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Bollow are even more cooking tips from cooking cache. Find everything from how to get perfectly browned pancakes, to how to get the perfectly juicy hamburger.

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Whirl almost any kind of LEFTOVER SOUP (minus bones) in blender to get a sauce or gravy for vegetables or meat.

 

Make your own CELERY SALT for a fraction of what you'd pay at the store. Dry celery leaves thoroughly, crush to a powder or rub them through a sieve and mix with salt.

 

If you like well-browned pancakes, add 1 teaspoon molasses to the batter. It will make the difference.

 

Add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon baking powder to a frying batter for an especially delicate crust.

 

Beaten Egg Whites will have more body if you whip in a little sugar toward the end of beating - when whites stand in soft peaks. Add sugar a little at a time, whipping as you go. (Do not add sugar too soon or too much at a time or you'll get a thin marshmallowy sauce that won't thicken.

 

To clarify a quart of stock, beat 2 teaspoons water with 1 egg white, then add the eggshell (crushed in small pieces) and stir into the stock. Boil 1 or 2 minutes, then strain through a square of fine cloth draped over a large strainer.

 

Mushrooms freeze well. Wash quickly, dry, then put them, sliced or un-sliced, in a plastic bag and freeze. Use them without defrosting. In any cooked dish, they will taste exactly like fresh mushrooms.

 

Cauliflower cooked in an aluminum pot will darken. Use a different kind of pot and add a little sugar, lemon peel or vinegar to the cooking water to keep cauliflower white.

 

Add a pinch or two of curry to spaghetti sauce or tuna salad. You will be surprised at the difference it makes. This ingredient is a must for these two dishes. I can really tell the difference. Do not put too much in to begin with. Put a pinch, sitr, taste, add another pinch, etc. until you get it the way you want it.

 

If you plan to un-mold a baked custard, beat the eggs only slightly before you add them to the liquid. This will keep the custard firm when baked. (Too much beating produces a light, porous custard)

 

Add a little honey to the butter in which you saute onions for an out-of-the ordinary dish (Add onions when butter/honey mixture begins to sizzle)

 

For garlic-flavored potato chips, put a peeled garlic clove in a container with chips several hours. Discard before serving chips.

 

For a juicy grilled hamburger, add a little cold water to the ground beef (1/4 cup to 2 pounds of meat is enough). I found this hint in some of my Mom's notes and had forgotten that I had seen her do this many times.

 

When you freeze bacon, there is no waiting for thawing if you arrange the strips flat, slice by slice, on waxed paper, then roll them up. Put them in a plastic bag in the freeze. To use, unroll and peel off the necessary number of slices.

 

Toast coconut in the microwave. Watch closely, as it browns quickly once it begins to brown. Spread 1/2 cup coconut in a pie plate and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring every 30-seconds after the first 2 minutes.

 

To keep celery crisp, stand it up in a pitcher of cold, salted water and refrigerate

 

After stewing a chicken for diced meat for casseroles, etc., let cool in broth before cutting into chunks. It will have twice the flavor.

 

Do not use soda to keep vegetables green. It destroys Vitamin C.

     

Place an open box of hardened brown sugar in the microwave oven with 1 cup hot water. Microwave at high for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes for 1/2 pound of sugar or 2 to 3 minutes for 1 pound of sugar.