless steel sink for 30 seconds before washing them. It will remove the odor.
Cooking Tip: If you are only using half an avocado, leave the pit in the unused half and refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap. This will retard discoloration.
Cooking Tip: To make celery more crisp, put it in a bowl of water and add ice. Leave it in the refrigerator a few hours.
Cooking Tip: Cookie dough can be frozen up to three months in an airtight container or refrigerated three to four days.
Cooking Tip: An egg stored under refrigeration for one week will be fresher than one stored at room temperature for just one day. The inside of an egg may be bacteria free, while due its porous nature, the shell may hold a high bacteria count.
Cooking Tip: Freeze light and heavy cream, evaporated milk and half-and-half for up to two months. Heavy cream may not whip after thawing. Remove original wrappings or can and store in plastic freezer containers or glass jars. Leave one-inch headspace. Thaw in the refrigerator and use for cooking.
Cooking Tip: Thawing a frozen turkey requires patience. The safest method is to thaw turkey in the refrigerator. Be sure to plan ahead because it takes approximately 3 days for a 20 pound turkey to fully defrost.
Cooking Tip: For crisper skin, unwrap the turkey the day before roasting and leave it uncovered in the refrigerator overnight.
Cooking Tip: Cooking times will differ depending on whether your bird was purchased fresh or frozen. Plan on 20 minutes per pound in a 350°F oven for a defrosted turkey and 10 to 15 minutes per pound for fresh.
Cooking Tip: A turkey will cook more evenly if it is not densely stuffed. Consider adding flavor by loosely filling the cavity with aromatic vegetables or by carefully tucking fresh herbs underneath the breast skin.
Cooking Tip: Before roasting, coat the outside of the turkey with vegetable or olive oil, season with salt and pepper and tightly cover the breast with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning.
