What's the best cooking tip you ever got? (freezing, vodka, homemade)

[Happy in Wyoming]

Prick a small hole in eggs before boiling. Doing it this way it's possible to put the eggs directly into boiling water without fear of cracking. I've learned that best taste as well as ease of peeling result from plunging the eggs into ice water right from the boil.

You can use a pin or get a pricker from amazon, usually combined with a slicer.

[kat949]

Placing cut cucumbers into a cold ice bath, and then wringing it out with a kitchen towel makes the cucumbers crunchy...

Marinate with ponzu sauce and chili without having to wait for it to taste like Kim-Chee.

Instant kim-chee pickles.. savory and delish

[gentlearts]

Originally Posted by kettlepot

Don't use a slurry of flour and water, brown your flour with butter and make a roux. Learned that from a cooking show, (Alton Brown - Good Eats) and my gravy has never, EVER failed me. Thank you Alton.

Not to mention that Alton specializes in showing viewers how to make real food and the scientific reasons behind what's occurring in the pot/pan/oven. No froo-froo cooking that no real guy would ever bother to make.

Sorry Barefoot Contessa.

I really must disagree. Either method is fine. Since you must boil the slurry to get it to thicken, it will not taste raw.

[ThreeSides]

You can't cook and watch television simultaneously!

[sayulita]

Originally Posted by Gilah G.

Salt the water before making hard boiled eggs.
The shell peels off so much easier, and with just One crack of the shell.

I did not know this. How much salt per quart of water?

Have also heard that using older eggs also helps with the peeling process. The fresher they are, the harder to peel.

[sayulita]

Originally Posted by fibonacci

Putting a wooden spoon across the top of a boiling pot of water for pasta prevents it from boiling/bubbling over.

If it starts to boil over and you hadn't remembered to put the wooden spoon across it, just blow on it and it will subside instantly.

[kayanne]

Originally Posted by sayulita

Have also heard that using older eggs also helps with the peeling process. The fresher they are, the harder to peel.

Yes, I have found this to be true. I always use the freshest eggs in my fridge for scrambling, in recipes, etc., so that I'll have some older ones on hand for hard boiling. No stuck shells since I started doing this.

[Foodmuse]

Older eggs have more air inside, thus easier to peel. If you are wanting perfection for deveiled eggs and want the yoke cavity fight in the center, then follow Happy in Wyoming's advice and pin prick the eggs before boiling. Also, room temp eggs will not kill you if you're cooking them through, so putting them out over night will lessen the chance of the shell breaking when boiled, also if you don't want the yoke to break when making over eggs. When baking all cold ingredents should be room temp, so always plan ahead.
Cold eggs hot pans = broke yoke or shell. One other thing, if you put onion skins into your boiling eggs they will turn a nice color tan to brown, then rub with a little oil and they will shine...

[thedwightguy]

I have always added a very small piece of blue cheese to any BBQ sauce and it zings it up a bit.
I also don't tell anyone because people don't seem to like blue cheese.
Don't need much; less than a nickel size does it.

[sayulita]

Originally Posted by thedwightguy

I have always added a very small piece of blue cheese to any BBQ sauce and it zings it up a bit.
I also don't tell anyone because people don't seem to like blue cheese.
Don't need much; less than a nickel size does it.

Wow, that seems like a really good idea. I'll try it next time I make BBQ sauce.