Welcome to Cooking Tips

Test for Baking Powder

If you're unsure about the freshness of your baking powder try this test. Put one teaspoon in 1/3 cup of water. If the water does not fizz toss the baking powder. It's too old.

How to Saute

Sauteing is the process by which a vegetable is sliced and brought to a golden-brown by cooking it over a medium-low to medium heat with a small amount of butter or other fat. It is the first step in a great number of recipes.

The first rule of sauteing is to go slow. Make sure that your butter is melted or your oil is relatively hot before you add your vegetables. Gauging the temperature of the oil can be accomplished by holding your hand about three or four inches over the bottom of the pan - if you can feel the heat, it's probably hot enough. The smaller or thinner you slice or dice your vegetables, the more evenly they will cook.

On the average, it only takes between three and ten minutes to saute a normal portion for most recipes. The wide variation is based on the sugar content of the vegetable in question. Onions have a relatively high sugar content, so they saute quickly. Celery has almost no sugar, so it hardly sautes at all unless it's mixed with something else that will saute.

A neat little trick to help stave off rampaging hoards of hungry children is to saute a half an onion on a back burner. Even if you don't use them in any of the dishes, they are often a nice topping or condiment, and the smell of the onions cooking satisfies everyone's need to know that dinner is on its way.

How to Poach an Egg

There are a few different ways to poach an egg, and the time it takes to do so depends on your method and how runny or hard you'd like your yolk.

The first way to poach an egg is the "open pot" method. Add a generous splash of vinegar and a dash of salt to a medium-sized pot half-filled with water. (The proportions of this are not as important as your ability to reach in the pot.) Bring this to a good boil. Break an egg into a bowl and then slip the egg out of the bowl and into the water. This keeps the egg mostly in one place without too much spreading out. In two minutes, the whites are still a little runny around the yolk. After about three minutes, the whites will be completely done and the yolks will be mostly to moderately runny. After five minutes, the yolks are mostly hard.

The second way to poach an egg is with an open-steam egg poacher. This looks like a tray with round indentions that fits the top of a shallow pot. There are little holes in the tray that allow the steam to go over the top of the eggs. for these, you need to lubricate the indentions with butter or oil, break the eggs into the indentions, put a little bit of seasoning on top (salt, pepper, etc.), and then place the tray on top of the shallow pot in which water is already fully boiling. Cover the pot, wait exactly three minutes, and the yolks will be pink on top and mostly runny.

The third way is with a closed egg poacher. It looks like a ceramic jar with a lid. Prepare your eggs in the same way that you do with an open-steam poacher (one per jar), put the lid on, and place them in fully boiling water. Three minutes, again, brings about a mostly runny yolk. When you pull it out of the water, however, it's important to put the ceramic in a lukewarm water bath to cool the poacher and stop the egg from cooking.

A poached egg, incidentally, is the preferred method of preparation in making Eggs Benedict. Eggs Benedict starts with a toasted English muffin topped with a slice of grilled ham, then the poached egg is laid on top, and the whole thing is covered with hollandaise sauce. It is a very rich, delicious breakfast.

How Can You Counteract Too Much Salt in Soup?

Don't despair. There are a couple of possibilities to reduce too much salt in your soup. Adding a couple of large slices of peeled white potatoes to the soup to simmer will often absorb some of the salt taste. Better yet, if the soup's entire volume can be increased, such as a vegetable soup or tomato-based chowder, just add more initial ingredients (no more salt) to double your recipe, reduce the salt and have a second great batch of soup to freeze for another meal.

Avoid this problem in the future by monitoring the sodium content on cans of ingredients used in any recipe. High sodium in canned ingredients is often a culprit when other canned soups and sauces as a base. Never add extra salt without tasting. A squirt or two of fresh lemon juice adds a good "salty" and fresh taste (without adding more unhealthy sodium) to soups and stews.

Preheating Your Oven

When your baking recipe calls for a specific temperature, say 350 degrees pre-heat your oven to 375 because when you open the door to put the cake in you will lose some heat. As soon as you put the cake in the oven reduce the temperature to 350. It's important to preheat the oven because rising can be compromised if the oven is not at the proper temperature.

Softening Brown Sugar

There are many ways to soften brown sugar, but this one is a good one becuase you will probably have the items in your pantry. Put the hard brown sugar in a plastic container and line the top with plastic wrap. Put a wet, (not dripping) paper towel on top and cover. In a day you will be able to use the brown sugar. Another one is to purchase a small terra cotta heart or other item, soak it in water and keep it in the sugar.

Sifting Flour and Other Dry Ingredients

When we are asked to sift flour in a recipe, it's usually for two reasons: to break up the natural clumps in the flour and to mix and integrate the dry ingredients. A manual sifter usually looks like a coffee can and has either a back-and-forth agitator or a spinning-handle agitator. They are generally easy to find in most cooking and department stores.

The absence of a sifter in your kitchen, however, is no problem! You can use a standard mesh sieve (usually on a handle) or a whisk. A lot of times, using a whisk is preferrable because you have more control over how thoroughly the dry ingredients get mixed.

There are very few items in the kitchen that only serve one purpose, and there are no hard-and-fast rules about what utensil can be used for what purpose. Cooking should be a creative endeavor! Use your imagination, improvise, and overcome!

Substitutes for Shortening

Shortening is a semi-solid vegetable-based fat that is used in a variety of cooking capacities. The most commonly known shortening comes in a large can and is scooped out with a spatula or paddle. It is used in baking a lot, and can be used in its liquid state for frying and pan-based cooking. Shortening generally does not have a very strong flavor on its own (unless specifically modified, such as butter-flavored shortening), so it lets the other flavors in a recipe play together well.

Vegetable-based shortening is the common alternative to lard, an animal-based fat that is also semi-solid. Lard is used in much the same way as standard vegetable-based shortening, but most people report a slight difference in flavor. There's also a lot of concern about cholesterol content in lard because it is derived from animals, and cholesterol primarily comes from animal products. (The exception to this is avocados, but that is the topic of another article.)

Another alternative to vegetable shortening is butter - the tried-and-true kitchen staple! If you're baking, some slight variations may need to be taken into account since butter browns and burns much more easily than shortening. "Flash browning" (putting a pie or pastry in a very hot oven for a short period of time to brown it) followed by a slightly longer period of cooking at a lower temperature is one option, although you may want to put a shield around the outside edge of a pie to prevent further browning. A pie shield can be purchased in many specialty shops, but you're just as likely to have fabulous success with a ring of aluminum foil.

The main concern is why you want to substitute shortening and for what kind of recipe. For making a roux, for instance, you can use shortening, lard, butter, olive oil, or any type of fat, but the fat you use will affect the flavor of your dish. For pastry making, sometimes there is no substitute, and some recipes will ask for both shortening and butter.

A good rule of thumb to experiment with a recipe is to start well-ahead of "showtime" and scale your recipe down to a quarter (or less) of its original size. Make your substitutions and see how it turns out. Have fun in the kitchen, and don't be afraid to color outside of the lines a little!

Dutch Oven Vs. Crock Pot

Crock-pot/slow cooker method: This method produces stews or roasts of large cuts of meat. The roasting of large cuts of meat is not really a one-pot method, so I won't directly address it. For a crock-pot stew, you place all the cut ingredients in the pot and must allow at least 6-10 hours for cooking. What you get is a goulash-type stew where all of the vegetables and other ingredients disintegrate down into a thick liquid with unidentifiable chunks. Many crock-pot creations taste alike, a natural limitation when food is overcooked. Beyond this, many vegetables lose much of their nutritional value when overcooked, leaving you with just a mush.

The only thing Glorious One-Pot Meals have in common with slow-cooking methods is the use of a Dutch oven. Beyond that they are as different as soup is from salad. The unique method is completely explained in the Glorious One-Pot Meals cookbook.

Elizabeth Yarnell is a Certified Nutritional Consultant, MS patient, inventor and author of the award-winning cookbook, Glorious One-Pot Meals: A new quick & healthy approach to Dutch oven cooking. Her recipes are protected by US patent 6,846,504. Visit Elizabeth online and subscribe to her free newsletter at www.gloriousonepotmeals.com.

Dutch Oven Vs. Crock Pot

Crock-pot/slow cooker method: This method produces stews or roasts of large cuts of meat. The roasting of large cuts of meat is not really a one-pot method, so I won't directly address it. For a crock-pot stew, you place all the cut ingredients in the pot and must allow at least 6-10 hours for cooking. What you get is a goulash-type stew where all of the vegetables and other ingredients disintegrate down into a thick liquid with unidentifiable chunks. Many crock-pot creations taste alike, a natural limitation when food is overcooked. Beyond this, many vegetables lose much of their nutritional value when overcooked, leaving you with just a mush.

The only thing Glorious One-Pot Meals have in common with slow-cooking methods is the use of a Dutch oven. Beyond that they are as different as soup is from salad. The unique method is completely explained in the Glorious One-Pot Meals cookbook.

Elizabeth Yarnell is a Certified Nutritional Consultant, MS patient, inventor and author of the award-winning cookbook, Glorious One-Pot Meals: A new quick & healthy approach to Dutch oven cooking. Her recipes are protected by US patent 6,846,504. Visit Elizabeth online and subscribe to her free newsletter at www.gloriousonepotmeals.com.

A Stand-In for Buttermilk

There’s nothing more annoying than buying an entire quart of buttermilk for a recipe that only calls for a small amount. Instead, combine 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar, plus enough milk to equal one cup. Stir together and allow to stand for 5 minutes to create “faux buttermilk.� For another option, mix 1 ¾ teaspoon cream of tartar with a cup of milk and let sit for several minutes.

What is a Dutch Oven?

A Dutch oven is an oven-safe, heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid and two side handles. Its straight sides are vertical and the bottom is wide and flat. Dutch ovens can appear in stainless steel or other materials, but I prefer enamel-coated cast iron as it will absorb, distribute, and retain heat evenly and efficiently and is easy to wash to boot. The enamel coating offered by Le Creuset, for example, is dishwasher-safe and freezer-safe, and won't react with tomatoes or other acidic ingredients. The size can range from 2 quarts up to 10 quarts or more.

When selecting and purchasing a Dutch oven to use with Glorious One-Pot Meal recipes, be sure that you choose one that can withstand oven temperatures of up to 450 degrees and can provide enough for almost 1 quart of food per person served. For instance, many of the recipes presented here serve 2 people and call for a 2-quart Dutch oven. Some companies only offer Dutch ovens in half or three-quarter-quart sizes; in this case you would want to step down a bit and use a 3.5-quart Dutch oven to feed 4 people, a 5.5-quart one to feed 6 people, etc. You can of course prepare the recipes in a larger Dutch oven than you need, but be aware that cooking times may increase due to the empty air space.

Elizabeth Yarnell is a Certified Nutritional Consultant, MS patient, inventor and author of the award-winning cookbook, Glorious One-Pot Meals: A new quick & healthy approach to Dutch oven cooking. Her recipes are protected by US patent 6,846,504. Visit Elizabeth online and subscribe to her free newsletter at www.gloriousonepotmeals.com.

How to use fresh herbs

Delicate fresh herbs such as basil, parsley, chives, dill, coriander, etc. are usually chopped or torn and added at the end of cooking while heartier herbs like thyme, oregano, and rosemary can be added earlier in the cooking process to allow their flavors to completely infuse your dish. These are often added whole and removed before serving.

Making homemade whipped cream

When making homemade whipped cream always make sure your beater and bowl are cold for best results. You can double your bowls putting ice in the bowl under the bowl you will be working with to ensure it stays cold. The coldness will improve the texture of the whipped cream and help it to light and fluffy.

A Tough Lesson

Have you ever tried to boil corn on the cob only to wind up with hardened kernels, no matter how long it’s been on the stove? It may be that you’re adding salt, which toughens kernels, to the cooking water. Instead, fill a large pot or straight-sided skillet with cold, unsalted water ¾ of the way up and bring to a rolling boil. Then, carefully drop in several shucked cobs of corn, making sure they’re all immersed in the water. Return to a boil. Cover and turn off the heat, allowing corn to remain in the pot 4-6 minutes for perfect, crisp-tender corn every time.

Perfectly Golden Pie

Brush the top of the pie with a beaten egg right before baking. This will make a wonderful golden brown crust that is picture perfect. This gives a different look to your pies. Many people who make homemade pies dust the top with sugar. This idea doesnt hurt the pie and its not that it is wrong. It's just not the best choice. To have top quality pies that look like they have been created by a professional baker you should brush them with beaten egg prior to baking. You took the time to make it homemade not jazz it up and show off your talent.