Kitchen Tips and Tricks
Tips and techniques
Peeling Ginger – using a paring knife and gently but firmly scrape down the length of the Ginger to remove the peel
Making the most out of lemons - when you find a good deal on lemons by them in bulk of. Remove the outside peels with a zester or a Peeler - store in freezer bags. Juice the lemons and pour the juice into ice cube trays. Freeze the juice completely, remove from the trays and store in freezer bags.
Tomato paste – when buying cans of the tomato paste, use a can opener to open both ends of the can. Gently push of the tomato paste through the can onto a plate. Portion the tomato paste into 1 tbsp. portions and place on a plastic lined tray. Place in the freezer until firm and transfer to plastic bags.
Cooking bacon - preheat and oven to 425° line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay the strips of bacon on the parchment. Bake for about fifteen to twenty minutes. The bacon will remain flat. Drain and reserve the bacon grease for other uses.
Cooking breakfast sausage - preheat and oven to 425° line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay the sausage links on the parchment. Bake for about fifteen to twenty minutes. Drain and reserve the sausage grease for other uses.
Perfect Dough rolling - rolling out dough to a perfect thickness can be tricky. Go to your local hardware store and purchase some dowel rods with diameters of 1/16in., 1/8in., and 1/4in. place the Dowels on either side of the dough and roll out the dough until the rolling pin rolls along the top of the rods. The dowel rods will provide the perfect guide for consistent thickness.
Roasting garlic – preheat the oven to 375°, then cut the top off of two garlic heads exposing the cloves. Place them, cut side up, on a large piece of foil and drizzle with olive oil. Form a packet by folding the Folio over the garlic crimping the edges tightly so no leaks out. Place the packets on a baking sheet and bake for one hour. Cool the garlic then squeeze the heads from the bottom to remove the cloves, they will slip right out.
Boiling pasta – the biggest problem people have with cooking pasta is keeping it from sticking together. Adding oil to the pot does not solve this problem, but does help to keep the pot from boiling over. To properly cook pasta, bring at least one gallon of water for every pound of pasta to a boil. If you want the pasta to have plenty of room to move around. Add 2tbsp. of salt for every gallon of water and bring to a roaring boil. Add the pasta and stir often during the first few minutes until the water returns to a boil. Cook to ‘al dente’ (firm to the tooth) and drain. It is best to add the sauce immediately but, sometimes you need to hold the pasta. Drain the pasta and coat lightly with olive oil, this will keep it from sticking together.
Pitting olives – forget about all the great kitchen gadgets. Simply place the olive on a cutting board, then place the flat side of the blade of a knife directly on top. Now, firmly press down on the blade with your hand to loosen the pit from the walls of the olive, it will probably crack on one side, remove the pit through the split taking care not to mangle the flesh.
Cleaning a bell pepper – most people will cut of bell pepper in one way: slice it in half dig out the seeds and the core from both halves, and then they remove the seeds and membranes from each half. There is an easier way. Most bell peppers have a box like shape with a stem on top. Begin by holding the pepper by this stem and simply remove the four sides leaving the stem and core attached - discard it. Carefully remove the pith or membrane from the sides then slice through the inside – it is easier to cut through then the smooth skin outside.
Measuring reductions - a popular category were sauce making is referred to as “reductions “ or a reduction sauce. This involves taking a large quantity of liquid and reducing the total volume through boiling. In order to properly judge the amount of reduction, place the stock or broth in a saucepan. Hold a wooden chopstick vertically and push to the bottom of the pan. With a pen or marker, make a little mark on the chopstick to note the original volume of the liquid. As the liquid boils and reduces, use the chopstick as a measuring device. This will show you the level of liquid as it reduces
Cutting squash – lay squash on side and cut off stem end. With the squash still on its side insert a sharp knife into the top of the squash. With a downward rocking motion, cut toward the cutting board. Rotate the squash and using the prior cut as a starting point, insert the knife and cut other side. Separate squash into two halves.
Crystallized Honey almost every bottle or jar of honey will eventually crystallize. Honey is essentially fructose and glucose dissolved in a liquid. Higher fructose honey will crystallize more slowly. Place honey in bowl of boiling water and allow the large sugar crystals to melt.
Self-rising Flour. If your recipe calls for self-rising flour and you only have all-purpose, add 1 ½ teaspoon of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of salt to every 1 cup of flour.