Handy Cooking Tips

Here are a few tips that will make your life in the kitchen a little easier.

Bacon Drippings. Save the fat left in the pan after cooking the breakfast bacon. Later you can melt it too mix with breadcrumbs when topping casseroles or creamed vegetable dishes. Use it for frying off meat for casseroles or cooking mushrooms. It also adds flavor to stuffing for poultry and other meats.

Baking Blind. “Baking blind” is a term used when baking unfilled pastry cakes. What you do is place a piece of grease-proof (not waxed) paper into the pastry case and fill it with dried peas, beans or rice. This prevents the pastry rising or collapsing down the sides during cooking. Remove paper after 10 minutes cooking and allow the base to brown.

Boiling Eggs. When boiling eggs, bring water to the boil, lower eggs gently into the boiling water on a spoon. Stir very gently with a wooden spoon for only the first minute, this ensures the yolks will be in the center. When they are cooked drop them into cold water to cool quickly. This prevents a dark ring forming around the yolk.

Breadcrumbs. Don’t throw away the stale ends of bread. Make them into bread crumbs, wrap well in plastic film and store in the freezer. They thaw in a very short time, and make excellent coating for fried foods.

Cake Frosting. If you want a smooth even finish to the frosting on cakes and cookies, particularly with butter icing, a hot knife will do the trick. Dip it into boiling water or under the hot tap. Be sure to wipe it dry or the water will make the icing streaky.

Cake Making. When making cakes, you get the best results if all the ingredients are at room temperature. If you have forgotten to take the butter out of the refrigerator, cut it in small pieces and place in a warmed bowl “But don’t let it melt” and it will be ready to cream in just a few minutes.

Cake Tins. For cakes that are difficult to turn out or extract from the tin, stand the tin on a damp cloth for a few minutes. This creates steam between the cake and the tin and helps to loosen it.

Celery Tops. How many cooks discard the leaves of celery? If you do, you’re wasting some of the best flavor of the vegetable. Those green tops will flavor stews, casseroles, soups, steamed chicken or broiled meats. Chop them and add to croquettes, instead of, or as well as, chopped parsley.

Cheese. Don’t throw away those last odds and ends of cheese that may have become dry. Keep them in a screw-topped jar in the refrigerator and use to grate when you need a little to top a casserole, add to an omelet or flavor a sauce. Cheese grates more easily when taken directly from the refrigerator.

Chocolate. Always use good quality cooking chocolate or plain dark chocolate for cooking (not milk chocolate). Never melt it over direct heat. Chop coarsely and place on a plate or in bowl and place over a pan of barely simmering water, stir gently with a spatula until just melted. Too much heat and the chocolate will become granular.

Citrus Rind. When a recipe requires only the juice of orange or lemon, always grate the rind from the fruit first. Store the grated rind in the freezer for those times when you need only grated rind. This way you will save by using one not two.

Cook Books. Keep your cook books clean. Always keep a clear plastic bag inside any cook book you take into the kitchen. Open the book to the recipe page and slip it into the bag. It not only keeps the book free from spatters but holds it open at the correct page.

Crispy Croutons. Croutons add crisp contrast in texture and flavor to tossed green salads. Make your own, cut day-old bread into cubes and shallow fry them in oil with crushed garlic added, (mixed herb stock cubes are an easy substitute). Remove from pan when just golden, the color will become darker on standing. Drain on absorbent paper and add to salad just before serving.

Dried Fruits. Next time you cook dried apricots or prunes for a dessert, don’t use just water. You can add any left over syrup from canned fruits, or add a little orange or lemon juice. They all add extra flavor

Egg Whites. When beating egg whites for meringues, the eggs must be at room temperature before starting, a warmed bowl helps beat them more quickly. The bowl and beaters must also be free from grease and water, and a pinch of cream of tartar added gives them more “body” for a meringue that holds its shape well.

Flour. If you run out of self-raising flour, don’t worry, you can use plain flour and baking powder instead. To each one cup (125 gram) of plain flour, add two level teaspoons of baking powder. If you do not have baking powder, sift one level teaspoon of cream of tartar and a half level teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda with each cup of plain flour.

Hamburgers. When handling minced meat mixtures for hamburgers, meat balls, sausage mince patties or meat loaves, always have your hands damp. The meat mixture will not stick, this makes the job easier and quicker.

Herbs. Using herbs adds a real gourmet touch to cooking, but add them carefully as too much can spoil the flavor of the dish. Therefore, when substituting dried herbs for fresh ones, use approximately half the stated quantity in the recipe, because dried herbs are more concentrated than fresh ones.

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