Random Tips and Techniques

These are some random tips and techniques I found from the magazine Cuisine at Home. I thought some of the tips were pretty cool and would love to try them out sometime.

1. Neater butter pats - After placing a refridgerated stick of putting in a butter dish, cut them into tablespoon-size portions for recipes and to keep neater.
2. Hammer time - Using a rubber mallet for pounding and crushing instead of a meat mallet helps to not tear or rip plastic bags and wax paper.
3. Hands Free Meatloaf - If you don't like getting meatloaf all over your hands to mix, mix it inside of a ziplock bag and then squeeze it out into the pan.
4. Perfect Slicing - To evenly and easily slice strawberries, use an egg slicer.
5. Coating Cake Pans - Use sugar instead of greasing or using flour to coat the pans because it's easier to spread around than flour, doesn't clump or leave a floury film, and it also makes the edges taste a little sweeter.
6. Filling Pasta - When filling manicotti, use a pastry bag without a top or a ziplock bag by putting in the filling and squeezing it out into the manicotti.
7. Skimming Fat - To remove excess fat from from ground beef, sausage, tops of soups and chili, or when cleaning extra grease, use a piece of bread.
8. Artichoke Holders - Artichokes tend to fall over in the pot when steaming. To steady them, place thick rings of onion on the bottom of the pan and set the artichokes on top. This helps to cook them evenly, not fall over, and gives a little onion flavor.
9. Great Grippers - Wear rubber gloves to help you open jars.
10. Better Browning - Meat will brown better if you blot any moisture from the surface. A paper towel works great.
11. No Soggy Rice - Put a folded towel in between the pot and lid while cooking rice to absorb all the extra water that steams to the top. Cook the recommended amount of time.
12. Board Storage - If you have several small cutting boards, use a vertical sorter/file sorter (plastic or metal found in office supplies). Stick cutting boards inside to get out of the way and organize easier.