Did You Know That Kitchen Tips

Chef 'D'Andre with that "I didn't know that look on his face"?
I don't clam to know everything, but what I do know I share with other chefs freely, so that I might have room to receive more knowledge

ØIf a soup or stew is too salty, add raw cut potatoes. Discard them after they have cooked – they will have absorbed the salt.

Ø  If a soup or stew is too sweet, add salt. If a main dish or vegetable is too sweet, add a teaspoon of cider vinegar.

Ø  Can’t remember if an egg is fresh or hard boiled? Just spin the egg. If it wobbles, it’s raw. If it spins easily, it’s hard boiled.

Ø  A fresh egg will sink in water, a stale one will float.

Ø  An egg white is easiest to beat at room temperature. Take the egg out of the refrigerator about 1/2 hour before using.

Ø  For light, fluffy scrambled eggs, add a little water while beating the eggs.

Ø  Add vinegar to the water when boiling eggs. The vinegar helps seal the egg.

Ø  (Michel Roux has useful egg tips in his book Eggs)

Ø  To avoid ‘onion eyes‘ peel under cold water or refrigerate (or freeze) before chopping.

Ø  To perk up soggy lettuce, add lemon juice to a bowl of cold water and soak lettuce for an hour in the refrigerator.

Ø  When cooking carrots, peas, beets or corn, add a small amount of sugar to the water to keep the flavor.

Ø  To keep sweet corn yellow, add one teaspoon of lemon juice to the cooking water just about a minute before taking off the stove. Never salt the water you cook corn in. It will only toughen the corn.

Ø  Store celery and lettuce in paper bags, not plastic. And leave the outside leaves and stalks alone until ready to use.

Ø  Sunlight doesn’t ripen tomatoes, warmth does. Store tomatoes with stems pointed down and they will stay fresher, longer. More on tomatoes

Ø  Meat loaf will not stick if you place a slice of bacon on the bottom of the pan.

Ø  To soften rock-hard brown sugar, simply add a slice of soft bread to the package and close the bag tightly. In a few hours the sugar will be soft again.

Ø  Place green fruits in a perforated plastic bag. The holes will allow air to circulate while retaining the ethylene gas that fruits produce during ripening.

Ø  Remove fat from soups and stews by dropping ice cubes into the pot. The fat will cling to the cubes as you stir. Take out the cubes before they melt. Or you can also wrap the ice cubes in cheesecloth   or paper towel and skim over the top of the pot. Fat also cling to lettuce leaves.

Ø  Poke a hole in the middle of the hamburger patties while shaping them. The burgers will cook faster and the holes will disappear when done.

Ø  For fluffier, whiter rice, add one teaspoon of lemon juice per litre (quart) of water. To add extra flavor and nutrition to rice, cook it in liquid reserved from cooking vegetables.

Ø  Marshmallows won’t dry out when frozen.

Ø  If your stew is slightly burnt, milk will take the burnt taste out.

Ø  The best way to thaw fish is in milk. The milk draws out the frozen taste and gives the fish a fresh flavor.

Ø  Did you know?  The tongue is a muscle with glands, sensory cells, and fatty tissue that helps to moisten food with saliva. You cannot taste food unless it is mixed with saliva. For instance, if salt is placed on a dry tongue, the taste buds will not be able to identify it. As soon as saliva is added, the salt dissolves and the taste sensation takes place. There are 4 basic tastes. The salt and sweet taste buds are at the tip of the tongue, bitter at the base, and sour along the sides.