Two Kitchen Tips

[pturo]

My mother taught me:

If bread is crushed in shopping bag by a dolt who loaded it, put the bread in it's wrapper in the sun on a windowsill, it will expand. Also works for hamburger/hot dog rolls.

Ever notice how garlic slides around the cutting board when trying to dice it? Put a half teaspoon salt on the cutting board to ground it, and the salt will also enhance the garlic when you cook it.

Just two of the million things my mother taught me

 

[luxflairguy]

My tip is simple. I use lots ot Le Crueset pots with the older non-enameled bottoms. A paper towel placed in the sink before putting down the pan means no rust stain after it soaks! Happy TGIF!

 

[jmirawm]

smashed bread

If my bread gets smashed, it gets returned to the dolt who smashed it.

 

[wetguymd]

OMG!

Well while I don't have the crushed bread to try I did try the garlic tip. I put a litte salt on the cutting board and then put the clove on top of it and was amazed at how it stayed in place while chopping it with the knife. I didn't want the garlic smashed but chopped and this worked great! Thanks to you and your Mom for the great tip!

Now if I just had some smushed bread to try in the window sill!!!

 

[toggleswitch]

Salt an onion with a bit of water.
It removes the bitterness. Rinse well ...proceed.

Rub your hands on the stainless steel sink. it removes odors. (onion garlic, @$$,.........)

A stove-top (ignited, please!) gas burner is not only good for singe-ing the hairs off a chicken or turkey but is said to minimize crying when cutting an onion.

In the old days a few drops of lemon were added to keep an aluminum pot from browning or discoloring on the inside. AHEM=> This just transfers the oxidation (read: posion) to the food faster and to a greater degree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Roll a lemon across the coutertop (workbench=> UK) with slight pressure from your palm BEFORE you cut it open. It will yield more juice.

To tell if an egg has been cooked, spin it. Fast spin means it has been boiled already.

Ice cubes that sink in your beverage means the beverage has alcohol. To get a guest drunk faster offer a straw and be sure your drinks have water or ice in them. The body craves water and will pull alcohol through the digestrive tract and intestinal membrane quicker to get that water. You get a quicker high.

Meat with bones takes longer too cook.

To save your arteries, serve green vegetables (that are not stachy, like peas) with lemon and oil (50/50) instead of butter. Or use lemon, vinegar aand oil. Vinegar and oil (no lemon) is traditionally 1:3 parts mix. If the fat (i.e. the oil) is a liquid at room teperature is is is surely still a liquid at body temrature and wont stick in your veins and arteries. (See vegetable recipes called 'a la greque').

Metal browns and rots lettuce. Make sure your bowl is non -metalic (i.e. glass, ceramic or wooden) and your knife is acrylic or ceramic.[this post was last edited: 8/20/2010-22:39]

 

[spookiness]

store bought bread?

*shudders*

 

[frigilux]

Here's a tip I learned during my catering days: To stop drips when ladling liquids from one vessel to another, do the following. Fill your ladle and lift it out of the liquid. Then, lower the bottom of the ladle back into the liquid. Proceed with the ladle to its final destination.

Apparently, the surface tension caused by the extra "dip" stops messy drips from happening. No more stained tablecloths or messy countertops! Works with everything from soup to gravy.

I especially appreciate this technique when I'm canning tomato sauce/salsa/juice or making jam. No messy drips when ladling from the cooking pot to the jar.