RMS
Sous Chef
Sweet tea has no lemon in it. I love it now, but didn't like it as a child.
All the tips here are great!
Keep 'em coming!
All the tips here are great!
Keep 'em coming!
Share your cooking tips
- Thread starter kimbaby
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
CharlieD
Chef Extraordinaire
Back in my Soviet days I visited Southeren republicks of then Union. It is really hot there in the summer. But, they have this special places, like a tea house, and people just seat and drink really hot tea. To me it was amasing, but then when I started doing it, I realised that drinking hot tea helps to curb yout thirtht (sp?) fester.
Now, as far as cooking advise goes, i do not really have one, but there is one thing I learn back in my army days, stay far away from the comanding officers, stay as close as possible to the kitchen!
Now, as far as cooking advise goes, i do not really have one, but there is one thing I learn back in my army days, stay far away from the comanding officers, stay as close as possible to the kitchen!
Claire
Master Chef
When we married, we came to an agreement: S/he who cooks does not do dishes. We haven't had a dishwasher for years, and since hubby has quit cooking (he used to, what happened?), I wash dishes when his arthritis kicks up.
I wish I was better at mise en place. I'm always good when it comes to asian cooking -- stir frying goes so fast you'd better have everything there. But with other cooking I'm always yelling (at myself) "where the heck is ...." an ingredient that I forgot to take out in advance.
But my big hint is to enjoy yourself and forgive yourself. I have a freind who has to try any dish she serves to company several times before so that it will be just perfect. I serve new dishes to dinner parties often. Unlike many who wrote in, I shop weekly, and on Thursday (shopping day is Friday), dinner is going to be whatever perishables are around. I've gotten pretty creative. Hubby claims I've never failed. Not quite true, but one time I had to call in for a pizza when that little toss of the peel didn't work. One of my guests scraped the pizza off the back of the oven and ate it and said it was great. So even your failures should be taken with a grain of salt and a lot of laughter.
Another hint is you can't please everyone every time, and to a point you shouldn't try. Serious diseases aside.
I wish I was better at mise en place. I'm always good when it comes to asian cooking -- stir frying goes so fast you'd better have everything there. But with other cooking I'm always yelling (at myself) "where the heck is ...." an ingredient that I forgot to take out in advance.
But my big hint is to enjoy yourself and forgive yourself. I have a freind who has to try any dish she serves to company several times before so that it will be just perfect. I serve new dishes to dinner parties often. Unlike many who wrote in, I shop weekly, and on Thursday (shopping day is Friday), dinner is going to be whatever perishables are around. I've gotten pretty creative. Hubby claims I've never failed. Not quite true, but one time I had to call in for a pizza when that little toss of the peel didn't work. One of my guests scraped the pizza off the back of the oven and ate it and said it was great. So even your failures should be taken with a grain of salt and a lot of laughter.
Another hint is you can't please everyone every time, and to a point you shouldn't try. Serious diseases aside.
here is my bran new site about italian food calabrian cooking
KellyM
Senior Cook
Okay, tips.
1) To turn out shrimp that is tender, succulent, and juicy, brine it in a solution of 16 parts water and 1 part each of sugar and table salt. Make enough to cover the amount of shrimp you are cooking, and let them soak in it at room temperature for about a half an hour. Remove them, dry them, and cook as usual, and you will be amazed at the difference. Just be sure not to overcook them; if you do they'll be chewy no matter what. And yes, you can use other types of salt, but in this case use an equivalent weight to a "part" of table salt, instead of using the same measuring cup for say pickling or kosher salt. Finer crystals dissolve more readily than coarse ones, but with the same measuring cup will make the brine saltier, as they pack more closely together in the cup.
2) Same thing for pork, except leave out the sugar and use twice as much water. The larger cuts like roasts need to brine in the fridge overnight, and smaller cuts likewise in the fridge, but only for three or four hours. This will turn out pork that is juicy and flavorful, instead of the dry, tasteless stuff we so often encounter. Depending on the dish, I often add freshly minced garlic, chopped onions, or chopped jalapenos to the brine as well.
3) Before cooking, clean your kitchen and empty the dishwasher. If you are cooking a large holiday meal, banish irrelevent appliances from your counter tops, like toasters, coffee grinders, stand mixers, and anything else you will not be using. This will help keep you from running out of all-important counter space. Who among us has never pulled a large, hot pan out of the oven, only to stand there helpessly and yell "I need somewhere to set the...!" This will also make cleaning your counters a breeze afterwards. Spilled gravy and meat juices will have nothing to run under, and once everything is in the dishwasher, you can just hose your counters down with a cleaning solution, and wipe them clean.
4) Rinse and re-use pans whenever possible, or rinse them and put them in the dishwasher if you don't need them anymore. You can always pull them back out and use them again, (the interior of your dishwasher is the cleanest place in your kitchen, as long as you rinse stuff off before putting it in there) and this will also keep your counters and sink from becoming cluttered.
5) Deglaze pans as soon as the food comes out, even if you are not making sauce or gravy, and there will be no reason to soak them. Both tips four and five will save you a lot of work in the long run, as it is much easier to deglaze or rinse now than to scrub and scrape later.
1) To turn out shrimp that is tender, succulent, and juicy, brine it in a solution of 16 parts water and 1 part each of sugar and table salt. Make enough to cover the amount of shrimp you are cooking, and let them soak in it at room temperature for about a half an hour. Remove them, dry them, and cook as usual, and you will be amazed at the difference. Just be sure not to overcook them; if you do they'll be chewy no matter what. And yes, you can use other types of salt, but in this case use an equivalent weight to a "part" of table salt, instead of using the same measuring cup for say pickling or kosher salt. Finer crystals dissolve more readily than coarse ones, but with the same measuring cup will make the brine saltier, as they pack more closely together in the cup.
2) Same thing for pork, except leave out the sugar and use twice as much water. The larger cuts like roasts need to brine in the fridge overnight, and smaller cuts likewise in the fridge, but only for three or four hours. This will turn out pork that is juicy and flavorful, instead of the dry, tasteless stuff we so often encounter. Depending on the dish, I often add freshly minced garlic, chopped onions, or chopped jalapenos to the brine as well.
3) Before cooking, clean your kitchen and empty the dishwasher. If you are cooking a large holiday meal, banish irrelevent appliances from your counter tops, like toasters, coffee grinders, stand mixers, and anything else you will not be using. This will help keep you from running out of all-important counter space. Who among us has never pulled a large, hot pan out of the oven, only to stand there helpessly and yell "I need somewhere to set the...!" This will also make cleaning your counters a breeze afterwards. Spilled gravy and meat juices will have nothing to run under, and once everything is in the dishwasher, you can just hose your counters down with a cleaning solution, and wipe them clean.
4) Rinse and re-use pans whenever possible, or rinse them and put them in the dishwasher if you don't need them anymore. You can always pull them back out and use them again, (the interior of your dishwasher is the cleanest place in your kitchen, as long as you rinse stuff off before putting it in there) and this will also keep your counters and sink from becoming cluttered.
5) Deglaze pans as soon as the food comes out, even if you are not making sauce or gravy, and there will be no reason to soak them. Both tips four and five will save you a lot of work in the long run, as it is much easier to deglaze or rinse now than to scrub and scrape later.
In the Kitchen
Executive Chef
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2004
- Messages
- 2,862
Gas
Used to feel this way until I realized allowing my moods to judge my wants is not really practical. With everything going up in price mainly the gas I had not choice but to shop once week. When you live on budget I have to allow for cost of gas too. Also find that having product makes me do things I normally feel too much effort. One thing my health has improved since I eat more fresh things than other things that are easy to prepare. Many people ask how I fix eggplant? They have never even t asted it they say.
Haggis said:
Used to feel this way until I realized allowing my moods to judge my wants is not really practical. With everything going up in price mainly the gas I had not choice but to shop once week. When you live on budget I have to allow for cost of gas too. Also find that having product makes me do things I normally feel too much effort. One thing my health has improved since I eat more fresh things than other things that are easy to prepare. Many people ask how I fix eggplant? They have never even t asted it they say.
flukx
Senior Cook
I read this interesting tip in an old German cookbook: Use old cardboard egg containers for assistance in lighting a grill/campfire by putting pieces of charcoal in the egg "slots." Never tried it, but it sounds promising.
Claire
Master Chef
Unfortunately, gas prices and the way U.S. cities are arranged precludes daily or even every few days shopping. The fact is, at least where I live, the "fresh" produce at the store tomorrow is highly likely to be the "fresh" produce that was there yesterday. I'd just as soon buy it and store it myself. My local farmers' market has exactly what my garden has, when I have it. So .... I shop weekly unless I specifically want one particular thing. I know when our local grocery store gets its produce (Thursdays), and I don't buy fresh produce from WalMart anyway. I guess what I'm getting at is that we all need to know our local stores before we make a blanket decision on how we buy.
Bangbang
Executive Chef
Before you start......make sure you have all the ingredients. Most recipes for ribs in cookbooks are wrong. Cook them low and slow.
VeraBlue
Executive Chef
If you must fry in the nude...
use a splatter guard.
use a splatter guard.
Corinne
Sous Chef
Here's a couple of my favorites:
1. Chop up a big pile of onions or red/green bell peppers all at once. Freeze individual portions in ice cube trays. When the cubes are fully frozen, remove from trays & place in Zip-Loc freezer bags. Remove a cube or 2, as needed. This means that I always have onions & peppers ready when I need them & I'm not throwing onions & peppers away because they've gone bad. I also seem to use less onions than I would if I was chopping them fresh.
2. Thoroughly clean a "Sports Bottle" (Dasani/Poland Springs, etc.) after you drink the water. (Sports bottles are the ones with pull-up or twisting openings.) Fill with oil to use for cooking. I have one for olive oil & one for vegetable oil. I buy large containers of oil at BJ's & keep refilling the bottles. When I need some oil in the pan for sauteing something, it's so easy to just squirt as much as I want into the pan.
1. Chop up a big pile of onions or red/green bell peppers all at once. Freeze individual portions in ice cube trays. When the cubes are fully frozen, remove from trays & place in Zip-Loc freezer bags. Remove a cube or 2, as needed. This means that I always have onions & peppers ready when I need them & I'm not throwing onions & peppers away because they've gone bad. I also seem to use less onions than I would if I was chopping them fresh.
2. Thoroughly clean a "Sports Bottle" (Dasani/Poland Springs, etc.) after you drink the water. (Sports bottles are the ones with pull-up or twisting openings.) Fill with oil to use for cooking. I have one for olive oil & one for vegetable oil. I buy large containers of oil at BJ's & keep refilling the bottles. When I need some oil in the pan for sauteing something, it's so easy to just squirt as much as I want into the pan.
purrfectlydevine
Sous Chef
The sports bottle idea is cool.Corinne said:
purrfectlydevine
Sous Chef
Don't think I posted this before, but if you dip cut fruit like apples and bananas in Sprite or Diet Sprite, the fruit won't turn brown as quickly.
marigeorge
Senior Cook
I use a melonballer to scoop seeds from halved cucumbers, apples, squash, etc. Works like a charm!
