Like any good cook, we have our successes and our unsuccessful cooking experiences.

And like any REALLY, SMART cook, we hide those failures pretty fast. How many of you out there have scratched a lopsided cake by throwing it in the trash, as you are pulling out the ingredients for a second time around? Because, you know, “the kitchen is not the boss of me and you are going to get it right!”

Show of hands? Anyone? *Cough, cough* - yeah, I thought so.

So, while we do not like to speak of our failures, we do like to learn not to repeat them. Us, home cooks (and I’m going to take a guest that even the most famous chefs too) learn pretty fast from our mistakes. And if anyone out there is like me, we make lots and lots of notes in order for that fiasco not to happen again.

So this is where this post comes in. Throughout the years, I have kept the back of my cookbook blank of recipes and instead use it to write tips, and clever solutions for common kitchen problems.

It’s a compilation of tons of information that I have picked up from other cooks, TV shows, magazines, my grandmother, my mother and by my own trials and errors.

And since I love to share, because what good would it do me in back of my cookbook? I figure I can start a weekly post to reveal them. So every Friday, I will post 1 or 2, or even 3 kitchen tips from my cookbook, so you can take it with you and compile your own little list.

I hope they help you and if you have some as well, don’t be shy, share them with us.

So without further delay - Tip # 1

Protecting hands from hot pots

All of us use instant-read thermometer, especially if you bake a lot. So when we have to make caramels, custards, curds, or something that requires cooking in the stove and then take the temperature we simply take the thermometer out of its protective sleeve and holding it in our hands lower it to the hot liquid.

How many have burns to prove it?

So, after many burns later, I learn to use the sleeve to my advantage, by using them together to distance my hand from the hot pot and liquid when taking the temperature.

How?

Slide the probe end of the thermometer into the loop at the tip of the clip; this will hold it in place. Then hold the end of the plastic sleeve to keep the thermometer upright, so you can lower the probe into the hot liquid without your fingers/hands ever coming close to it.

and for those that need a visual, here you go:

No laughing please…

Because after this no more burn hands or fingers - your welcome.