Cooking and Baking Tips and Tricks

[Floriferous]

Hey there everyone =)
I thought that this would be a great thread to have for anyone who wants to learn how to cook, or even people who already know how to cook, but always love having new methods of cooking to try. Here you can post all of your tips for cooking/baking and ask questions that have been pestering you for a while.


Here are a few to start:
Always salt your water when you're boiling pasta or seafood, it gives it all a better taste.

When salting your water, wait until after the water is boiling already to do it. That way the water boils faster.

[Fairy Poppins]

If you are baking cakes, either line the cake tins with greaseproof paper or wipe some butter inside first, so that you can get the cakes out of the tins once cooked and cooled.

[Cabron]

When you're cooking something that's a bit complicated, it's easier to have a big plastic bowl nearby to throw scraps into.
Spaghetti sauce is better the longer you let it simmer.
A bit of vanilla in hot chocolate makes it lovely.

[Troubled_Heart]

Originally Posted by Sing.Bake.Repeat.

Always salt your water when you're boiling pasta or seafood, it gives it all a better taste.

When salting your water, wait until after the water is boiling already to do it. That way the water boils faster.

I have to disagree... Never salt your water! It makes the food taste a bit odd and increases your risk of heart problems!

When new to cooking, write down the times of everything so you don't miss when to put something in and so it all finishes at the same time thus is hot when served
Serve all food steaming hot!

[JellyBean4986]

If your baking cookies or brownies its always better to undercook them a little bit (like a couple of minutes) then to over cook them. makes them soft and chewy! yummy!!

[Floriferous]

Originally Posted by Ianto Jones

I have to disagree... Never salt your water! It makes the food taste a bit odd and increases your risk of heart problems!

Hm, I never knew that. I just listened to my mommy.

[TakeTheLeap]

When cooking pasta (especially spaghetti or angel hair), add just a little bit of oil (vegetable oil, canola oil, olive oil) to the water - it keeps noodles from sticking together!

When baking cakes/cupcakes/brownies, spray your pan/tins/liners with nonstick spray before you start mixing your ingredients so it has a chance to settle a bit. Otherwise, it tends to mix with your batter and can taste a bit funny.

For chicken and (sometimes) pork, try trimming excess fat before cutting and cooking. Excess fat causes grease and is just nasty to eat.

When browning beef (ground beef in particular), don't put oil or butter in the pan. There's a lot of grease in ground beef as it is and there's no reason to add more; plus, it gives it a funny flavor. Once your beef is browned, drain excess grease to make any meal a little healthier.

[chickenonsteroids]

say I'm cookies, biscuits you name it I tend to make sure my hands are cold so when I am crumbling the stuff it happens easier

I haven't baked in ages but I was pretty good at it... I hope I said that method right its easy for me to forget

Oh and a fairly simple thing... make sure your workspace is clear and keep up to date on the washing up

[Unicorn ♥✿]

Ooohhh.

Okay, craking eggs. The chef where I work taught me a trick.
Tap them 3 times on a work surface (so the crack but don't break.
Then sort of pull them apart bove the bowl. NO SHELL!
But, if tou DO get shell in the bwl, fish it out with one half of the original shell

I'll add more as he teaches me

[Jas]

As far as the salting water thing goes, everybody does it differently - I don't think it makes a difference either way, really.

I save butter wrappers and fold them up and keep them in the freezer so when I need to grease a dish it's easy to do.

[Paix et Amour]

when making eggs in any way where you whip/beat them, add a splash of milk. it makes them fluffy and tasty!

use virgin olive oil if you can afford it in almost any cooking instead of others, unless you need a certain kind for the taste. it has a better taste and is much healthier.

when you grease a cake pan make sure to hit the corners heavily, and the bottom needs a good bit. butter works, but tends to make the cake burn a little bit.