Kitchen Tips You Can Use

A collection of tips from the editors and contributors of Seattle DINING!

Hold the egg

While most pancake recipes call for an egg or more to be added, why not try it some time without. The result - a fluffier pancake because of the slightly thinner batter.

Being a better cook

The next time you set out to make a meal, focus on the one thing you'd like to do better with that dish. Before you begin, hop on the internet and research what it is you will focus on and see if you can't locate some insight as to how to better your cooking. Or better yet, search for a cooking class locally that will help you move your game up a notch.

Do it yourself broth

There are a lot of broths on the market pre-made you can use. Most are high in salt and low in flavor. You can easily make your own broth at home using a recipe you pluck from a favorite cook book, find on the internet, or craft one all yourself using your own know-how or taking influences from others you read. A regular size crock pot will yield 12 to 16 cups of broth and you can freeze what you don't use for later.

Making a roux (aka rue)

Roux is typically a wheat grain ground up, used to suck up extra moisture and thicken a soup or sauce. But you can go beyond whole grains and use other things around the house. If you use a high speed juicer in your home, instead of tossing the waste of, say apples, you can freeze it for long term storage and use it later to thicken up your soup or sauce. The pulp is sweeter than grains and has already retained water once, so let it do what it does best once again.

More than one

Have you ever needed a second cutting board, and found yourself pulling the only one you have out of the dish washer and scrubbing it up? Make a note of this when it happens and begin to realize the tools you need more than one of in your kitchen to simplify your life. Cutting boards, measuring cups, microwave plates, etc., are typical items we can all use more than one of. The list changes based on your cooking style.

March 2015