Cooking Tips

These tips were sent to me by a friend and found them as a must share! 

Bacon- Minimize bacon shrinkage by running bacon under water before frying.

Beans- A tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda in a large pot of beans while soaking them, the 'flatulence' caused by the beans is kept to a minimum

Boiling eggs- Add a little salt or vinegar to your boiling water when cooking eggs; a cracked egg will stay in its shell this way.

Boiling Over- Rub butter or margarine on the rim of a pot in which you cook rice or macaroni and it won't boil over.

Cakes-A cake will keep longer if you place half an apple in the cake tin when storing.

Chocolate cake- Make a better chocolate cake by adding a teaspoon of vinegar to your cake mix.

Corn- Don't boil corn for more than 3 minutes. Place the corn directly into boiling water, and do not  add salt. You will find the flavor is much better than cooking for 10 minutes or more. Corn will never get soft, no matter how long you cook it-it will only lose its taste

Descaling fish- Soak fish in salt water before descaling and the scales will come off easier.

Frozen Vegetables- A quick way to separate frozen vegetables is to pour boiling water over them through a colander and then add them to your casserole or pot to finish cooking.

Grating Cheese- To easily shred cheese, let sit in freezer for 30 minutes. Icing Tips- Add a pinch of bicarbonate of soda to your icing and the icing will stay moist and prevent cracking.

Jelly Mold- To easily remove a jelly from the mold, lightly brush mold with oil before pouring in the mixture.

Meatballs- When making a lot of meatballs a fast and simple method is to shape the meat mixture into a log and cut off slices. The slices roll easily into balls.

Pancakes- Adding a little sugar to the batter of pancakes and waffles will make them brown more quickly.

Pie pastry- For flakier pastry, substitute 1 teaspoon vinegar for 1 teaspoon of the cold water called for in the recipe.