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Oops Moments
in the Kitchen!How to Salvage Cooking Disasters
As you may know I am dead keen
on everyone in the Whole Wide World learning to cook
and have written a book of over 500 handy tips
containing all the useful information I could think of
to help with this.
Here, as a taster so to speak, are some
ways to salvage a tricky situation in the cooking
department.
So, in no particular order …
Worrying Cheese Situations
3 x Oops! ...~ Mouldy soft cheeses should be discarded
as should mouldy shredded, crumbled or sliced cheeses.
~ Mould on hard cheese is not a problem; just trim if off completely and
utterly; the rest of the cheese is fine.
~ Dried out hard or semi-hard cheese is also fine – just grate it and use
in cooking.
Too Salty?Oops!. ...There are a few ways to remedy a slightly over
salted dish, they are ...
~ extend the dish by adding an unsalted liquid;
water, cream or similar, or
~ a little brown sugar and/or a squeeze of lemon can help, or
~ “they do say” cooking a raw potato in the dish for 15-20 minutes
also removes salt but I’m not 100% convinced!
Lumpy Mash
Oops! ...If your mashed potato is lumpy don’t keep on mashing till it
turns to glue; far better to push it through a sieve.
Dish too Spicy?
Oops! ...~ Add bland ingredients such as potatoes, vegetables or liquid.
~ Add something creamy such as yogurt, cream or coconut milk.
~ Add an acid; vinegar or probably nicer – citrus juice.
~ Add a little sugar.
~ Serve with something bland e.g. rice, mashed potato, bread etc.
Overcooked MeatOops!. ...~ Finely slice, chop, shred or
mince overcooked meat and heat
very gently in a lovely sauce or gravy till the sauce is hot but DO
NOT allow to boil or the meat will toughen.
~ When hot remove from the heat, cover and set aside to relax
and rehydrate.
Cooked the Veggies too Long?Oops! ...Overcooked veggies? Drain well and purée with a little cream
or butter – they’ll still make a fine side dish.
Broken SauceOops!. ...~ If your sauce has split make it better by whisking in a little of the
original liquid (stock, wine or vinegar for instance) but No More Fat. This
should bring it back together.
~ If it is an egg based sauce such as mayonnaise, aioli, hollandaise etc.
whisk a fresh egg in a clean bowl then gradually whisk in the split sauce. If
it is now too thick add a little water.
Soup a Bit Too Runny?Oops!. ...Soup a bit too runny? An easy way to
deal with this is to purée some of the soup
and then stir it back in.
Stick Rice when that’s not what you wanted!
Oops ...~ If your rice is sticky tip it into a
colander and run under a cool tap whilst
manually separating any clumps.
~ A good way to avoid sticky rice happening is to
rinse the rice under running water before cooking.
No Self Raising / Rising FlourOops! …No self-raising/rising flour? Add 25g/1oz
baking powder per 500g/18oz plain flour
and sift together.
Incidentally American self-rising flour has salt in
it whilst British self-raising flour doesn’t.
Over-Enthusiastic when Whipping Cream?
Oops! …If you feel you have gone a bit far with
the beating but not quite to the butter
stage gently, gently whisk in a little
more cream. Then stop!
When Melting Chocolate … Oops! …If the worst happens and the
chocolate splits or seizes and goes all
stiff, stir in 1 tablespoon of mild
vegetable oil per 175g/6 oz chocolate
and it should recover.
Sadly Sunken CakeOops! ...If your cake sinks in the centre, fill the middle and smother the
top with something delicious such as cream or fruit or ice cream
and pretend you absolutely meant that to happen.
For the other 487+ tips read
more here.
See all my books on Amazon
here
My foodie blog ~ Sudden
Lunch
Twitter ~ @SuddenLunch
and if I can help with any
cooking questions do tweet
me with the hashtag
#learntocook.
Thank you for reading this –
please share.
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