tips and hints
Cooking Tips and Helpful Hints
Have you ever wondered how some home chefs just seem to breeze through the most complicated recipes while you have trouble grilling a hot dog? Well, here comes BOB to the rescue with a few cooking tips and helpful hints that will have you rivaling Wolfgang Puck in no time!
Basting Shortcut: Fill a squeeze bottle with barbecue sauce or marinade. Sauce can be squeezed directly onto foods while grilling, reducing cleanup.
Boiling Eggs: Add 2 tablespoons of vinegar to water before boiling eggs. It keeps them from cracking!
Brown Sugar: Brown sugar will not harden if stored in the freezer!
Cooking Rice: Add a little lemon juice to white rice while it is cooking to keep it white and fluffy. Add butter to prevent it from boiling over.
Crockpot Cooking: Spray the inside of the crock pot with “Pam” or an equivalent before putting the food in—-makes clean up much easier.
Easy Chopped Parsley: Freeze parsley in a ziplock bag. When frozen, rub bag between your hands and the parsley will not need chopping.
Get Even Fruit and Veggie Slices: An egg slicer is a versatile kitchen tool. Try using it to slice strawberries, mushrooms, kiwis and more! Just use your imagination.
Freezer Breakfasts: When making pancakes for breakfast, make a double or triple batch. Let the extras cool, then cut up into bite sized portions. Freeze on a cookie sheet for about an hour. Then put them all into a freezer bag. On school days, just take out the amount you need, microwave for 45 seconds, pour some syrup into a short glass or cup, and you have warm pancake dippers!
Grating Cheese: When grating cheese, always spray the grater with non-stick cooking spray first….cheese just slips off and clean up is a breeze.
Muffin Tip: Muffins will slide right out of tin pans if you first place the hot pan on a wet towel.
Opening Stubborn Jars: If you have a problem opening jars try using latex dishwashing gloves. They give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.
Peeling Garlic: The fastest way to peel a clove of garlic is to put the flat side of the blade of a chef’s knife over the garlic and smack the blade with the heel of your hand. The clove will crack and the skin will fall away.
Perfect Size Cookies: Use a melon baller to spoon out cookie dough. This gives them a uniform look and size. It also keeps your fingers clean.
Perfect Size Muffins: Use an ice cream scoop (the kind with the sweep) to fill muffin cups before baking. It’s much neater than trying to pour the batter, and you’ll get a perfectly sized muffin every time!
Separating Eggs 1: When separating eggs, break them into a funnel. The whites will go through leaving the yolk intact in the funnel.
Separating Eggs 2: Crack an egg into a bowl. Take a clean, empty water bottle and squeeze some of the air out of it. Place the nozzle on the yoke and release the pressure.
(See Video Below)…
Cutting Veggies: To cut round, wobbly vegetables like potatoes, squash, and beets safely, cut a thin slice along the length of the vegetable with a sharp knife to create a flat side.
Whipped Cream: To speed the process of whipping cream, chill the mixing bowl and beaters in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes beforehand.
Sliding Cutting Board: Keep your cutting board in place by placing a damp paper towel or damp dish towel underneath it. Also works great for mixing bowls.
No Stir Peanut Butter: Store your peanut butter upside down. When ready to use turn it over. The oil will try to rise back to the top making mixing it much easier.
Keeping Cookies Soft: Add a slice of white bread into the air-tight container with your fresh baked cookies to retain their fresh-baked consistency.
Straining Citrus: An effortless way to squeeze fresh citrus juice into any recipe is to keep a small strainer close by. Hold it over your pot or pan and squeeze the juice through it. This is much better than picking out seeds later.
Simple Syrup: Sweeten your lemonade or iced tea without the grainy sugar granules on the bottom. Combine equal parts of water and sugar in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat for about 4 minutes until sugar dissolves completely, while stirring frequently. Let cool. Use 1 1/2 tsp of syrup for each tsp you would normally use with sugar.
Cutting Tidy Cake Slices: Dip the blade of a sharp knife in hot water to heat it up, and wipe dry with towel. You can now cut your cake or cheesecake into nice smooth-edged slices. Repeat as necessary as knife cools.
Revitalize Crystallized Honey: Don’t Throw it away! Honey never goes bad. Place the container in a bowl of hot water until the honey is smooth and runny (5 to 10 minutes). Alternatively, remove the lid and microwave the jar in 30-second intervals, checking after each.
Easy Peel Garlic Cloves: If you cut the tops off a few garlic cloves and microwave them for 20-30 seconds, the skin will pop right off.
Testing Egg Freshness: Gently place eggs into a bowl of water. Fresh eggs will sink to the bottom and lay on their sides. If it sinks but stands with the large end up, it’s on the verge of going bad. Toss them away if they float.
Preserve the Life of Bananas: Wrap the end of the bunch with plastic wrap. Better yet, separate each banana, then wrap the ends. Both tactics block ethylene gases from releasing out of the stem, keeping the fruit fresher longer.
Easiest Way to Juice a Lemon: Place a lemon in the microwave for 15 seconds prior to juicing to easily squeeze all the juice out.
Skim The Fat: Spoon out excess fat from stocks, stews, and sauces by pushing a few ice cubes (wrapped in a paper towel or cheese cloth) along the surface of the liquid with a cooking spoon. The ice helps the fat solidify, making it easier to remove with the spoon.
Sifting: Use a kitchen strainer to sift flour if you do not have a sifter. Gently shake the strainer back and forth until the dry product has worked its way through. Works with powdered sugar too!
Soften Butter Faster: Bakers know butter should be at room temperature. Use a cheese grater to speed up the softening process without melting the butter.
Toast Lots of Bread at Once: Place both oven racks close to each other in the middle of your oven with a sheet pan on the bottom rack. Stand up bread slices on pan with the top rack holding them vertical. Set oven to 450°F and bake for about 5 minutes until brown.
Reviving Your Old Spices: Never throw away old spices again. Place the needed amount into a skillet over medium-high heat for 1 – 3 minutes until you can start smelling a strong aroma again.
Keep Your Knives Sharp Longer: Store your knives upside down (blades up) in there blocks to prevent them from becoming dull prematurely.
Pit Cherries With Ease: Place cherries, one at a time, on the top of a clean, empty beer bottle. Using a chopstick push the pit through and into the bottle.
Fight Eggshells with Eggshells: We all know the horror of having a piece of the eggshell fall into the bowl. No need for a spoon of fork only to chase it around the bowl. Grab a half of the broken shell to fish the errant piece out. It will attract it like a magnet.
Slick Trick for Measuring Cups and Spoons: Coat your measuring cups and spoons with non-stick cooking spray. All of your sticky ingredients like honey, molasses, or syrups will slide right out.
Vacuum Seal Soups and Stews: If you have a Vacuum Sealer you have seen it suck up juices and anything else liquid. We are smarter than the machine. Place soups, stews or chili in a plastic container and freeze it. Once solid you can easily place it in a vacuum bag, seal it and place it back into the freezer. It will last much longer.
Defrost Meat Faster: Place your meat on an aluminum sheet, tray or skillet. Aluminum is a great conductor of heat and will draw energy from the surrounding environment into your frozen meat much faster than a wooden cutting board or wood or stone countertop. You can cut defrosting times down by about 30 percent this way.
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