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 Too Salty
- For soup and stew, add cut raw potatoes and discard once
they have cooked and absorbed the salt. Another remedy is to
add a teaspoon of cider vinegar and
sugar.
- Or, simply add sugar.
Salt Shaker
- Wrap a small piece of aluminium foil tightly around the
shaker. The foil is moisture proof and it will keep dampness
out of the salt.
- To prevent clogging, Keep 5 to 10 grains of rice inside your
shaker.
Sticky Foods and Liquids:
Measuring sticky liquids:
- Before measuring honey or other syrup, oil the cup with
cooking oil and rinse in hot water.
Cutting sticky foods:
- Before chopping, eg. raisins, flour the pieces in a paper
bag. Or, dip your knife in hot water while cutting.
Sugar:
Brown Sugar:
- Store in plastic bag. Wrap tightly.
- Place in coffee tin with snap on lid. Or, store in
refrigerator. This diminishes tendency to become rock-like.
Too Sweet
- Add salt. Or, if is a main dish or vegetable, add a
teaspoon of cider vinegar.
Unmoulding Gelatine:
- Rinse the mould dish/pan in cold water and then coat
with salad oil. Your mould will drop out easily and will have
an appealing lustre.
Vegetables:
Garlic:
- Garlic cloves can be kept in the freezer.
- When ready to use peel and chop before thawing.
- They will also never dry out if you store the in a bottle of
cooking oil. After the garlic is used up, you can use the
garlic- flavoured oil.
Onions:
- To keep dry onions from sprouting and becoming soft, wrap
individually in foil. they will stay firm for some time.
- Once an onion has been cut in half, rub the leftover side
with butter and it will keep fresh longer.
- If you like the flavour of onions in your salad but not the
onions themselves, quarter an onion and leave it in the salad
for an hour or so. Remove the
quarters when you serve the salad.
- Onion will brown faster if fried with paprika.
- When peeling an onion, slice off both ends and slice down
through the skin. you can remove the skin in one piece.
Chopping Onions:
- You will shed less tears if you cut the root end of the
onion off last.
- Freeze or refrigerate before chopping.
- Peel under cold running water.
- Periodically rinse hands under cold water while chopping to
reduce tears.
Potatoes:
- To make mashed potatoes, overcooked potatoes can become
soggy when the milk is added. Sprinkle with dry powdered milk
for the fluffiest mashed potatoes.
- You can bake potatoes in a hurry if you boil them in salted
water for ten minutes and place in your oven. Or, if you cut a
thin slice from each end before
placing them in the oven. Or, if you insert a nail in each.
This will shorten the required baking time by fifteen minutes.
- If you have sliced or peeled more potatoes than necessary,
cover them with cold water and add a teaspoon of vinegar. They
will keep in the fridge for upto
four days.
- You can crisp soggy potato wafers by putting them on a
baking tray and heating for a few minutes. this can be applied
to soggy cereals and crackers as
well.
Wilted Vegetables:
- If fresh vegetables are wilted or blemished, pick off the
brown edges. Sprinkle with cool water, wrap in towel and
refrigerate for an hour or so.
- Perk up soggy lettuce by adding lemon juice to a bowl of
cold water and soak for an hour in the fridge.
- Douse quickly in hot and then ice water with a little apple
cider vinegar added.
- Lettuce and celery will crisp up fast if you place it in a
pan of cold water and add a few raw sliced potatoes.
General Hints:
- Save those egg shells. They are excellent for cleaning
stained bottles or jars. Crush a handful, put them in the jar,
add a little soap and water and
swish around.
- Keep a clean powder puff in your flour canister. Its great
for dusting pastry pans without wasting flour.
- For really dry-jars and bottles for storage, place a cube of
sugar in the container after washing. The sugar will absorb
the moisture.
- While cooking vegetables that give off unpleasant odours,
simmer a small pan of vinegar on the top of the stove. Or, add
vinegar to the cooking water.
unpleasent odours will vanish!.
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