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| 8 Simple Commonsense Cooking Tips |
Do you get lumps in your white sauce? When making the white sauce (bechamel) or any sauce that requires slow cooking to thicken, use an egg whisk, and you can increase the temperature (not too much, though) to speed the process up. And you won't get any limps 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 repurchase frozen pastry. Do you hate making short pastries? 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 ball. If it doesn't form into a ball, you may need just a touch more liquid. The liquid depends on what recipe you use for your pastry.
Do your scones look more like rock cakes? Make your scones in a kitchen whiz. Many people can't make scones no matter what. Usually, the problem is too much handling. Using the whiz eliminates this problem.
Also, try making 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 pretty moist, not dry after adding the milk.
Turn onto a well-floured board and top a few times with the tips of your fingers to draw the extra four in. 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 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 learned this way of making scones when I was used to crewing on a yacht when I was younger, and the guys would want morning tea and see if they could entice me into making some. Hence my reference to having a waiting audience. The oven was only a tiny benchtop 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 sure of my expertise in scone making as my mother could never make scones – hers were the ones that came out like bullets.
I later converted my mother into making scones in the kitchen whiz when she was around 65, and she was amazed that she finally learned to make an edible scone.
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.
Are you missing the magic ingredient? Have you ever cooked a curry or casserole? And the flavor needs a little something, and you can't quite work out exactly what is required. Maybe it seems as though the flavors don't quite go together. It is a minor intangible ingredient that is lacking. Try a minimal amount of sugar, and you will be surprised how it seems to blend and mellow the flavors into a more harmonious combination. The flavors 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 wouldn't say I like washing roasting pans. Do you want to have roasted potatoes occasionally but hate washing up the pan afterward? Here is a simple, straightforward method, and it uses less fat. Cut each potato with the skin in half to have the most significant 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 aluminum 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 crisp roasted potatoes and no mess.
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