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.

Cooking Tips And Substitutions - Tips For Substituting Ten Common Ingredients

A Combination Of Ingredients As A Substitute

By using substitutions when you are cooking a great meal, and if you do not have the specific ingredients for your particular dish, you will find that every ingredient has a substitute which could enhance the flavor of your dish.

With regard to tips on substituting ingredients, you will find that almost every ingredient can be substituted and will be as close to the original. Sometimes, you may have to use two or three different ingredients to be able to get the taste of the original.

The following list will give you an idea of the common substitution tips for ingredients that take place in everyday cooking.

Common Substitutes

Flour

In case you have all purpose flour and the recipe required self raising flour, add 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder to every cup of all purpose flour.

Baking Powder

If you do not have baking powder, you could use 1/2 cup buttermilk added to 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and bring down the liquid in your preparation by half a cup or you could use 5/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar and 1/4
teaspoon baking soda.

Crumbs with crackers

If bread crumbs are available and the recipe calls for cracker crumbs, in place of each cup of cracker crumbs, use 1 1/4 cups of bread crumbs.

Bread Crumbs

Similarly, if you need one cup of bread crumbs, and you do not have it, just use cracker crumbs (3/4 cup).

Corn Starch

If the recipe required corn starch and you do not have it, just use 2 tbsps. of all purpose flour.

Butter

If you do not have butter when the recipe requires it, use 7/8 cup shortening for every cup of butter or 7/8 cup of vegetable oil could also be used.

Buttermilk

If you do not have buttermilk, you can use plain yogurt with the same amount. You could also use 1 cup of milk with 1 tbsp. lemon juice or vinegar.

Sour Cream

Substitute a cup of sour cream, with 3/4 cup of sour milk or plain yogurt of the same quantity

Chocolate Substitutions

3 tbsps. of cocoa powder that is not sweetened, and 1 tbsp. butter is used in place of one ounce of unsweetened chocolate. For semi-sweet chocolate, use 1 ounce of unsweetened chocolate and 1 tbsp. sugar.

Lemon Juice Substitutions

A simple substitution for lemon juice is vinegar in the same amount as the recipe requires.

The above substitutions for ingredients come in extremely handy when you find that you are all set to bake or cook, and find some of the ingredients are missing. By keeping this list in your kitchen as a guideline, you can make use of the ingredients that you have at your disposal instead of rushing out to the store.