Sweet Kitchen Tips 17

Do you own a silicone mat? I bet you store it rolled up somewhere in your kitchen? Well, its suppose to be stored flat to prevent fiberglass filaments from breaking and crackling. If storing it flat is not an option and you don’t care, roll it around an empty paper towel tube and secure it with an elastic band.

And I bet you have a couple of wooden spoons in your kitchen.  I love mine and I have a good collection.  But, did you know that wooden spoons absorb and transfer flavors and odors.  So in order to avoid this, separate them, keep some for savory dishes and others for sweet dishes.  You can tell them appart by making notches or burning marks on the handle.  

And if you run to get new ones, remember to soak them in mineral oil.  This will help keep them less absorbent and easier to clean.

And since we are talking about wooden kitchen tools, lets talk about a bit about your wood cutting board.  In order to maintained them in good shape, remember to dry it upright to prevent moisture from seeping. Prevent cracks by oiling it when it starts to look dry. And if a old board, needs to be revive, scrub it clean with sandpaper, then rinse, dry and oil. Just make sure it’s mineral oil and not any other kind, the latter can go rancid and taint food.

Sweet Kitchen Tips 16

Have you ever scorch a pan when using it for steaming something?  You totally walked away and easily let the pan run out of water, causing a very dangerous situation.  Here is a good tip to help you remember.  Before cooking, place a few glass marbles at the bottom of the pan, add the water and the steamer basket, cover and cook as usual.  When he water level drops too low, the marbles will begin to rattle around and the noise will remind you that it’s time to add more water to the pan.

How about if you want that pot of water to boil faster? Unless you have a new stove with the wonders of a quick boil burner, you are out of luck.  Specially if you are trying to bring a large pot of water to boil.  This one I learned from my nana.  She would add a spoon to the pot of water to be boil.  And by magic, the water would boil faster. I have tested this many times and the pot with the spoon in it will ALWAYS begin to boil faster.

So, it’s hot - but, now you want it to chill it faster?  Most of us make soups and stew and then would like to store it for the next day.  But, we need to bring it to room temperature before we can store it in the refrigerator.  How about a beverage bottle to your rescue? Yes, fill a beverage bottle with water, seal it and freeze it.  When you need to quick chill that soup/stew, use the frozen bottle to stir the soup or stew in the pot; the ice inside the bottle will cool down the soup/stew rapidly without diluting it.

Sweet Kitchen Tips 15

How many of you play the guessing game when you are opening leftover containers in your freezer or refrigerator? Well, no more!  I learned this one from a friend that worked in a restaurant kitchen.  They would label and date container of food stored in the refrigerator or freezer with masking tape and a black marker.  I thought it was a brilliant idea! You get to mark your plastic container without ruining your tupperware and you have a visual of everything that’s in the refrigerator. And when done, peel the label off and mark a new one.

And the spice rack?  Unless you have lots and lots of cabinet space (sadly our rental does not) then you are in for a big mess by playing the hide and seek game.  I came up with a simple solution after reading one of those organizational magazines.  I bought some rectangular wire basket (think IKEA) and labeled them according to type: baking spices, savory spaces, dried herbs, etc.  This way all I have to do is pull the basket out and I have all of my spices there at my fingertips.  Hint: you can do this with all of those jars and bottles in your refrigerator as well by grouping similar products in their own labeled food storage bin. The added plus on this method? It limits messes on refrigerator shelves from sticky jars and bottles.

And since I started to bake more, it became a pain to open the drawer up and take out my measuring spoons and cups every single time I had to bake (which was a lot!).  Tom came up with the solution of mounting a key holder on the wall, near my baking workspace and this way I could hang my measuring cups and spoons from it - voila, right at my fingertips.