Tips and Tricks in the Kitchen

More of a tip than a trick. Accidentally let a cast iron crepe pan get hotter than usual when I was making pancakes for breakfast. They all came out beautifully...no bad first pancake. Cooked quickly on first & second sides, tasted delicious. So, heat your pan well (just like for grilling meat)...

Throughout the day I enjoy grab snacking and have a bowl of sliced melon or veggies on the counter. Both are best cold and to keep them that way this is what I came up with. Take a deep bowl and fill it half way with ice. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the ice and place the veggies/melon on top of the ice. You can either tuck the plastic wrap around the veggies (as seen in the photo with cauliflower) or pull it over the sides of the bowl. The veggies stay cold without getting wet. When the ice melts, lift the plastic wrap, with the veggies in the wrap, dump out the water and replace with new ice and return veggies to bowl.

Garlic confit. Peel a whole head of garlic and poach the peeled cloves in olive oil for 15 or 20 minutes. Store in a jar in your refrigerator. This method mellows the intensity of the garlic flavor but captures its essence. You can use the oil as a salad dressing component.

I use a paper towel tube told store my silpat.

I've vein used tongs in the supermarket when I can't reach something and can't find an employee. I go to the gadget aisle and grab some tongs, reach my too high item then return the tongs.

If you want to add garlic taste to something liquid (salad dressing, stew, soup) but don't plan on eating the garlic, just smash a clove or two with the side of your chef's knife, remove the paper skin and add to the dish.
When serving, if you see the garlic chunks, set them aside so no one gets a super anti-Dracula mouthful.

to line a springform pan with parchment: I take out the bottom circle, put the parchment on a thin cutting board, and use a cheap bird-beak knife to trace around the circle.

For a non-springform round cake pan, I think like a dressmaker: I trace a circle onto the parchment, then increase the total diameter by about the height measurement of the pan so the final equals roughly the circular base plus the height. I cut out the circle, then I cut slashes (or notches) inward to the traced circle at even intervals all around with kitchen shears, and fit it into the pan. The paper tabs formed by the notches fold upwards, overlapping to form a 3-D nonstick layer. Just neaten the overlaps and the whole thing is nonstick. Oh and sometimes I first lay two folded strips of parchment in an "x" in the bottom of the pan (before the parchment circle goes in) to be able to easily lift the whole cake out once baked and cooled.

In the kitchen there is usually something that I can't reach. I don't want to pull out the step stool or buy one of those grabbers, I have enough gadgets. So I use long tongs! They can grab most anything and serve double purpose, cooking and as a kitchen helper.

Ok, here's something I do that many may think is a bit over the top. I group my spices and herbs together by dish; ie, Italian (oregano, basil, bay leaves, etc.), Mexican (cumin, pepper flakes, etc.), Baking (cinnamon, pumpkin spice, vanilla, etc.) and the list goes on. Makes it so much easier when cooking to grab all the bottles together instead of hunting for them and they each have their spot when putting them away.

When making ice tea, I place 4-6 tea bags in a cup of boiling water. Let it sit for 4 minutes and then transfer it to a pitcher and fill remainder of the pitcher with cold water and ice. No need to wait for a whole pitcher of hot water to cool down and it tastes just as great.

All right, here's one that, while not of great use to many, is at least little known- if you make a crumb crust with margarine and butter the pan (at least a pyrex pan) it won't stick. The other way around doesn't work.

If you make brownies, or any gooey bar/cake that needs to be cut, you probably have encountered the knife getting all caked and sticky with crumbs. I have found that using a Plastic knife,, yes the one you get at fast food places, they will cut smooth without goo.

When my father was renting a place out of town temporarily for work, he wanted a taste of home in the form of cinnamon rolls on Sunday morning, but didn't have a pan or the ingredients, or really the kitchen know-how, to put them together. He picked up the refrigerated cinnamon rolls in a can only to realize that he had no way to bake them - or so he thought!

I advised him to buy an aluminum/disposable muffin tin and bake each roll in its own muffin space. When they were done, iced, and cooled, I told him to cut the "canna-muffins' into single portions so he could have his Sunday breakfast and take leftovers to work during the week - no mess, no fuss, no problems!