Cooking
Tips and Baking Hints
Bacon
Minimize bacon shrinkage by running bacon under water before
frying. This reduces shrinkage by about 50%
Baking
Fish
When baking
whole
fish, wrap in aluminum foil. When fish is done, it can be lifted from
the baking pan without the fish falling apart. To remove the foil,
slip a spatula under the fish and slide foil out after fish is on the
platter.
Boiling
Corn:
Never boil corn for more
than 3 minutes. Be sure to place the corn in boiling water, and do not
add salt. You will find the flavor is much better than cooking for
10 minutes or more. Corn will never get soft, no matter how long you
cook
it-it will only lose its taste.
Brown
sugar a solid rock?
Has your bag
or box of brown sugar turned hard as a rock? Try this helpful hint:
Place a slice of fresh bread in the package of sugar and close
securely. Let set for a few hours and your sugar will be as good as new!
Easy
Methods to Can Tomatoes
Fill large pot with
water. Boil....Place the tomatoes
in the boiling water
for about 1 minute. Immediately remove the tomatoes and place in a
colander. Pour ice cold water over them. This method will make the skin
very easy to peel off. Put the tomatoes in sterilized jar and add cold
water to cover them. Add 2 tablespoons of salt. Seal and cover!
Another Easy Method to Can
Tomatoes
The easiest way to can
tomatoes. Have a a pot of boiling water, dip the tomatoes in the pot
for about 1 min. Take them out and immediately run them in a colander
of cold water. The skin will just fall/peel off. Place them in a
canning jar add cold water to cover place a couple of Tablespoons. of
salt on top and presto, you can seal them.
Fresh
Egg Test
Fill
a bowl or pan with cold water and add some salt. Place the egg in the
water. If it sinks to the bottom, it is fresh. If the egg rises
to the top, the egg is no good. Save yourself a tummy ache if you are
unsure when you last bought your eggs!
Keeping Food
Fresh
To keep large
quantities of yellow cheese, bacon or ham fresh: Wrap in a cloth that
has been soaked in vinegar and wrung out. From time to time, add more
vinegar to the cloth. This also seems to make ham and bacon more tender.
Finding
containers to store food, finding lids for each container and
rearranging the refrigerator are tedious tasks, taking up time that
could be better spent reflecting on the night's festivities. Make Food Storage and Sharing a
Snap!
Green
Beans
Do not buy the larger, nobby beans. They
are old and tougher than young beans. Make sure you purchase fresh
beans. To see if beans are fresh, here is a test. Break a bean in half
and it should snap with a crispy feel. 1 pound of fresh beans will
serve 4 people. You can cook beans whole if they are small. Otherwise
cut them in 1 inch pieces.
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Vegetables
Never overcook your vegetables. Overcooking will
cause them to loose flavor, texture and vitamins.
Trouble
Whipping Cream?
Have trouble
making whipped cream? Can't get it to whip correctly? Be sure to put
the bowl and egg beater in the refrigerator to chill
1 pound of ground beef equals 2
cups
1/4 pound of butter equals 1/2 cup melted butter
1 pound of cheese equals 4-5 cups grated cheese
1 pound of spinach equals 1-1/2 cups cooked spinach
Dried herbs are approximately twice as strong as fresh!
General Shelf Lives for Common Items
Flour
unopened: up to 12 months. Opened: 6-8 months.
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Whole Wheat Flour unopened: 1 month. Opened: 6-8 months
if refrigerated.
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Sugar unopened: 2 years. Sugars do not spoil but
eventually may change flavor.
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Brown sugar unopened: 4 months.
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Confectioners sugar unopened: 18 months.
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Solid shortening unopened: 8 months. Opened: 3 months
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Cocoa unopened: indefinitely. opened: 1 year
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Whole spices: 2-4 years. Whether or not opened.
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Ground spices: 2-3 years. Whether or not opened.
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Paprika, red pepper and chili powder: 2 years when kept
in refrigerator.
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High acid
canned items such as fruit juice, tomato soup and things in vinegar
unopened: 12-18 months.
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Baking soda unopened: 18 months. Opened: 6 months.
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Baking powder unopened: 6 months. Opened: 3 months.
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Cornstarch: 18 months. Whether or not opened.
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Dry pasta
made without eggs unopened: 2 years. Opened: 1 year.
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Dry egg noodles unopened: 2 years. Opened: 1-2 months.
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Salad dressing unopened: 10-12 months. Opened: 3 months
if refrigerated.
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Low acid canned items such as soup, meats, gravy and
vegetables unopened: 2-5 years.
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Honey: 1 year whether or not opened.
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Worcestershire sauce: 1 year whether or not opened
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Ground, canned coffee unopened: 2 years. Opened: 2
weeks, if refrigerated.
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Instant coffee in jars or tins unopened: 12 months.
Opened: 3 months.
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Bottled water unopened: 1-2 years. Opened: 3 months.
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Pudding mixes unopened: 1 year. Opened: 4 months.
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Jams, jellies and preserves unopened: 1 year. Opened: 6
months if refrigerated.
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Peanut butter unopened: 6-9 months. Opened: 2-3 months.
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(From The Food Marketing
Institute In Washington DC)
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Lamb Cuts
Healthy
Cooking Tips
Soups
Remove
some of the fat in soups by adding a lettuce leaf to the pot. Remove
the leaf after fat removal. Place a raw potato
in salty soup. The potato will absorb the extra salt.
Do a lot of frying but hate the spattering grease? Sift
a
little flour (put in a sifter) over the ot fat and the spattering will
disappear! Just a little flour else you will have a sloppy mess.
Cooking for Two!
Shortening
Did you ever wonder what to use
when a
recipe calls for shortening? Shortening is usually used in making
pastry, dough and batters. You may use butter, margarine, salad and
cooking oil, solid vegetable fat, such as crisco. You may also use
drippings,
but remember this may make a difference in the flavor of your pastry.
Do not use fat scraps. Can turn
Rancid easily.
Easter Recipes and Easter
Tradition
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834 Kitchen Quick Tips:
Techniques And Shortcuts for the Curious Cook Restart
the grill with a hairdryer. Use chopsticks to dry wine glasses
spot-free. Peel a kiwi with a spoon. Skewer cheese using pretzel
sticks. Leak-proof a cone with mini-marshmallows. Slice strawberries
with an egg slicer. Protect a cake during transport with toothpicks
with mini-marshmallows....Soften
butter with a rolling pin. Prevent a scorched saucepan with marbles.
Clean a garlic press with a toothbrush. Melt chocolate with a coffee
maker. Pit cherries with a paperclip. Drain lobster with a pair of
scissors....What’s the best way to preserve leftover herbs, peel
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problems.
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Always
season your food while you are cooking. The
seasonings work while the food is cooking and will not be the same if
you add it at the table. And, always salt your meat before cooking will
not become tough-It will
bring out the juice and flavors.
**********
Food
Safety Tips for Party Hosts
You're preparing a feast for your next soiree, but have
you thought
about food safety? Even the most delicious party spread can be
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if proper precautions aren't taken. Click Here for some great Food
Safety Tips!
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Shortening
Did you ever wonder
what to use when a
recipe calls for shortening? Shortening is usually used in making
pastry, dough and batters. You may use butter, margarine, salad and
cooking oil, solid vegetable fat, such as crisco. You may also use
drippings,
but remember this may make a difference in the flavor of
your .
Do not use
fat scraps. Can turn Rancid easily.
String
Beans
Cut the beans up in their usual lengths. Spread in the sun to dry.
Store them in a bag. In winter, soak them and cook the beans in the
usual way.
Add too much
sugar to a recipe?
Did
you add too
much sugar to a recipe? Try adding salt until it tastes less sweet. If
you put too much sugar on a vegetable or other cooked meal, a teaspoon
of apple cider vinegar will help
Real Vanilla
Extract Vs. Imitation Flavoring
A
study was
done by "Cook's Illustrated"
and
it was
found that imitation vanilla flavor
gave
the same
results in baking as did the real extract! However, this only applies
to baking!.
Soups
Remove some of the fat in soups by adding a
lettuce leaf to the pot. Remove the leaf after fat removal. Place a raw
potato
in salty soup. The potato will absorb the extra salt.
Do a lot of
frying but hate the spattering grease? Sift a little flour
(put in a sifter) over the ot fat and the spattering will disappear!
Just a little flour else you will have a sloppy mess.
String Beans
Cut the beans up in their usual lengths. Spread in the sun to dry.
Store them in a bag. In winter, soak them and cook the beans in the
usual way.
Add too much sugar
to a recipe?
Did you add too much
sugar to a recipe? Try adding salt until it tastes less sweet. If you
put too much sugar on a vegetable or other cooked meal, a teaspoon of
apple cider vinegar will help.
Peeling Onions
HERE IS AN
UNUSUAL METHOD OF PREVENTING YOUR EYES FROM WATERING WHILE PEELING
ONIONS OR GRATING
HORSERADISH! THIS ONE IS ALL NEW TO ME!
Take a quarter of a slice of
white bread and place the
piece between your teethe sure to allow it to stick out of the mouth a
little and keep your mouth slightly open. Now, you can chop the onions
or grate the horseradish and you will have no tears or burning eyes.
P.S. Have someone take a pictures of you while you look so silly!
Have lemons that
seem a little dry?
Don't throw
them away. You can wake them up by placing them in a bowl and covering
the lemons with buttermilk or sour milk. Let them set for a couple days
or longer. Just be sure to change the milk weekly. See the difference?
Now, you can use the lemon you would have thrown away! Lemons will also
keep
for months, if you keep them in a container filled with cold water. Be
sure
the container has a tight fitting lid!
Lima
Beans
Gather
the beans while they are green and tender.
Spread in the sun to dry
Grades of Olive Oil
#1 Extra Virgin
Highest Grade
#2 Super Fine Next
Best Grade
#3 Fine A Step above
the Lowest Grade
#4 Virgin Lowest Grade
Store onions in the
refrigerator. You will find that
the cold onions will keep you from crying!
Pancakes
Adding
a little sugar to the batter of pancakes and waffles will make them
brown more quickly.
Like Poached Eggs?
Add
a few drops of vinegar to the water. It will help keep the egg whites
from separating.
Did
you know that you can turn sour cream into butter? Take
1/2 pint of heavy cream that hs turned sour and pour into a bowl. Beat
the cream with an egg beater for about 3 minutes. Do this as you would
normally whip cream. After it is whipped, just keep on with the
eggbeater
until all of a sudden, the cream separates into butter and buttermilk.
Keep beating with rotary eggbeater until the solid butter is formed.
With a knife, remove the butter from the egg beater and put it into a
bowl
of ice water. Remove the small lumps of butter from the buttermilk
with a spoon and also place in the ice water. Now, squeeze the butter
together with your hands in the ice water until you have just one piece
of butter. From your 1/2 pint of cream that has soured, you now have
about a 1/4 pound of unsalted butter, plus, you have your own
buttermilk,
which is very hard to get in stores when fresh. This is a fun project
for kids they love to see food turn into something else! And, even the
youngest
can help with this.
Ok, so
you don't want to make butter of your cream that has soured. Want to
make it usable again? Add a pinch of baking soda to the
cream and stir. Try a little at first, and adjust the amount till it
tastes right. This is only for cream that has just turned not for
complete sour cream.
Always season
your food while you are cooking. The seasonings
work while the food is cooking and will not be the same if you add it
at the table. And, always salt your meat before cooking will not become
tough-It will
bring out the juice and flavors.
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