Notabilia

Miscellaneous

Nifty Knacks

426 through 450

426. It's not so difficult to make meringue.
     Egg-white whips into meringue more readily if you add a little salt, a few drops of lemon, or even a little icing sugar. When the meringue is ready, run some very cold water under the baking tray and it will all come away in one piece.

427. Crispy French fries.
     The best French fries are crisp and firm. Success is guaranteed if you sprinkle them with salt and leave them for half an hour. Then dry them in a tea towel and they are ready to fry.

428. Quick cocktail titbits.
     To gain time, don't slice the loaf of toast-bread crosswise, but lengthwise. Spread the long slices with butter that has been kept at room temperature. It spreads much more easily. Then cut the slices into squares. Always leave the decoration last.

429. Pasta au gratin.
     Whether you are cooking pasta au gratin or following an ordinary pasta recipe, the Emmental or Gruyere cheese you use will melt better and penetrate better if you do not grate it finely but rather thickly. Even better, cut it into thin slices and stir it into the hot pasta so that all the cheese melts.

430. Grease baking trays easily.
     It is easier to grease a baking tray or cake tin if you have heated up the butter beforehand. Then you can simply spread it on with a brush or a piece of kitchen paper. Easier still; pop the baking tray into a hot oven for three minutes, put a piece of butter on a fork and rub it over the baking tray or cake tin.

431. No more smell of garlic.
     There is a very effective way to get rid of the smell of raw garlic from your fingers. Put your hands in a bowl of cold water and rub your fingers with the blade of a stainless steel knife.

432. Crispy tartlets.
     To make tartlet pastry crispy, you need to cook it in two stages. Cook the shells in the usual way, but take them out of the oven five minutes before they are ready and put them on a rack. Before you fill them with fruit that may "water", coat the pastry with a layer of egg-white (using a brush) or sprinkle with a little semolina. Egg-white makes pastry waterproof and semolina absorbs moisture.

433. Rescue curdling mayonnaise.
     When mayonnaise starts to separate, you can rescue it by heating it in a bain-marie. Put a teaspoonful of mustard, salt and pepper in a bowl, then gradually stir in the mayonnaise that has started to curdle, beating all the while so the mixture thickens. Make sure that the mayonnaise has become homogeneous again before using it.

434. Sweetening a very salty salad.
     If you accidentally put too much salt in a salad, put a sugar cube on a teaspoon and hold it in the salad for a moment without letting it fall off the spoon. Take the spoon out before the sugar has time to dissolve completely. Try the salad and repeat if necessary.

435. Toasting bread without a toaster.
     Here's how. Pre-heat the hotplate of your cooker till it is moderately hot and spread a piece of thick aluminium foil on it. Toast the bread on the foil first on one side and then on the other.

436. No splashes when you are boiling rice.
     Big bubbles form in rice while it is boiling and when they burst the splashes make the kitchen dirty. Put an end to the chore of cleaning rice splashes off the kitchen. Drop a lump of butter into the water and it won't splash.

437. Perfect spreading on cake bases.
     When a cake base has to have a relatively wet mixture spread on it, there is a risk that it will get soaked. Avoid this by spreading a layer of jam on the base first. It acts as a buffer between the base and the mixture.

438. Melted chocolate with no lumps.
     Do not add water to chocolate when you melt it because it may go lumpy. If your chocolate goes lumpy, you can make it smooth again by taking it off the heat and gradually stirring in one or two teaspoonfuls of oil or melted butter.

439. So meringue doesn't sink during baking.
     To prevent meringues from sinking during baking, grease the oven tray with plenty of butter and sprinkle them with icing sugar before putting them in the oven. But most importantly, don't open the oven door while they are baking.

440. How to cook a whole fish without it disintergrating.
     When you try to get a whole fish out of a saucepan to drain it, it often breaks into two or three pieces. It is easier to get it out if you have lined the saucepan with a piece of alumium foil that goes across the bottom of the pan and reaches above the saucepan on either side of the fish. When you want to get the fish out, simply hold the edges of the aluminim foil together and lift.

441. A quick soak for raisins.
     When you discover you have forgotten to soak the raisins for two or three hours for the recipe you are following, use the microwave. Thirty grams of raisins swell beautifully in half a glass of rum in just thirty seconds in the microwave oven.

442. No more faded writing on sweat shirts.
     If the black writing on your child's sweat shirt fades after going through the wash a few times, go over it with a  black, indelible, marking pen.

443. Keep a record of useful information.
     Buy a case of visiting cards and make a record of clothing sizes and shoe sizes for the whole family; the bag code for the vacuum cleaner; battery sizes and replacement parts you frequently need in the home. You can also record the number of your favourite lipstick or the name of a toy your child has asked for, as well as other useful information. This little file will save you time and money!

444. A new key.
     A new key will glide into the lock more easily if you rub the point of a pencil over the teeth.

445. Long-lasting grapes.
     Grapes stay fresh longer if you put the stalk which the bunch is attached to in a little water.

446. Make artificial flowers look real.
     Artificial flowers brighten up a window that is not light enough for real ones. The trick to make them look real is to put them in a planter along with real plants that can withstand dark conditions, like ivy.

447. Lifting grease stains out of a wooden floor.
     Cat litter is very good for lifting grease stains out of a wooden floor. Put a little cat litter on the stain, leave for a few minutes so that it can absorb the grease and then sweep it up.

448. Keep pigeons off your balconies.
     Do pigeons perch on your windows and balconies? Put vaseline on the places where they perch and they won't come any more.

449. No more rummaging through cupboards.
     Make a list of everything that has been stored on the top shelves in the cupboard and stick it inside the cupboard door. That way you will not keep rummaging through them for things in vain.

450. Clean shower curtain.
     Your shower curtain will stay clean if you always wipe it with a chamois leather while it is still wet.