Sometimes produce that's a day or two old offers a better buy than higher priced fresh produce. If older produce merely has a few blemishes that you can cut away, and it's drastically reduced in price, go ahead and buy it. Canned mushrooms cost more than fresh ones, so you'll save if you buy fresh ones especially if they're on sale and freeze them for future use. Fresh vegetables in season can be considerably cheaper than the same foods frozen or canned. If you want to freshen blemished or wilted produce, snip off all brown edges, sprinkle the vegetables with cold water, wrap them in toweling and place them in your refrigerator for an hour or more. When slicing raw vegetables it sometimes helps to cut a small slice off one side to form a steady base.
If you're simmering vegetables and you need to add more water, use hot water, not cold. Adding cold water may toughen the vegetable fibers. Economize on time and fuel by steaming 2 vegetables simultaneously in the same pot. Ifyou want to serve them separately, loosely wrap each in aluminum foil during cooking. To make frozen vegetables taste as much as possible like fresh ones, pour boiling water on them before cooking. This flushes away all traces of frozen water. Cooking artichokes in iron or aluminum pots will turn the pots gray; use stainless steel or glass pots instead.
To keep artichokes from discoloring as you clean them, squeeze a lemon half into a bowl of cold water. As you clean each artichoke, rub it with the other half of the lemon, and then drop it into the acidulated water. Remember to cook the artichokes in a nonaluminum pan. Fresh asparagus can be cooked to perfection in a coffee percolator. Position the asparagus upright and add an inch or two ofwater. The stalks will be cooked tender, while the tips will stay crisp. To firm uncooked asparagus stalks that have gone limp, position them upright in a deep pot. Add ice water, and cover the pot with a plastic bag. Put the pot in the refrigerator for an hour, and when you're ready to cook the asparagus, the stalks will be firm.
You will avoid damaging the delicate tips of canned asparagus if you open the can from the bottom rather than the top. If you've purchased asparagus with thick, tough stalks, peel the lower parts of the stalks with a potato peeler until you reach the soft interior. Cook as usual and the stalks will taste as tender as the flowers. To prevent beets from fading during cooking, leave an inch or two of stem attached and add a few tablespoons of vinegar to the water.
The pervasive smell of broccoli or cabbage while it's cooking can be reduced bv dropping a slice of stale bread into the cooking water. Placing a cup of vinegar (which absorbs odors) on the range, or dropping a lemon wedge into the pot will also lessen the offensive odor. You'll speed the cooking time for Brussels sprouts by marking an X with a knife on the bottom of each before putting it in the pot. If you've purchased fresh broccoli, cabbage, or cauliflower, and find live insects in the vegetable, drive them out by soaking the food for 30 minutes in cold water to whichyou've added a few tablespoons of salt or vinegar.
Cabbage that has been frozen before cooking will not have the characteristic overpowering odor. (Wash the cabbage and dry it with a paper towel before putting it in a plastic bag and freezing it.) After defrosting there will be no odor when the vegetable is boiled. You can prevent red cabbage from turning purple during cooking by adding a tablespoon of vinegar to the cooking water. The unappealing scent of cooking cauliflower will be reduced if you drop unshelled walnuts into the cooking water.
Add a dash of milk during cooking to keep cauliflower white. Carrots can be skinned in seconds if they're first dropped into boiling hot water for 5 minutes and then plunged into cold water. The skins will slip right off. Out of lettuce for bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches? Use celery-stalk leaves instead. If you like to grill corn with the husks on, try it this way: First soak the cobs husks and all in water for 60 minutes. Then, fasten the ends with wire-twist ties so the husks won t slip off and place the corn on the grill. Turn it every 10 minutes for 40 minutes, remove it from the grill, peel off the husks, and serve.
For extra succulent corn on the cob, strip green leaves from the cobs and use the tenderest ones to line the bottom of the pot before adding water and cooking. If your preference is corn off the cob, shave off kernels easilv with a shoehorn. A damp paper towel rubbed over corn on the cob easily removes the corn silk. A dampened toothbrush is effective in brushing the last stubborn strands of corn silk from corn cobs.
One way to cover hot corn evenly with butter is to melt the butter and spread it on with a pastry brush. To cut fresh mushrooms into uniform sections, try using an egg slicer. When cleaning mushrooms, try just to brush them clean with your fingers, or rinse them off quickly. Soaking them will make them soggy. To maintain the whiteness and firmness of mushrooms while sauteing them, add a teaspoon of lemon juice for every 1/4 pound of melted butter.
Your eyes will be less likely to water when you're slicing or chopping onions ifvou refrigerate the onions before cutting and slice off the root ends last. It also helps to breathe through your nose only and to run the exhaust fan. You can peel fresh white onions quickly if you first immerse them in boiling water for a minute or two. If you make an X at the root end of an onion with a sharp knife, the onion won't pop apart during cooking. If you soak onion rings in cold water for an hour they'll be milder and more suitable for use in salads. After you cut raw onions, get the onion scent off your hands by washing them with baking soda or salt.
If you're out of onions, packaged onion soup mix can be substituted in many recipes. Why waste time laboriously shelling peas? Just drop the pods in boiling water. The pods will split open and release the peas, and the pods will float to the surface, where you can skim them off. Peppers and tomatoes will keep their shape during baking if they are supported in greased muffin tins. Peppers will stay bright green during baking if you coat them with salad oil or olive oil before stuffing and cooking them. Exposure to air turns peeled potatoes dark so ifyou want to peel potatoes ahead of time, cover them with water and refrigerate.
To firm raw potatoes that have gone soft, immerse them in ice water for 30 minutes. To cook a baked potato in half the usual time, boil it for 5 minutes before putting it in a hot oven to get the "baked'' flavor. If you need to bake potatoes quickly, use baking nails. Insert a nail lengthwise in each potato; it will heat rapidly and then radiate heat to the inside of the potato, decreasing baking time by as much as 15 minutes. You can bake potatoes in less time by slicing them in half lengthwise and cooking them on a lightly greased baking sheet, cut side down.
Do the skins crack when you bake potatoes? Keep them smooth by rubbing fat or butter all over the potatoes before putting them in the oven. If you bake potatoes on top of a gas range you don't have to heat the whole oven. Wrap several medium-size potatoes, side by side, in aluminum foil, and place them on a burner set at the lowest possible heat. In 15 minutes, flip the package over. The potatoes should be ready to eat in 30 minutes. Sprinkle a little flour on potatoes before frying them and they'll be extra crisp and crunchy.
Hash browns that are stuck to the bottom of a pan will lift right out if you nestle the pan in a larger one containing an inch or so of cold water. It will then be easy to loosen the potatoes with a spatula.
Some people say the very best French fries are made by frying them twice. Here's how: Let potato strips stand in cold water for an hour and wipe them off before an initial, short-duration frying. Drain off the grease, and fry them for the second time until they're golden brown. You can use unpeeled potatoes when making hash browns. Just run them through the grater, skin and all, andyou won't lose the nutrients that are just under the potato skin. To keep potato pancakes from discoloring add sour cream to the grated potatoes. Or grate the potatoes into a bowl of ice water; drain before use.
For extra nutrition, add powdered milk to mashed potatoes and beat well to mix. Hungry for a new kind of nutritious snack? Cut potato skins into strips, season them to taste, and bake them in a hot oven until crisp. The strong odor of sauerkraut can be eliminated by adding a few celery stalks to the juice. You can also eliminate the smell of sauerkraut by adding red wine to it before cooking. To test string beans for freshness, snap one in half. If it breaks easily, it's just right. The quickest way to peel sweet potatoes is to boil them until just tender and then drop them into cold water. The skins will slip right off
Looking for the ripest tomatoes in a batch? Put all your tomatoes in a large container filled with water. The ripe tomatoes will sink to the bottom, and the unripe ones will float. You can peel several tomatoes simultaneously by putting them in a net onion or orange bag and submerging them in a pot of boiling water for 1 minute. The skins will drop right off. For firm tomato slices, cut parallel to the stem axis. To heighten the flavor when cooking tomatoes, add a pinch of sugar to the cooking water.
If you're simmering vegetables and you need to add more water, use hot water, not cold. Adding cold water may toughen the vegetable fibers. Economize on time and fuel by steaming 2 vegetables simultaneously in the same pot. Ifyou want to serve them separately, loosely wrap each in aluminum foil during cooking. To make frozen vegetables taste as much as possible like fresh ones, pour boiling water on them before cooking. This flushes away all traces of frozen water. Cooking artichokes in iron or aluminum pots will turn the pots gray; use stainless steel or glass pots instead.
You will avoid damaging the delicate tips of canned asparagus if you open the can from the bottom rather than the top. If you've purchased asparagus with thick, tough stalks, peel the lower parts of the stalks with a potato peeler until you reach the soft interior. Cook as usual and the stalks will taste as tender as the flowers. To prevent beets from fading during cooking, leave an inch or two of stem attached and add a few tablespoons of vinegar to the water.
The pervasive smell of broccoli or cabbage while it's cooking can be reduced bv dropping a slice of stale bread into the cooking water. Placing a cup of vinegar (which absorbs odors) on the range, or dropping a lemon wedge into the pot will also lessen the offensive odor. You'll speed the cooking time for Brussels sprouts by marking an X with a knife on the bottom of each before putting it in the pot. If you've purchased fresh broccoli, cabbage, or cauliflower, and find live insects in the vegetable, drive them out by soaking the food for 30 minutes in cold water to whichyou've added a few tablespoons of salt or vinegar.
Cabbage that has been frozen before cooking will not have the characteristic overpowering odor. (Wash the cabbage and dry it with a paper towel before putting it in a plastic bag and freezing it.) After defrosting there will be no odor when the vegetable is boiled. You can prevent red cabbage from turning purple during cooking by adding a tablespoon of vinegar to the cooking water. The unappealing scent of cooking cauliflower will be reduced if you drop unshelled walnuts into the cooking water.
Add a dash of milk during cooking to keep cauliflower white. Carrots can be skinned in seconds if they're first dropped into boiling hot water for 5 minutes and then plunged into cold water. The skins will slip right off. Out of lettuce for bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches? Use celery-stalk leaves instead. If you like to grill corn with the husks on, try it this way: First soak the cobs husks and all in water for 60 minutes. Then, fasten the ends with wire-twist ties so the husks won t slip off and place the corn on the grill. Turn it every 10 minutes for 40 minutes, remove it from the grill, peel off the husks, and serve.
For extra succulent corn on the cob, strip green leaves from the cobs and use the tenderest ones to line the bottom of the pot before adding water and cooking. If your preference is corn off the cob, shave off kernels easilv with a shoehorn. A damp paper towel rubbed over corn on the cob easily removes the corn silk. A dampened toothbrush is effective in brushing the last stubborn strands of corn silk from corn cobs.
One way to cover hot corn evenly with butter is to melt the butter and spread it on with a pastry brush. To cut fresh mushrooms into uniform sections, try using an egg slicer. When cleaning mushrooms, try just to brush them clean with your fingers, or rinse them off quickly. Soaking them will make them soggy. To maintain the whiteness and firmness of mushrooms while sauteing them, add a teaspoon of lemon juice for every 1/4 pound of melted butter.
Your eyes will be less likely to water when you're slicing or chopping onions ifvou refrigerate the onions before cutting and slice off the root ends last. It also helps to breathe through your nose only and to run the exhaust fan. You can peel fresh white onions quickly if you first immerse them in boiling water for a minute or two. If you make an X at the root end of an onion with a sharp knife, the onion won't pop apart during cooking. If you soak onion rings in cold water for an hour they'll be milder and more suitable for use in salads. After you cut raw onions, get the onion scent off your hands by washing them with baking soda or salt.
If you're out of onions, packaged onion soup mix can be substituted in many recipes. Why waste time laboriously shelling peas? Just drop the pods in boiling water. The pods will split open and release the peas, and the pods will float to the surface, where you can skim them off. Peppers and tomatoes will keep their shape during baking if they are supported in greased muffin tins. Peppers will stay bright green during baking if you coat them with salad oil or olive oil before stuffing and cooking them. Exposure to air turns peeled potatoes dark so ifyou want to peel potatoes ahead of time, cover them with water and refrigerate.
To firm raw potatoes that have gone soft, immerse them in ice water for 30 minutes. To cook a baked potato in half the usual time, boil it for 5 minutes before putting it in a hot oven to get the "baked'' flavor. If you need to bake potatoes quickly, use baking nails. Insert a nail lengthwise in each potato; it will heat rapidly and then radiate heat to the inside of the potato, decreasing baking time by as much as 15 minutes. You can bake potatoes in less time by slicing them in half lengthwise and cooking them on a lightly greased baking sheet, cut side down.
Do the skins crack when you bake potatoes? Keep them smooth by rubbing fat or butter all over the potatoes before putting them in the oven. If you bake potatoes on top of a gas range you don't have to heat the whole oven. Wrap several medium-size potatoes, side by side, in aluminum foil, and place them on a burner set at the lowest possible heat. In 15 minutes, flip the package over. The potatoes should be ready to eat in 30 minutes. Sprinkle a little flour on potatoes before frying them and they'll be extra crisp and crunchy.
Hash browns that are stuck to the bottom of a pan will lift right out if you nestle the pan in a larger one containing an inch or so of cold water. It will then be easy to loosen the potatoes with a spatula.
Some people say the very best French fries are made by frying them twice. Here's how: Let potato strips stand in cold water for an hour and wipe them off before an initial, short-duration frying. Drain off the grease, and fry them for the second time until they're golden brown. You can use unpeeled potatoes when making hash browns. Just run them through the grater, skin and all, andyou won't lose the nutrients that are just under the potato skin. To keep potato pancakes from discoloring add sour cream to the grated potatoes. Or grate the potatoes into a bowl of ice water; drain before use.
For extra nutrition, add powdered milk to mashed potatoes and beat well to mix. Hungry for a new kind of nutritious snack? Cut potato skins into strips, season them to taste, and bake them in a hot oven until crisp. The strong odor of sauerkraut can be eliminated by adding a few celery stalks to the juice. You can also eliminate the smell of sauerkraut by adding red wine to it before cooking. To test string beans for freshness, snap one in half. If it breaks easily, it's just right. The quickest way to peel sweet potatoes is to boil them until just tender and then drop them into cold water. The skins will slip right off
Looking for the ripest tomatoes in a batch? Put all your tomatoes in a large container filled with water. The ripe tomatoes will sink to the bottom, and the unripe ones will float. You can peel several tomatoes simultaneously by putting them in a net onion or orange bag and submerging them in a pot of boiling water for 1 minute. The skins will drop right off. For firm tomato slices, cut parallel to the stem axis. To heighten the flavor when cooking tomatoes, add a pinch of sugar to the cooking water.
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