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.*

Tips N' Tricks Tuesday: Worth Remembering

Halfway through my vintage cookbook!  You can find my previous posts here, here, and here.  Enjoy!!

*A pie crust will be more easily made and better if all the ingredients are cool.*

*The lower crust should be placed in the pan so that it covers the surface smoothly.  And be sure no air lurks beneath the surface, for it will push the crust out of shape in baking.*

*Folding the top crust over the lower crust before crimping will keep the juices in the pie.*

*In making custard type pies, bake at a high temperature for about ten minutes to prevent a soggy crust.  Then finish baking at a low temperature.*

*Fill cake pans about two-thirds full and spread batter well into corners and to the sides, leaving a slight hollow in the center.*

*The cake is done when it shrinks slightly from the sides of the pan or if it springs back when touched lightly with a finger.*

*After a cake comes from the oven, it should be placed on a rack for about five minutes.  Then the sides should be loosened and the cake turned out on the rack to finish cooling.*  ((Note By Me:  My technique for loosening cakes is to whack the pan on the table!!))

*Cakes should not be frosted until thoroughly cool.*

*Kneading the dough for a half minute after mixing improves the texture of baking powder biscuits.*

Candy & Frosting Chart

230 degrees-234 degrees             Thread

234 degrees-240 degrees             Soft Ball

244 degrees-248 degrees             Firm Ball

250 degrees-266 degrees             Hard Ball

270 degrees-290 degrees             Soft Crack

300 degrees-310 degrees             Hard Crack

This is kind of unrelated if you want a printable of kitchen equivalents and they candy and frosting chart, click here.  This link takes you to a printable sheet from Martha Stewart that is super cute and super handy in the kitchen!!

Tips N' Tricks Tuesday: Kitchen Ideas

Some more tips found in an old cookbook!!  My other posts about these Tips N' Tricks can be found here, and here!

*Potatoes soaked in salt water for 20 minutes before baking will bake more rapidly.*

*Sweet potatoes will not turn dark if put in salted water (five teaspoons to one quart of water) immediately after peeling.  ((edited to add!  This also works with regular potatoes!!))*

*Let raw potatoes stand in cold water for at least half an hour before frying to improve the crispness of french fried potatoes.*

*Use a strawberry huller to peel potatoes which have been boiled in their "jackets".*

*Use greased muffin tins as molds when baking stuffed green peppers.*

*A few drops of lemon juice in the water will whiten boiled potatoes.*

*The skins will remain tender if you wrap potatoes in aluminum foil to bake them.  They are attractively served in the foil, too.*

*If you add a little milk to water in which cauliflower is cooking, the cauliflower will remain attractively white.*

*When cooking cabbage, place a small tin cup or can half full of vinegar on the stove near the cabbage, and it will absorb all odor from it.*

*It is important when and how you add salt in cooking.  To blend with soups and sauces, put it in early, but add it to meats just before taking from the stove.  In cake ingredients, salt can be mixed with the eggs.  When cooking vegetables always salt the water in which they are cooked.  Put salt in the pan when frying fish.*

*It is easy to remove the white membrane from oranges--for fancy desserts or salads--by soaking them in boiling water for five minutes before you peel them.*

*You can get more juice from a dried up lemon if you heat it for five minutes in boiling water before you squeeze it.*

*If it's important to you to get walnut meats out whole, soak the nuts overnight in salt water before you crack them.*

*If the whipping cream looks as though it's not going to whip, add three or four drops of lemon juice or a bit of plain gelatin powder to it and it probably will.*

*For quick and handy seasoning while cooking, keep on hand a large shaker containing six parts of salt and one of pepper.*

*Dip your bananas in lemon juice right after they are peeled.  They will not turn dark and the faint flavor of lemon really adds quite a bit.  The same may be done with apples.*

Tips N' Tricks Tuesday: Kitchen Ideas

Eggs and More!

*To preserve leftover egg yolks for future use, place them into a small bowl and add two tablespoons of salad oil.  Then put into the refrigerator.  The egg yolks will remain soft and fresh, and egg yolks kept in this way can be used in my ways.*

*You may determine the age of an egg by placing it in the bottom of a bowl of cold water.  If it lays on its side, it is strictly fresh.  If it stands at an angle it is at least three days old and ten days old if it stands on end.*

*To keep egg yolks from crumbling when slicing hard-cooked eggs, wet the knife before each cut.*

*Bread crumbs added to scrambled eggs will improve the flavor and make larger helpings possible.*

*A tablespoon of vinegar added to the water when poaching eggs will help set the whites so they will not spread.*

*When cooking eggs it helps prevent cracking if you wet the shells in cold water before placing them in boiling water.*

*Add a little vinegar to the water when an egg cracks during boiling  It will help seal the egg.*

*Meringue will not shrink if you spread it on the pie so that it touches the crust on each side and bake it in a moderate oven.*

*When you cook eggs in the shell, put a big teaspoon of salt in the water.  Then the shell won't crack.*

*Set eggs in pan of warm water before using as this releases all white from shell.*

*Egg whites for meringue should be set out to room temperature before beating, then they can be beaten to greater volume.*

*If you want to make a pecan pie and haven't any nuts, substitute crushed cornflakes.  They will rise to the top the same as nuts and give a delicious flavor and crunchy surface.*

*To prevent crust from becoming soggy with cream pie, sprinkle crust with powdered sugar.*

*Cut drinking straws into short lengths and insert through slits in pie crusts to prevent juice from running over in the oven and permit steam to escape.*

*Put a layer of marshmallows int the bottom of a pumpkin pie, then add the filling.  You will have a nice topping as the marshmallow will come to the top.*

*If the juice from your apple pie runs over in the oven, shake some salt on it, which causes the juice to burn to a crisp so it can be removed.*

*Use cooking or salad oil in waffles and hot cakes in the place of shortening.  No extra pan or bowl to melt the shortening and no waiting.*

Tips N' Tricks Tuesday: Worth Remembering

*Keep a toothbrush around the kitchen sink--you will find it useful in cleaning rotary beaters, graters, choppers and similar kitchen utensils.*

*Instead of trying to iron rickrack on the right side of the garment, turn the article.  The rickrack can be pressed perfectly.*

*When your hands are badly stained from gardening, add a teaspoon of sugar to the soapy lather you wash them in*

*Use paper cups as handy containers for your "drippings" in the refrigerator as they take up little room and can be thrown away when empty.*

*Before emptying the bag of your vacuum cleaner, sprinkle water on the newspaper into which it is emptied, and there will be no scattering of dust.*

*To whiten laces, wash the in sour milk.*

*To remove burned-on starch from your iron, sprinkle salt on a sheet of waxed paper and slide iron back and forth several times.  Then polish it with silver polish until roughness or stain is removed.*

Dip a new broom in hot salt water before using.  This will toughen teh bristles and make it last longer.*

*Try waxing your ashtrays.  Ashes won't cling, odors won't linger and they can be wiped clean with a paper towel or disposable tissue.  This saves daily washing.*

*Plant a few springs of dill near your tomato plants to prevent tomato worms on your plants.*

*Marigolds will prevent rodents.*

*Spray garbage sacks with ammonia to prevent dogs from tearing the bags before picked up.*

*You can clean darkened aluminum pans easily by boiling in them two teaspoons of cream of tartar mixed in a quart of water.  Ten minutes will do it.*

*Fresh lemon juices will take away onion scent from hands.*

*Wash old powder puffs in soapy water, rinse well and dry throughly.  Then use them for polishing silverware, copper, and brass.*

*Soak colored cottons overnight in strong salt water and they will not fade.*

*To dry drip-dry garments faster and with fewer wrinkles, hang garment over the top of a dry cleaner's plastic bag.*

*If a cracked dish is boiled for 45 minutes in sweet milk, the crack will be so welded together that it will hardly be visible, and will be so strong in will stand the same usage as before.*

I'm currently going through a few cookbooks I have, and one of my grandmothers.  I'm typing up the recipes on my computer so I can then print and test them out before adding them to my recipe cards.  I was pleasantly surprised when one of the cookbooks was put together by a local church, and was created by the same people who made a cookbook of my moms.  I've always loved this cookbook of my moms because it has great recipes AND the coolest tips and tricks in it.  The above is just a sampling of one page.  Over the next couple of Tuesdays I'll be sharing the tips from other pages as well!!