|
 |
Kitchen Tips
your 'information highway' to a whole bunch of nifty kitchen tips - tips which make life in the kitchen a lot easier in beautiful Greater Victoria, BC
|
| Kitchen Tips IV in beautiful Victoria BC |
Keeping Fish Fresh. You can keep freshly caught fish fresh tasting by freezing it in water. Find a large bread baking pan and put the fish steaks or fillets in with enough water to start it freezing. After it has frozen into place in the bread pan, finish filling the pan with water until the entire fish is covered and freeze again. You can then stack the "bricks" of fish, which will save space in your freezer, too. When thawed, the fish will taste as fresh as when you caught it.
--------
Making Meatballs with Clean Hands. I hated how the meat stuck to my hands when making meatballs. Now, I coat my hands with olive oil before making them. Problem solved.--------
Cream Substitute. Many recipes call for cream, and many times you can create a rich, thick dish using 2% milk, flour and butter. For EACH cup of milk, you need 1 tablespoon of melted butter and one tablespoon of flour. Cook flour and butter, stirring constantly, for 3 to 5 minutes to get rid of the "raw" flour taste. Then whisk in milk and continue whisking until milk is thickened. I make my alfredo sauce, base for creamed chicken, base for clam chowder soup, and lots of other "creamy recipes" this way, and no one ever notices. Try it! That way, you'll have room for pumpkin pie and whipped cream! (No substitution possible on the whipped cream, though!).--------
Moist Chicken. This is a chef's trick for tender and moist chicken. When cooking chicken for any recipe, cut up chicken and place in pot with just enough water to cover. Bring to boil and boil for 5 minutes. Leave lid on pot and move off burner. Let sit for 25 - 30 minutes. Chicken is always tender and moist. I have been doing this for the past ten years and have yet to have a dried out chicken.--------
Tea Light For Fondue. I like fondue but usually have difficultly keeping the cheese at the proper temperature. It usually ends up boiling and I end up putting the Sterno out and then starting it again once it cools and then putting it out again, etc. The other night on the Food Network I saw the solution to all my problems. Instead of using Sterno as a heat source, use a tea light with the flame about one inch from the bottom of the pot. I tried this last night and it worked great!--------
Pounding Veal. Empty cereal bags are great to use for pounding veal or chicken for making scaloppine. I've never had the meat break through as when using other materials. They're also great for cracking peppercorns for pepper steak.--------
No Garlic Smell. To get rid of the smell of crushed garlic from your hands rub your fingers on a piece of stainless steel under running water. They sell little pieces of stainless steel for this purpose, but a stainless steel spoon will do the trick. If you have a stainless steel sink, all you have to do is rub the bottom of the sink while the water is running. I don't know why (it probably has to do with ionic transference, or electro-mechanical discharge, or something like that), but this really works.--------
Buttering Corn. This is an excellent tip for buttering corns at outdoor buffets, or BBQs. Fill a tall, narrow jar or plastic container with boiled water - about 1/2 full, and add 1/4 pound of butter. Place corn holder in one end of the cob. Simply dip your corn on the cob into the jar, submerge and then place on plate. The corn will be evenly coated with butter - and no messy plate to clean up. It also doesn't attract the insects the same as the familiar butter on a plate method.--------
Microwaving Bacon. I "fry" the bacon in the microwave - use about three thicknesses of newspaper on the bottom, cover with paper towels and place diced bacon on top; cover bacon with paper towels. Fry for about 4 minutes and check - you want it crisp. This also eliminates all that grease.--------
Best Bread Crumbs. I keep bread ends or leftover hamburger or hot dog buns in the freezer. Once I have a bunch, I take them out of the freezer, break into pieces, and put in the food processor. I then put them back in some recycled margarine (or whatever) plastic container, and put them back in the freezer. Whenever I need fresh bread crumbs, I just take what I need and return the rest to the freezer. They don't freeze hard into a block, so this is really easy. The freezing dries them out somewhat, so the extra drying step is unnecessary. They sure beat the heck out of the store-bought stuff in a paper can.--------
Keeping Veggies. Don't throw away those inner bags from your favorite cereal. The thickness and non-porous nature of that plastic/paper keeps veggies fresh in the fridge for a very long time. I completely forgot about a red pepper I had in the bin and almost two weeks later it was as good as the day I bought it.--------
Greasing Pans. To grease pans for cakes and so on, I use a plastic sandwich bag over my hand. I then just use my covered hand to scoop the shortening out of the package and to smear it around the pan. When done, I just pull the bag over my hand so that the bag ends up inside out with all of the grease inside the bag. This prevents a mess when I put the bag in the garbage.--------
Disposing of Grease. Here's an idea for a mess-free way of getting rid of unwanted greasy drippings from your frying pan: Take a paper cup and stick a wadded-up paper towel in the bottom - used ones work well too. Pour the hot grease onto the paper towel, which will prevent the drippings from melting the plastic covering on the cup and making it leak. Toss the whole thing in the trash - no more clogged sink and no more messy drippings cans underneath!--------
Disposing of Grease. Save 2-liter soda bottles or coffee cans with plastic lids to dispose of grease. I never could figure out how to get rid of grease from frying foods or draining ground beef until my hubby came up with this fabulous solution! Just keep the bottle or can under the kitchen sink or some other out of the way spot until it's full, then just put the lid on tight and toss it in the trash!--------
Keeping Celery Fresh. Seems like I always have to throw some celery out before I use it all, however I found if I wrap the celery in a paper towel and then in aluminium foil, it will remain fresh and crisp until I have used it all.--------
Clean Fingers Making Crust. When making a Graham cracker crust and it has to be "pressed into the bottom" of a pan or dish, I put a plastic sandwich bag over my hand. It gets pressed down better and without the mess on my fingers.--------
Measuring Oil & Honey. When I am baking something that calls for both cooking oil and honey (or molasses), I first measure the oil in the measuring cup, then the honey. The oil coats the cup, and the honey slides out easily.--------
Soft Brown Sugar. To keep your sugar from getting clumpy and hard, put a cracker into the container with your sugar.
--------
 ... back |
|
|
|
meanwhile we most cordially invite the good people of Greater Victoria BC who have discovered a nifty way of doing things in the kitchen to
send in their kitchen tips and share them with us here.
|
| "beautiful Victoria at your fingertips" |
www.sale
scene.com/victoria
|
|
; all rights reserved; web site by
Aantaris Web Design