Works equally well for canned cranberry jelly, if you’re barbarian enough to eat it. :: d&r::
Flattening chicken or veal for scallopini: put the meat in a ziploc bag first, then pound away; keeps your pounder from getting dirty and eliminates messing with plastic wrap. By the way, those hammers are a pain in the butt; either get yourself a meat pounder with an offset handle, or just use a small skillet.
Don’t have time to brine? Don’t feel like doing weird things like cooking the turkey in a paper bag or roasting it upside down in a mayonnaise bath? Preheat the oven to 450. Baste bird with oil. Shove it in the oven, turn down the heat to normal roasting temp. After about 30 minutes, start basting again. Cover breast loosely with foil, remove during last 15 minutes. Juicy birds every time.
This has been mentioned in another thread but since this thread is about tricks I will repeat it. I make huge batches of rice when I make it. Then I separate it into gallon size freezer bags, make sure it is flat, and then freeze it. It tastes virtually identical to fresh, and works great for fried rice recipes.
Whenever I buy ground beef, I use the same trick. I will buy it in 5 pound or greater increments, then divide it up in gallon bags. I mash the beef out flat so that it fills the bag but is less than an inch thick. This does two things: first, having the beef fill the entire bag leaves no room for air pockets, and second, when you thaw it, by placing the bag in a large rubbermaid container and running water into it, you can thaw it out in literally 15 minutes. That happens to be one of my other tricks. You can thaw things out at light speed if you place them into a plastic container in the sink, fill up the container with cold water, and continue running water into the open container. The water does not have to be on very strong in order for this to work, but the continuous circulating cold water thaws frozen food out in record time.
I don’t know if it works for tomato paste, but for refried beans, for example, or other canned items, you just need to open one end completely and poke a whole in the other end. Removes any vacuum that is cause of a lot of stickiness.
Peel a kiwi fruit by slicing off the ends, then running a teaspoon around the inside of the skin at each end, pressing with your thumb on the skin so that the rounded back of the spoon remains just under the skin. Squeeze it, and the peeled fruit pops out with no waste or mess.
If you’re buying a red pepper for slicing into a salad, get one that is firm. If you’re buying it for the pot, choose one that is deep red and perhaps a little bit wrinkly or tired looking (as long as it’s not actually decomposing into wet mush) - it’s fully ripe and will have a lot more flavour.
To save breaking yolks when you turn fried eggs, instead, just turn up the heat, toss a few tablespoons of water into the pan and quickly cover with a lid (have the lid ready before you add the water!) - it will his and spit wildly, and the steam will nicely cook the top of the white, leaving the yolk still liquid (if that’s what you like).
My plain knives are very sharp- I just prefer serrated. I got it as a tip on a cooking show (I’m blanking on the chef’s name- famous french guy, worked with Julia Child- Jaques Pepin maybe?). He reccommended it and I’ve never gone back.
What’s all the serrated blade hate anyway? It’s works really well, so why not?
Pork Loin is excellent in the Crock Pot; it just falls apart. I make a slurry of Olive Oil, Garlic, Balsamic Vinegar and whatever herbs are on hand and cover the loin with that, set it and forget it!
I’ve always wanted to try that but have been afraid. Maybe this weekend I’ll man up and do it.
I like to fry eggs in bacon grease; I usually baste the top by flipping the hot grease onto it with a spatula. You can also use a spoon to baste the yolk.
Another tip is that while I like to fry eggs in bacon grease, it has a low smoke point, so I add a bit of vegetable oil to bring up the smoke point a bit.
Don’t boil your hard boiled eggs. Put eggs in cold water, heat just to the boiling point, slap on the lid, and let sit off the heat for 15-20 minutes. Perfect hard boiled eggs with no nasty grey ring around the yolk.
If you drop a piece of shell when you crack an egg, the best tool for retrieving it is another piece of shell - it cuts through the gooey white nicely so you can just get the errant shell bit, without scooping out half the egg white as well.
To make perfect scrambled eggs, use a nonstick pan over low heat to start, and stir the eggs in the pan. Once the eggs start forming curds, turn the heat to med-hi and scrape and fold constantly. Turn them out of the pan before they look completely cooked. This ensures soft, custardy, delicious eggs, rather than rubbery egg bits surrounded by a plate of water.
Keep white potatoes in the refrigerator (especially if you’re in a warm climate).
Store meat in the lowest part of your fridge (even if the manufacturer is convinced that vegetables should go there), and in the plastic shopping bag you bring it home in. That way if meat juices leak, you have much less mess and no cross contamination.
I like to make my own hot cocoa mix, and I finally figured out how to avoid having clumpy cocoa sludge in the bottom of the cup. I mix the cocoa, sugar, and salt, add a little hot water and stir with a fork to make a smooth paste. Then add milk and nuke. Easy and so much better than those nasty packets of mix.
Cracking an egg: Don’t bang it against something sharp; this will knock the shell inwards and cause it to fall into your food. Instead, bang it against the counter.
It’s hard to work into a rhythym with anything serrated. Cutting through the tomato might be simpler, but if you have it laid flat on a cutting board, getting that last bit of skin on the bottom will cause you to slow down a bit while you adjust for the weird teeth on the knife and the lack of slope on the blade.
When chopping fresh herbs, I often use a dough cutter rather than a knife because I can chop very quickly and if I somehow manage to knick my finger, I don’t cut.
I like to add a mushed up banana to pancake or muffin batter. I’ve found this is easiest to do by putting the banana in a ziploc bag and giving it to the kids to go at with a toy hammer. Ditto for graham crackers to make a cheesecake or pie crust.
Well, I read the link and still disagree. In the past I have had such a time keeping the lasagne noodles from sticking together in the pot of cool water before I was ready to use them. Then I was given advice about the oil.
I have never had the problem since that time. Coincidence? Perhaps but since that is my signature dish, I would prefer not to test the theory again.
Not sure what is with the hate, but my Mom has a tomato knife (the company that makes/sells it calls it that) which is serrated and has a rounded tip. I’ve never had trouble cutting tomatoes with it. Aha, found it.
Some of my tips:
Chop up vegetables that you use in sauces and freeze. They turn a bit mushy so I generally don’t use them in stir fry (I like my veggies on the crisp side there) but they come in handy when you want to make a pot of spaghetti. Just break off some and toss in.
Buying roasts on sale and cutting it down to what you want to use it for then freezing is cheaper than buying pre-cut beef and you have it ready to pull out and make when you want it. We do this to stock up on meat for stews, stir-fry and stroganoff.
Prepare your own seasoning mixes. It’s easy to find recipes for them online and adjust to your taste (or for allergies, which set me on it). They taste a thousand times better than the premixed ones at the store.
