Lumpy sauce or gravy - Pour gravy or sauce thru a strainer and mash out lumps with a wooden spoon. Re-heat very slowly.
Curdled or separated mayonnaise - Into a warmed bowl, put 1 t. mustard, 1 T. curdled mayo. Beat with whisk until creamy. Add mayo slowly until well blended.
Too much fat in gravy - Pour liquid through icecubes in a bowl. The fat will solidify.
A crack in the middle of cake - The oven was too hot or temp was uneven during baking. Disguise with frosting.
Cake rises too much, overflows pan - Too much baking powder; too little flour; or pan was filled more than two thirds.
Cake rises in oven, caves when cooling - Pan was overfilled or egg whites where beaten when recipe didn't call for it.
Cake has a shiney, sticky streak - Poor mixing; too slow baking, or irregular heating of pan in oven.
Cake is sticky - Too much liquid or too much sugar was used or baking powder was too old.
Weak brewed coffee - Add a little instant to the pot. It will strengthen it without changing the fresh taste.
Bitter tasting brewed coffee - Put a pinch of salt into coffee that was brewed too long.
Weak brewed tea - Add a pinch of baking soda to the teapot.
Too much salt - Add a little vinegar and sugar, then taste. A raw potatoe helps absord the salt in soups or stews.
Stewed fruit is turning sour - Add a pinch of baking soda to the fruit and reboil for 5 minutes.
When stewing very sour fruit - Add a pinch of salt while stewing to reduce the amount of sugar needed for sweetening.
Stored coconut is dry and hard - Put coconut in a strainer over a steaming pot of water for a few minutes.
Hands smell of onion and garlic - Rinse hands in cold water, rub with salt or baking powder, rinse again, then wash with soap and water.
Strong onion or cabbage cooking odors - To prevent odors while cooking, set a tin cup of vinegar on stove and let boil.
Sticky rice - Rinse rice throughly with warm water to wash out the excess starch. Grains will seperate.
Shell cracks while egg is boiling - Add a few drops of vinegar to the water; use eggs at room temp.
One egg short for a recipe - Substitute 1 teaspoon of cornstarch.
Tough rubbery omelet - Add one scant teaspoon of boiling water per egg to mixture to keep omelet from being tough.
Slightly stale bread - Sprinkle bread with water or milk; wrap in foil, bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes. If hard crustd, open foil for 3-5 min. more.
Dry coffee cake - Put 2 tablesppons water or milk in a large skillet; place un-iced cake on tivet and cover. Leave over low heat about 8 minutes. Do not cover iced coffeecake.
To keep sugar soft and moist - Place a slice of bread in the container and cover tightly.
Brown sugar caked and hard - Place in 200F over until the sugar is dry and crumbly; powder it in a blender or use a mortor and pestle.
To keep granulated sugar from lumping - Place a couple of salt crackers in the container and cover tightly.
Too much sugar - Add a few drops of lemon juice or vinegar.
Fish has strong fishy odor - rub fish with lemon juice and salt to prevent odor from being absorbed by other foods.
Dried out leftover cheese - Store dried out cheese (unprocessed) in freezer; frozen it crumbles easily; slice it thin without thawing to use in recipes calling for grated cheese.
Frying fat has strong flavor or odor - After frying strong flavored foods, cool fat and clarify it by adding a raw potatoe and reheat slowly. Discard potatoe; strain fat and store.
Frying fat or oil left over - Cool and strain thru cheesecloth. Store covered in refrigerator.
Baking Substitutions
1 teaspoon apple pie spice - 1/2 t. cinnamon, 1/4 t. nutmeg, 1/8 t. allspice and a dash of ground cloves or ginger.
1 teaspoon baking powder - 1/2 t. cream of tarter and 1/4 t. baking soda.
1 cup buttermilk - Sour milk by mixing 1 T. lemon juice or vinegar and enough milk to make 1 cup. Let stand 5 minutes before using or 1 cup plain yogurt.
4 oz chocolate, sweet baking - 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/3 cup sugar and 3 T. shortening.
1 oz chocolate, simisweet - 3 T. semisweet chocolate pieces or 1 oz unsweetened chocolate plus 1 T. sugar.
1 Tablespoon cornstarch for thickening - 2 T. all purpose flour
1 cup Corn syrup - 1 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water.
1 whole egg - 2 egg whites or 2 egg yolks or 1/4 cup refidgerated or frozen egg product, thawed.
1 cup cake flour - 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 cup self-rising flour - 1 cup all purpose flour plus 1 t. baking powder, 1/2 t. salt, and 1/4 t. baking soda.
1 tablespoon Fruit liqueur - 1 T. fruit juice.
1 teaspoon grated ginger - 1/4 t. ground ginger.
1 cup half-and-half or light cream - 1 T. melted butter or margarine plus enough whole milk to make 1 cup.
1 cup honey - 1 1/4 cups sugar plus 1/4 water.
8 oz mascarpone cheese - 8 oz regular cream cheese.
1 cup milk - 1/2 cup evaporated milk plus 1/2 water or 1 cup water plus 1/3 cup dry milk powder.
1 cup Molasses - 1 cup honey
1 teaspoon Pumpkin pie spice - 1/2 t. cinnamon, 1/4 t. ground ginger, 1/4 t. allspice and 1/8 t. nutmeg.
1 cup sour cream - 1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup granulated sugar - 1 cup packed brown sugar.
package dry active yeast - 1 cake compressed yeast.
Teary eyes while chopping onions - Light a candle and place it next to or on your cutting board.
Measuring shortening, lard, peanut butter or butter the easy way - IE 1/2 cup: Fill a glass measuring cup with 1/2 cup of water. Spoon the shortening, lard, peanut butter or butter into the cup until the water level reaches 1 cup. This displacement of the water will give you 1/2 cup of the required ingredient.
Food too hot or spicy Drizzle in a little honey. Stir and taste.
More cooking tips
Don't toss out the onion peels, carrot peels, garlic ends, celery ends, parsley, etc when preparing your meals. Add them to a freezer bag, kept in the freezer, as you get them and use them to make stock when you have enough. They are delicious as a vegetable stock or added to chicken or beef parts also kept in a seperate freezer bag until there is enough to use.
Use good quality knives (tip by JeanV)
Cut an apple or pear in half and then remover the seeds with a melon baller. Works perfect. (tip by
Chef #308507)
If you dont want to cry when dicing or cutting onions, never cut into the "eye" (the root). (tip by EZBEE)
To keep past or potatoes from foaming over when boiling, add a tablespoon of oil. (tip by EXBEE)
Wrap your cucumbers in paper towels. Even after using part of one, just wrap it back up in the paper towel. Mine have lasted up to 2 weeks. (tip by FLUFFSTER)
Another cucumber trick is to run the cucumber in very hot water for 30 to 45 seconds. It is what the produce people do before putting them out in the store. It helps to keep the cukes from spoiling. (tip by FLUFFSTER)
When measuring honey or anything else sticky, spray the measuring cup with Pam, or other release spray first. (tip by FLUFFSTER)
Spray your box grater with Pam first before grating cheese and it will be a breeze to wash. (tip by FLUFFSTER)
When using part of a can of tomato paste, individually wrap the rest in approx. tablespoons in a little cling wrap. It only takes a couple of minutes and whenever you need a little paste, such as for soups or sauces, it really comes in handy. I open a can up and wrap the whole thing just to have it on hand. (tip by FLUFFSTER)
When making soups, sauces or stews and you have a little grease floating on top, just take a couple of paper towels, bunch them up and skim along the top and the paper towels will soak up the grease . Then just toss the paper towels away. (tip by FLUFFSTER)
If you love cast iron but hate when eggs stick to the pan, a friend once taught me to heat up the pan and then heat up the oil before adding the eggs (not adding them until the oil is nice and hot)--then they slide right out--no mess. It works for anything you cook in cast iron. (tip by riversanctuary)
wrap your celery in heavy duty foil .It will keep for 2 to 3 weeks and stay crisp in th refridgerator. (tip by Magbitt)
too many lemons? half or quarter them,put in freezer bag and toss in the freezer,i do mine and use them when lemons arent in season. (tip by EZBEE )
When adding cornflour (cornstarch) to gravys or sauces to thicken them, try premixing it with cold water to form a paste and then adding. This will prevent floury lumps in your gravys. (tip by Gary C)
Before browning any meats, especially minced meats (ground meat) try frying off a bit of chopping onion in some oil first, this will prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan. (tip by Gary C)
Do you still chop fresh parsley on a board and with a knife? Try putting the parsley leaves with stalks in a mug and use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut it up, as finely as you wish. (tip by
Chef #341965 )
An easier way to mash bananas for banana bread is to put them in a ziplock bag,squeeze out all the air,seal the bag & Squish away with your hands.After they are done, snip one corner off the bottom of the bag & squeeze into the batter.No messy cleanup! (tip by
Chef #348252)
To make several grilled sandwiches at one time, place them on a cookie sheet & pop them in the oven.(make sure the sandwiches are buttered on the outside..both sides, so they will be toasted & crispy.) (tip by
Chef #348252)
To crush crackers for meatloaf, I put it in a heavy duty zip lock bag, leaving a little opening for any air to escape and run it over in my car!! (tip by Zeph's Wife)
You know how hard it is to grab that little piece of egg shell that sometimes ends up in the bowl? Use another bigger piece of egg shell to scoop it out. It seems to cling to it like magic. (tip by Ms. Mojo)
When I get a prebaked chicken from the local market, after we have eaten all the meat I put the bones in a pot with water to cover along with a carrot, onion and some celery. Boil for a hour, drain, cool and freeze. You have wonderful stock to add to other dishes that is low in sodium, tasty and basically free. (tip by Blonddee)
Dont peel garlic before crushing it in the garlic press. Cut it in half and put it in the press with the cut side down. Garlic squeezes out and you just take out the peel that is left behind. To get rid of the smell on your hands after working with garlic, simply rub your hands on your sink...it is stainless steel! (tip by Maverick Chef)
