Brilliantly simple kitchen tips that will change your life

10 years ago | Posted in: women | 565 Views

JUICIER LEMONS

A typical lemon contains 3 tbsp of juice. To maximise the amount you can squeeze, roll the fruit on a kitchen counter, applying light pressure. This bursts the tiny juice-filled cells.

Alternatively, blast for 20 seconds in a microwave.

Then cut lengthways rather than crosswise. You will get around three times more juice.

KEEP BREAD FRESH

Put it in a plastic bag with a fresh celery stick and leave overnight. The loaf will slowly absorb the humidity from the celery, giving it a fresher taste and bounce. As the celery does not have a strong flavour, it won’t affect the taste of the bread.

TAMING CHILLIES

Before chopping them, rub a little vegetable oil onto your hands. This creates a barrier which prevents your skin absorbing their fiery properties and aroma. Be warned, though — it may make the knife slippery.

Also, the fastest way to de-seed a  chilli is to halve it lengthways then use a teaspoon to scrape the seeds out in one downwards stroke.

PERFECT CHAMPAGNE

Before opening a bottle, rinse your champagne flutes with a small quantity of white wine.

This will coat the glass and prevent over-exuberant mousse overspilling as you pour. An added bonus is that this will greatly speed up pouring a tray of glasses.

Also, you can always rescue champagne or sparkling wine that’s going flat by dropping a raisin or two into the bottle. Initially, the raisins sink.

But then the few remaining bubbles will stick to their rough surface, increasing their buoyancy and lifting them up. When the raisins reach the surface, the bubbles pop, making the champagne seem as fresh and fizzy as when it was first poured. The flavour will not be affected.

NO-WASTE GINGER

With all its lumps and bumps, root ginger can be tricky to peel.

The solution is not to use a peeler or knife but to gently rub the skin off using the back of a teaspoon. This makes it easy to follow every contour and minimises waste.

ROSIER RED CABBAGE

To help vegetables maintain their colour throughout cooking, add a small squeeze of lemon juice to the pan.

This is particularly effective with red veg (such as red cabbage) and white ones (such as turnips), as the acidity helps preserve their pigments or flavonoids.

However, this won’t work for greens, which contain different pigments — chlorophyll. They will turn a drab olive colour when put in contact with lemon juice.

SPEEDY CHERRY TOMATO SLICING

Cutting cherry tomatoes individually is a bore. Instead, find two similarly-sized Tupperware tub lids, sit the tomatoes on one and place the other on top to form a kind of tomato sandwich.

While holding the top lid down firmly to keep them in place, slice through all the tomatoes horizontally in one go with a sharp knife. Easy.

INSTANT  ICE CUBES

It may sound unlikely, but water that’s been boiled will freeze faster than water straight from the tap.

The reason is something called the Mpemba effect, named after a Tanzanian man Erasto Mpemba who first brought this to the attention of physicists.

EASY-PEEL GARLIC

Thump the whole bulb with the base of a saucepan to separate the cloves.

Then place them in a metal bowl and put a similar one on top. Give the cloves a hearty shake  and they should come out perfectly peeled.

SAVE SALTY SOUP

Simple! Just add a peeled and quartered potato. It will act as a sponge, absorbing the excess  salt and won’t leave a flavour.

However, remove the potato before serving as it’ll be far too brackish to eat. Adding a cup of water or a pinch of brown sugar are alternatives.

RESCUE BURNT RICE

If you burn your rice, don’t despair. Just remove from the heat and place a piece of white bread on top of it for about ten minutes. This will extract and absorb the burnt flavour.

The rice should be fine to eat, but be careful to leave the blackened pieces on the bottom of the pan when serving… see more

source: Dailymail UK

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