Cooking Tips Thread

When cooking pasta - add it to already fast boiling water - then add a little oil while it is cooking - this stops it sticking together.

Great thread idea.

I am 25, and have to say that I'm a pretty hopeless cook, (not pretty and hopeless alas). Being from a family of 4 children I can understand why my parents didn't have to time to teach us to cook anything except spag bol from a jar, but, I refuse to take the opinion of my 16stone sister "It hasn't done me any harm" and only cook something if it comes from a box. (Explains the 16stones??)

Since finding this site and especially the OS, I have decided to try and improve on my basic self taught cookery skills and have taken well to the baking, (weight has gone up 7lbs in 2 months, oopsies). Hopefully, I shall soon be moving onto slightly more complex and less 'belly-expanding' recipes soon.

It's well worth browsing the various recipe threads because they often contain hints mixed in with the recipe instructions. There is, for example, an entire thread on how to cook rice in the Cooking Section of the MEGA Index...

Just found this thread so I'll add a couple of my own -

Add an Oxo italian cube to the water when cooking spaghetti for spag bol.

If you add oil when boiling pasta it will stop it sticking but it will also mean the food will slide off the pasta quite a bit when you serve it so don't add too much if this bothers you.

Roast potatoes - my wife crumbles an oxo cube over them before cooking. I drizzle some olive oil (by the way I use frozen ones - I know, probably more expensive) and then sprinkle over some parsley, also some thyme if to go with chicken.

When making tomato sauce for pizzas lightly fry a thinly sliced garlic clove in some oil in the bottom of the pan first until it goes golden. It adds a really nice flavour, completely different to just adding chopped/powder garlic.

Roast a chicken on a stovie - grated mix of potato and sweet potato in the bottom of the roasting tin and lightly pushed down. Amount depends on size of tin but about 2/3 cm depth seems to work nicely. It's a nice change or addition to roast potatoes.

when roasting a chicken, cook it upside down, all the juice then stops the breast from being dry, flip it over at the last minute to crisp the skin on top.

( I due this mostly to get the skin all over it crispy, it's a major weakness for me, DH doesn't eat skin so I end up eating the skin from the whole bird before it gets carved, god help my arteried!!!)

When peeling spuds, keep the skins, pop in a bag in the freezer, then when a savoury craving kicks in, pop them in the fryer, dust with salt, a wee drop of salad cream or whatever takes your fancy and they're fab, crispy, chippy type salty goodness.

After emptying your slow cooker of whatever food may be contained therein, don't put the lid back on ( mine is like a cauldron and doesn't have a glass see through lid) I find that if I put the lid back on I forget about it having been in use and twice I have gone to use it only to discover it had an eco system all of it's own!

when poaching eggs only use white vinegar, the brown stuff doesn't work and it disolved the whites, it looks like a snow globe with just the yplk shining through like a big old sun!

dont put pyrex directly on a hot ring, it's heat proof but if you do that it explodes.

when making fish cakes, corn beef hash cakes any kind of potato based fried thing, use cold mash, if you use it hot it dissintigrates.

don't was a bowl of batter or anything floury with hot water, it cooks it the flour and it fuses on to the surface, always use cold water.

when cracking eggs do them into a bowl or cup first to check they've not gone off to save them contaminating what you're cooking.

a knob of butter into hot rice loosens it up if it's gone or going claggy.

when cooking meat, if it has skin on, or a layer of fat on the top of a roast etc salt it, if not dont, the salt draws the moisture out and makes it tough, only salt once cooked.

when boiling green veg, add a dash of lemon juice to stop the colour from being bleached from it.

when mopping floors use boiling (not just hot) water, it evaporates quicker so you have a dry floor much faster.

when making yorkshire puts put a good shake of powder white pepper into the smoking tins, it seems to activate the oil better.

when cooking muscles, when raw, give them a tap if they don't close chuck them, they're bad, check them again once cooked and if they haven't opened then chuck those too.

when cooking skate, boil it very briefly first, it makes the skin come off much easier, then bake or fry accordingly.

iff you make something with too much chille in it, a good squirt of lemon neutralises the heat.

If you are a black unsweetened coffee drinker and your coffee is too strong and you could tar a road with it, add a few grains of salt, it takes the edge off ( dont do this with milky or sweetened coffee)

put oil on your fingers before chopping chillies, it puts a protective film on them and it washes off easier, prevents any nasty surprises later on in the day.

when frying with butter always add some oil to stop the butter from burning.

If you have an uncut crusty loaf that's gone hard, give it a good sprinkle of water and pop in the oven it will refresh and be as good as new in no time ( I still cut off the end not so nicely crispy slice though)

I'm sure I've got dozens more of these but I think that's enough to be going on with for now, hope its of some use to somebody.xxx