Fixing Common Cooking Mistakes

Bread is too soft to slice: Freeze it and slice it frozen.
Bread Stale: Sprinkle it with a small amount of water, put it in foil, and bake in an oven at moderate heat for about ten minutes.
Cake Stuck to Pan: Let it sit until it is a little cooler, and then try again. If it’s already cold, reheat for a minute or two.
Cheese tough or rubbery after cooking: Blend in a blender or food processor at low speed for a minute or two, then cook slowly.
Coffee or broth cloudy: add eggshells.
Coffee overcooked: Add a pinch of salt
Dough is lumpy: Add more liquid and pound the dough thoroughly.
Dough won’t rise: Put the bowl of dough in a warmer place – in an oven, for instance, with a pilot light (do not turn the oven on). You could also mix a bit more yeast in ¼-cup warm water and knead into dough.
Dough won’t shape: Let it rest for 15 minutes.
Eggs crack when cooking: Put in 1 teaspoonful of salt and a bit of lemon or vinegar into the water to keep whites from oozing out of the shell.
Egg whites won’t whip: Add a bit of baking soda or salt.
Fudge hard: Add a tablespoon of milk and 2-3 tablespoonfuls of corn syrup and beat, then pour. Put in an airtight container for 24 hours.
Gelatin stuck in mold: Dip the mold in hot water, but not so the gelatin is touched by the water, for just a few seconds. Put the mold on a plate, turn it upside down and shake.
Gravy gray: Add red currant jelly, soy sauce, a bit of sherry, meat extract, or 1 teaspoon instant coffee.
Gravy lumpy: Beat it with eggbeater or wire whisk. Strain it.
Gravy salty: Make more. Sometimes adding a bit of brown sugar helps. Cook small pieces of potato into the gravy.
Ham salty: Soak slices in milk for 15 minutes to a half-hour. Wash off.
Icing sugared: Add a bit of vinegar and keep cooking.
Lemon hard: Heat it for 5 minutes in boiling water or for 15 seconds in a microwave on HIGH, then try juicing it.
Meat burned: Cut off burned parts, cube and sauce the rest. Serve over pasta.
Pasta stuck together: Put back in boiling water with a tablespoon or so of oil in it.
Pie dough burning on edge: Cover edge with aluminum foil.
Popcorn won’t pop: Soak corn in water for 5 minutes, dry off and try again. For very recalcitrant corn, freeze overnight and pop while frozen.
Rice burned: Get it off the flame, then put a piece of bread on top of it, cover for 5 minutes.
Scummy stock: Add leek tops and tomato peels, which absorb the scum.
Soup too salty: Slice in potato, simmer until potato turns translucent, then lift potato out.
Stew meat tough: if you haven’t had the time to let the stew continue cooking under gentle heat, add a few tomatoes or a teaspoon of sugar to tenderize it.
Vegetable old: To pep them up, add a pinch or two of sugar and a little salt to the cooking water.
Vegetables overcooked: Puree them. Or make a cream soup of them Or put them in an oven-safe dish, cover them with bread crumbs and grated Parmesan cheese, and broil for a couple of minutes.
Vegetables too salty: Pour the water out, rinse them off, and return them to the stove in new water. If you are already done, wash in hot water.
Whipping cream won’t whip: chill everything (bowl, cream, beaters) and try again. If that fails, add an unbeaten egg white or 3-4 drops of lemon juice and whip as hard as you can.

Bouillabaisse Soup

This excellent, ancient recipe from Provence excites huge passion and interest. Bouillabaisse consists of fragrant fish chunks poached in a saffron-enhanced broth. The dish is served as two courses. First the broth is spooned over toasted bread croutes topped with rouille sauce, which enriches the soup; next the fish itself is eaten. It is undoubtedly a triumph, so do devote several hours to making it.

Ingredients:

Continue reading “Bouillabaisse Soup”

Got Mushrooms? Stuff Them and Soup Them

I have always found mushrooms to be an interesting sort of comfort food. Here are two delightful recipes, great for lunch or dinner, as a complement or even as the main attraction.

WILD MUSHROOM BISQUE

1 and 1/2 pounds portobello and cremini mushrooms

Continue reading “Got Mushrooms? Stuff Them and Soup Them”

Pizza – Can This Be A Healthy Food?

Every component of pizza – crust, toppings, sauce and cheese are thought to be unhealthy. This is no longer the usual case today. Many pizza parlors today offer this delectable food in a new way – the use of organic ingredients only. Thus, every slice of organic pizza becomes healthy food.

Many of us believe that pizza is very unhealthy food because it contains ingredients that can add weight to the consumer. A slice of pizza has many calories, depending on its toppings and crust. This connotation will change if you know how the making of pizza had been modified by many people who advocate the use of healthy and organic ingredients.

You may believe that you cannot rely on pizza delivery and that the healthy kind can only be made available when you create it yourself. But you are wrong because today, many pizza stores had started to serve purely organic pizza. The making of a healthy pizza means using the right ingredients, all natural and organic. Continue reading “Pizza – Can This Be A Healthy Food?”

Healthy Comfort Food For Stressful Times

Human beings want to be happy all the time, and when stress punctures our happiness bubble, we turn to our favorite comfort foods, with their familiar rationalizations. “I deserve this, I work hard,” followed by, “I’ll get back on track tomorrow,” and of course, “I’ll have just a little bite.” You will work just as hard before you eat those chips as after, tomorrow either never comes or takes the scenic route around various parts of your body, and that little bite can somehow make a pint of ice cream disappear!” The only thing these rationalizations change during stressful times are your weight, self-esteem, and the level of guilt leading to more stress.

Everyone experiences varying degrees of stress, and these days you don’t have to look past your television to find more than enough stress to add to your load. The good news is you don’t have to ban comfort food, you simply need to redefine it and choose the types of comfort food that keep your body running efficiently and at optimum health. Continue reading “Healthy Comfort Food For Stressful Times”

Artichoke and Fennel Au Gratin

With a gluten-free friend coming for dinner, I knew I needed to make some adjustments to the menu, but I stilled wanted to serve this simple, warm side dish filled with nutritious, tasty vegetables and a creamy sauce. The problem was in the topping: Au gratin dishes call for breadcrumbs, so I needed a good substitute.

I’ve bought rice crackers many times for snacking with cheese, peanut butter, or other toppings and found that they had great flavor and crunch on their own. So why not throw some in the food processor until finely ground and mix with some grated Parmesan for a tasty au gratin topping? The taste, texture-and golden color-turned out great, just like “regular” au gratin dishes.

All the other ingredients in this recipe are already gluten free-vegetables, dairy, a little olive oil. The savory artichokes and anise-flavored fennel, along with the creamy, sweet taste of evaporated milk, are a satisfying combination, resulting in a simple, homey side dish. I baked it in small ramekins for individual servings, but you can also use a single, 8 X 8-inch baking dish to make a larger size for dividing.

Continue reading “Artichoke and Fennel Au Gratin”

Olive Oil And Its Bitter Truth

I think that many of us have experienced that olive oil has an unusual behavior. Why sometimes does it become bitter when it’s blended? Well there are many answers out there about the quality being secondary or because the heat, caused from the high speed spinning blades of the food processor or blender, turns the oil bitter. All these are myths and speculations, not facts.

The only explanation that is a scientific explanation and makes sense, is the one that came from Cook’s Illustrated. I have read a lot of great information about them and in my opinion their kitchen is run like a laboratory. That makes them very credible. Continue reading “Olive Oil And Its Bitter Truth”

What’s The Scoop on NICE Cream? A Better-For-You Dessert

Have you heard of “nICE Cream”?

(Also called “banana ice cream”) It’s a fun banana-based dessert that’s becoming more popular… but why? Basically, all you have to do is learn about it, to see how it could become a sensation. It’s super versatile, capable of chocolate, fruit and nut flavors (or any combination there-of). It’s dairy free, low sugar, better for you than regular ice cream AND easy to make too, so it’s no wonder people everywhere are giving it a try. It’s called “nICE”, because it’s more environmentally friendly than milk, and doesn’t bother any animals in making it.

So what exactly is nICE Cream?
Continue reading “What’s The Scoop on NICE Cream? A Better-For-You Dessert”

Breaded Catfish Cooked Up Perfectly In A Toaster Oven

I absolutely love deep fried catfish but I know it is not the healthiest option for me. I know nothing can actually replicate that dish without frying, but I have come up with a baked version that is close. I have tried this many different ways and have finally come up with a version that I think is fantastic. Instead of using white breadcrumbs I use a combination of both whole wheat breadcrumbs and ground cashews. I cook them up quickly and perfectly in my toaster oven.

I found that a bread crumb breading by itself is too dry unless it is fried. Cashews have a very buttery texture and taste, yet the flavor is mild enough to not compete with the flavor of the catfish. I also find that in the absence of that unique deep-fried taste, spices are a very welcome addition. Obviously, the spices don’t make the fish taste fried, but it adds a beautiful flavor that leaves you satisfied so that you forget all about the fried version. Continue reading “Breaded Catfish Cooked Up Perfectly In A Toaster Oven”

How to Fix Your Cheesecake – A Troubleshooting Guide

A cheesecake should be relatively trouble free but occasionally problems do come up. Over the years, we’ve been asked the following questions.

“What’s the easiest way to make crumbs for my crust?”

Lots of folks use a food processor; we don’t bother. We use a heavy duty zipper-type plastic bag and crush the crackers or cookies with a rolling pin a few at a time. We save the plastic bag for the next crust. If we’re in a hurry, we just use packaged graham cracker crumbs rather than crushing crackers.

“I have lumps in my cheesecake. How do avoid those?” Continue reading “How to Fix Your Cheesecake – A Troubleshooting Guide”