1,506 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...

The proper use of a dusting machine

Let's take a look at a simple gesture, the sprinkling, that is to say to distribute a fine powder (icing sugar, sugar, flour,...) on a surface.

If you have to sprinkle something, you may use a sprinkler or "poudrette" (in french) it is a very simple utensil, a box, with a lid pierced with holes more or less big, or a sieve, but very practical, with it you can sprinkle regularly what you want.

8,882 4.6/5 (18 reviews)

Keywords for this post:Gesture Tip Trick Powder Sprinkle

Last modified on: July 31^th 2019

For this post: Comment Follow Send to a friend

The proper use of a dusting machine

It's not rocket science, is it?

No, indeed, but if you take a shaker (or a salt or pepper shaker etc.) in your hand, you will naturally use it like this, from top to bottom:

poudrette dans le mauvais sens

Naturally, but it is a bad way to do it, because by doing so, the powder contained in the shaker will pack itself towards the outlet, and end up clogging the shaker.

How to do it?

The trick, and the good gesture with this kind of utensil, is to handle it "flat", like this:

poudrette dans le bon sens

This way, the powder inside moves in the shaker, doesn't clog the outlet, and is much easier to distribute.

Humidity, the enemy of powdered productsIn

the same spirit, if you use a salt shaker above a dish that is cooking, and inevitably releases some steam, you will inevitably moisten the salt contained inside, and as you go along this moistening will increase until it more or less clogs your salt shaker, and this even if you hold it the right way round, i.e. flat, as you know now ;-).

Can you avoid this?

Not really, in fact, even if you do it quickly, your salt will get a little bit wet, and over time...
It's inevitable, but it can be corrected : You just have to put your salt shaker in a soft oven (we say "falling"), for a while, to dry again its content. The best way to do this is to put it in the oven after cooking a dish, remove the dish, turn off the oven, and put the salt shaker in. Leave it for a good hour, with the lid off if possible, until all the salt in it has dried completely.

To sum up: 1) To use a salt shaker, hold it "flat". 2) To dry a clogged salt shaker, put it in a low oven (hot, but turned off) for 1 hour.

Lasts posts

A drizzle of olive oil

Often in a recipe, you have to "baste" vegetables, for example, before sending them to the oven. What the author means by this is that you need to put oil on top of the vegetables to cook them in the oven. Typically, we just quickly drizzle oil over the vegetables, hoping not to miss any, but...
July 13^th 20257095

Always secure your cutting board

When using a cutting board, it's very important that it's stable and doesn't move while you're cutting, for safety's sake. Boards have a natural tendency to slide on the work surface, but here are 2 ways to block them effectively.
July 1^st 20258835

Cherry clafoutis, with or without pits?

When it comes to cherry clafoutis recipes, there's often a camp of those who argue that you absolutely have to leave the stones in because it tastes better, and the other camp (myself included) who prefer cherries without stones, which makes a much more pleasant clafoutis to eat. But is it true...
June 29^th 20258325

Should potatoes be washed twice?

Let's say you have to make a recipe that includes potatoes, let's say sliced, you'll most likely proceed as follows: Peel the potatoes, wash them, slice them, wash them again, pat them dry and add them to your recipe. But there's a "but": depending on the recipe, the second washing may be a bad...
May 19^th 20252,472 15

Grilled bacon is much better in the oven

Some recipes call for thin slices of bacon to be cooked and added to the recipe, or to prepare one of those delicious breakfasts known as "à l'Anglaise".
April 25^th 20252,1645

See all posts Random post RSS feeds

Other pages you may also like

Fruits which can ruin your jelly

There are many ways of making a fruit mousse, but one of the simplest is to prepare a fruit jelly (basically a fresh fruit coulis with gelatine) and then mix this jelly before it sets completely with whipped cream. The result is perfect for filling a charlotte, for example. But do beware;...
March 6^th 201374 K4.0

Foie gras service

For the upcoming christmas meals you too may be sacrificing to the tradition of foie gras? If so, I suggest you take a look at everything that revolves around serving foie gras: how to serve it, and what to eat and drink with it.
December 23^th 201713 K4.9

The baker always gild twice

I've already told you about gilding, the beaten whole egg that is spread with a brush on anything that needs to brown in the oven: puff pastry, pastries, etc. and that professionals use a lot, I'm going to come back to this to clarify a bit how to do it, and give you a professional tip.
June 9^th 201932 K4.2

Fruits and their syrup

As I write these lines, we are finally in the summer, the holidays are approaching, and above all, the fruits are pouring onto the market stalls, if they are ripe, it's time to enjoy them to the full! .
July 24^th 20199,0854.7

The right weight of pastry for a pie

Let's try to solve a thorny problem: How much dough will I need when I make my next pie? You're planning to make a pie, you're going to use your favourite mould or circle, but how much pastry will you need to fill it completely with a well spread pastry, without being too thin, or on the contrary...
March 20^th 202063 K4.3