Site Title

Eclectic Cooking.com

COOKING TIPS | Drink Tips | Home

Back

Health/nutrition tips

Ginger

Did you know that ginger can help against rheumatism, nausea, and motion sickness?

Tomatoes

Tomatoes contain acid which means that food should not be cooked with tomatoes in an aluminum pot because the acid's contact with the aluminum can give the food a bad aftertaste.

Avocados

Avocados will not turn black if you store them in a plastic bag with all the air pushed out. Sliced or mashed avocados will not turn dark when you peel them and place the pit in the dish with them.

Coffee

Coffee can actually help keep your sink's drain pipes from plugging up. The fine grains of coffee can wash off some of the muck and whatever else may be on the sides of the drain pipes. It's not a substitute for the plumber but it can help. Don't think that you can put a few pounds of coffee down there though if it gets plugged up...call the plumber.

Onions

Eclectic Cooking has heard that putting onions in the fridge can stop you crying when you cut them. Doesn't this sound too good to be true? A new breakthrough in cooking? :)

Rules for selecting fish

If the gills are red, the eyes full, and the whole fish firm and stiff, they are fresh and good; if, on the contrary, the gills are pale, the eyes sunken, the flesh flabby, they are stale.

Tomatoes

You shouldn't put your tomatoes in the fridge as it can make them soggy or soft rather quickly! They also don't taste quite as nice. Are the vegetables in the supermarket in the fridge or on the shelves? Do the same.

Poultry

Frozen poultry should always be thawed out/defrosted, in the fridge, never on the kitchen counter. It is also best to leave the poultry in the wrapping it came in. The poultry also tastes best when left an extra day in the fridge.

Almonds

To blanch almonds, pour boiling water over them and allow them to stand until cool. Then slip off the skins!

Crumbs of bread crust

Use a blender to make crumbs of bread crust, left-over muffins etc. then store in a tightly covered jar in the refrigerator. If the bread is fairly dry, it will keep for weeks and is handy for topping casseroles or breading chops.

Salmon filet

When frying salmon filet, always heat the fish on the skin side with some olive oil on top of the fish (side without skin) and cover with a lid. This makes it much more juicy and doesn't dry out the salmon so much.

Potatoes

Every time you cook potatoes, make sure that the last few minutes they need before they are done that they are left in the hot water with the stove heat off. This brings out the flavor of the potatoes more and tastes better. Also, only put in the salt for the potatoes when the water is boiling and you are about to place the potatoes in the water.

Cheese

To keep cheese, wrap it in a cloth that has been soaked in vinegar. Put dry cheese through the blender and store in tightly sealed container in the refrigerator until needed for omelets, au gratin dishes, etc. Also, trim any bad spots, mold, etc. off your cheese as soon as they appear and the cheese will still be good to eat. Don't leave it!

Removing Odor

To remove odor such as onions, garlic or bleach from your hands, rub them with cut celery. Outside stalks are more effective than the heart.

Potato Roots

An apple in the tray keeps the roots away! Place an apple with your potatoes when storing. This will help keep the roots from growing on your potatoes when they start aging. Also keep your potatoes in a dark cook place.

Over Salted Stew

Add small pieces of raw potato to an over-salted stew, soup or casserole. Potato absorbs a large amount of the excess salt. Serve it with the food if it forms a logical part of it; if not then discard before serving.

Castor Sugar

If a recipe requires castor sugar or icing sugar, and there is none in your cupboard, put ordinary granulated sugar in the blender. Blend two seconds and it becomes fine castor sugar; four seconds it has turned into icing sugar.

Self-raising flour

To turn plain flour into self-raising flour, add 2 level teaspoons
of baking powder to each cup of flour. Sift mixture several times to distribute baking powder well.

Sweetening Drinks

For a health food fan who tries to avoid sugar, sweeten cold drinks with a honey syrup. Dissolve one part honey in one part warm water. Cool.

Crisp batter of fish?

Like a really crisp batter of fish? Sift together 1/2 cup self-raising flour, 1/2 cup plain flour, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; gradually beat in 1 cup water until mixture is smooth. Dip fish pieces into batter, deep fry until golden and crisp. If you like batter rather soft and crinkly, like fish from the fish shop, deep-fry coated fish until pale golden. Remove from pan, drain on absorbent paper, let stand 1 hour. Then deep-fry again until golden and cooked through.

Sautéing

Use unsalted butter for all your sautéing. The salt in the butter draws out juices that make your meat dry. Add a tablespoon of oil to your butter to prevent it from scorching or burning so easily.

Substitute honey for sugar

If you substitute honey for sugar in a cake; for each cup of honey that replaces a cup of sugar, omit 1/4 cup of whatever liquid is called for in the recipe. You should also grease the measuring cup if you are measuring honey or molasses. It pours our easier.

Crisp and Crunchy Lettuce

Wash lettuce for salads, several hours beforehand (or, in the morning if you're serving salad at night); separate leaves. Dry well. Seal in plastic bag, refrigerate until serving time. Leaves will be crisp and crunchy.

Olives and French dressing

Store olives, covered with French dressing, in a jar in the refrigerator. One hour before serving take the jar from refrigerator, remove as many olives as you need and add more olives as the jar empties. When all the olives are used, the French dressing is handy for salads

Preserving Juices

To preserve the juices in lean cuts of pork, dry off the meat with a paper towel before you brown it.
When you have dried off the meat, the pores in the meat stay closed so that the meat does not dry out during cooking.

Tips for the Dip

For a bread bowl, which is good for dips, take a medium sized round bread with a good crust (like a round French bread), cut off the top and scoop out the soft bread. Coat a little olive oil and garlic on the inside of the bread. Place the bread in the microwave oven for about 5 minutes, to harden the bread and make it a suitable bowl. Place the dip in the bread bowl, place it on a tray and surround it with fresh vegetables, crackers or other foods suitable for a dip.

Double your Butter or Margarine Supply

Double your butter or margarine supply by making a creamy spread that's ideal for sandwiches. (Don't use it in place of fully constituted butter or margarine in recipes for cakes, biscuits etc.) A 250g (9 oz) pack of butter, whipped as follows, produces a full 500g (1lb). Put the 250g (9 oz) butter or margarine in mixing bowl, but into pieces; add a pinch of salt. Take half cup cold water and half cup hot water. Add gradually to butter or margarine first a little hot water, then a little cold, beating well all the time, until all water is absorbed.

Preparing fruit

Prepare fruit which discolor quickly such as apples, bananas and avocados as close as possible to serving time. However, if they have to stand for a time, brush with lemon juice, or other acid fruit juice such as orange to keep a fresh color.

Make a delicious chocolate sauce

Make a delicious chocolate sauce for ice-cream: Melt 60g (2oz) dark chocolate over hot water; stir in 1/2 cup bottled or canned chocolate sauce. Remove from heat, cool. One teaspoon of rum, brandy, or any favorite liqueur can be added.

Here's another easy chocolate sauce: Melt 125g (4 oz) dark chocolate over hot water; remove from heat, cool. Stir in 1/2 cup cream. This second sauce will thicken as it cools, but can be gently reheated, stirring, over hot water.

Storing olives

Soup

You can use a little aluminum tea ball and fill it with spices and herbs such as
cloves, garlic, bay leaf, etc. and place it in the soup. You can remove this tea ball after the soup is cooked. The flavor will remains in the soup.

If you are trying to remove as much fat as possible from the bouillon before using it for soup, drop a lettuce leaf in the warm soup and leave it until the fat is absorbed. Remove the lettuce leaf before adding the remaining ingredients to the soup.

Fish

If you want to try something different when fish is on the menu, there are a number of easy ways to enhance the flavor or create something new. Many different herbs, both dry and fresh, go very well with fish. Dry herbs such as paprika, cayenne pepper, curry, and masala are good with fish. You can put the herbs directly on top of the fish or cook it with the sauce or with some of the other accompaniments.

Bananas

Bananas are shipped while still green, they are packed, covered in plastic and kept in cold storage. When you buy bananas which are still a bit green, they will ripen at normal room temperature in
a couple of days. If you store bananas in a plastic bag, they will ripen even faster.

Fruits

It is best to store fruit in a cool place. Fruit which is stores in a cool place, keeps its freshness longer. Some fruits, such as bananas and mangoes can be damaged if they are stored in the refrigerator. When fruit is ripe, it has the best flavor, color and firmness. When fruit is kept in a cool place, the enzyme production is lowered which in turn slows down the ripening process. Some fruits should not be stored together. For example, if apples and tomatoes are stored together, the apples will cause the tomatoes to ripen faster or if apples and carrots are stored together, the carrots develop a bitter taste. Apples, as well as pears and plums should, therefore, not be stored with vegetables.

Note Taking

Keep a small book with all your dinner parties, barbecues, or other entertainment notes. Write the date, the occasion, the people who came and the menu. Next to the items on the menu, write the recipe, page number and the cookbook you used. That way you can keep track of any special recipes or particularly good recipes you used and if guests have any special likes or dislikes.

Note Taking

It is easier and faster to measure than to weigh ingredients. However, measuring utensils such as cups, teaspoons and tablespoons can vary in size and are not as accurate. It is best to weigh ingredients for exact amounts, especially when baking.

Storing Herbs

If you buy fresh herbs but have trouble keeping them for any length of time, take the fresh herbs, wash and dry them thoroughly, pick off and discard tough stems, and chop the herbs. You can then store them in the freezer in individual, labeled, zippered baggies until they're needed. Pinch off a tablespoonful (even if they are frozen); the rest stays frozen until you need it again.