Handy Hints: Cool Cooking Tips
By Arlene Bascom
The Basics
• Before you start to cook, study your recipe carefully. If you are not clear on a certain recipe term, or don't have a tool or ingredient the recipe calls for, you are much less likely to have a successful outcome.
• An important part of cooking well is starting well. Set the butter or eggs out so they will be room temperature. Get all the ingredients the recipe calls for out on the counter, chop up all the vegetables before turning on the stove, and grate the cheese before the oven goes on. This one habit can make the difference between great cooking and only moderate success. If you get into this habit, you won't have the food burning on the stovetop because you are busy prepping other ingredients or the casserole getting cold while you grate the cheese for the topping.
• Proper use and care of knives is another key to great cooking. Make sure your knives are sharp, and learn how to properly hold a knife and the best way to use it. Having the right knives and using them properly is an essential cooking skill—and essential for keeping all your fingers intact! The Internet has some great videos to provide instruction on this skill. Whatever your need, there is a video to show you how to do it.
Pasta
• Pasta can be tricky, but there are several tricks that make the difference between delicious, flavorful pasta and ordinary pasta. To begin with, think twice before rinsing pasta after draining excess liquid. Some of the great flavor will go right down the drain.
• Add pasta and salt to the water just as it is starting to boil. Add 1-2 tablespoons of salt per pound of pasta; because most of the salt will not be absorbed by the pasta, it’s not a huge hit on your health.
• For great, rich, pasta sauces, set aside about 1/4 cup of the (salted!) pasta water before draining. When you’re stirring the pasta and sauce together, add a little bit of the water at a time until you have exactly the consistency you like.
• Because it is hard to judge exactly how much pasta you need, you may end up with extra to freeze for later use. If you coat the pasta with a little olive oil, it will freeze beautifully. If you have sauce left over, another way to freeze the pasta is to add it to the sauce and freeze and warm up both together.
Fruits and Veggies
• If your veggies (like carrots, asparagus, or celery) are limp, you can revive them in a bowl of ice water. Refrigerate for about 30 to 45 minutes and your veggies will look and feel like fresh-picked.
• When you are sautéing both onions and garlic, never add them in together, because garlic doesn’t require as much cooking time. Sauté onions first, for at least half of the cooking time before adding the garlic. Then stir and watch carefully. Burned garlic is yucky!
• Citrus zest adds flavor to muffins, cakes, and many other recipes. However, whenever you make your own citrus zest, always use organic fruit. In the United States, citrus fruits are sprayed with a number of pesticides and fungicides that tend to linger on the peel, and no amount of washing will remove them.
Miscellaneous
• Discover the difference sea salt or Kosher salt can make in your cooking. Not only is it better for the body, but it gives that extra little “something” that regular table salt cannot.
• Pure vanilla is expensive, but if you want your cooking to shine, it is worth every penny!
Watch for more cooking tips in future issues. If you have tips you would like to share in Senior Review, email them to Arlene at: arlenebascom@hotmail.com