Some Good Tips Here
Bacon- Minimize bacon shrinkage by running bacon under water before
frying.
Beans -A tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda in a large pot of beans
while soaking them, the ‘flatulence’ caused by the beans is kept to a
minimum.
Boiling eggs- Add a little salt or vinegar to your boiling water when
cooking eggs; a cracked egg will stay in its shell this way.
Boiling Over- Rub butter or margarine on the rim of a pot in which
you cook rice or macaroni and it won’t boil over.
Cakes-A cake will keep longer if you place half an apple in the cake
tin when storing.
Chocolate cake- Make a better chocolate cake by adding a teaspoon of
vinegar to your cake mix.
Corn- Don’t boil corn for more than 3 minutes. Place the corn
directly into boiling water, and do not add salt. You will find the
flavor is much better than cooking for 10 minutes or more. Corn will
never get soft, no matter how long you cook it-it will only lose its
taste.
Descaling fish- Soak fish in salt water before descaling and the
scales will come off easier.
Frozen Vegetables- A quick way to separate frozen vegetables is to
pour boiling water over them through a colander and then add them to
your casserole or pot to finish cooking.
Grating Cheese- To easily shred cheese, let sit in freezer for 30
minutes.
Icing Tips- Add a pinch of bicarbonate of soda to your icing and the
icing will stay moist and prevent cracking.
Jelly Mold- To easily remove a jelly from the mold, lightly brush
mold with oil before pouring in the mixture.
Meatballs- When making a lot of meatballs a fast and simple method is
to shape the meat mixture into a log and cut off slices. The slices
roll easily into balls.
Pancakes -Adding a little sugar to the batter of pancakes and waffles
will make them brown more quickly.
Pie pastry -For flakier pastry, substitute 1 teaspoon vinegar for 1
teaspoon of the cold water called for in the recipe.
Ripening Fruits and Vegetables- A lots of fruit and veg found in
supermarkets today look ripe, but are hard as a rock. Put them in a
brown paper bag and hide the bag away in a dark cupboard for a day or
two. Use This is great tip for items such as avocados, bananas, kiwi
fruit, peaches, nectarines, and many more.
Salads -Serve iceberg lettuce wedges instead of torn salad greens to
save time making a salad.
Spaghetti Sauce- Put a pinch of bicarbonate of soda in spaghetti
sauce to remove the acid taste from the tomatoes.
Speedy Sauce- Instant sauces can be easily created by heating a can
of undiluted condensed cream soup (i.e. cream of tomato cream of
mushroom, cream of chicken, cream of celery, etc.).
Soups -To remove some of the fat in soups by add a lettuce leaf to
the pot. Remove the leaf after fat removal. Place a raw potato in
salty soup. The potato will absorb the extra salt.
Tenderize meat- One to two table spoons of vinegar with your meat
help tenderize it while you are cooking.
Vanilla- Make your own vanilla concentrate by placing 2 split and
chopped vanilla pods in 1 liter of vodka or bourbon. Shaking the
bottle once a day, let sit for 2-3 months, or until desired color.
Vinegar- used as a meat tenderizer. Add a tablespoon to water when
boiling ribs or meat for stews, and even the toughest meat will be so
tender you can cut with fork or will fall off the bone.
Vegetable colour- Add vinegar to the water when boiling vegetables to
retain color.
Wilted vegetables- Perk up wilted vegetables. Soak in 2 cups water, 1
tablespoon vinegar.
Wooden Skewers- When using wooden skewers for kebabs, soak in cold
water for 10-30 minutes to prevent them from burning.