Cooking
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Soak wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes before using them so they won't burn during cooking.
If you prefer metal skewers, which have a long life, use square or twisted types, which will hold the food better than round ones.
To keep food from slipping off during cooking and turning, use two parallel skewers rather than a single skewer.
If you're using a wooden skewer, as you thread the food move the pieces close together, with no space showing. If the skewer is metal, you can leave small spaces between the pieces.
When using foods with different cooking times (such as shrimp and beef), don't combine them on the same skewer. Instead, make skewers of just shrimp or just beef, start cooking the beef first, and then combine them on a serving platter.
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The Good Cook
- Get 4 cook books for $1.00 each.
Who knew? And you can buy 1,000 at the Dollar Tree for almost nothing.
- Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.
- Clean windows and mirrors. Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.
- Protect China. Separate your good dishes by putting a coffee filter between each dish.
- Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.
- Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.
- Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.
- Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.
- Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.
- Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.
- Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent
the soil from going through the drainage holes.
- Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.
- Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters.
- Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc. on them.
Soaks up all the grease.
- Keep in the bathroom. They make great "razor nick fixers."
OH YEAH, THEY ARE GREAT TO USE IN YOUR COFFEE MAKERS TOO!
Perhaps the biggest questions about washing produce are:
What is the best way to wash produce?
Do you really need to wash all produce?
Some people even wash bananas and other fruits before peeling them... why?
To Wash Or Not To Wash?
The fact is, yes you should even wash items that have inedible peels such as bananas and oranges.
The reason is this: As you peel them, your hands can get contaminants -- such
as pesticides or bacteria -- on them, and this could transfer to the fruit inside.
Another thing to remember is that you should wash produce immediately before
serving (rather than before you put it away),
because washing produce can actually shorten the shelf life of the product.
Wash and peel your garden vegetables. All produce should be washed very well
before you eat it. The risk of contamination is greatest for crops like
radishes, carrots, and leafy vegetables such as lettuce, where the edible
parts touch the soil. Washing with clean water and peeling will remove most
of the pathogens that can cause illness. Fully cooking the vegetables will
kill any remaining pathogens. Always wash with clean, potable water. Do not
use soaps or chlorine washes to wash produce. Vegetable wash products are not
necessary, and have not been found to be any more effective than clean water.
When washing or rinsing vegetables, don’t use water that is colder than
the produce by 10°F or more.
-- Univ. of Maine Cooperative Extension
Adding oil to the pasta cooking water serves no purpose and makes the pasta water less useful for binding the pasta and sauce when they are combined. Pasta should not stick together or clump if you allow enough cooking water.
The only thing throwing pasta against the wall does is make a mess! Test the pasta for doneness by tasting it or cutting it. It should be slightly chewy but tender if you taste it. It should have a very small white dot at the core if you cut it.
Do not rinse pasta after cooking unless you are going to use it for a salad. Drain it, reserving some of the cooking water, then toss it with the sauce. If the mixture gets too dry, add some of the cooking water to help the pasta bind with the sauce.
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