This tips and techniques in culinary will help a lot of people reading this blog especially you are a beginner to this field it may help you a lot. So be guided by the tips and techniques that i post.
FRYING, SAUTEING, BROWNING
- In pan frying and sautéing always get your pan hot first before adding oil or butter food won’t stick to the pan.
- When sautéing with garlic or ginger always brown them in oil after salt has been added but before any ingredients. This will bring out full flavor ingredients.
- Never pierce meats when browning them; the juices will escape and the meat becomes tough and dry. Use tongs, no fork, for turning them over.
- When frying several pieces of food at a time, never let the pieces touch each other as they cook or they will stew instead of sauté.
- Brown red meats quickly over high heat, uncovered. Brown poultry slowly, covered or uncovered.
- Keep fried foods warm in a 250°F oven. They may also be reheated by placing them in a 400°F oven for 15 minutes.
DEEP FRYING
- Use a deep fry heavy saucepan (3 to 4 quart size) if an electric fryer is not available.
- Oil should be enough to cover the food to be fried and to allow it to move freely in the pan but should never exceed half the depth of the pan. This is to prevent spilling over hot oil when it bubbles up on addition of cold food.
- A wire basket is necessary in frying small food items as meat balls, French fries, etc. for even browning on all sides, and for ease of loading and unloading o and fro, the pan.
- Be sure fat is preheated to the recommended temperature before the food is added so that the heat, not the oil, penetrates the food. A frying thermometer is most helpful to know exact oil temperature. If it is not available, so simple temperatures test by dropping a 1” cube of bread into the hot fat. At 370°F it will take from 20 o 25 seconds. Adjust heat to keep an even temperature.
BOILING, SIMMERING STEAMING
- Steam potatoes whenever possible to conserve nutrients. If you have to boil them, add 1 tsp. vinegar or lemon juice to the water to make potatoes snowy white. Add a little milk to the water in which cauliflower is cooked to retain whiteness.
- Grate a quarter of a small onion and add dash of sugar and salt to the water in which you boil frozen or canned vegetables to improve the flavor. Or add a dash of MSG, garlic powder, pepper and onion flakes or powder to the salted boiling water before adding the vegetables for a rich flavor.
- Too cook eggs in the shell: Boil water, lower eggs into the boiling water in a metal spoon so the metal absorbs the heat and the eggs won’t crack from the sudden change in temperature. Lower the heat to simmer and cook eggs to desired doneness. For eggs of room temperature- soft cooked, 3 soft cooked, 5 minutes; hard cooked, 12 minutes. Immediately plunge eggs in cold water after cooking; the shell will peel off easily and the egg whites will be tender.
- A teaspoon of salt added to water brings it to boil faster, cuts down on white running out in case the shells cracks.
BROILING, BARBECUING, ROASTING
- When boiling steaks or chops, put one cup of water in bottom of the broiler pan o prevent grease burning on the pan, eliminate smoke, make pan easy to wash and catch dripping for the gravy.
- For barbecues, chicken should not be more than 3 lbs; 2 lbs; is best because it cooks fast and is tender and juicy. Pork should be thinly sliced so it is thoroughly cooked. Beef steak should not be less than an inch thick or it will dry out: 1-1/2 thick is best for rare, medium or well done.
- When roasting or broiling, line roaster pans with foil (barbecue pans too) to facilitate cleaning. Cover the rack also but slash between the grooves to allow the fat to drip into the pan.
DISASTERS AND REMEDIES
- u If a dish is too salty, slices of raw pared potato added to it while cooking will absorb excess saltiness. When cooking (adobo) and it turns out too sour, add sugar.
- If a pan grease catches fire, sprinkle baking soda or salt over it to stop fire and smoke. Do not use water or flour.
- To save burn food, immediately set burned pot containing the food in a larger container with cold water. Do no stir the food. Leave uncovered until cooked. Then pour contents into another pan. Do not scrape the bottom. Scorched food will adhere to the bottom and can be discarded thus eliminating the burnt taste from the rest of the food.
- When boiling rice and he water has completely evaporated but the rice is not yet cooked, soak a double layer of paper towel with water and put it on the top of the rice. Cover and keep on low heat. His way the rice will cook evenly and the bottom will not be soggy burned.
- To correct a too thin hot sauce; blond a tsp. of flour with a tsp. of soil butter or more as needed, always in equal amount. Beat into hot sauce away from the heat, until smooth. Simmer a minute or two to remove any raw taste of flour.
- To correct a lumpy sauce, strain or beat with a whisk until smooth.
ODOR REMOVERS
- Boil a little vinegar on the stove to eliminate unpleasant cooking odors, however cooking foods with vinegar like adobo and (paksiw) does not help because the combination of vinegar with other foods like garlic creates odor.
- To eliminate fishy odor, rub fish inside and out with a slice of lemon.
- To keep raw fish fillets fresh and odorless in the refrigerator, risen in a solution of 1 tbsp lemon juice and 1 cup water, dry thoroughly, wrap and refrigerate.
- Put orange peelings on the oven racks when you preheat the oven; gives the house a delicious smell. Take out the peelings when you use the oven because the burnt peelings have too strong smell. Return peelings o the oven as soon as you turn it off and the remaining heat will be just enough to bring out the sweet orangey smell.
- To remove the smells of garlic from the finger rub them with cut ripe tomato.
- A little vinegar added to water in which cabbage or beets are boiled in the house; open kitchen window and allow air to cross ventilate by opening a door to the outside. If a lot of cooking with garlic is done in the wintertime, ventilate the house once in a while when the temperature is mild (30°F and above). Lower thermostat 5 degrees. Open the front and back doors and allow the air to cut through the house for at least 5 minutes. On a windy day 5 minutes more than enough.
CULINARY TRICKS
- Cut off about half an inch from both ends of cucumbers to remove bitterness.
- To avoid tears when cutting onions, leave them in the refrigerator for a few days before using them. ( or peel and cut them in half under cold)
- Roll lemon with palm over a hand, surface or heat lemons before squeezing to get more juice from them.
- Scale fish under water to keep scales from lying around.
- Frozen raw meats defrost faster when submerged in cold water rather than when left standing at room temperature.
- For fluffier and higher pancakes, double the number of eggs called for in the recipe. Put yolks in the batter, beat the whites separately until stiff and gently fold in the batter.
- When preparing sauces, add flour to melted butter off the heat for smoother mixture. When adding any liquid to a sauce base, stir it in off the heat also. Add hot sauce to cold sauce two tbsp at a time so the cold sauce warms up gradually and does not curdle.
- If a recipe calls for covered casserole or skillet and none is available. Use a piece of aluminum foil as a lid.
- Marinate meat in clear plastic bags. Close tightly and press occasionally to distribute fluid.
- To coat meats or chicken pieces, measure seasoned flour into a paper bag, drop in a few pieces at a time and gently shake bag.
- Store peeled ginger root in plastic bag in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator and they will not dry up. When a recipe calls for ginger root, simply grate frozen root.
- To center gelatin mold on serving plate, smooth a few drops of water on plate with fingers; unmold gelatin.
