Ninja Cooking Skills

[lcertuche]

I thought it would be helpful for our talented cooks to give the less blessed helpful tips that we have known through our many years of experience. I thought of this while whipping up eggs to scramble.

*Poke the yolks with a fork before beating. When making cakes, cornbread I break the yolk and beat into the liquids, water, milk, oil, etc.*

*Keep a list of substitutions taped to the inside of a kitchen cabinet door.*

Okay Ninja Cooks your turn go, go, go...

 

[lcertuche]

Keep zones in your kitchen. For instance, coffee pot, filters, coffee, creamer, sugar, and coffee cups in one small area within reach of each other.

I keep all my baking goods, flours, cornmeal, sugar, baking soda, shortening, etc. in one area.

The yeast and baking powder is kept in the same place in the refrigerator (to keep fresh) all the time.

My baking pans, sheets, cake pans are in the same cabinet.

If you keep everything in its place it really saves a lot of time. If it takes you a half hour to find every thing you are much less likely to cook your own breads, cakes, biscuits, etc. I can have a pan of cornbread in the oven in five minutes and biscuits maybe a minute or two more. The same goes for my homemade bread. I keep my bread maker in the corner near my baking goods, flours and such. So the longest time is waiting for the yeast to proof before throwing in the flour, and salt.

 

[Hinotori]

Instead of using a pastry cutter to work butter into flour, freeze the butter for a bit then grate it. It's much less work and gets it more even.

A small splash of oil put in the boiling water before adding the pasta will break the starchy bubbles and prevent boil over. I've always drained with a lid or a pot strainer (not a colander) so pretty much no oil is left to interfere with sauce. Laying a wooden spoon across the top of the pot also helps.

Stir your pasta right after you put it in to separate and prevent sticking. Adding the oil to the top of the water does not help with this.

 

[Mini Horses]

Moon -- yep, those grills are nice. I have 2 of the small ones (mine & what was mom's). They work nicely for two or three small items. Benefit if only one or two there to eat.....many of us fit that.

My cook big batch, freeze meal size, is a huge help. Not only fast when time is limited but, we will eat better. It helps us to have a "meal" not just a "grab it" snack. Reminds me, I need to make a pot of chili!

Grated butter tip -- once grated, put it back in freezer to keep that in the grated format or it will quickly be melted. It does help greatly to mix in BUT to keep the product well mixed thru out the dry mix. Better results for crisp pie crust & flaky biscuits.

Have an old bread machine around? Begin to use it again. Easy to measure the few items needed. Hot & tasty with little effort. Only a few cents a loaf if you mix own ingredients. AND you can make small cakes in it.

 

[Mini Horses]

Make some for the chickens! they love bread and it's cheap.

Uhhh, slice some warm and smother with butter first...not for them. Of course, that's NOT on your diet plan. Sorry.

 

[baymule]

Organized kitchen......I used to have one, then we retired and DH helps me now.....

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Cooking bacon for a crowd? Cook it in the oven. I lay it on a rack over a roasting pan and cook at 375ish until it gets crispy. No need to stand over the stove and flip the bacon.

 

[SustainableAg]

If you are making a large batch of cookies (I've done this successfully with chocolate chip), spread the batter evenly on the sheet pan and bake. Once cooled, you can then cut them like you would a sheet cake, instead of waiting between batches to make several dozen cookies. Great for a crowd!

 

[lcertuche]

Yes, the soup bowl measuring is a super idea (or is that a souper idea).

 

[lcertuche]

Yes my sons and DH put things in the weirdest places. I accuse them of doing it passive aggressively in revenge of being put to work.