BS: Cooking tricks

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 26 Aug 10 - 07:41 AM

>Many times I have been to barbeques where things have not been properly cooked through to the centre either because the barbeque hasn't got to the correct temperature . . . .

More often the opposite I think. The temperature is too high so the outside starts to burn before the middle has time to cook.<

Oh yes I agree the charcoal should be white hot before you start to cook rather than flames so that it cooks properly but my over-enthusiatic ex-hubby would try to start cooking it far too soon and the result would be a chard outer bit and a pink middle. (Even scarier when he came up with the idea to use lighter fuel). That was one of the reasons to start things off in the microwave, just in case!

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: Tangledwood
Date: 25 Aug 10 - 11:32 PM

Many times I have been to barbeques where things have not been properly cooked through to the centre either because the barbeque hasn't got to the correct temperature . . . .

More often the opposite I think. The temperature is too high so the outside starts to burn before the middle has time to cook.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: Slag
Date: 25 Aug 10 - 09:36 PM

A medium size Russet potato, I zap for about 5 minutes then finish off in a conventional oven about 20 minute at 350-375 F. or if BBQing I will then wrap it in a few layers of aluminium foil and drop it right in the coals for about the same lenght of time, 20 minutes. I perfer the latter as the husks get crispy. Slather with butter, salt to taste and that's half the meal. Or hey! Just do the spud and forget the steak!

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: gnu
Date: 25 Aug 10 - 04:04 PM

Just read an answer to a Q re reducing cooking temp by 25 degrees for a galss pan... good to know...

I'm no McGee, but I believe that the answer is that glass, because it's a ceramic, is a thermal insulator and does not conduct heat anywhere near as well as metal. Because it's a thermal insulator, the bottom of whatever you're baking would be cooler than if it were cooked in a metal vessel. Thus, the top would be GBD (golden brown and delicious) while the bottom would still be under-temp. By reducing the oven temperature, you're slowing down the top browning and giving the bottom a change to "catch up."

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 25 Aug 10 - 05:51 AM

White Fish cooked in the microwave seems to do it just right, as long as you take care not to do it for too long and then put under a high grill just to brown it on top. Served with salad and crusty wholemeal bread it's an excellent healthy supper dish especially when cooking for one.

For me, the microwave has been great for starting off meats that are about to go on a barbeque. Many times I have been to barbeques where things have not been properly cooked through to the centre either because the barbeque hasn't got to the correct temperature or it just hasn't been cooked long enough.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: LadyJean
Date: 25 Aug 10 - 01:31 AM

Foil is your friend.
If you're roasting something, wrap it in foil. It will cook faster and you'll have less cleanup.

If you're baking, use a foil pan, it will rise higher. The foil reflects the heat. My mom learned that baking bread for the church bazaar. You can re use foil baking pans, more than once, so it isn't that expensive.

Oh, and my famous sausage roll recipe.

1. Buy really good sausages
2. Buy prepared crescent rolls.
3. Microwave the sausages for a minute
4. Wrap the sausages in crescent rolls and bake at 400 for maybe 10 minutes. (Hint, do not check your email while making sausage rolls.)

These are a big hit at local bake sales, especially at my local library. They're at their best served warm, and of course more fragrant, which means they sell better.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 24 Aug 10 - 07:52 PM

We like baked sweet potatoes. I do them in the microwave.

For three sweet potatoes, prick them, and zap them for eight minutes. Then immediately wrap each one in aluminum foil, and let them sit out, still wrapped, on the table/counter/etc. for maybe five minutes before serving.

The same instructions work well for baked regular potatoes.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 24 Aug 10 - 07:37 PM

Joe_F I agree - and indeed microwave cookery is an art all of its own, like baking and frying are different too!

Another trick is to part cook the potatoes etc in the microwave then finish them off another way - it speeds things up and if about half done, it won't change the baking/boiling/steaming results much.

Actually, you need to take care with microwaving potatoes - too high for too long will dry them out considerably.

It takes less time and energy to boil a single cup of water for tea/coffee/instant soups in the microwave than using an electric jug/kettle - which may need a minimum 3 cups of water in it to work ... and milk can be heated gently - lower power recommended - for cocoa/coffee, etc.

It's a very useful gadget for a single person with small quantities of food. I have mentioned in other threads about other kitchen gadgets such as flat plate sandwich toasters being similarly useful for cooking all sorts of small quantities of other things too ... :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: Joe_F
Date: 24 Aug 10 - 04:10 PM

Foolestroupe: I agree that potatoes microwave well -- except that you must not expect it to yield the same results as boiling (which makes them wetter and allows you to permeate them with salt) or baking (which makes them much drier). It is a form of potato cookery all to itself.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 24 Aug 10 - 07:25 AM

For non-vegetable eating fussy kids, keep a few vegetables aside, blend as finely as you can and add to the gravy sauce. I used to do this and they didn't suspect a thing.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 24 Aug 10 - 03:08 AM

It's an urban myth - check out the Mythbusters site.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: open mike
Date: 24 Aug 10 - 12:45 AM

ouch-that cell phone corn popping deal hurts my brain...
i think i will use the ear phones and head phones to keep
the device away from my head!

how does it work, anyway?
need 8 phones?
4 to point at popcorn
and 4 to call the other 4 to get them to ring?

(turn the vibrate function off, or the phone will
move away from the kernals as it jiggles!)

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 11:54 PM

Joe F - potatoes work well too. Prick a few steam escape holes, unless you want to have potatoes go like popcorn ... :-)

Many things cook better on a longer time on reduced power - allows heat to 'soak in' ...

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: Joe_F
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 08:47 PM

Microwave ovens are mostly for leftovers, but they have a couple of niches in actual cookery, where they simplify a hot and messy process & minimize dishwashing.

1. Corn on the cob. Zap it in the husk. In my modest machine it takes 3 or 4 min. No need to bring a lot of water to a boil. Using a pair of hotpads or gloves, the husk comes off easily *with the silk*.

2. Hot buttered rum. Put rum & water in a large snifter in quantities according to taste & conscience. Add maple syrup or other sweetener. Put in a pat of butter, sprinkle nutmeg on top, cover with a plastic lid from a frozen-OJ container, and zap till the butter is melted.

3. Likewise, you can make hot cocoa in the mug.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 08:27 PM

What, scrub your hands with a cast iron skillet?

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: bobad
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 07:06 PM

"can anyone explain the 'science'?"

Pure speculation here but perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the odour causing substances in onion being sulfur compounds would supposedly bind to the iron in SS to form a ferric sulfate compound. If that is the case I should think that something like cast iron would work better.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 06:49 PM

"Stainless Steel Soap" - a lump of SS that is supposed to remove odour like onion from hands - can anyone explain the 'science'?

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: bobad
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 11:01 AM

Want to pop some corn but are stuck without a stove or microwave - no problem - just use your cell phone.
Check this out: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5odhh_pop-corn-telephone-portable-micro-o_news

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: open mike
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 10:38 AM

I found a way to save a step in lasagna making...
no need to boil the noodles before baking...esp.
if you use a home-canned tomato sauce that is a
little bit "wetter" than the thick commercial stuff.

layer ingredients in pan...
tomato sauce, dry lasagna noodles,
more tomato sauce, ricotta, tomato,
etc. and cover with foil or cookie
sheet to keep steam in...bake in
oven til all is tender...can also
add layers of peppers, olives, and
mushrooms...and onions and garlic,
and chopped spinach, but always have
tomato sauce on both sides of each
pasta layer...

(i guess some would want meat in it..
that probably gets added to the
tomato sauce, but i never eat it,
so would not know.)

top all layers with parmesan and
mozzerella cheese....

(you can also soak noodles in warm
or hot water in a large flat pan
or dish to soften them...no need to
boil, though.)

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: Rapparee
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 10:22 AM

That's a lot of salt, so it you're on a low-sodium diet be careful not to bite your nails.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 09:46 AM

Been cutting/chopping onions or garlic? Want to get that smell off your hands?

Run the cold water tap. Wet your hands. Put about two teaspoonful of salt on your wet hands and scrub hands together thoroughly. Rinse with cold water. Repeat. Voila!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: leeneia2
Date: 22 Aug 10 - 11:30 PM

Here's a tip a got from the newspaper.

Use a pastry cutter (this kind)

cutter

to deal with the avocado for guacamole.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: gnu
Date: 22 Aug 10 - 03:14 PM

freeresh

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: leeneia2
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 05:51 PM

Yes, thanks, Maeve. Slice. My fingers were typing the p in 'up' when they should have dealing with the c in 'slice.'

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: maeve
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 01:24 PM

"slice...cooking"

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: michaelr
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 01:16 PM

You might want to slip up the round roast before booking.

?????

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: Rapparee
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 11:54 AM

1. Use water-packed tuna. If you use oil-packed tuna be sure to drain the oil off.

2. Non-toxic in, non-toxic out.

3. If the salad greens have reached the point where they have to be eaten with a spoon they're probably beyond use as a salad. Try them in soups instead.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: leeneia2
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 10:25 AM

Here's another item for my 'pleasanter cooking campaign.'

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Agree+Chop+Keeper+Flexible+Cutting+Board+Set%2C+Set+of+3&ih=1_0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0.8328_1&fsc=-1&x=14&y=21

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: Mrrzy
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 09:40 AM

Don't worry if you grate a little knuckle into anything, it's good for the recipe... also from my mom.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: leeneia2
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 09:10 AM

At about age 70, my mother-in-law announced that she was through with cooking. I've decided that I don't want to follow in her footsteps. Yet I after 40 years of cooking, I am getting heartily tired, not of cooking, but of cleaning up. I am tired of grease and glop and dirty dishes.

So I've decided to spend the money on three things that make cooking nicer.

1. A box of disposible gloves for jobs such as cutting up chicken.

2. Parchment paper to line pans when I cook meat in the oven. It really helps.

3. Reynolds' slow-cooker liners and oven bags.

We have had a small dishwasher for many years, and it helps too.
=======
Spaw, if you take cranberries and stew them like prunes, you get cranberry sauce. Really tart cranberry sauce.
=============
Recipe

1 cut of untender beef, such as round roast*, arm roast+ or chuck
some cranberries
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp sweetener of your choice - sugar, syrup for pancakes, molasses, whatever

Put a liner in a slow cooker. Wash off the beef and put it in. Strew the cranberries on top. Slow-cook on low all day; refrigerate all night.

Next day, remove the fat. Stir the cinnamon and sweetener into the juices. Slice, warm up and serve with noodles.

I invented this. My husband loves it.

*You might want to slip up the round roast before booking. It is pretty dense and dry.

+Arm roast can be dense and dry too. Look for a marbled cut. It will taste better.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: catspaw49
Date: 20 Aug 10 - 11:20 PM

If you take cranberries and stew them like prunes they taste much more like applesauce than rhubarb does. I got that from Groucho......


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 Aug 10 - 11:08 PM

If you let the meat "compose itself" for 5 minutes before slicing, the juices don't run out in the first place...

Taught to me by my Mom a longass time ago

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Aug 10 - 11:03 PM

Tangledwood, you have hit an important point. Some marinades will add flavor and moisture, others will do the opposite. I got this a few weeks ago from a chef who was laughing at some of the recipes.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: Tangledwood
Date: 20 Aug 10 - 09:57 PM

Better still, don't use salt at all. Enjoy the natural meat flavour.

Subject: RE: BS: Cooking tricks
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 20 Aug 10 - 06:52 PM

One trick I was told was to salt meat AFTER cooking - if done before it causes all sorts of problems, toughening, etc, by drawing OUT the moisture.

Which makes all those rubs and marinades apparently 'heretical'.... sigh...

Subject: BS: Cooking tricks
From: gnu
Date: 20 Aug 10 - 04:08 PM

So, I bought top sirloin grilling steak at a good price so I could cook a reeeeal nice beef and barley stew.

But, it was nasty hot yesterday and I decided to fry up a slab. The butcher had cut it quite thick and I got the pan hot with oil and fried it to medium rare. As soon as I put it on the plate, I salted (very few times I use salt, but...) and peppered it.

I had a small munch right away. Tastey. Then, I let it cool and it drained quite a bit of juice onto the plate. I covered it and put it in the fridge and this morn there wasn't a drop of juice on the plate. The salt on the top had done it's job and sucked the juice back into the steak, making it rather a delight for a cheap cut of beef which has VERY little fat.

Anybody else got any tips or tricks?