Cooking Tips

• A more healthy Sauce Thickener. I have seen many recipes that used flour to thicken the sauce. As a matter of fact the sauce is called a Rou. I found another option for using flour. Over the years I have realized that using potatoes in my stews and soups, thickens the sauce.
  
  All I do is dice the potatoes/tomatoes and add to your pot. After a few minutes of cooking the potatoes/tomatoes they will soften and break up into smaller pieces as they are thoroughly cooked, it thickens the sauce.
  I use the potatoes when I cooking Curried Chicken or Shrimp. I use the tomatoes when I am cooking Stewed Fried Fish or Stewed Veggie Patties.


• To control your cholesterol it is recommented a daily dose of oats is consumed. This can be gotten in the form of Oats Water. This is how it is done, every night put a tablespoon of raw oats on a cup and fill the cup with water. If the cup has its own cover, place the lid over the cup and put the cup in the fridge. Drink the water the next morning. The oats is discarded. It is that simple. There is no need to add any sweetner because it tastes just like plain water.


• Grease your cake pan with either some olive oil or maybe some butter and lightly line with some flour (this is an extra measure for the cake not to stick to the sides of cake pan). How this is done: Put a small bit of flour in the greased baking pan and then shake and twist the pan until the flour has covered all parts of the pan - the flour will stick to the greasing agent.
• Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to the oil in which you are going to deep fry. It will keep the food from absorbing too much fat and eliminate the greasy taste.
• When you burn yourself in the kitchen, vanilla essence will help ease the pain. (apply it,don't drink it!)
• Add green papayas to stews it will tenderize meat.
• Stir hot liquids with a wooden spoon. It will not get hot like a metal spoon.
• To keep parsley or other herbs fresh, wash, dry and put in a covered jar in the refrigerator.
• Make decorative ice cubes by placing a sprig of mint or slice of lime in each cube before freezing.
• You can lengthen the life of olive oil by adding a cube of sugar to the bottle.
• Sift powdered sugar over top of the cake before frosting to prevent icing from running off the cake.
• To easily break a coconut, preheat oven to 350degrees F. Pierce coconut eyes. Drain and save water. Heat coconut in oven for 30 minutes, then crack open.
• Lemon juice added to rice prevents it from sticking and enhances the white color.
• Paint eggs with lemon juice to prevent them from cracking during boiling.
• Cut down on fish frying smells and enhance flavor by squeezing lemon juice into the frying oil.
• Lemon will also prevent fish from sticking to the grill.
• If you are reducing your sodium or fat intake, try squeezing a wedge of fresh lemon on salads, steamed vegetables, soups and stews. You will never miss the salt or butter!
• Odors such as onion, fish or household bleach can be removed from hands by rubbing with lemon. This softens hands and toughens nails, too.
• I bought some turkey breast from the grocery store and found it to be very salty so I emptied all the boxes of the turkey breast into a bowl and poured some hot water of the meat. After about 10 minutes, I threw out the water. I repeated these steps twice. I then put the turkey breast in the toaster to dry up the excess moisture.
• Bake better beans
  If you like beans but could do without the after-dinner entertainment that accompanies them, simply add a pinch of baking soda to the beans as they're cooking. Their gas-producing properties will be significantly reduced.
• Fluff your omelets
  For every three eggs used, add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.
• Tenderize meat
  Soften meat by rubbing it down with baking soda, letting it sit in the refrigerator for 3-5 hours, and then rinsing well before cooking.
• Soak out fish smells:
  Soak store-bought, raw fish in 1 quart water with 2 tablespoons baking soda for about an hour inside your refrigerator. Rinse the fish and pat dry before cooking.