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Colette & Cassi's Country Kitchen -> Cooking Tips? -> Food Tips (Posted by CrossWalker)
Post Info TOPIC: Food Tips (Posted by CrossWalker)
Cassi


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Food Tips (Posted by CrossWalker)
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LOTS of good food tips listed here. I hope you'll take the time to read through them all at some point. These tips were posted by Crosswalker over at Alfabet Soup Recipes & Cooking Tips. Thanks CrossWalker!!!


Add any over ripe banana to a bag with unripe fruit, like pears. The banana gives off a chemical that will hasten the ripening of other fruits.



To make delicious warm toasty croutons, cut up leftover bread into cubes. Fry them in olive oil and spices. My trick is to use olive oil cooking spray to cut down on the calories. Then I add garlic powder (not garlic salt!), a little season-all, parsley, and a tad of parmesan cheese. Just fry until brown. These tasty morsels freeze well too!



To keep herbs fresh longer, loosely wrap them in a damp paper towel, place in a plastic bag and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.



When pan frying or sautéing, always heat your pan before adding the butter or oil. Not even eggs stick when you use this great tip! Another good tip to keep hot oil from splattering is to sprinkle a little salt in the pan before frying.



Sweeten your whipped cream with confectioners sugar instead of granulated sugar. Oh so fluffy! Bonus-it holds its shape better!



Vegetables will stay fresher in your refrigerator if you line your crisper section with newspaper and wrap vegetables with it. Excess moisture is absorbed and veggies stay crisp.



You don't always have to coat a greased pan with flour. Cakes that have a high sugar content must be coated, but many others do not. Use cocoa to coat a chocolate cake pan for a little more flavor and to eliminate the color of the flour.



After an onion has been cut, rub the leftover side, or rightover side, (whichever side you keep) with butter, wrap in foil to keep it fresher, longer.


Olive oil will stay fresh longer if you add a cube of sugar to the bottle. All you have to do is figure out how to get the cube of sugar thru that little hole.



Dampen a cloth; sprinkle it with vinegar and wrap it around cheese to keep it from hardening.


BBQ tip: After you've taken the last thing off your gas grill, place aluminum foil over the grate and turn the gas up to high for one minute. Then turn it off. The foil focuses the heat on the grate, burning everything to a fine ash. After it's cooled down, crumple up the foil and use it to brush the ash off the grate.



A easy way to thicken with flour and water is to put your water in a jar, then add the amount of flour you want to use. Then tighten the lid and shake well. (no lumps) Very smooth, just slowly add to your dish that you want to thicken.



When going on a picnic, moisten several washcloths the night before your picnic, place in a sandwich bag, seal and freeze. Add to your picnic basket or cooler right before you leave to help keep your foods cool and later on provide a refreshing way to clean up after the picnic is over.



Hold it. Stop. Wait. Don't throw those stale cookies away. Crumble stale, hard cookies and save them in a jar. Use them for toppings on coffee cakes or for pie crust instead of graham crackers.



1: When a recipe calls for something to be chopped, it is asking for it to be cut roughly into finely chopped pieces of more or less uniform pieces.
2: When a recipe calls for something to be minced, it is asking for it to be cut into very tiny pieces.
3: When a recipe calls for something to be diced, it is asking for it to be cut into squares of uniform size, 1/8 to 1/4 inches.
4: When a recipe calls for something to be cubed, it is asking for it to be cut into squares of uniform size, usually bigger than diced.
5: When a recipe calls for something to be julienned, it is asking for it to be cut into matchstick-sized pieces.



When a recipe requires lemon or orange zest and the skin is too soft to grate easily, put the fruit into the freezer for 10 minutes and it will be firm and easy to grate.



If a recipe calls for 1 cup buttermilk, you may substitute 1 cup milk combined with 1 Tablespoon vinegar, allowed to stand at room temperature for five minutes.



To check the potency of baking powder, pour 1/2 cup of hot tap water over 1/2 teaspoon baking powder. If the powder is fresh, it will bubble actively.

To test the potency of baking soda, add a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice to a pinch of baking soda. If it bubbles, the baking soda is still effective.



Save the liquids from canned fruits and thicken them with cornstarch; heat and serve as a sauce over cake or pudding.



There are several ways of preparing citrus peel for cooking. I used to dread having to use the grater for lemon or orange rind since more of the peel seemed to stick to it than got into the bowl. Or I spent too much time -- and some skinned knuckles -- trying to scrape the peeling from the face of the grater. The answer is to put a sheet of heavy-duty plastic wrap directly over the grater's teeth before using it. The teeth will pierce the plastic and grate the lemon. When you're finished, pull off the plastic for a quick clean up.


Everyone knows about flour as a thickener for sauces, but arrowroot and cornstarch are good alternatives. Cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour, and arrowroot has much the same power. They also make for clearer sauces than flour and require less cooking. Stir cold liquid into the cornstarch or arrowroot until the mixture is completely smooth. Then stir it into the hot cooking liquid and continue to stir gently. If you stir too vigorously, the sauce may break down. Not enough stirring and you could have lumps. The sauce does need to come to a full boil, but shouldn't cook much longer after that. Overcooking may cause a sauce to break down, thin out, or weep, and we all know that we do not want our sauce weeping all over the kitchen.





When you're roasting meat, don't get impatient. Give it a rest. It's important to let a roast -- beef, pork, lamb or poultry -- sit a little while before carving. That allows the juices to retreat back into the meat. If you carve a roast too soon, much of its goodness will spill out onto the carving board. Also, the outer sections of the meat are hotter than the center, and the extra time will allow the heat to penetrate to the center. That's why you should remove a roast from the oven when the interior registers about 10 degrees cooler than the temperature you really want. The meat will continue to cook as it rests. Naturally, you'll spend the resting time making gravy and finishing your vegetables




Instead of cooking your rice in just plain ol' water, add one packet of beef broth powder to each cup of water boiling (usually two or four cups of water will do enough rice to feed the family) and cook the rice with the butter added like usual, and it will be a lovely lightly browned colour with TONS of flavour - good with pork, chicken, or beef it's YUMMY! You can use chicken broth too if you like...




If you soak beans overnight, you will get less "gas" from them. When you drain the old water add a pinch of ginger to the new boiling cooking water.



Drop fresh celery leaves in the pot while cooking shrimp to destroy the odor.


Chopped fruit and nuts will disperse more evenly in cake batter if they're lightly floured before adding them.



For easy cake decorating, first draw the designs on the frosted cake with a toothpick. Then fill an empty plastic ketchup squeeze bottle with colored frosting and squeeze it out slowly over the toothpick lines.



You won't waste flour if you dust it from a large cheese shaker onto meats, fish or patties, instead of dipping the food into the flour. It's easier, too.



Hard-boiled eggs will peel easily when cracked and placed in cold water immediately after taking them out of the hot water.



If you only need half an onion at a time, save the root half. It will last longer. And don't forget to butter it.


Pastry made with cold water is flaky. Pastry made with hot water is crumbly.




For baking, it's best to use medium to large eggs; extra-large eggs may cause cakes to fall when cooled.




To easily get a rolled pie crust off the board and into the pie pan, fold it lightly in half, then in half again. Unfold it in the pie tin.




Use the divider from the ice tray to cut biscuits in a hurry. Shape dough to conform with the size of the divider and cut. After baking biscuits will separate at dividing lines.




For soft, shiny crust on bread, brush loaves with margarine or butter before baking. For glossy, crispy crust, brush before baking with milk, water, or beaten egg.




Substitute half applesauce for the vegetable oil in your baking recipes. You'll greatly reduce the fat content! (Example: 1/2 cup vegetable oil =1/4 cup applesauce + 1/4 cup oil)



For crispy french fries let the raw potatoes soak in cold water for half hour before you fry. They will not get mushy.




When you have time, cook many more vegetables than needed and use leftovers later in soup. When you cook vegetables, save the liquid for a stock. If you have time, boil it down to save room in the refrigerator or freezer. This vegetable stock can enhance soups enormously, both in nutrition and in flavor. When chicken or beef stock is called for, use some of the vegetable liquid, perhaps adding a bouillon cube or canned broth.

Here's another quick-soup idea: use canned peas and beans rather than dried ones to eliminate the preliminary soaking time.




One key to successful baking -- time after time -- is proper measuring. Dry ingredients can be measured by the sift and scrape or the scoop and scrape method. In either case, use metal or plastic nested cups or spoons. If the recipe calls for 1 cup sifted flour, put the one cup measure on a piece of wax paper and sift a mound of flour directly into the cup. Then, without tapping the cup, scrape off the excess using a straight edge such as a spatula or knife. If the recipe calls for 1 cup flour, sifted, scoop up the flour from the container and scrape off the excess with the straight edge. Then, you can sift the flour. So remember, 1 cup sifted flour & 1 cup flour, sifted, are not the same.




To roast garlic, sprinkle the bulb with a little olive oil and white wine, salt and pepper, wrap it in tin foil and roast in a 350 degree oven for approximately one hour.




Reach for your favorite salad dressing next time you're in search of a marinade for grilled chicken, beef, or pork. In addition to adding flavor, the dressing helps to tenderize the less tender cuts of meat. Be sure to always marinate the meat in the refrigerator and discard any remaining marinade.




Chop up stale bread and biscuits-sprinkle with garlic powder and add to dog food. They love the flavor and it's good for them.




Cookies




  1. Chill cookie dough about 15 to 30 minutes before making into cookies.

  2. Put only enough flour on your work surface and rolling pin to prevent sticking. Excess flour may cause the cookies to be hard.

  3. Use an ice cream scoop to drop cookies. Your cookies will all be the same size and will bake evenly. If the dough is sticky dip the scoop into water between scoops.

  4. Cut cookies as close together as possible. Gently work the remaining dough back into the fresh dough.

  5. Use a salt shaker to sprinkle sugar on top of cookies. This looks better and is not as messy as using your hand.

  6. Drizzle a warm powdered sugar/milk glaze over cookies for extra sweetness. Color it a bit and sprinkle on decorettes to make them pretty.





When the topping for pineapple upside down cake gets too dark before the cake is done you should set the cake pan on a cookie sheet for baking. This extra thickness on the bottom will protect and keep the brown sugar mixture and the pineapple a perfect color.




When adding eggs to a cooked filling, always add a little of the hot filling to the egg mixture. Stir it in before you add them to the total mixture. Eggs cook very quickly. If added to a boiling mixture they sometimes will cook into tiny lumps rather than blend into the filling. Since they are used as a thickener the filling will be lumpy and runny.




Mix cocoa with melted butter or margarine to make a thick, smooth paste. Use this paste to change white butter-cream into chocolate butter-cream frosting. Sometimes just adding cocoa to white butter-cream will cause lumps of cocoa that will not mix out.




Muffins and Quick breads



  1. Almost any Quick bread can be also used to make muffins. Instead of making into loaves just put the batter into muffin cups and bake at a slightly higher temperature (about 10 degrees).

  2. Muffins freeze well, so it is best to freeze them and re-heat in the microwave or oven as needed.

  3. fruit juice. Crushed strawberries are wonderful used in muffins but will make the batter too thin if you do not adjust for their extra juice.

  4. Use apple juice instead of water in your muffin recipe.

  5. Quick nut breads will almost always crack on the top of the loaf while baking. Don't worry-it's normal.






If your pie crust takes too long to brown and the filling boils out, add a little milk powder and sugar to the dough recipe the next time you make it. The crust will taste better and will brown quickly.




Flavored oils, especially those flavored with basil or garlic, give extraordinary lift to many dishes. Drizzle basil-flavored oil over sliced tomatoes and mozzarella. Use roasted garlic-flavored oil in a quick sauté of potatoes. Experiment with other flavors.




Next time you make a meatloaf or meatballs, try adding a little finely grated orange or lemon zest.




Rather than buying ground or powdered spices, buy them whole, then roast them in a hot dry saucepan for 2 to 3 minutes and grind them yourself in a coffee grinder. This greatly improves their flavor,or load in a peppermill and grind directly over your food.




When frosting cakes, always anchor the bottom layer to the plate or lazy Susan with a dab of frosting. That way, the cake won't slide about as you frost. The technique works for individual pastries, too.




Don't cook tomatoes at a rolling boil. They'll burst and turn acidic. For sweet, mellow tomatoes, simmer slowly - no additional sugar needed.



Is there a perfect Vinaigrette? This one comes close: Combine 1/2 cup deeply fruity olive oil, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or freshly squeezed lemon juice (or 1 tablespoon of each), 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper in a shaker jar and shake vigorously until creamy. Makes about 3/4 cup.
Optional additions:
1/4 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest and/or 1 finely minced garlic clove.
Optional herbs:
1 teaspoon finely minced basil, chervil, chives, parsley or tarragon.




A Bouquet Garni is a small herb bouquet, most often sprigs of fresh parsley and thyme, plus a bay leaf, tied in cheesecloth. It is dropped into stocks, stews, sauces, and soups as a seasoner and is removed before serving.




The next time you cook carrots, add a whole clove or two. This will really spice up the flavor of the carrots.



 



 French Vanilla Coffee: I add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of artificial vanilla flavoring to my coffee grounds before brewing. Add a little sugar and some milk or cream to the brewed coffee to create your own French vanilla coffee!









Try using one of the new health food cereals that contain honey, oatmeal, nuts and raisins or any other combination as a substitute for all nuts, and/or raisons in cookies, breads, and cakes. Much cheaper. Zucchini and apple breads are delicious this way.




For a quick, cheap, and low-fat chocolate mousse: Mix cocoa powder into whipped topping. Add as little or as much cocoa powder as your palate dictates. Stir well and serve. Also can be used to frost cakes.




Listen to your cakes. As long as a sponge or angel cake "sings" (the soft hiss of the eggs releasing steam), it is not done. When the "singing" stops and the cake is nicely browned and springy to the touch, it's done. Sponge and angel cakes will not shrink from the sides of the pan.




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, sold vegetable fat, such as crisco. You may also use drippings, but remember this may make a difference in the flavor of your pastry.



Bake muffins at about 400 degrees for 5 minutes then turn the oven down to about 375 degrees and finish baking. They will peak better.




Keep muffin batter cold from start to finish. Use ice cold water in the mix and refrigerate the batter between uses. Use apple juice instead of water in your muffin recipe.



-- Edited by Cassi at 07:39, 2006-09-11

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Cassi


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When You Shop at a Supermarket
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When You Shop at a Supermarket

Examine the cleanliness of the meat, seafood and prepared-food counters. Be aware that cooked shrimp shouldn't be displayed on the same ice bed as raw fish because it could become contaminated.


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Cassi


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RE: Food Tips (Posted by CrossWalker)
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Bumping this back up to the top.


Some really good tips here!



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