Tips & Tricks

Gordon

OK, so what tips do you have for the culinary mind?
I have a few but can only think of a couple right now.

• To check if your eggs are fine or rotten: Place them in a bowl of water ddeeper than the eggs. If your eggs sink - they are fine, if they float - they are rotten. (Akin to the witchtrials of yore...)

• Eggs again. Always check your eggs in the supermarket. I got a 6 pack of eggs one time that only had 5 in them. pesky kids.

• Put a few [rice] grains in your salt cellar to prevent moisture and clumpy salt. (or does everyone in the world know that)

OK, mine are pretty crappy really. You must have better!

[d'oh, thanks lawnkiller, didnt see that!]

BEAT

In order to keep your cake or pastries fresher longer, place a piece of white bread in the container with it and seal it, you"ll get atleast another week or so if your slow at eating that sort of stuff

stevoslice

I've heard that you shouldn't drink red wine from a crystal glass,

reason: - the red wine can absorb some of the lead from the crystal, thus giving you lead poisoning, which i'm sure that no-one wants.

Gordon

on that note, be careful of opening older bottles of wine.

Rip the seal from well below the top of the bottle as this seal was once made of lead. If you rip from the top you can run the risk of getting lead on the opening of the bottle and ingest some of it.

OLDYELLAR

if you spill red wine , it can be removed using white wine , or so my mama says anyway .

bonkey

Originally posted by OLDYELLAR
if you spill red wine , it can be removed using white wine , or so my mama says anyway .

Even easier (and cheaper) - you can remove red-wine spills using lots of table salt. I usually have one of those 500g saxa bottles around for just such an emergency.

Learned the trick from a cousin. Dinner my place, the night before the landlord was coming to check for damages cause I was about to move out. We spilled 1/2 bottle of red wine on a cream carpet. One bottle of salt (sprinkle on, brush off, repeat. Do !not! rub it in) later, and all was well again.

jc

Krusty_Clown

When preparing Ginger and Garlic to add to a meal (e.g. Chinese) prepare the garlic first, so you're fingers smell of pleasant ginger smells, instead of smelly garlic!

bonkey

In most garlic crushers, you wont need to peel your garlic first. Just put in the clove, crush, and then take the "paper" skin out from the crusher. Cleaner too.

jc

ykt0di9url7bc3

if you have to make fousands of Sambos, use a spoon and flora to butter the bread...and butter bread in half the time....mwahahahaha!

always have tossed salad as its so handy for anything!

when choppin onions, chew gum and you'll never cry!

Lawnkiller

Originally posted by SearrarD
if you have to make fousands of Sambos, use a spoon and flora to butter the bread...and butter bread in half the time....mwahahahaha!

always have tossed salad as its so handy for anything!

when choppin onions, chew gum and you'll never cry!

a slice of bread(white) usually does the trick if gum is absent.
(absorbs the nasty crying stuff or sumfin)

rice in the salt shaker is good too - those must the grains reffered to.(sorry)

sceptre

Originally posted by SearrarD
if you have to make fousands of Sambos, use a spoon and flora to butter the bread...and butter bread in half the time....mwahahahaha!

yup, spoon=winnar

For slicing onions, I find it as good to halve the onion and run the halves under a cold tap first. No crying then either.

Gordon

When making white sauce (for cheese sauce/bechamel) use corn flour and milk instead of flour and milk and butter - it's healthier and easier to make, less chance of lumps and I find it's easier to solidify. It also seems less heavy (more brotherly...)

oh yeah, corn flour has a cool knack of seeming solid and liquid if you use a tiny amount of milk when mixing, great fun for 10 minutes of playing with.

Dr. Loon

If you want to get rotten drunk, I find a bottle of Jack Daniels does the trick nicely.

Use cornflour to thicken ANY sauce. That's what the Chinese take-aways do, along with MSG.

Use peanut oil instead of Olive\vegetable to add more taste to any fried food. Unless of course you're allergic to peanuts.

accensi0n

if theres a draft in a room and you don't know where its coming from get a candle and light it. walk around the room with it and wherever it flickers thats where the draft is.

Mercury_Tilt

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Dr. Loon

I put holes in sausages. Am I evil?

accensi0n

your as evil as hitler

Mercury_Tilt

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Dr. Loon

I cooked some Superquinn sausages last night. When I attempted to prick holes in them they resisted. They must have invented a new non-prickable sausage!!?

They were nice.

Kolodny

Don't eat yellow snow.

Gordon

(I must be an egg-fanatic)
When shelling boiled eggs, do it inside a bowl of water, then your shell doesn't go all over the place, you can drain bowl afterwards easily.

Kolodny

Wrapping a cold carton of milk/juice in wet tissue paper will keep it cold out of the fridge for more or less a whole day (handy if you're working somewhere that doesn't have a fridge). I'm not sure but I think it works because the wet paper absorbs the heat from inside the carton by evaporation, so it keeps what is inside the carton cold.

tman

if you want to peel a tomato, stick it in a bowl of boiling water for a couple of minutes, then take it out & poke it with a knife. the skin should fly off now;)
it's much less hassle to just use a tin of them tho

Kolodny

Does anyone else reckon this should be made a sticky? There's some quite useful stuff here...

tman

Don't eat yellow snow.

brings back some funny drunken memories

Does anyone else reckon this should be made a sticky? There's some quite useful stuff here...

damn straight!

Gordon

Originally posted by Kolodny
Wrapping a cold carton of milk/juice in wet tissue paper will keep it cold out of the fridge for more or less a whole day (handy if you're working somewhere that doesn't have a fridge). I'm not sure but I think it works because the wet paper absorbs the heat from inside the carton by evaporation, so it keeps what is inside the carton cold.

Yes, good tip for when you are in a hot country too,soak a towel around your water bottle and keep it in the shade.

My father lived in Oz for a while and kept his beer cold by sticking a wet towel round his cans and lodging the cans to his leaking car radiator. As he drove the water would evaporate and suck the heat from the tinnies and he would have a constant supply of water from the leak!

**Tip
When squeezing citrus fruit for juice with a spoon or a squeezer - microwave for a couple of seconds and the flesh will be easier to squeeze enabling a more productive squeeze. (mmmm productive squeezes...)

Dave

If your heating up food in the microwave sprinkle a small bit of water over it before you put it in. (works great with rice)

Samson

I also think that this thread should be stickied!

Kolodny

*BUMP*

kayos

Originally posted by Kolodny
Does anyone else reckon this should be made a sticky? There's some quite useful stuff here...

Your wish is my command

Kayos

Mercury_Tilt

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netwhizkid

Hi,
My tip is if you are opening a bottle of wine and intend to close it and use it later, you should lay the bottle down flat for about a week before opening it, the wine keeps the cork moist and will keep it from falling apart and cracking when opening the cork of the bottle.

Regards netwhizkid

Thanx 4 The Fish

When boiling vegetables, a bit of cooking oil in the water prevents it from boiling over.

When cooking pasta also put some oil in the water, this draws the starch from the pasta and so pasta isn't sticky, thuis also works with rice.

Kolodny

When poaching eggs in a microwave, putting a tiny splash of vinegar into the cup/bowl stops it sticking to the sides. Doesn't affect the taste either.

Mercury_Tilt

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Thanx 4 The Fish

If ya stir up the water a bit and then slowly pour the egg from a cup into the middle of the maelstrom (spinny bit in the middle)then the spinning of the water will keep the egg in a nice circley shape.

I always add vinegar when poaching eggs and I never poach them in the microwave.

Gordon

Wow! That's a great concept.

I wonder if you can do egg sculptures that way

Kolodny

I don't poach my eggs in the microwave either, it's just a trick I learned in the café I work in part time. Microwaved eggs are yucky if you ask me but I feel it is my duty to pass on such information to the lazy eaters of the universe.

Mercury_Tilt

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Kolodny

Eggcellent! (Sorry...)

Samson

Gordon

Wow, what a great way of cooking eggs.

I always thought poaching eggs was stealing them without a licence! badoom tish.

Mercury_Tilt

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Samson

Originally posted by Mercury_Tilt
Samson.....

I will be trying that in the morning.

I'll be using a wok though.

May god go with me on this one.

Good luck and God bless!

And remember, if at first you don't succeed...

Kolodny

Originally posted by Samson
And remember, if at first you don't succeed...

...redine success!

Mercury_Tilt

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pickarooney

Originally posted by Gordon
When making white sauce (for cheese sauce/bechamel) use corn flour and milk instead of flour and milk and butter - it's healthier and easier to make, less chance of lumps and I find it's easier to solidify. It also seems less heavy (more brotherly...)

oh yeah, corn flour has a cool knack of seeming solid and liquid if you use a tiny amount of milk when mixing, great fun for 10 minutes of playing with.

Do use butter but do not burn it, as this makes it unhealthy. Brown butter bad. Once it's melted, stir in the flour and remove it from the heat before adding the milk. This will prevent lumps from forming. Add the milk while stirring, then return it to the heat, throw in a pinch of salt, a spoon of pepper and half a spoon of nutmeg. Now make the rest of the lasagne.

ArwenEvenstar

To stop butter from burning, just add a drizzle of oil...pref olive.

Panda

for quick toasted sannwiches,
first toast the bread till quite brown,
add ham,cheese,onion,children,roadkill, etc
microwave for about 20-25 secs.

*ping*

if needs more, flip sannwich first and go again.

Samson

Originally posted by Panda
for quick toasted sannwiches,
first toast the bread till quite brown,
add ham,cheese...
microwave for about 20-25 secs.

Does this not make the bread soggy?

Gordon

When baking potatoes:
Skewer a metal skewer through the potatoe(s) ensuring a good all the way through cook.