Written by Jenny Catton
Do you want to cook tasty and healthy meals without spending hours in the kitchen? Well, sometimes it’s the little short cuts and clever tricks that can save you time and improve your cooking. Here are some of our favourite tips for savvy home chefs:
Get More Juice from Your Lemons
Lemons are a healthy way to add flavour and freshness to a whole host of dishes. To save time and get more juice from your lemon, try this technique. Simply roll the whole lemon across your worktop a few times before cutting and squeezing. This causes the little cells inside the lemon to burst and release their juice – giving you up to three times more juice.
Rescue Salty Soup
If you’ve been a little heavy handed with the salt while making a soup, don’t worry. There’s no need to throw the salty soup away. Just pop a peeled and quartered potato into the soup. The potato will draw away the excess salt leaving you with a tasty soup. Just remember to remove the potato before serving.
Say Goodbye to Garlic Odour
Many dishes require garlic and although it may be delicious when cooked, the unpleasant smell of raw garlic can remain on your skin, even after you’ve washed your hands. To remove the garlicky smell, rub a stainless steel spoon over your hands while rinsing.
No More Onion Tears
Fed up of crying when you’re preparing onions? Well, if you’ve got lots of onions to peel, you can prevent irritated eyes by placing the onions in a large bowl of water while preparing. This way the fumes from the onions won’t be released into the air. Other tricks include rubbing your knife with lime juice as the acid reacts with the onion, causing it to release less gas.
Prevent Milk from Boiling Over
It’s all too easy for milk to boil over on the stove and the result can be very messy. A simple way to prevent milk from boiling over is to put a long wooden spoon across the top of the pan while heating. The spoon breaks the surface tension caused by the milk proteins and allows the steam to escape.
Stay Fresh
A quick tip to keep tubs of dairy products such as cream or cottage cheese fresher for longer is to store the unopened pack upside down. This will create a vacuum within the tub, helping to prevent the growth of bacteria.
Keep Bread Fresh For Longer
Do you find that bread never stays as fresh as you’d like it to? Well, you can increase the lifespan of your bread by storing it inside a plastic bag alongside a stick of celery. The bread will take in moisture from the celery, helping it to stay fresher for longer. And because celery has a mild taste, the flavour of the bread will not be impaired.
Smart Peeler
With its knobbly lumps and bumps, ginger can be a pain to peel. So rather than using a traditional peeler, try using the back of a teaspoon instead. Simple rub the spoon along the contours of the ginger and the delicate skin will easily come away.
For more tips and recipes, visit: www.foodnetwork.co.uk