Quick questions on ANYTHING (see first post for Freezing, Reheating, Slow Cooker, +)

Penelope_Penguin

prestonlass wrote: »

just looked at this thread for the first time and have to say how impressed i am with all these that you all seem to know. I have had a problem for which I've tried all things i can think of and thought I'd have a go at posting on here, if you lot can't help then i will give it up as a bad job..
My black marble fireplace hearth is dreadfully stained, mainly from spilt drinks etc, can anyone suggest anything I might use to remove these or at least disguise them. It looks disgraceful and I would love to have it looking nice and shiny again. Hope someone can help.

Hello, marble is made from calcium carbonate, so will react chemically (and irreversably) with acidic materials. It's vital, therefore, to clean them off (orange juice, cola, etc) immediately. It's best to treat marble the same way as you would wood - coasters, no hot things on it, etc.

This site recommends washing with detergent, and possibly sealing with varnish.

HTH, Penny. x

prestonlass

thanks Penelope, what a great site, I've saved it to my favourites, I'm sure it will come in useful again sometime.

john957432

Can you freeze coconut milk? (something tells me this might not work?)

If you cook and freeze rice how do you guys resuscitate it?

Can you make chips out of potatoes, freeze them, then treat like frozen chips? Or are frozen chips precooked?

Penelope_Penguin

john957432 wrote: »

Can you freeze coconut milk? (something tells me this might not work?)

If you cook and freeze rice how do you guys resuscitate it?

Can you make chips out of potatoes, freeze them, then treat like frozen chips? Or are frozen chips precooked?

1. Don't see why not One of those to try, I suppose. I'd think the risk is the milk separating (like frozen cream).

2. I do. Then sprinkle with a bit of water and heat to piping hot in the microwave. However, Food Standards Agency doesn't recommend this as there's a food poisoning organism that can survice the reheating process.

3. I wouldn't do that - the potatoes are likely to discolour if they're frozen raw. I'd part cook them, then freeze. Defrost, and finish the cooking.

HTH, Penny. x

jamanda

I have just been searching forum for flapjack recipes. Can someone please tell me how I weigh 3 oz of syrup without coating me, the dog and the kitchen in it.

Suggestions would be most welcome.

Penelope_Penguin

jamanda wrote: »

I have just been searching forum for flapjack recipes. Can someone please tell me how I weigh 3 oz of syrup without coating me, the dog and the kitchen in it.

Suggestions would be most welcome.

Put the jar onto your scales and add weights to balance it. Deduct 3oz from the weights side, and then take syrup out until it balances again. You've then taken 3oz from the jar :j

Penny. x

jamanda

Thanks very much. Never thought of that. Had visions of twirling a tablespoon out of the tin, into the scales and then trying to scrape out of scales into bowl. Aided at all times by aging dog.

You now have a new best friend.

Savvy_Sue

jamanda wrote: »

Thanks very much. Never thought of that. Had visions of twirling a tablespoon out of the tin, into the scales and then trying to scrape out of scales into bowl. Aided at all times by aging dog.

You now have a new best friend.

Another tip for dealing with syrup is to coat the spoon you're using to measure with in cooking oil. Then the syrup slides off. This helps me because the recipes I use involving syrup use spoonfuls rather than ounces.

If this was a recipe I used regularly, I would

a) put the bowl I was measuring / mixing into on my scales and set them to zero (one of those new-fangled scale users, I fear!)
b) coat my spoon with oil and count how many spoonfuls made the right weight
c) note that number next to the weight in the recipe.

I've done this with my '3 cups of butter' recipes too ...

jamanda

Thank you. I've never made flapjacks before so I'll see how they turn out and then set myself up properly if they are edible.

Once again, many thanks to both of you for your time and trouble.

thriftlady_2

I use syrup a lot and I usually just spoon it out in tbsp as my flapjack recipe calls for tbsp. You can never get an exact amount of syrup.

One tip I use is similar to the oiled spoon idea -dust your scales bowl with flour before spooning out the syrup -it should peel off the bowl into your mixing bowl.

Heating the syrup tin helps too -stand it in hot water.

You can buy syrup in a squeezy bottle which is much easier to measure out of, but is, of course more expensive. I've bought one today and I'm going to refill it from a big tin of syrup.