From Muriel E. Culshaw: When
mashing potatoes warm the milk before adding to the potatoes, and add one
teaspoon of sugar to each pound of potatoes. You won't believe the
difference in taste. (the sugar is undetectable!)
From Marjorie Clausen: For those
difficult hard to open bottles,such as catsup, vinegar,oils, etc., use
your trusty nutcracker. It has grippers and is perfect for opening
small hard to open bottles.
From Suzanne Dalzell, chef de
cuisine traiteur Num-Num: Here's a helpful hing I received from a retired
Montreal chef, Pierre Bluteau. To remove the smell of garlic and onions
from your hands after chopping, firstrun the knife under the tap for a
few seconds to clean it off. Then, rub your fingers along the flat
side of the knife, taking care not to cut yourself. There is a chemical
process going on there which I can't explain, but this method works better
than lemon juice and any other trick I've tried!
From Joanne: When rolling pie
crust, place a large piece of wax paper down on the countertop. Place
your dough on top of the wax paper and then place another piece of wax
paper on top of the dough. Roll out the crust to the desired size.
You then only have to remove the top piece and using the bottom piece of
wax paper, it is much easier to transfer to your pie plate. There
is no need to add any extra flour.
I learned this from Mom...rub milk on your crust...mmmm nice and
flakey!
From Gretel: My spice cabinet
contains a two-level 12 in. rotating surface. I put my spices in
alphabetical order on the two levels, and just spin for the spice I want.
Also, try lighting a candle near the onions you slice. You
will create a nice atmosphere and the flame will eat up the oils that make
you cry.
From Kathy Guiboche: Use
peanut butter to remove sticker residue from glass, plastics, and fridge
doors. Just spread a thin layer of peanut butter over the residue and let
sit for a few minutes, then wipe clean with a damp cloth. It also works
great for getting gum out of hair.
Also, never have rice boil over again. Put amount of rice and recommended
amount of water in a roaster,cover put in cold oven-turn oven to 350F and
25 minutes later, you have perfect rice with no mess and almost no sticking
to the roaster. Try it-it really works
From Kathryn Ryan: To clean a
metal colander, spray with PAM before draining spaghetti; spaghetti won't
stick and it's easier to clean out.
Rolling out pie crusts: roll between plastic wrap, no need for extra
flour, keeps counter and rolling pin clean and it's easier to transfer
the dough to the pan
Greasing/flouring cake pans: Once I accidentally forgot to flour
a cake pan. The cake turned out fine. As a matter of fact,
frosting the cake was easier, I didn't get bits of cake sticking to the
spatula - it is generally that flour that coats the pan that comes off
when the cake is frosted. I haven't floured another pan since.
From Pam: I learned this
quite by accident. I misplaced my bbq scrubber brush and needed to clean
the grill in a hurry. I wadded up some heavyweight foil and scrubbed.
It worked better than the metal brush that I've been using for ages!
From CLMOFFATT@aol.com:Tired
of outdated spices, or buy a whole container for only a teaspoon full?
Buy bulk spices. I have bought as little as a teaspoon full for
a special recipe. I save my old spice jars to store the new ones.
Don't go into sticker shock when you see the price such as $36.00
a pound for dried chives or $10.00 for whole peppercorns. These are so
light that for 25 or 30 cents you can buy an ample supply. Many spice containers
only have 1/2 ounce or less, and start in about the $2 or $3 range. You're
paying for that container thru the nose. The bulk are always fresh when
you buy then. I buy mine at the local supermarket in their bulk food department,
and can buy a dozen spices in small quantities for the price of one container.
I have been known to tell people pawing thru the high price spices (especially
men who are shopping from lists) the big savings in bulk spices.
Of course, there may be a few highly specialized spices/herbs not
available, but if they are that specialized you're probably going to end
up with $$$s of white elephants cluttering up your cabinets. Some
stores have wee plastic bags, others use rigid plastic about 1/2 cup size
containers to bring them home in. Beware make sure the lid is tightly fixed
in place. One day I got home and my beef bouillon and nutmeg lids had come
off and what an "ugh" mixture was in the bottom of my shopping bag.
From Mimi: Looking for unique recipe cards? Why not make your own...buy
the card stock in a variety of colors and check around the web for some
cute clip art...there's tons of it. You can even print your recipes directly
on these, if you want.
From Thomas E. Johnson:
This morning, I was visiting your ethnic food links and the annotations
often included a phrase like " I don't speak German." Me either; however,
Altavista offers free on-line translations of German, French, Spanish,
Portugese and Italian into English. Click here
for the translator.
Using the copy/paste functions and the back and forward browser
buttons, it is not a difficult procedure.
[Terrific hint, Thomas! Thanks!]
From Elaine Basham (of The
Cookbook Nook): I grew up on the east coast, where lobsters were cooked
on a regular basis. My dear uncle, who is one of the kindest, sweetest
guys in the world, loved to eat lobster, but always worried that they had
suffered on their way to his plate.
He used to buy the lobster, then place them in a large tub of rum
overnight -- he reasoned that if they were drunk when they went into the
pot, they would feel no pain. His lobster was always the best tasting,
most tender, succulent dish -- they may not have needed to imbibe before
cooking, but maybe just the fact that they were "relaxed" help tenderize
them!
From Mimi: About beans. You'll never have crunchy or undercooked
beans (dried beans, that is) if you add about a half a teaspoon of baking
soda to the water when cooking them.
Also from Mimi: If you don't want to use honey in a particular recipe,
try making a syrup with about 3/4 cup sugar and stir in just enough water
to dissolve it. Cook over high heat without stirring until it starts
to thicken and just begins to turn golden. Remove from heat and let
cool, again without stirring. Measure out what you need for your
recipe.
Turkey Tip: You can buy one of those turkey
slings which you place under the turkey before putting it into the oven.
When it's done, you just lift the handles on both sides.
Or you can make your own by weaving kitchen string through the holes
on both sides of several layers of cheesecloth, allowing enough excess
to tie into a large loop. Place this in the bottom on your pan or
cooking bag and lay the turkey on top.
From "Charlie": To keep your
sos pads from getting all rusty, let the used pad sit on a piece of aluminum
foil....it will NEVER RUST!
From Peggy A. Meier: I like to decorate
our salads with a ring of boiled egg slices. When I fix a salad,
I don't like to take the time to boil eggs...and burn my fingers, peeling
them. So...when I'm in the kitchen and have the time, I boil some
eggs, cool them off in cold water, dry them on a towel, and use a marker
to mark each one with "B" (for boiled). I return them to my egg storage
shelf...and they're ready whenever I need a boiled egg. I use my
marker again when I buy more eggs. I mark "1" on the tips of the
eggs I already have, so that I'll remember to use them first.
From jennifer k. geist: When
making Jello, measure the amount of water needed for hot water and boil.
While boiling, add the dry Jello directly into the kettle used for boiling
the water. It will mix perfectly and not leave any gelatin residue.
Then just add the cold water, stir, and pour into container and allow to
set.
From Trudi Lair: For the perfectly
seasoned iron skillet/pan, rinse in hot water (no detergent) and dry.
When dry, pour about 1/4 cup kosher salt into pan and scrub gently inside
and out. Discard salt and coat pan evenly with lard, not thick but
enough to give it a shine (lard is the secret). Place in oven at
300 degrees for about 30 minutes. Never wash with detergent or any
other cleaning product. To clean after using, rinse in hot water
and dump some kosher salt in skillet/pan and as above, scrub all surfaces
and discard salt. Occasionally, when pan begins to dull, rub with a little
more lard. It works wonders and keeps your pans rust free and easier
to clean. Lard and kosher salt is the only way to go. My Grandma
taught me this one!!!
From Mohrland: When marinating
beef or chicken, to save on marinade use a ZipLock freezer bag and remove
as much air as possible. Instead of using a bowl or pan.
From PERUGIN@aol.com: For a creamy
pancake syrup nuke 1/4 stick unsalted butter (NOT margarine) to a creamy
consistency. Make sure butter does not separate. Then whisk
into 1 cup of your favorite syrup and put back in the microwave until hot
(use your judgment). Whisk again until creamy. For extra creaminess,
whisk in a dollup of Cool Whip.
From Victoria Kim: Have you
ever had fruit flies? Well, I've got an invention. Get a jar with a medium-size
mouth and put a piece of fruit in it then get a peice of paper and make
a cone shape then stick it in the jar (optional:tape it on) and the fruit
flies are stupid enough to get in but not out.
From DaPenGuy@aol.com: I have
found an alternate method to microwave use for making stale tortilla chips
crispy again is to spread as many as you will be using onto a baking sheet.
Place in 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes. This not only makes
them deliciously crispy, but you get warm tortilla chips with a little
less
grease. The oil in the chips comes out a little when baked.
After baking it's good to place chips onto paper towels to soak up some
of this grease. You can also salt unsalted chips at this point as the salt
will stick to thelight coat of grease (which by the way will dry
up quickly).
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