KITCHEN HINTS
If you've over salted soup or vegetables, add cut raw potatoes and discard once they have cooked and absorbed the salt.
A teaspoon each of cider vinegar and sugar added to salty soup or vegetables will also remedy the situation.
If you've over sweetened a dish, add salt.
A teaspoon of cider vinegar will take care of too sweet vegetable or main dishes.
Pale gravy may be browned by adding a bit of instant coffee straight from the jar . . . no bitter taste, either.
If you will brown the flour well before adding to the liquid when making gravy, you will avoid pale or lumpy gravy.
A different way of browning flour is to put it in a custard cup placed beside meat in the oven. Once the meat is done, the flour will be nice and brown.
Thin gravy can be thickened by adding a mixture of flour or cornstarch and water, which has been mixed to a smooth paste, added gradually, stirring constantly, while bringing to a boil.
Lumpless gravy can be your triumph if you add a pinch of salt to the flour before mixing it with water.
A small amount of baking soda added to gravy will eliminate excess grease.
Drop a lettuce leaf into a pot of homemade soup to absorb excess grease from the top.
If time allows, the best method of removing fat is refrigeration until the fat hardens. If you put a piece of waxed paper over the top of the soup, etc. it can be peeled right off, along with the hardened fat.
Ice cubes will also eliminate the fat from soup and stew. Just drop a few into the pot and stir; the fat will cling to the cubes; discard the cubes before they melt. Or, wrap ice cubes in paper towel or cheesecloth and skim over the top.
If fresh vegetables are wilted or blemished, pick off the brown edges, sprinkle with cool water, wrap in paper towel and refrigerate for an hour or so.
Perk up soggy lettuce by adding lemon juice to a bowl of cold water and soak for an hour in the refrigerator.
Lettuce and celery keep longer if you store them in paper bags instead of cellophane.
To remove the core from a head of lettuce, hit the core end once against the counter sharply. The core will loosen and pull out easily.
Cream will whip faster and better if you'll first chill the cream, bowl, and beaters well.
Soupy whipped cream can be saved by adding an egg white, then chilling thoroughly. Re-beat for a fluffy surprise!
A few drops of lemon juice added to whipping cream helps it whip faster and better.
Cream whipped ahead of time will not separate if you add 1/4 teaspoon unflavored gelatin per cup of cream.
A dampened and folded dishtowel placed under the bowl in which you are whipping cream will keep the bowl from dancing all over the counter top.
Brown sugar won't harden if an apple slice is placed in the container.
But if your brown sugar is already brick hard, put your cheese grater to work and grate the amount you need.
A slice of soft bread placed in the package of hardened brown sugar will soften it again in a couple of hours.
Potatoes will bake in a hurry if they are boiled in salted water for 10 minutes before popping
into a very hot oven.
A leftover baked potato can be rebaked if you dip it in water and bake in a 350° oven for about 20 minutes.
A thin slice cut from each end of the potato will speed up baking time as well.
You'll shed fewer tears if you'll cut the root end off of the onion last.
No more tears when peeling onions if you place them in the deep freeze for four or five minutes first.
Scalding tomatoes, peaches, or pears in boiling water before peeling makes it easier on you and the fruit skins slip right off.
Ripen green fruits by placing in a perforated plastic bag. The holes allow air movement, yet retain the odorless gas which fruits produce to promote ripening.
To hasten the ripening of garden tomatoes or avocados, put them in a brown paper bag, close the bag and leave at room temperature for a few days.
When pan frying always heat the pan before adding the butter or oil.
A little salt sprinkled into the frying pan will prevent spattering.
Meat loaf will not stick if you place a slice of bacon on the bottom of the pan.
Vinegar brought to a boil in a new frying pan will prevent foods from sticking.
Muffins will slide right out of tin pans if the hot pan is first placed on a wet towel.
No sticking to the pan when you're scalding milk if you'll first rinse the pan in cold water.
Add a cup of water to the bottom portion of the broiling pan before sliding into the oven, to absorb smoke and grease.
A few teaspoons of sugar and cinnamon slowly burned on top of the stove will hide unpleasant cooking odors and make your family think you've been baking all day!
A lump of butter or a few teaspoons of cooking oil added to water when boiling rice, noodles, or spaghetti will prevent boiling over.
Rubbing the inside of the cooking vessel with vegetable oil will also prevent noodles, spaghetti, and similar starches from boiling over.
A few drops of lemon juice added to simmering rice will keep the grains separate. Grating a stick of butter softens it quickly.
Soften butter for spreading by inverting a small heated pan over the butter dish for a while.
A dip of the spoon or cup into hot water before measuring shortening or butter will cause the fat to slip out easily without sticking to the spoon.
Before measuring honey or other syrup, oil the cup with cooking oil and rinse in hot water.
Catsup will flow out of the bottle evenly if you will first insert a drinking straw, push it to the bottom of the bottle, and remove.
If you wet the dish on which the gelatin is to be unmolded, it can be moved around until centered.
A dampened paper towel or terry cloth brushed downward on a cob of corn will remove every strand of corn silk.
An easy way to remove the kernels of sweet corn from the cob is to use a shoe horn. It’s built just right for shearing off those kernels in a jiffy.
To determine whether an egg is fresh, immerse it in a pan of cool, salted water. If it sinks, it is fresh; if it rises to the surface, throw it away.
Fresh eggs’ shells are rough and chalky; old eggs are smooth and shiny.
To determine whether an egg is hard boiled, spin it. If it spins, it is hard boiled; if it wobbles and will not spin it is raw.
Egg whites won’t run while boiling or poaching if you’ll add a little vinegar to the water.
Eggs will beat up fluffier if they are allowed to come to cool room temperature before beating.
For baking, it’s best to use medium to large eggs; extra large eggs may cause cakes to fall when cooled.
Eggshells can be easily removed from hard boiled eggs if they are quickly rinsed in cold wa¬ter first.
For fluffier omelets, add a pinch of cornstarch before beating.
For a never fail, never weep meringue, add a teaspoon of cornstarch to the sugar before beat¬ing it into the egg whites.
Once your meringue is baked, cut it cleanly, using a knife coated with butter.
A meringue pie may be covered with waxed paper or plastic wrap with no fear of sticking, if you’ll first grease the paper with oleo.
No “curly” bacon for breakfast when you dip it into cold water before frying.
Keep bacon slices from sticking together; roll the package into a tube shape and secure with rubber bands.
A quick way to separate frozen bacon: heat a spatula over a burner, slide it under each slice to separate it from the others.
Cheese won’t harden if you’ll butter the exposed edges before storing.
A cloth dampened with vinegar and wrapped around cheese will also prevent drying out.
Thaw fish in milk. The milk draws out the frozen taste and provides a fresh caught flavor.
When browning any piece of meat, the job will be done more quickly and effectively if the meat is very dry and the fat is very hot.
You’ll get more juice from a lemon if you’ll first warm it slightly in the oven.
Popcorn will stay fresh and you will eliminate “old maids” if you store it in the freezer.
Running ice cold water over the kernels before popping will also eliminate “old maids”.
After flouring chicken, chill for one hour. The coating adheres better during frying.
Empty salt cartons with spouts make dandy containers for bread crumbs. A funnel is used for getting the crumbs into the carton.
A sack of lumpy sugar won’t be if you place it in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
Submitted December 22, 2014 at 04:18AM by BeeElleZebub http://ift.tt/1sNZSjn Cooking
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