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Pammy's Cooking Tips Page
This page contains various home cooking tips that I received from friends,
family, and the internet. There is also some basic measurement equivalents listed at the bottom
of this page. Hopefully these tips will help make things go a little easier in the kitchen.
Some of them I have tried and others I have not. If you have any helpful kitchen tips, please
send them to tips@pammy.ourfamily.com and I'll
post them here.
Baking Potatoes:
- Use a potato with a high starch content... it makes for a puffier baked potato. Good starchy potatoes are: russet and Idaho.
- Look for potatoes that have a smooth skin and no sprouts. Stay away from those with wrinkly skin or soft spots.
- Store your potatoes in a cool dark spot away from your onions.
- Don't store potatoes for months on end; a couple of weeks is what you should plan for.
Desserts:
- To soften up a hard (almost unbreakable) clump of brown sugar, heat for 20 seconds in the microwave.
- If a cake layer bumps, shave it off flat with a long sharp knife.
- Don't be impatient when frosting a cake. Let it cool thoroughly before frosting.
- Draw your design with a toothpick before decorating a cake. Then you can just follow the stenciling as a guide.
- Warm cookies should never be stacked on top of each other. They can stick together, lose their shape, or break apart.
- Try this low calorie, no fat, desert that people will rave over. Place a few bananas in the freezer (can be the very overripe ones). After the meal, take your frozen bananas and put them in the food processor. Pulse them till they become a smooth "ice cream"
and serve immediately. The result is a rich creamy treat everyone will swear is full of fat. Serve it as an ala mode, by itself, or as a sundae. You can add chocolate syrup (no fat), whipped cream (no fat) and a sprinkle of chopped pecans (ok, a little fat).
Grilling:
- Make sure grill is clean before cooking.
- To prevent sticking, brush or spray a light coating of oil on grid.
- Be sure your grill is hot enough before starting.
- If your grill has a top, close it to allow smoke to add it's flavor.
- Grill meat and veggies about 4 inches from heat source and chicken about 6-8 inches away.
- To add more flavor, try adding pre soaked chunks of natural hardwoods like hickory, mesquite or pecan.
- Use herbs with your bar-b-q. Toss a few on the coals or in a smoker box to produce a fragrant smoke or use a few sprigs as a brush for brushing on your marinade for a delicate flavor.
Remember, always start with a little and adding in small bits till you get the desired taste. Don't ruin a dish by overloading it with herbs, you can always add more.
- To keep poultry from drying out, grill with bone in and baste continuously.
- Poultry dark meat takes longer than white meat so start it sooner.
- Sear chicken on the skin side first.
- Don't throw away peelings from onions. When using a grill, toss peels on hot coals while cooking. Wonderful smell.
- For grilling bell peppers, cut into halves or quarters. Remove seeds and grill 12 to 15 minutes.
- Grill whole mushrooms (that are at least 1 1/2 inch in diameter) for 10 minutes.
- Onions should be cut in half or in quarters and grilled 12 to 15 minutes.
- Medium sized squash should be cut in half and then into quarters. Cook small squash whole. Grill 10 to 12 minutes.
- To grill whole ears or corn, pull husks back and remove corn silk. Do not remove husks. Arrange husks back onto corn and soak in
cold water for 1 to 2 hours. Grill in husks (or you can wrap in tin foil) for 20 to 30 minutes, turning frequently.
- Cook your food away from the direct heat. This takes longer but the food is less likely to get charred and it will be more tender.
- Do not use sugary marinades, and only add bar-b-q sauce at the last minute to avoid the sugar burning.
- Steam vegetables on the grill using tin-foil. Simply make packages of tin-foil with the veggies inside sprinkled with water, or a couple of ice cubes.
Meats & Fish:
- When roasting, save the pan juices for your gravy.
- Make sure your roasting pan is the correct size and is placed on the middle rack.
- When using a broiler to cook meats, pre-heat oven until it's really hot. This will sear the outside of the meat and keep the juices in. And don’t use a fork to turn the meat, use tongs or a spatula to prevent juices from leaking out.
- When you buy shrimp, select the ones that have the shell closely fit to the body. Loose shells are a sign of shrinkage, and they are probably not fresh.
- Marinating pork in apple juice, cider, apple sauce and apple butter not only tenderize the meat but adds flavor and moisture. You can marinate it for 30 minutes up to overnight and then either grill, broil, bake or braise it.
Cooking it slowly with liquid is the best way to have juicy, tender pork.
- Never partially grill meat or poultry to finish cooking later. Cook food completely to destroy harmful bacteria. Cook hamburgers to 160 degrees on a meat thermometer; larger cuts of beef to between 145 and 160 degrees;
all cuts of pork to 160 degrees; chicken breasts to 170 degrees. Reheat precooked meats such as hot dogs to 165 degrees or steaming hot.
Tupperware:
- If you have trouble closing seals, run them under hot water for approximately 20 seconds and snap close!
- Stains - Use a baking soda paste to prevent stains. Also, let gravies and/or sauces cool before adding to Tupperware.
- Use Modular Mate Containers for storage. Saves time and money and keeps those little critters out!
Vegetables:
- Try using carrots instead of sugar to sweeten your sauces.
- When freezing fresh herbs or things like cut up green peppers or corn, add a little olive oil to the plastic freezing bag and mix well. The oil helps keep the spices fresh and foodstuffs frozen, this way it separates easily when you wish to use some.
No more huge chunk of ice to try and break up.
- To avoid "tears" when chopping onions, place onions in the freezer for 15 minutes before cutting.
- Martha Stewart tip on how not to cry when chopping onions. Put your cutting board on top of one of the burners of a GAS cooktop. Turn the burner that is next to it, on a lowish flame. This small flame absorbs the vapors that eminate from the onion.
You can chop for days, and no tears!
- A little lemon juice added to the water you cook green vegetables in will help them retain their color.
- When using dried beans, pick through them for rocks and foreign objects that may have been included when packaged.
- Add a tablespoon of grape jelly to a cup of gravy and serve with your mashed potatoes or turkey. It is sweet, different, delicious, and fruity.
General Cooking:
- Prepare what you need before you start. It’s how the pros do it and it simplifies the process when you are scrambling to put it all together.
- Never cook with any wine you wouldn't drink!
- The hard grating cheeses are lower in fat, and because of their strong flavor go much further. A tablespoon of parmesan cheese is only about 2 grams of fat and adds a great taste boost to many foods.
- Solution for finding spices and herbs: Sticky-back velcro strips. Stick the hook part on the bottom of over-the-counter cabinets, then stick 1 inch pieces onto the tops of spice jars so the jars hang in full view
(all the way to the back of the cabinet, next to the wall). Grab and rip loose when you are ready to use the spice. When a jar is empty, simply save the old cap and switch it to the new jar.
- Next time you have a headache try eating some strawberries. They contain natural salicylates, an ingredient that's found in aspirin.
- Try boiling rice, not in water, but in chicken broth or vegetable broth. It makes it extremely flavorful and allows us to cut down on the salt intake. Do the same thing with vegetables like brocolli, cauliflower, and carrots.
- If your hands smell like onions, garlic, fish or whatever, put a few shakes of salt on your palms and rub briskly. They'll wash up fresh.
- When you lift the lid of a cooking pot, open it outward to prevent a blast of steam from hitting your face.
- Rice cooks better in low wide pots than high narrow ones.
- If you're having trouble trying to decide between buying one cookbook or another, take a look at the index. Choose the book with the best and easiest index to use.
- To remove a cork from inside an empty wine bottle, pour some ammonia into the bottle, set it in a well ventilated location. In a few days the cork will be desintegrated.
- How many will 1 pound of pasta serve? If it's a first course, four; if it accompanies meat, six; if it's the entire meal, about three.
- All honey will crystallize naturally over time. Place honey jar in warm water until the crystals disappear. If you are in a hurry, place the jar in a microwave safe container and heat it in the
microwave on high for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring every thirty seconds. Remember, never boil or scorch honey.
| American Measurement Equivalents
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| 1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons | 12 tablespoons = 3/4 cup
| | 2 tablespoons = 1 ounce | 16 tablespoons = 1 cup
| | 4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup | 1 cup = 8 ounces
| | 5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon = 1/3 cup | 2 cups = 1 pint
| | 8 tablespoons = 1/2 cup | 4 cups = 1 quart
| | | 4 quarts= 1 gallon
| | Temperature Conversions
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| Centigrade degrees X 9/5 + 32 = Fahrenheit degrees
| | Fahrenheit degrees - 32 X 5/9 = Centigrade degrees
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