6/22/11

Tips N' Tricks Tuesday: Kitchen Ideas

This is the last section from my vintage/retro cook book!  Hope you enjoy!

*A leaf of lettuce dropped into the pot absorbs the grease from the top of the soup.  Remove the lettuce and throw it away as soon as it has served its purpose.*

*To prevent splashing when frying meat, sprinkle a little salt into the pan before putting the fat in.*

*Small amounts of leftover corn may be added to pancake batter for variety.*

*To make bread crumbs, use fine cutter of the food grinder and tie a large paper bag over the spout to prevent flying crumbs.*

*When bread is baking, a small dish of water in the oven will help to keep the crust from getting hard.*

*Rinse a pan in cold water before scalding milk to prevent sticking.*

*When you are creaming butter and sugar together, it's a good idea to rinse the bowl with boiling water first.  They'll cream faster.*

*To melt chocolate, grease pan in which it is to be melted.*

*Dip the spoon in hot water to ensure shortening, butter, etc., the fat will slip out more easily.*

*When you by cellophane-wrapped cupcakes and notice that the cellophane is somewhat stuck to the frosting, hold the package under the cold-water tap for a moment before you unwrap it.  The cellophane will then come off clean.*

*When you are doing any sort of baking, you get better results if you remember to preheat your cooky sheet, muffin tins, or cake pans.*

*Chill cheese to grate it more easily.*

*The odor from baking or boiling salmon may be eliminated by squeezing lemon juice on both sides of each salmon steak or on the cut surface of the salmon and letting it stand in the refrigerator for one hour or longer before cooking.*

*Use the type of can opener that leaves a smooth edge and remove both ends from a flat can (the size can that tuna is usually packed in) and you have a perfect mold for poaching eggs.*

*Use the divider from an ice tray to cut biscuits in a hurry.  Shape dough to conform with the size of divider and cut.  After baking biscuits will separate at dividing lines.*

*A clean clothespin provides a cool handle to steady the cake tin when removing a hot cake.*

*Try using a thread instead of a knife when a cake is to be cut while it's hot.*



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, do all those things really work?? I definitely need to remember a few of them.

Question though...I thought putting a pan of water in the oven while baking bread was what made the crust harden? That seems to be the theory in the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day anyway. When I tried it, the bread failed to rise, but the crust was definitely nice and hard.

Pamela said...

Some of these I've never heard before. I'll be trying them out. They say a day isn't profitable until you've learned something new. So I can mark that one off my list for today. Ha!

Monica said...

@ Sophie-I love the fact that you have a heart for homemaking!!! It's such a wonderful trait to have!