10 Cooking Tips

Last updated on September 10th, 2009

Improve your cooking skills and knowledge by following these great cooking tips.

1. When you want to boil something, pre-boil the water in a kettle before pouring it into a pot on the stove. By doing this you save both energy and time.
2. When cooking pasta or other food that tends to stick, use a teaspoon of oil in the water and stir often.
3. To retain the green color of spinach while cooking, add a pinch of sugar.
4. To thicken a casserole or stew, mix a tablespoon of flour with water to make a smooth but runny paste, and add to the dish while stirring well.
5. To remove excessive salt in a dish being prepared, add a few pieces of potato.
6. To prevent shrinkage when cooking meat, avoid high temperatures. A low steady temperature also gives a nice brown surface to the meat.
7. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice to each litre of water when cooking rice; this will keep rice fluffy.
8. Save leftover wine and freeze in ice cube trays – to use for cooking stews, soups and sauces.
9. Once an onion has been cut in half, rub the left-over side with butter and it will keep longer. And always remember to save the root half.
10. When making a stir-fry or other dishes requiring sliced meat, freeze the meat for 30-45 minutes in order to make slicing a lot easier.