The Quintessential eG Kitchen Tips/Trucs

[fifi]

One of my favorite recent tips that I picked up from Judy Rodgers in "The Zuni Cookbook" is to initially hold off on adding the vegetables and aromatics to the pot when making stock.  It is much easier to skim off the scum in this case.  After the skimming is complete I add in the herbs, vegetables, peppercorns, etc.  for the rest of the cooking.

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Absolutely brilliant! Why didn't I think of that?

The tailors' measure is another good one. I know I have one somewhere from way back when I used to sew. It will be liberated from the solitary confinement of the sewing box and given a warmer home in the kitchen.

[Sony]

Oh, I like the damp paper towel idea under the board idea- never heard it! Plus, now I'll have a multi-tasker ready to wipe up the counter once I'm finished with all the chopping.

The aluminum serving tray prep space was VERY handy this Thanksgiving- not the most sophisiticated mise en place, but I loved having huge amounts of veggies and herbs chopped up and waiting for me! I don't own any teeny bowls anyway

Some of my favorite tips/tricks:

-cutting soft cheeses and cheesecake with (unflavored) dental floss

-using bread heels to clear out odors from my spice grinder

-like with wine, freezing small amounts of concentrated broth in ice-cube trays for quick sauce enrichment (or gravy for one )

-stashing a paper towel or two in an opened bag o' salad to wick away excess moisture (also squeeze out as much air as I can to keep it fresher longer.)

[jeniac42]

Oh, I like the damp paper towel idea under the board idea- never heard it! Plus, now I'll have a multi-tasker ready to wipe up the counter once I'm finished with all the chopping.

The aluminum serving tray prep space was VERY handy this Thanksgiving- not the most sophisiticated mise en place, but I loved having huge amounts of veggies and herbs chopped up and waiting for me! I don't own any teeny bowls anyway 

Some of my favorite tips/tricks:

-cutting soft cheeses and cheesecake with (unflavored) dental floss

-using bread heels to clear out odors from my spice grinder

-like with wine, freezing small amounts of concentrated broth in ice-cube trays for quick sauce enrichment (or gravy for one  )

-stashing a paper towel or two in an opened bag o' salad to wick away excess moisture (also squeeze out as much air as I can to keep it fresher longer.)

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I prefer the paper or cloth towel to the rubber mat for the cleanup reason.

I also like using dental floss for cutting yeast doughs into portions for cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, etc.

[andiesenji]

If you want to freeze herbs, or anything that might transfer flavors or colors to your ice trays, do this.

cut a piece of plastic wrap about 6-8 inches longer than the tray and lay it over the top.

Starting at one end, push the plastic film down into the cube space and fill with whatever - -

When the tray is full, fold the sides of the plastic wrap over the top, squeeze down to expel as much air as possible and place the tray in freezer.

The covering will keep the stuff from getting full of the furry type ice crystals.

When the stuff is completely frozen, you can lift the entire arrangement out of the tray, cut the plastic wrap between the individual cubes and store the individually wrapped cubes in a plastic bag.

This may seem a little complicated but once you try it, I think you will find it works very well.

I have little cubes of chives, basil, sage, anise hyssop, fennel, dill, strawberry leaves, orange, grapefruit and lemon zest, pimentos, smushed chiles of various types (carefully labelled) and so on.

[racheld]

A thinner ingredient is much easier stirred into a thicker one...for example, start with the mustard, and whisk vinegar and oil into IT, rather than plopping a clump of mustard into a liquid and hoping to stir all the little floaty bits in smoothly.

And wash all pork before cooking---not for sanitation, but somehow the bones make tiny sharp shards when cut with the bonesaw. Beef bones just do not seem to shatter into the almost-microscopic bits that pork bones do.

Try washing a porkchop in a small bowl of water, remove it, then feel in the bottom of the bowl...like bits of shattered glass.

Our Home-Ec teacher, lo these many years ago, taught us to cut the sealer paper neatly in half in the top of the baking-powder can, and remove half. Makes a quick and easy built-in leveler for your measuring spoon.

And I can still see her now, child of the War Years, stacking all the wrappers from the butter or oleo, greasy side to greasy side, then saving them to grease cake or muffin pans, or to rub the outside of a scrubbed potato for baking.

[andiesenji]

I don't save butter wrappers any longer but I buy slab bacon and after cutting the bacon off the skin, I cut the skin into squares, freeze them and when needed take one out and let it thaw, then use it for greasing griddles, skillets, muffin tins (for savory stuff) and loaf pans. Works great, getting into corners and tight spaces, such as my scalloped corn muffing iron.

[jgm]

I like to use shelf liner beneath cake plates and pie pans when I'm transporting desserts. They don't slide around in the container.

A riff on other suggestions -- I took my wood-handled silicone spatulas, and starting at the "other" end, made 1/2 inch markings with a Sharpie. The markings haven't dulled in many months of use, and I always have a way to measure how reductions are going.

I like the powdered sugar idea for rolling out cookie dough. Similarly, I use cocoa to dust cake pans when the recipe calls for "grease and flour" --chocolate cake, that is. I made a bundt cake a few weeks ago, and made sure to get a rich coating of dutched cocoa throughout the pan. The cake came out with a rich, dark brown sheen it's never had before.

And if I'm freezing something in a ziploc bag, and want to squeeze as much air out of it as possible, I lower it into a bowl of water; the water does the squeezing for me, much more efficiently than I can do it myself. I just have to be sure not to get any water into the bag.

My herbs and spices originally were bought on employee discount when I worked at Dean and Deluca, so they're in the tins the company sells. I often refill them by going to the local health food store and purchasing fresh products. When I do refill them, I use a Sharpie to mark the month and year on the bottom of the tin. It's always easy to tell how old the contents are, and I can cross out the old date the next time I refill.

[Della]

If you want to freeze herbs, or anything that might transfer flavors or colors to your ice trays, do this.

cut a piece of plastic wrap about 6-8 inches longer than the tray and lay it over the top.

Starting at one end, push the plastic film down into the cube space and fill with whatever - -

When the tray is full, fold the sides of the plastic wrap over the top, squeeze down to expel as much air as possible and place the tray in freezer.

The covering will keep the stuff from getting full of the furry type ice crystals.

When the stuff is completely frozen, you can lift the entire arrangement out of the tray, cut the plastic wrap between the individual cubes and store the individually wrapped cubes in a plastic bag.

This may seem a little complicated but once you try it, I think you will find it works very well.

I have little cubes of chives, basil, sage, anise hyssop, fennel, dill, strawberry leaves, orange, grapefruit and lemon zest, pimentos, smushed chiles of various types (carefully labelled) and so on.

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I might be a dork but I have a question about this - do you fill the cubes with just the herbs/zest etc or do you fill with H20 as well?

[tejon]

Another I just remembered: place your peppermill in a small measuring cup when grinding more than a dash or so. This contains the pepper in one small place, makes it easier to measure, and eliminates escaped pepper grains.

[jeniac42]

Another I just remembered: place your peppermill in a small measuring cup when grinding more than a dash or so. This contains the pepper in one small place, makes it easier to measure, and eliminates escaped pepper grains.

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Oh, and in that vein, when my peppermill is sitting on the counter I place it in an upside-down lid from a Penzey's spice jar, I think it's the B size? The squat one, it's not too huge. Just big enough to fit the pepper mill neatly. This keeps stray bits that are left on the blades from getting all over the counter, and I like to think it helps keep the pepper mill clean too.

[liv4fud]

any home cooks / restaurant chefs have any idea on mise-en-pace for home cooking...?

I am a budding cook, but always seem to stumble into too many dishes whenever I cook something (don't have a dishwasher - so this seems more irritating)

also, to pour out 1.5 tbsp of some powder after a tsp of oil before that burns or whifs away.....

you get the picture - just wondering what others do it on a daily basis

[chezcherie]

i want to play...when your hands are smelly from fish, or onion, garlic, etc. , rinse them under running water, while holding something stainless steel (a spoon is my usual weapon of choice). there is some magic--or chemical reaction--that occurs that will take the odor out, rather than just cover it up with lemon joy scent (or whatevah).

[tejon]

any home cooks / restaurant chefs have any idea on mise-en-pace for home cooking...?

I am a budding cook, but always seem to stumble into too many dishes whenever I cook something (don't have a dishwasher - so this seems more irritating)

also, to pour out 1.5 tbsp of some powder after a tsp of oil before that burns or whifs away.....

you get the picture - just wondering what others do it on a daily basis

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I have a set of small glass bowls for this specific purpose. One set is Pyrex custard cups, approximately 1/2 cup in volume each, the other is a smaller set of bowls that holds about 1/4 cup each. I place spices, garlic, sesame oil, bits of whatever I need in each bowl, lining them up in order they are to be used (closest to the stove goes first, then so on). The smooth glass is simple to rinse out and clean, even by hand.

[anzu]

any home cooks / restaurant chefs have any idea on mise-en-pace for home cooking...?

I am a budding cook, but always seem to stumble into too many dishes whenever I cook something (don't have a dishwasher - so this seems more irritating)

also, to pour out 1.5 tbsp of some powder after a tsp of oil before that burns or whifs away.....

you get the picture - just wondering what others do it on a daily basis

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I am also without a dishwasher, and I HATE washing dishes, so this is what I do.

Spices: my spices are all stored in screwtop jars. Before heating the oil, unscrew the lid, measure the spice into the lid, then have it sitting ready in front of the appropriate jar ready to be added at the right time. If several whole different whole spices are to be added at the same time to the oil, these might be measured into one single lid. If adding spices in sequence, have them lined up in the order they need to be added. Clean-up is simply a matter of putting the lids back on the jars and putting them back on the shelf.

Vegetables: chopped and placed on one large plate - or two at most - in clearly delineated piles if they have to go in at different times. Also I use a very large chopping board (it's so horrible cooking in other peoples' homes when they have teensy little chopping boards!), which means that piles of chopped ginger, garlic, etc. can usually be pushed to the corners ready for adding to the pan when needed while the center of the board still leaves enough space for further preparation.

Liquids: this is where things are less efficient. If honey, vinegar, etc. have to be measured out in advance, then small bowls (I use both Indian katoris and Chinese rice and soup bowls - the ubiquitious blue and white ones - as I already own and use these and would hate to spend money and cupboard space on even more items) are pretty much indispensable. Again, though, I read through the recipe first and seen how many items go into the dish at one time and can be stored in a single bowl ready to be added.

And (confession time) an awful lot of my spices are not measured out but are added by grabbing it as a large, medium, or small pinch and throwing that into the pot (i.e. that looks to me like a teaspoon's worth...). If your oil is already smoking, you should still have the jars of the lids off in advance, though. And have jars big enough to get your fingers into...

[I_call_the_duck]

If I don't have butter wrappers handy, I put my hand in a plastic sandwich bag (secured with a rubber band or piece of tape) when greasing cake tins.

When I need to do an egg wash, I beat the egg, divide it in half, and use one half for the wash now, and freeze the other half for another use. I'm really thrifty (OK, I'm cheap!).

I stamp the date of purchase on my canned goods so I know which ones to use first. I also store them upside-down--I find that things don't stick to the bottom as much.

[Wendy DeBord]

any home cooks / restaurant chefs have any idea on mise-en-pace for home cooking...?

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Rarely do you need to have one container for each ingredient. Usually your seasoning all goes in at once, so put/measure all your spices into one container. If you have multiple liquids to be measured, I also measure them all in one larger measuring cup. For example just pour the next ingredient on top of the last in the measuring cup. You don't need a clean blank cup to measure each ingredient into.

When I have items that go into a recipe at different times I'll lay them all out on a buffet sized plate in sections. Then I just slide off the section I need as I need it. If you cover your plate first with plastic wrap you won't even get it dirty.

Instead of using a dish towel to cover your mixer when you mixing or whipping something messy, use clear plastic wrap. You can see thru it to watch what you mixing and it's cheap and disposable for easy clean up.

Never use shortening or butter to grease a pan. Those pan sprays work better and are easier/quicker to apply. You can't tell any difference.

[maggiethecat]

Wrap your celery in foil and it will last for a long, long time -- crisp and green. Honest. No floppy octopus celery that needs to be tossed in a week.

I got that advice from the reader's tips section in Cook's Illustrated awhile back. It's brilliant.

(I will pass over the fact that CI didn't accept my mother's tip about laying a piece of plastic wrap over the ceramic ginger grater.)

I hang the elastic bands from bunches of scallions and such around the doorknob to the laundry room, so they're handy to wrap up that bag of turmeric or Cheetos.

What tiny tips do you have to share? (And trust me on the celery thing!)

[Dante]

What tiny tips do you have to share? (And trust me on the celery thing!)

It's late here and I'm currently doing prep work for low-temp roast chicken because I started too late but I'll share one off of the top of my head.

If you clean your spice-grinder by running pieces of bread through it, save the crumbs and you'll have a perpetually-renewing source of interestingly-flavoured bread crumbs.

another- if you buy bunches of fresh herbs, snip the bottom stems and keep them in a glass of water- they keep longer and can make for an attractive display in your kitchen.

(why do I feel like I should be in "Hints From Heloise"?)

Sincerely,

Dante

[rarerollingobject]

I suppose this is more drinking than cooking, but if you hate drips from lifting out teabags/tea infusers/in-cup strainers..lift the tea-receptacle out of your hot tea and hold the bottom of the bag/infuser/strainer on the very surface (the meniscus!) of the tea for 2 seconds before lifting out completely. This creates a vacuum I suppose..in any case, not a single drip thereafter!

[sparrowgrass]

When I empty my five pound flour bags, I fold them up and stick them in a ziplock. I use them to hold the breading for frying things--put the seasoned flour in, drop in the okra, and shake.

I bake a lot more than I fry, so it works out pretty well.

[docsconz]

I hang the elastic bands from bunches of scallions and such around the doorknob to the laundry room, so they're handy to wrap up that bag of turmeric  or Cheetos.

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I won't ask what bunches of scallions and bags of turmeric or cheetohs are doing in your laundry room

We save the bags from cereal boxes and use them to put chicken or veal cutlets in to pound them for flattening.

[Carrot Top]

Two things my first MIL did (she did not waste a single thing) were that if a dish of food were going to be in the fridge or on the counter "short term" i.e. probably 24 hours or less (which so often happens) she would never waste plastic wrap as a cover. Instead she upended a plate on top of the bowl to cover or a bowl on top of the plate to cover. I do this often, too.

She also saved the styrofoam trays from the bottom of meat packages and would use them for almost anything. For flouring or breading cutlets, as a substitute for a plate for storing something in fridge or freezer, even for mixing paint for grandkids' art projects.

Eco-friendly before her time.

I tried doing that but found that my kitchen was being swamped by the things and couldn't take it, but I hate clutter so it's a good idea for those whom it doesn't bother.

The thing I do save and wash are the sushi containers (decorated plastic bottom with clear lid) from the grocery store. The kids like to take their lunches to school packed in them.

Along these lines of reusing this sort of detritus, I once saw a braided/woven quilt hanging in someone's living room that had been made by their grandmother from old colorful plastic bread wrappers. Incredible. (In all ways. )

[CaliPoutine]

When I empty my five pound flour bags, I fold them up and stick them in a ziplock.  I use them to hold the breading for frying things--put the seasoned flour in, drop in the okra, and shake.

I bake a lot more than I fry, so it works out pretty well.

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I do this too, I always leave a bit of flour in the bag for the flour coating portion.

[CaliPoutine]

I freeze my ginger and grate in on the microplane. I dont even peel it first.

[Abra]

I keep all my shrimp shells from peeling raw shrimp in a bag in the freezer. A five minute simmer in white wine and water and you have a lovely delicate shrimp stock.