wilkes

Cooking & Baking Tips
On this page I have listed some of the tips and tricks I have learned
to make cooking easier and your food taste better.
Tip 1: Baking with Eggs
When baking, always bring eggs to room temperature first.
Cold eggs may cause the batter to curdle, which could affect the cake's texture.
To quickly bring eggs to room temperature, let them soak in a bowl of warm
water for about a half hour.
Tip 2: Skimming Fat
Cool soup or stew to lukewarm and add ice cubes.
The fat will solidify around the ice cubes.
Remove ice cubes and fat with slotted spoon and discard.
Tip 3: Thawing Frozen Poultry
The safest way to thaw poultry is in the regrigerator.
Poultry can also be thawed in cold water.
In a large bowl cover poultry with cold water.
Water should be changed frequently to keep cold.
Tip 4: Stuffing Chicken or Turkey
When stuffing chicken or turkey be sure stuffing mixture is cool.
The bird should be stuffed just before baking.
Stuffing the bird the night before should not be done to reduce the risk
of bacterial growth.
Tip 5: Making The Perfect Cake
When frosting a cake anchor the bottom cake layer to the serving plate with a dab of frosting.
That way, the cake won't slide about as you frost.
This also helps keep the cake from sliding on the plate during transit.
For best results in cake baking, let eggs, butter and milk reach room temperature before mixing.
Tip 6: Baking With Fruit or Nuts
When baking with fruit or nuts you should warm them in the oven and toss with flour.
Shake off excess flour before mixing into batter.
This will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of a cake during baking.
Tip 7: Frosting Cut-out Cookies
Take an empty squeeze bottle, like the ones used for ketchup or mustard,
and fill with frosting. Then squeeze the frosting onto the cookies
Make sure your bottles are clear so you can see what color the frosting is.
Tip 8: Keeping Brown Sugar Fresh
Once you open Brown Sugar it should be kept in an air tight container.
Sometimes Brown Sugar will get hard and clump up.
An easy way to keep it from hardening is to add a piece of bread or an
apple slice and let it sit overnight.
Tip 9: Keep Your Plastic Containers From Staining:
Before putting tomato based products into plastic containers,
spray container and lid with cooking spray.
This will not affect the taste of the food.
Tip 10: Keep Food From Sticking to your Grill:
Spray grill rack with cooking spray to keep food from sticking to grill.
Also makes for easy clean up.

If I wash the salt off of my fat back, does that count?

Know what you mean about using other methods to enhanch the flavor of foods. Since both my Wench and myself became Type II diabetics, I've had to adjust a lot of "old" cooking/seasoning methods.

Jupiter,
Try some of these seasonings .I'm on a salt free diet and a diabetic diet also,so I cook with a lot of herbs and pepper in place of salt and I use only Sea Salt when I eat salt ,It's better for you than regular salt.

Make meals a little less salty
For Vegetables try this.These seasonings accent veggies.
Carrots ...Cinnamon, cloves, marjoram, nutmeg, rosemary,
sage
Corn...Cumin, curry powder, onion, paprika, parsley
Green beans ...Dill, curry powder, lemon juice, marjoram,
oregano, tarragon, thyme
Greens...Onion, pepper
Peas ...Ginger, marjoram, onion, parsley, sage
Potatoes ...Dill, garlic, onion, paprika, parsley, sage

I'm on a low-sodium diet, so I don't use the salt shaker at all. When I make mashed potatoes, I just boil the potatoes, and them mash them with Smart Balance Lightly Salted margarine and nonfat sour cream. No milk. Delicious and very low in sodium.

put a pinch of baking soda in a pot of beans to get the gas out. Careful not to use too much or your beans will be too salty.

yay for mayo in potatoes!! when my mom tells people she does that, they freak out...it does make 'em good!!

Divine ,
Our family does that also makes potatos rich and creamy.

this is gonna sound weird, but trust me on this one:

when making mashed potatoes...add 1 tbsp of dukes mayonaise...it enhances the flavor, and no it does not taste like mayo!! trust me on this one!! my mom has been doing it for years and she makes the best mashed potatoes ever!!!

Make meals a little less salty
For Vegetables try this.These seasonings accent veggies.
Carrots ...Cinnamon, cloves, marjoram, nutmeg, rosemary,
sage
Corn...Cumin, curry powder, onion, paprika, parsley
Green beans ...Dill, curry powder, lemon juice, marjoram,
oregano, tarragon, thyme
Greens...Onion, pepper
Peas ...Ginger, marjoram, onion, parsley, sage
Potatoes ...Dill, garlic, onion, paprika, parsley, sage
Potato Salad Tips
1. I add crumbled cooked bacon and stuffed olives to my favorite potato salad.
It's, oh, so good.
2. To give potato salad zip, I stir in prepared horseradish,
grated Parmesan cheese and a few drops of hot pepper sauce.
Whenever I need fresh minced onion in a recipe,
I use my cabbage grater.
It also works great on hard-boiled eggs for egg salad or potato salad.
3. I mix a tad of prepared horseradish sauce with the mayonnaise
I use to dress my potato salad.
4. I stir in a teaspoon or more of crab boil spices
(those normally used to cook crab or shrimp) to the boiling water
when cooking potatoes for salad.
They absorb the spices and give the potato salad a tangy "New Orleans" flavor.
5. To fix an extra-large batch of potato salad,
I first mix all of the ingredients except the potatoes into the dressing.
Then I stir a third of the potatoes with a third of the
dressing and transfer that portion to a serving bowl.
Repeat until all potatoes are coated.
The potato slices stay intact since they're not overmixed.
6. Our family doesn't like raw celery in recipes for chicken salad
or potato salad. So I substitute the same amount of chopped water chestnuts.
They provide bulk, crunch and a mild flavor that we prefer.