8 Simple Commonsense Cooking Tips

By: Beth Black
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:17:44
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Do you get lumps in your white sauce?

When making white sauce (b?chamel) or any sauce that requires slow cooking to thicken try using an egg whisk instead of a spoon to stir and you can increase the temperature (not too much though) to speed the process up and you wont get any lumps in it.   Turn your open barbeque into a gourmet oven.

Want to try a new barbeque recipe that requires a hood on the barbeque which you may not have. Try using a wok lid or any domed lid. This works very well indeed. Great for roasted meats when camping out.     Never buy frozen pastry again.

Do you hate making short pastry. Use a kitchen whiz instead of the usual hand method. Use slightly less liquid than may be asked for in the recipe. Just run the whiz until all the pastry forms into a rough shaped ball. If it wont form into a ball you may need just a touch more liquid. The type of liquid liquid depends on what recipe you use for your pastry.   Do your scones look and feel more like rock cakes ?

Make your scones in a kitchen whiz. Many people just can’t make scones no matter what. Usually the problem is too much handling. Using the whiz eliminates this problem.   Also try and make your scones as though people or the family are sitting at the table waiting. In other words the less time you take means less handling. The mixture should be quite moist not dry after you add the milk.   Turn onto a well floured board and draw the four into the pastry a few times with the tips of your fingers.. This should only take you about 5-8 seconds. Gently pat into shape and cut into whatever shaped scones you want – round or square  -whatever.   Scones seem to come out best when  cooked in what is variously described as a rising oven. In other words turn your oven on not too long before you start to mix your scones and when they are put in the oven it still has not quite reached the required temperature.   I learnt this way of making scones when I was used to crew on a yacht when I was younger and the guys would want morning tea and see if they could cajole me into making some. Hence my reference to having a waiting audience. The oven was only a very small bench top gas oven and I would turn it on to its maximum temperature and then throw the flour butter and milk together. They were most impressed and I was most surprised at the result. I was not at all sure of my expertise in scone making as my mother could never make scones – hers were the ones that came out like bullets.   I did later convert my mother into making scones in the kitchen whiz when she was around 65 and she was amazed that she finally learnt to make a scone that was edible. I might add that scones became a regular morning tea item     Are your curries chewy?

Do you have trouble working out if a casserole or curry is cooked. When the oil (fat) rises the dish is cooked. All meat dish casseroles have some fat content and when this is released the meat is cooked. You will see on top of the meat some small pools of oil or fat. These are usually only small amounts and it is these small amounts that add to the flavour of the dish..   Are you missing the magic ingredient?

Have you ever cooked a curry or casserole and the flavour just needs a little something and you cant quite work out exactly what is needed. Maybe it seems as though the flavours don’t quite go together. It is a small intangible ingredient that is lacking. Try a very small amount of sugar and you will be surprised how it seems to blend and mellow the flavours into a more harmonious combination. The flavours will cease to fight against each other.   Whoops have you ever slipped with the salt pot when cooking? Have you ever added just a touch too much salt to a recipe. Never add sugar to correct this try a squeeze of lemon juice.   I hate washing roasting pans.

Do you like to have roasted potatoes occasionally but hate washing up the pan afterwards. Here is a simple easy method and it uses less fat. Cut each potato with the skin on, in half so that you have the largest cut area. Add a little margarine and spread it on the cut side of the potato. Then sprinkle with salt and pepper if you want.   Place the buttered potatoes buttered side down on a sheet of aluminium foil wrap. Fold the foil and seal. Add to a preheated hot oven 200 degrees centigrade and cook  for approx half an hour. When cooked unwrap and gently peel the foil off the potatoes and serve. Throw the foil in the garbage and voila – lovely scrisp roasted potatoes and no mess.

Beth Black is webmaster for Keyword Articles a resource that lists groups of keyword targeted articles. http://www.keyword-articles.info

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