I have not tried all of these, it was in my folder that I saved after getting
it from someone else a long time ago. Just thought I would share. If there is
some of them, you have tried and it work well, let us know. I know some of
them do work, along with other ways also. Katie
Lots of Cooking Tips
For Better Browning:
Meat will brown better if you blot any moisture off its surface. A paper towel
makes a great blotter.
Better Bacon:
To perfectly cook bacon without the mess and cleanup of pan or griddle frying,
use the oven. Preheat it to 350. Place the bacon strips on a baking sheet lined
with foil. Bake for 20 minutes, or until bacon is the way you like it.
Transfer bacon to paper towel lined plate to absorb excess grease. Fold the
foil around the grease and discard.
Flour duster:
Keep a shaker container filled with flour in your kitchen for use dusting
everything from meat to sauces. It's also handy for flouring your work area
when rolling out pie and pizza doughs.
Drip Free Gravy:
To keep a gravy boat or cream pitcher from dripping onto the dinner table, rub
a dab of butter on the pour spout. No drops on the tablecloth. This trick also
works on syrup dispensers.
Easy Thawing:
There's an easy way to store ground meat so that it will thaw faster when
you're ready to cook it. Put one pound of ground meat into large resealable
freezer bag, then flatten it like a pancake. it stores better and thaws in half
the time.
Aromatic Rice:
to enhance white or brown rice, toss a few stems or leaves of fresh herb, such
as basil, rosemary or thyme, in with the water before cooking. Cook rice
according to package directions. The flavor of the herbs will subtly permeate
the rice.
Avoid Soggy Rice:
When cooking rice, put a folded towel between the lid land the pot. That way,
when the rice steams and creates moisture, the condensation doesn't drip back
into the rice. It's absorbed into the towel. Cook the rice for the amount of
time recommended on the package.
Hands Free Meatloaf:
If you don't like getting your hands messy when mixing meatloaf, put the
ingredients into large resealable plastic bag. Close the bag, then knead
everything together until the ingredients are well mixed. Kids like helping
with this, too.
Bamboo Skewers:
There are two problems when making kebabs. Fist, soaking wooden skewers so they
don't burn takes too long. And second, the food spins around when you turn the
kebabs. Presoak a bunch of skewers and freeze them in a plastic bag. Then use
two for each kebab, spacing them about 1 inch apart and sliding food onto both
skewers. No more spinning food.
Skimming Fat:
to remove excess grease from browned ground beef or sausage, blot extra fat
from pan using a piece of bread. This also works for skimming fat from top of
soup or chili, and it's good for absorbing oil when cleaning the bottom of a
pan.
Holding Onto Flavor:
To loosen the skin the breast of a hole bird and stuff with butter, slide the
bowl of a dinner spoon upside down between meat and skin, moving the spoon
carefully over the breast meat. This method doesn't tear the skin and leaves
plenty of space to insert butter and other seasonings.
Chilly Shrimp:
to keep shrimp cold on a buffet table, cover a frozen plastic ice pack with a
cloth napkin. Set your platter of shrimp on top of the napkin. There's no
melting ice and the shrimp will stay cold for hours.
Grilling Bacon:
If you need to cook just a few pieces of bacon, try using your George foreman
grill. It cooks bacon perfectly, controls splattering and the grease drips
right into the drainage cup.
Vegetable Rack:
Instead of a metal roasting rack, make a grid of carrots, celery, and onions.
This acts like a mirepoix to flavor the pan drippings for gravy while elevating
the meat for even roasting.
Peeling Butter:
If your butter is too cold to spread easily, use a Y-shaped peeler to shave it
off the top, like slicing cheese. You'll get a thin strip that will soften
quickly for easier spreading.
Storing Ice Cream:
to prevent ice crystals from forming on ice cream, place a piece of waxed paper
or plastic wrap directly on the surface. Press it firmly onto the ice cream so
that it forms a tight seal. Cover with lid and return to the freezer.
Whipping Cream Stand In:
Most people don't keep heavy cream on hand for whipping, but many of us have
vanilla ice cream. Put a scoop or two in a stand mixer fitted with whisk
attachment or use a hand mixer. Let ice cream thaw for a minute, then whip.
It's almost a dead ringer for sweetened whipped cream.
Herbs to Butter:
If you often have leftover herbs, make a compound butter with them and freeze.
First, finely chop leftover herbs and mix them into soft butter. Then roll
mixture in plastic wrap and freeze it. The herbs don't turn black, and the
compound butter has many uses.
Solid Omelet:
Here's a goof proof way to avoid runny omelets. Before beating eggs, turn on
broiler. After forming the omelet in an ovenproof skillet, put your filling on
top of the eggs and run omelet under broiler for 20 seconds. The omelet fluffs,
cooks completely through and filling is heated as well.
Centering Yolks in hard Cooked Eggs:
For centered yolks in your hard cooked eggs, try this: Twenty four hours before
boiling eggs, wrap two rubber bands around the carton to hold it shut. Then
rest the carton on its side in the refrigerator. When you boil the eggs,
voilà...perfectly centered yolks!
Cream Shake:
When you want whipped cream and don't have electricity or a mixer, place heavy
cream in a chilled glass jar with a tight fitting lid. Shake, shake, shake.
Whipped ream in 5 minutes.
Storing Cheese:
To store a chunk of Parmesan or Romano cheese, place it in an airtight plastic
container along with two or three sugar cubes. The sugar cubes absorb moisture
and will prevent the cheese from getting moldy. Replace the sugar cubes when
they get soggy.
Perforating Cheese:
Before cutting into cheese topped baked dishes such as lasagna, first perforate
the pieces using a fork. This simple step helps prevent the knife from pulling
the layer of cheese off the top.
Cooling Rack Dicing:
To dice a lot of hard boiled eggs for salad, (egg, macaroni, potato), use a
cooling rack with square grids. Peel eggs, then press them through the rack
directly into a bowl. It saves time and the eggs come out perfectly chopped.
Cleanup is a breeze, too, especially with a nonstick rack.
Zesty Cheese:
Need just a little grated cheese to top your pasta. Try using your zester. It's
easy to use and faster to clean than a box grater.
Freezing Blue Cheese:
When you have leftover blue cheese, throw it in the freezer in a resealable
plastic bag. The frozen blue cheese breaks off easily and always is ready to go
on top of salads and other dishes. You also can peel it off in curls using a
vegetable peeler or paring knife.
Color Coded Eggs:
To distinguish between raw and hard cooked eggs, tint the water in which you
boil eggs with beet juice or food coloring. The shells will pick up the color,
and you won't confuse cooked eggs with raw ones.
No Weep Meringue:
Weeping meringues use to be a problem, but no more. First, beat whites until
they form soft peaks, then sprinkle sugar on top of the whites. Let the whites
and sugar sit for 5 minutes without stirring. Finely, beat them together until
stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie filling and bake as usual.
Hole Some Meatloaf:
Do you hate it when meatloaf swims in fat? Try using a disposable foil bread
pan with holes punched in the bottom. Place pan on cooling rack set inside a
baking sheet, the fill pan with your meatloaf mixture and bake. The grease will
drain out of the foil pan as the meatloaf cooks.
Frozen Gel Packs:
Chilling the bowl helps cream whip faster and increases its volume. If you're
in a hurry, grab a frozen gel pack from the freezer and put it beneath the
mixing bowl. The cream will whip like magic. Best of all, the packs are
reusable.
Garlic Butter in a Squeeze:
Put cold butter and a couple of cloves of garlic into a garlic press. With just
a squeeze, it makes perfectly manageable, soft garlic butter in seconds.
Preserving Feta:
To keep feta cheese from spoiling quickly after opening, store it in salty
water. Dissolve 2 t. salt in 1 cup water in a sealable container. Submerge the
cheese in the water. The feta must be completely covered, so make more brine if
needed. Seal the container and refrigerate it. The feta will keep up to three
weeks.
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