General Kitchen Tips

CAKED OR CLOGGED SALT:

• Tightly wrap a piece of aluminum foil around the salt shaker. This will keep the dampness out of the salt. To prevent clogging, keep 5 to 10 grains of rice inside your shaker.

SOGGY POTATO CHIPS, CEREAL AND CRACKERS:

• If potato chips lose their freshness, place under the broiler for afew minutes. Care must be taken not to brown them. You can crisp soggy cereal and crackers by putting them on a cookie sheet and heating for a few minutes in the oven.

PANCAKE SYRUP:

• To make an inexpensive syrup for pancakes, save small amount of leftover jams and jellies in a jar. Or, fruit-flavored syrup can be made by adding 2 cups sugar to 1 cup any kind of fruit and cooking until it boils.

EASY TOPPING:

• A good topping for gingerbread, coffeecake, etc., can easily be made by freezing the syrup from canned fruit and adding 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to 2 cups of syrup. Heat until bubbly and thicken with 2 tablespoons of flour.

TASTY CHEESE SANDWICHES:

• Toast cheese sandwiches in a frying pan lightly greased with bacon fat for a delightful new flavor.

NO SPATTERING OR STICKING:

• To keep food from spattering, invert a metal colander overt he pan, allowing steam to escape.

• Always heat the frying pan before adding oil or butter. This will keep things from sticking to the pan.

• Boil vinegar in a brand new frying pan to keep things from sticking to it.

FROZEN BREAD:

• Put frozen bread loaves in a clean brown paper bag and place for 5 minutes in a 325° oven to thaw completely.

REMOVING THE CORN SILK:

• Dampen a paper towel or terry cloth and brush downward on the cob of corn. Every strand should come off.

PREVENTING BOIL-OVERS:

• Add a lump of butter or a few teaspoons of cooking oil to the water. Rice, noodles or spaghetti will not boil over or stick together.

NUTS:

• To quickly crack open a large amount of nuts, putthem in a bag and gently hammer until they are cracked open. Then remove nutmeats with a pick.

• If nuts are stale, place them in the oven at 250° F. and leave them there for 5 or 10 minutes. The heat will revive them.

SOFTENING BUTTER:

• Soften butter quickly by grating it. Or, heat a small pan and place it upside-down over the butter dish for several minutes. Or, place inthe microwave for a few seconds.

MEASURING STICKY LIQUIDS:

• Before measuring honey or syrup, oil the cup with cooking oil and rinse in hot water.

SCALDED MILK:

• Add a bit of sugar (without stirring) to milk to prevent it from scorching.

• Rinse the pan with cold water before scalding milk and it will be much easier to clean.

INSTANT WHITE SAUCE:

• Blend together 1 cup soft butter and 1 cup flour. Spread in an ice cube tray, chill well, and cut into 16 cubes before storing in a plastic bag in the freezer. For medium-thick sauce, drop 1 cube into 1 cup of milk and heat slowly, stirring as it thickens.

UNPLEASANT COOKING ODORS:

• While cooking vegetables that give off unpleasant odors, simmer a small pan of vinegar on top of the stove. Or, add vinegar to the cooking water. To remove the odor of fish from cooking and serving implements, rinse in vinegar water.

DON'T LOSE THOSE VITAMINS:

• Put vegetables in water after the water boils - not before - to be sure to preserve all the vegetable's vitamins.

KEEP THE COLOR IN BEETS:

• If you find that your beets tend to lose color when you boil them, add a little lemon juice.

NO-SMELL CABBAGE:

• Two things to do to keep cabbage smell from filling the kitchen: Don't overcook it (keep it crisp) and put half a lemon in the water when you boil it.

A GREAT ENERGY SAVER:

• When you're near the end of the baking time, turn the oven off and keep the door closed. The heat will stay the same long enough to finish baking your cake or pie and you'll save all that energy.

GRATING CHEESE:

• Chill the cheese before grating and it will take much less time.

SPECIAL LOOKING PIES:

• Give a unique look to your pies by using pinking shears to cut the dough. Make a pinked lattice crust!

SLUGGISH KETCHUP:

• Push a drinking straw to the bottom of the bottle and remove. This admits enough air to start the ketchup flowing.

UNMOLD1NG GELATIN:

• Rinse the mold pan in cold water and coat with salad oil. The oil will give the gelatin a nice luster and it will easily fall out of the mold.

NO-SPILL CUPCAKES:

• An ice cream scoop can be used to fill cupcake papers without spilling.

SLICING CAKE OR TORTE:

• Use dental floss to slice evenly and cleanly through a cake or torte - simply stretch a length of the floss taut and press down through the cake.

ICE CREAM:

• Buy bulk quantities of ice cream and pack into small margarine containers. These provide individual servings.

CANNING PEACHES:

• Don't bother to remove skins when canning or freezing peaches. They will taste better and be more nutritious with the skin on,

ANGEL FOOD COOKIES:

• Stale angel food cake can be cut into 1/2-inch slices and shaped with cookie cutters to make delicious "cookies." Just toast in the oven for a few minutes.

HOW TO CHOP GARLIC:

• Chop in a small amount of salt to prevent pieces from sticking to the knife or chopping board. Then pulverize with the tip of the knife.

EXCESS FAT ON SOUPS OR STEWS:

• Remove fat from stews or soups by refrigerating and eliminating fat as it rises and hardens on the surface. Or, add lettuce leaves to the pot - the fat will cling to them. Discard lettuce before serving.

FAKE SOUR CREAM:

• To cut down on calories, run cottage cheese through the blender. It can be flavored with chives, extracts, etc., and used in place of mayonnaise.

BROWNED BUTTER:

• Browning brings out the flavor of the butter, so only half as much is needed for seasoning vegetables if it is browned before it is added.

FRESH GARLIC:

• Peel garlic and store in a covered jar of vegetable oil. The garlic will stay fresh and the oil will be nicely flavored for salad dressings.

LEFTOVER WAFFLES:

• Freeze waffles that are left; they can be reheated in the toaster.

FLUFFY RICE:

• Rice will be fluffier and whiter if you add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to each quart of water.

NUTRITIOUS RICE:

• Cook rice in liquid saved from cooking vegetables to add flavor and nutrition. A nutty taste can be achieved by adding wheat germ to the rice.

PERFECT NOODLES:

• When cooking noodles, bring required amount of water to a boil, add noodles, turn heat off, and let stand 20 minutes. This prevents overboiling and the chore of stirring. Noodles won't stick to the pan with this method.

EASY CROUTONS:

• Make delicious croutons for soup or salad by saving toast, cutting into cubes, and sauteeing in garlic butter.

DOUBLE BOILER HINT:

• Toss a few marbles in the bottom of a double boiler. When the water boils down, the noise will let you know!

FLOUR PUFF:

• Keep a powder puff in your flour container to easily dust your rolling pin or pastry board.

JAR LABELS:

• Attach canning labels to the lids instead of the sides of jelly jars to prevent the chore of removing the labels when the contents are gone.

SALT:

• If stew is too salty, add raw cut potatoes and discard once they have cooked and absorbed the salt. Another remedy is to add a teaspoon each of cider vinegar and sugar. Or, simply add sugar.

• If soup or stew is too sweet, add salt. For a main dish or vegetable, add a teaspoon of cider vinegar.

GRAVY:

• To make gravy smooth, keep a jar with a mixture of equal parts of flour and cornstarch. Put 3 or 4 tablespoons of this mixture in another jar and add some water. Shake, and in a few minutes you will have a smooth paste for gravy.

• To remedy greasy gravy, add a small amount of baking soda.

• For quick thickener for gravies, add some instant potatoes to your gravy and it will thicken beautifully.

WHIPPING CREAM:

• A pinch of salt added to the cream before whipping strengthens the fat cells and makes them more elastic. This helps the cream stiffen much more quickly.

• If cream will not whip: Chill cream, bowl and beater well. Set bowl of cream into a bowl of ice water while you're whipping it. Add the white of an egg. Chill and then whip. If the cream still does not stiffen, gradually whip in 3 or 4 drops of lemon juice.

• Cream whipped ahead of time will not separate if you add a touch of unflavored gelatin (1/4 teaspoon per cup of cream).

• To eliminate a lot of mess when whipping cream with an electric beater, try this: Cut 2 holes in the middle of a piece of waxed paper, then slip the stems of the beaters through the holes and attach the beaters to the machine. Simply place paper and beaters over the bowl and whip away.

ROCK-HARD BROWN SUGAR:

• Add a slice of soft bread to the package of brown sugar, close the bag tightly, and in a few hours the sugar will be soft again. If you need it in a hurry, simply grate the amount called for in a hurry. Or, put brown sugar and a cup of water (do not add to the sugar, set it alongside of it) in a covered pan. Place in the oven (low heat) for a while. Or, buy liquid brown sugar.