Fixing Common Cooking Mistakes

1. Bread is too soft to slice: Freeze it and slice it frozen.


2. Bread Stale: Sprinkle it with a small amount of water, put it in foil, and bake in an oven at moderate heat for about ten minutes.


3. Cake Stuck to Pan: Let it sit until it is a little cooler, and then try again. If it's already cold, reheat for a minute or two.


4. Cheese tough or rubbery after cooking: Blend in a blender or food processor at low speed for a minute or two, then cook slowly.


5. Coffee or broth cloudy: add eggshells.


6. Coffee overcooked: Add a pinch of salt


7. Dough is lumpy: Add more liquid and pound the dough thoroughly.


8. Dough won't rise: Put the bowl of dough in a warmer place - in an oven, for instance, with a pilot light (do not turn the oven on). You could also mix a bit more yeast in ¼-cup warm water and knead into dough.


9. Dough won't shape: Let it rest for 15 minutes.


10. Eggs crack when cooking: Put in 1 teaspoonful of salt and a bit of lemon or vinegar into the water to keep whites from oozing out of the shell.


11. Egg whites won't whip: Add a bit of baking soda or salt.


12. Fudge hard: Add a tablespoon of milk and 2-3 tablespoonfuls of corn syrup and beat, then pour. Put in an airtight container for 24 hours.


13. Gelatin stuck in mold: Dip the mold in hot water, but not so the gelatin is touched by the water, for just a few seconds. Put the mold on a plate, turn it upside down and shake.


14. Gravy gray: Add red currant jelly, soy sauce, a bit of sherry, meat extract, or 1 teaspoon instant coffee.


15. Gravy lumpy: Beat it with eggbeater or wire whisk. Strain it.


16. Gravy salty: Make more. Sometimes adding a bit of brown sugar helps. Cook small pieces of potato into the gravy.


17. Ham salty: Soak slices in milk for 15 minutes to a half-hour. Wash off.


18. Icing sugared: Add a bit of vinegar and keep cooking.


19. Lemon hard: Heat it for 5 minutes in boiling water or for 15 seconds in a microwave on HIGH, then try juicing it.


20. Meat burned: Cut off burned parts, cube and sauce the rest. Serve over pasta.


21. Pasta stuck together: Put back in boiling water with a tablespoon or so of oil in it.


22. Pie dough burning on edge: Cover edge with aluminum foil.


23. Popcorn won't pop: Soak corn in water for 5 minutes, dry off and try again. For very recalcitrant corn, freeze overnight and pop while frozen.


24. Rice burned: Get it off the flame, then put a piece of bread on top of it, cover for 5 minutes.


25. Scummy stock: Add leek tops and tomato peels, which absorb the scum.


26. Soup too salty: Slice in potato, simmer until potato turns translucent, then lift potato out.


27. Stew meat tough: if you haven't had the time to let the stew continue cooking under gentle heat, add a few tomatoes or a teaspoon of sugar to tenderize it.


28. Vegetable old: To pep them up, add a pinch or two of sugar and a little salt to the cooking water.


29. Vegetables overcooked: Puree them. Or make a cream soup of them Or put them in an oven-safe dish, cover them with bread crumbs and grated Parmesan cheese, and broil for a couple of minutes.


30. Vegetables too salty: Pour the water out, rinse them off, and return them to the stove in new water. If you are already done, wash in hot water.


31. Whipping cream won't whip: chill everything (bowl, cream, beaters) and try again. If that fails, add an unbeaten egg white or 3-4 drops of lemon juice and whip as hard as you can.