Can’t remember how many cups equals a pint or how much does uncooked pasta equals once cooked?  Try one of these food equivalents.

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Food for thought:

• To determine if an egg is fresh, immerse it in bowl of cold water with a pinch of salt.  It if sinks, it is fresh – if it floats, trash it.
• Slightly frozen meat is much easier to cut into thin slices.  It usually only takes 15 to 20 minutes.
• Need a cherry pitter?  Using a straw by pushing it through each cherry (from the bottom) to force the pit out.
• A roast with a bone will cook faster than a boneless roast.  The bone will bring the heat to the inside.
• A couple of drops of lemon juice dropped in the water will whiten boiled potatoes.

Instead of:

• Recipe calls for vegetable oil?  Split the difference and use 50% oil and 50% applesauce.  This will lower the fat content and it isn’t noticeable in the taste.
• Don’t use white flour to coat the pans for cake baking, use a little bit of the cake mix.      
• Draining fried foods on a paper towel, use a rack with a plate underneath.
• Use sugar in the water with corn instead of salt.  The salt can toughen the corn.

Make food last longer:

• Cottage cheese will last longer if you store the tub upside down in the refrigerator.
• Add a slice of soft white bread to brown sugar that has hardened in a sealed container.  The brown sugar will soften.
• Place a bay leaf in the container of flour to repel insects.
• Lettuce will keep better if you store it in the fridge without washing it.  The leaves should be dry.

Miscellaneous:

• Use a turkey baster to fill muffin tins for less mess.
• Use glass or wood bowls when mixing salad.
• Rub a dab of butter over the spout of your gravy boat to stop the gravy from dripping down the side.

Baste:  Moistening of food to prevent drying out while cooking.

Blanch:  Briefly cooking in boiling water to seal flavors and color.  Mostly used for vegetables or fruit for freezing or to remove the skin.

Braise:  Browning first, then simmering gently in a small amount of liquid over low heat with a covered pan until tender.

Brown:  Cook over high heat, on stove, to brown food.

Carmelize:  Sugar is heated until liquified and becomes a syrup. 

Deglaze:  Add liquid to loosen browned bits from a pan, then heat while stirring and scraping the pan.

Dredge:  Coat food, usually with a flour mixture.

Flute:  Decorative grooves made to pastry, usually made with fingers.

Julienne:  Cut into long, thin strips.

Parboil:  To partially cook by boiling.  To prepare food for another method of cooking.

Poach: Cook gently over very low heat in just simmering liquid just to cover.

Render:  Cooking of fatty meat or poultry, such as bacon or duck, over low heat to obtain drippings.

Steep:  Soak in liquid just under the boiling point to extract the essence, e.g. tea

Zest:  The outer, colored part of the peel of citrus.

Have you every run out of an ingredient and can’t prepare a meal because of this? One of these food substitutions may help.

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