5 really useful cooking tips
Cooking is about recipes, of course, but it is also an impressive collection of small gestures, ways of doing things, knowing what to do and what not to do.
All these little tips and tricks can be very important: they can affect the way a recipe turns out, simply because you did just the right thing at the right time.
I'm starting here with a series of 5 very effective tips. I hope they will help make life – and cooking – easier for you…
All these little tips and tricks can be very important: they can affect the way a recipe turns out, simply because you did just the right thing at the right time.
I'm starting here with a series of 5 very effective tips. I hope they will help make life – and cooking – easier for you…
23 K 4.9/5 (15 reviews)
Last modified on: March 29th 2016
5 really useful cooking tips
1) When melting butter, cut it into small pieces first
Don't:
When you put butter to melt in a hot pan, it is easy just to put in the required weight as a whole lump, without thinking.This is not the way to do it, as a large lump of butter will start to melt around the outside. It will then start to burn before the middle has even melted.
Do:
It is better to cut the butter into small pieces before putting it in the pan. Then it will melt more evenly without burning.
2) Don't try to pick out a bit of eggshell with your fingers
When breaking eggs for an omelette, sometimes a bit of eggshell falls into the bowl.Don't:
It is no use trying to catch it with your fingers – the viscosity of the egg white makes this almost impossible.
Do:
Take a broken half shell and use this like a spoon to pick out the small piece of eggshell – you'll find it works very well.
3) Pastry in a flat cake, rather than a ball
Don't:
Although many recipes tell you to do it, you should NOT gather sweetcrust or shortcrust into a ball. When cooled, it becomes brittle in a ball and tends to crack.
Do:
Gather the pastry into a large flattish cake. This will be much easier to roll out after it has been refrigerated.
4) Grill your bacon
Don't:
When cooking bacon, avoid frying the rashers in a pan as they will shrink and become tough.
Do:
Cook them under the grill on a wire grid to allow the excess fat to drain off.
5) Squeeze a lemon over your hand
Don't
When adding lemon juice to a recipe, it is easiest just to squeeze half a lemon over the pan or bowl.But this is how we end up with pips in the recipe, which is not what we want.
Do:
Squeeze the lemon with one hand, holding the other hand underneath to strain out any pips that fall. Hold your fingers just far enough apart to let the juice flow through, but not the pips.Lasts posts
The importance of sieving
In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?September 3rd 2025967
The grease spray
As soon as you have something in a recipe that sticks to the mold, the question always arises as to how difficult it is to remove from the mold. There's nothing more frustrating than breaking your cake when unmolding it, because part of it has stuck in the mold. The classic way to avoid this is...August 26th 20254,3555
Cake moulds
When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?August 25th 20254,6685
Thinning out herbs
If you need to add a long-stemmed herb (tarragon, mint, verbena, thyme, etc.) to a recipe, you'll probably only need the leaves and not the stem, so you'll need to remove the leaves. Leaf removal means keeping only the beautiful leaves, and eliminating the ugly stems and leaves, but how do you do...August 8th 20252,8815
Add a bay leaf
Bay leaf: small in size, but big in flavor. You'll find it in hundreds of recipes, and it's often added to cooking meat, in a sauce or broth, usually accompanied by other herbs or products. It's a staple of Provençal, Mediterranean and Oriental cuisine, but not the only one. Usually, in a...July 31th 20252,9865
Other pages you may also like
The importance of sieving
In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?September 3rd 2025967
The 3 secrets of Parisian flan
A flan Parisien, or boulanger, is a simple yet delicious cake. A cream, a mixture of milk, eggs and sugar, is poured into a raw pastry base and baked in the oven until the pastry and cream are cooked. This is the simplest version of the recipe, probably the original one, but nowadays the cream...July 21th 202313 K4.7
The Holy Grail of French bakers
While browsing through the recipes on this site, you may have noticed that while I adore cooking (everything, in fact, to do with eating and drinking), I am particularly drawn to bakery: bread, viennoiseries and all that goes with them – it’s a real passion of mine; I love making them and I...March 24th 201819 K 34.7
Parsley stems
Parsley, whether curly or flat, is a delicious ingredient in many recipes, where it is used both raw and cooked. When used raw, in a salad for example, where it always provides, alone or with other herbs, a remarkable freshness, only the leaves are kept. And when used cooked?July 28th 20253,211 13
The art of the charlotte
In cooking, a charlotte is a delicious moulded dessert, with biscuits around the outside that have been soaked in a flavoured syrup, filled with a light cream or mousse. The charlotte is left to set in the fridge before being turned out and served in slices. It is very light and a lovely sweet...February 27th 201344 K4.3
Post a comment or question
Follow this page (as 2 people already do)
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.