Cooking Hints and Tips   
Miscellaneous

When you buy cellophane-wrapped cupcakes and notice that the cellophane is stuck to the frosting, hold the package under your cold water tap for a moment before you unwrap it. The cellophane will come off clean. Double the amount of favorite casserole recipes you cook. Place half in a freezer container for dinner on a busy day. Cut a roll of clear plastic wrap in half to use for individually wrapping brownies, cookies and other small items. You end up with two narrow rolls of the perfect size wrap. Slice gooey desserts like cheesecake, by holding a piece of dental floss tight and use it to cut through the dessert more easily. Refrigerator odor? Put a couple of cotton balls saturated with vanilla into a bowl in the fridge. After you have made something gooey (like pie crust) in a bowl or on your counter, rub table salt all over to make clean up easy. The salt will bring all the gook into a manageable ball. Food in cans with deeply dented seams or swollen ends should not be eaten. They may be loaded with bacterial toxins that can cause severe illness. Invest in the best ingredients you can afford. Good-quality pasta, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar do make a difference. Place aluminum foil under the napkin in your roll basket and the rolls will stay hot longer. Do not use newspapers, brown grocery bags, or recycled paper towels in the microwave. All may contain metal fragments that could spark a fire. When you need to keep cooked food warm but don't want to overcook it, remove them from the heat and make a tent of foil, shiny side down, over the food. Using melted butter instead of oil when making pancake batter will let them brown more quickly and evenly. To dot a casserole or pie with butter, use a coarse grater to shred cold butter over the dish. Iced tea cloudy after refrigerating? Add a little hot water and stir. Steaming takes longer than boiling but it is a healthier way to cook. Keep casseroles in a low-temperature oven. Don't turn the oven off; the residual heat can encourage bacteria. Don't buy frozen foods covered with frost; they have probably been defrosted and refrozen. If the food is in an opaque container gently squeeze it and listen for the sound of frost cracking inside the package. Create instant sorbets by freezing fruit juices in ice cube trays; pulse in food processor until smooth. Beer batter will fry crisper and lighter if allowed to stand awhile before mixing. This gives the flour granules time to soften and absorb the liquid. Powdered sugar in a shaker is handy for sugaring funnel cakes, doughnuts, or French toast. Add a decorative and flavorful touch to ice cubes by adding pieces of fresh lime and lemon to the water before freezing the cubes. Unflavored gelatin should always be softened first in cool liquid before heating. Maple-flavored syrup, commonly found on the shelves in the store and in restaurants, is actually corn syrup flavored with a bit of pure maple syrup to keep the cost down. Combine sweet and salty. Competing tastes can balance each other, making the overall flavor of a dish fuller and deeper. Think salty peanuts and caramel popcorn, or salt on an ear of young corn. Combine sweet and savory. Use seasonings where they are least expected. Put a pinch of cayenne pepper in a chocolate cake or mix red onions and oranges. Don't overcook - especially fish and vegetables. Fish should be just beginning to flake, and vegetables should be tender-crisp. Rethink a classic. Old-fashioned recipes become fresh with the addition of new ingredients. Add Cheddar to mashed potatoes; substitute smoked fish for beef in hash. Cross over cuisines. Mix ingredients and techniques from different cultures. Toss American barbecued pork into a stir-fry or Greek Feta cheese into a French frisée salad. Keep it simple. Don't use too many different flavorings in a single dish. When choosing foods for skewering, select foods of similar size, shape, and cooking times to ensure they are done cooking at the same time. To keep ice cream from dripping out the bottom of an ice cream cone as the ice cream melts, place a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of the cone. To soften marshmallows, place them in a plastic bag and then dip in some hot water. To unmold gelatin, allow it to set until completely firm, several hours or overnight. Before unmolding, dip a knife in warm water and run the knife around edge of gelatin to loosen. Dip the mold in warm water, just to rim, for 10-15 seconds. Lift from water and gently pull gelatin from edge of mold with moist fingers. Place moistened serving plate on top of mold. Invert mold and plate and shake to loosen gelatin. Gently remove mold. Did you know that bread is delivered fresh to the stores five days a week? Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And each day has a different color twist tie. They are:    Monday - Blue    Tuesday - Green    Thursday - Red    Friday - White    Saturday - Yellow So for example, if today was Thursday, you would want a red twist tie, not white, which is Friday (almost a week old?) When you open a package of crackers, cookies, chips or bread sticks, put the remainder in a zip lock bag. After it is all gone, the crumbs can be used for breading. It saves buying bread crumbs and they add a different flavor to the breading. To re-crisp stale crackers, spread them on a baking sheet and bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 5 minutes. Cool completely and seal in an airtight container or plastic bag. Use these average serving sizes when trying to plan food for a crowd. Just multiply the average serving size by the number of people to be fed to know how much to prepare. Remember, these are just averages. If you are feeding a football team, you will probably need more. If you are feeding a bunch of 75 year old skinny women you will probably need less. Appetizers - 3-5 pieces (1/2 c. approx.) Meat - 2-3 oz. Side dishes - 1/2 cup Condiments - 1-2 tsp. (mustard, mayonnaise etc.) Dips - 1 T. Ice Cream - 1/2 c. If your Jell-O sticks to the mold, go around the outside of the mold with a thin bladed knife. Place the mold carefully into a pan of warm water. Make sure the water reaches only to the rim. Remove, invert and unmold. Another suggestion is to first grease the mold with a very thin layer of vegetable oil or even mayonnaise.

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