Top 10 Turkey Tips - How to Open Roast a Turkey Perfectly

Top 10 Turkey Tips - How to Open Roast a Turkey Perfectly

This time of year it's all about the turkey, or more importantly, not only how to roast a turkey, but how to roast a turkey perfectly so that it's at it's most juicy, tender perfection. Here are some of my favorite tips to help you achieve the perfect turkey.

7 Top Tips to Perfect Your Holiday Dressing

My top tips to perfect your holiday dressing or stuffing.

How to Perfect Your Holiday Dressing

The perfect dressing, or stuffing... however you look at it, can be a bit elusive, and to be honest it just takes practice to get it to the consistency that you like. Some people like their dressing on the dry side, others like it almost soupy. Here are some of my favorite dressing tips that I've picked up along my way of practice.

 

 By brining, you are providing a moisture cushion for the meat - all provided by the process of osmosis.

Fast and Easy Brining Solution

Brine. Your. Turkey. (or your chicken, or your pork...) Period. Just trust me on this one.

What is brining? And why bother?

Kraft Garlic Cheese Roll Substitute

Oh the lament across the net a few years back when Kraft decided to discontinue the garlic cheese roll! Didn't Kraft realize that while it may not have been a big seller throughout the year, thousands upon thousands of cooks across the country used that roll of garlic cheese to make their holiday broccoli cheese casserole, spinach casserole, garlic cheese biscuits, cheese balls, stove-top garlic cheese grits, and baked cheese grits, who knows what else?!

Well, I was not a user of the famous cheese roll, but in researching this topic for my readers, I ran across a tidbit that said a grocery store manager was told by the folks at Kraft, that the squirt cheese product called Easy Cheese Roasted Garlic Cheddar flavor, was actually the same exact product contained in the roll, 1 can equal to 1 roll.

Basic simple syrup mixture for beverages, cocktails and glazes.

How to Make Simple Syrup

This is for a medium thick simple syrup with a 2:1 ratio, which will cover most of your beverage needs - such as lemonade, iced tea, cocktails and coffee. You can also do a 1:1 ratio and a 3:1 ratio, depending on the thickness needed. A thicker ratio would be used in baking for glazes. A thinner ratio might be used for some cold drinks.

How to Easily Strip Corn off the Cob

This is the easiest way to strip corn off the cob, whether it's raw or cooked. The cob you see in the picture was roasted whole for my Roasted Summer Vegetable & Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing so it was hot when I stripped it, but this works just fine for when you are stripping down raw cobs for a recipe. If you're making a dish that needs the thickening of the starches from the corn, be sure to scrape the cob and extract all of those lovely juices!

Take a small bowl and turn it upside down into a larger bowl. You can also use an angel food cake pan or a bundt pan to set the corn on. The center hole holds it perfectly!

Cut the end of the cob so that it will be flat and even. Position the cob in the center of the upside down bowl, and hold the cob in place, using tongs if it's hot!
Then just carefully run a sharp knife down the cob.

Until all of the kernels are extracted.

Everything is in the bowl - and not all over the counter or on the floor!

How to Make Cinnamon Sugar

Combine 1/2 cup of sugar with 1 heaping tablespoon of cinnamon. Place into an old cleaned spice jar with a shaker top, cap and shake well. That's it!

.

How to Render and Use Bacon Fat

Ahhh, yes... Bacon Fat.

Now this, my friends, is a true staple of the southern kitchen in my little ole humble opinion and it is a rare southern household that doesn't have a Mason jar or grease pot full of this hanging around the stove or in the fridge.

Course lots of times we cook with bacon, so we use both the bacon and the rendered fat from the bacon. Yum - nothing like bacon. Bacon fat just adds so much flavor to cooking it is impossible to match with any other fat, even butter, and y'all know I love butter.

Tip for Melted Chocolate

When you are using melted chocolate for drizzling, to prevent it from seizing up and hardening on you, add a teaspoon of Crisco shortening in with the chips as you melt them.

Can also use this with caramel - but use butter instead of shortening.

Cooking Tip - How to Adapt Recipes to Crockpot Cooking

.

If it normally simmers for:

15 to 30 minutes = 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours on High; 4 to 8 hours on Low

35 to 40 minutes = 3 to 4 hours on High; 6 to 10 hours on Low

50 minutes to 3 hours = 4 to 5 hours on High; 8 to 18 hours on Low



Tips to Remember:

Liquids do not evaporate in a slow cooker, so reduce liquids to about one-half of the original recipe, unless you're cooking rice, then leave the liquid the same.

Any dairy products like milk or sour cream should only be added at the end, no sooner than about an hour before the end of cooking time.

Herbs are stronger and more pronounced if they are added in toward the end of cooking time; if added with the other ingredients they blend in better and are not as strong.

To thicken a sauce, add in flour or cornstarch near the end of cooking time, increase the temperature to High and cook for another 15 to 30 minutes (due to lost heat from having the cooker opened) or until it reaches desired thickness.

To shorten cooking time a bit, start a recipe off on high for 1 hour, then switch to low. One hour on high is the equivalent of two hours on low, so you can shortened your total time accordingly.
.

Cooking Tip - Breaking up Ground Meats

Oxo Good Grips Smooth Potato Masher

To easily and quickly break up meat in the skillet while browning it, don't trouble yourself with trying to mash it with a wooden spoon. What a hassle and it never breaks it all up uniformly. You have some pieces that are small, some that are large, what a pain.

Instead, break out your potato masher!

Mush it down on the meats as you're cooking and watch how fast they break up into perfect uniform size - so fast and easy ... give it try next time you're browning ground meat or sausage in a skillet.

Cooking Tip - How to Truss a Chicken or Turkey

 

How to truss a bird.

Pin It

How to Truss a Chicken or Turkey

Trussing a chicken or turkey helps it to hold its shape together better and cook more evenly, making for a nicer looking bird and one that is easier to carve. There are lots of ways people do this, and some get rather complicated! To me, this way is the easiest and personally, I'm all for easy!

How to Make Perfect Pasta

Does your pasta often come out tasteless and bland? Is your pasta often gummy and sticky? Well, here are my best tips for perfect pasta.

• You need to use a large pot and a lot of water - at least 6 quarts of water for a full pound of pasta! Many people use saucepans or pots that are too small for the pasta that they are making and not nearly enough water. Big mistake. The pasta really needs a lot of room to move around or you end up with sticky, gummy pasta, so use a very large stockpot or pasta pot. For a one pound package of pasta, you really need at least 6 quarts of water. Do that and you will not have to rinse the starch off of your pasta and it will hold onto the sauce much better.

• Season the pot with a very generous amount of salt!  Many people use very little salt, or none at all. Really, this is the only time you'll be able to put any seasoning into the pasta.  I use kosher salt in my kitchen - the "pinching" salt - so I grab two very large and generous pinches - maybe even three for a big pot.  You need a lot of salt.

• Bring the unseasoned pot of water up to a boil first, then add the salt. If you add salt to a cool pot of water, it will delay the water reaching the boiling point. 

• Cover the pot while you bring it up to a boil. It will come to a boil much faster. Once you add the pasta, do not re-cover the pot.

Perfect pasta!

.

Cooking Tip - Prepare Ingredients Before You Start

Prep for Success!

I was about to get started with making my seafood gumbo and thought about this important element involved with gumbo makin' that really translate to just about every recipe.

If you are pretty new to venturing into the kitchen, I have to say that even as long as I have been cooking, I am still a big advocate of prepping all of your ingredients ahead of time. You know how when you watch a chef on television they have everything premeasured, chopped and ready to go? Well, that's not just for television folks.

Yes, this might mean that you create more dishes to wash, but it will ensure better end results with your culinary creations because it allows you to transition smoothly from stage to stage of a recipe with no bumps in the road. There is nothing worse than to be in the midst of cooking only to find out that you needed to have something prepped that you didn't realize needed to be, while at the same time you are having to also be stirring constantly on something altogether different! Yikes! So follow these guidelines and you'll make your venture into cooking much more pleasant and successful!

1. Always, always, always read through the entire recipe before even beginning to think about starting to cook anything. You may even find that you have to read between the lines a bit. Some recipe authors do a great job of explaining things step by step and telling you exactly what you need to do and when. Others, well ... not so much. So read through the recipe from start to finish, even before you start to prep the ingredients.

2. Measure out all of your ingredients in advance. Sometimes you can even combine them - for instance, flour, baking powder and salt are often combined and then whisked to "sift." So you can combine those ahead of time and have it at the ready. I still do this when I bake.

3. Try to keep the prepped ingredients at hand in the order of use. It really just makes it easier because you are not reaching over other things and risking knocking things over and spilling them, and if you use them in order and sort of put them altogether after you use them, there's less of a chance that you won't be able to remember whether or not you've already put that one ingredient in! Believe me, even seasoned cooks go through that "did I add the [fill-in-the-blank] already???" So it helps if you sort of lay things out where you need them in order of use, then scoot them to the side all together after you have used them.

4. Chop EVERYTHING in advance and have it all ready to go. Sometimes recipes call for sauteeing things one at a time, so make note of that and be sure to keep those ingredients separated as you chop. Other times you can chop and combine the raw veggies because they will be cooked together. For instance, with my gumbo, first I have to saute the okra, by itself. So when I chop that up before I start, it'll go in its own little bowl. But when I chop the onion, celery and bell pepper, I know it will all saute together at the same time, so it can all go in one bowl as I chop it. The garlic, which can burn and get bitter if overcooked, will be chopped separately and set aside on the cutting board to be added once the all the veggies are cooked and tender.

5. Once you think that you have everything ready to go, before you get started do a quick run-through, reading over the recipe once more and checking your ingredients as you mentally prepare the dish. You will often find that you've missed something crucial!

Believe it or not, as long as I've been cooking, I still follow these basic rules of cooking. It really makes for a much more pleasant cooking experience and in my opinion, successful results!

~

Cooking Tip - Chicken Wings and Parts

When cooking chicken wings and removing the wing tips, don't discard them!

Place them into a marked freezer storage bag and keep them handy in the freezer for the next time that you are making a chicken stock for chicken and dumplings or chicken noodle soup. Just cook them with the stock portion of the recipe, then remove and discard them. It really helps to enhance the stock.

If you use whole chickens, you can also add the necks and backs to that same freezer bag. Unless, of course, you want to go crabbin' with 'em!

Cooking Tip - Tomato Paste, Chipotle, Pesto, Broth & Juice

A clever tip for saving bits of tomato paste, canned Chipotle peppers, pesto, broth & leftover juices that you may not have thought about before.

I'll bet there have been times where you have needed only a little dab of tomato paste, instead of the whole six ounce can, but like me you don't have a store near you that sells that cutesy stuff in a tube, or you don't use it enough to buy a case from Amazon. Besides, that's some high dollar tomato paste you're paying for to have that convenience anyway!

So you open that can and fully intend to save the rest of it in the fridge thinking you'll use it up soon, only to find some dried up can of rock hard tomato goop buried in the back of the fridge, heavens knows how many weeks/months later. Or... is that just me??? Well, I admit, I've been there and done that for sure and I HATE wasting money like that. This tip is a great way to save money and have just a dab of that tomato paste on hand just like with those fancy tubes.

Spread teaspoon and/or tablespoon sized dollops of tomato paste on a waxed paper covered baking sheet and stick that in the freezer. You will get about ten tablespoon sized dollops from a small can of tomato paste.


Once the dollops of tomato paste are flash frozen solid, place them in a freezer bag, seal it up and keep the bag handy in your freezer. Next time you just need a teaspoon or tablespoon, pop one out. Works like a charm!


And you know those cans of chipotle in adobo that you only need a little bit of? And the rest seems to get shoved into the back of the fridge to become the next science experiment? Yep. Separate the peppers and sauce and freeze it in ice cube trays too! Pop out and bag.

This is also a handy method for canned or boxed broths. Usually once they are opened, they should be used within xx days. So when you only need a little bit of broth, the rest languishes in the fridge and spoils. Next time, use what you need out of the can or box and then pour the rest of the broth into ice cube trays and freeze. Once frozen, pop them out, put them into a labeled freezer bag and the next time you need just a tablespoon or two of broth, just pop a cube or two out!

Overflowing with basil? Make a chiffonade and place into ice cube trays.

Cover with water, and add to any dish. The water will evaporate away and leave behind the basil.

You can also make batch of pesto and freeze in trays or even or a muffin pan for larger batches. Pesto can be used in many different dishes to add just a bit of flavor. Use it in eggs and omelets, add to soup, in salads and salad dressings, even in potato salad, toss in pasta, rice or on veggies, use on toasted baguettes or mix it with mayonnaise as a sandwich or burger spread, use it in place of pizza sauce, mix some into softened butter to use as a spread, top hummus with some or blend it in with sour cream or cream cheese dips for snacking, or use as a sauce enhancement for meats, fish and poultry. It's more versatile than you think!

Great for juices of all kinds too - I use it all the time for freshly squeezed lemon, lime and orange juice.  Just squeeze the citrus - a hand juicer makes an easy job of this - one of the handiest tools in my kitchen! Zest them first and you can also freeze the zest!

Pour the juice in ice cube trays, freeze, pop in freezer bags and you have fresh juice anytime to make drinks or use in recipes! Just thaw and use. Make sure that you save cherry juice when you make those desserts or fruit salads where you need to drain the cherries. Pour it into the trays and freeze and next time you want to make a sangria, or other beverage, use it as a cube in your beverage or melt in the microwave. Speaking of sangria, you can freeze white and red wine in the same way and the next time you need just a little bit of wine for a recipe, you'll have it without having to buy a full bottle of wine.

.

Cooking Tips -Tips, Shortcuts, Substitutions & Other Helpful Things

I really love old cookbooks. But, sometimes it can be hard to decipher the ingredients list. Like when it states that you need two No. 300 cans! What exactly does that mean??

No. 300 = 14 to 16 ounces (1-3/4 cups)
No. 303 = 16 to 17 ounces (2 cups)
No. 2 = 1 pound 4 ounces (2-1/2 cups)
No. 2-1/2 = 1 pound 13 ounces (3-1/2 cup)
No. 3 = 3 pound, 3 ounces (5-3/4 cup)
No. 10 = 6-1/2 pound to 7 pounds 5 ounces (12 to 13 cups)

Butter Tip - Forgot to Soften Butter?

Method to Quick Soften Butter or How to Soften Butter Fast!

Want to bake something that requires room temperature softened butter, but your's is still in the fridge, hard and ice cold? Don't fret!  But don't microwave it either!!

Break out that grater from your kitchen drawer and grate your sticks of butter on the larger holes. It's fast and it works great! Give it a try next time you find yourself short on room temperature butter.

~

 

Eggs, hard boiled perfectly, with pure yellow yolks and not a trace of green on the edges.

Perfect Boiled Eggs

Perfect boiled eggs seem hit and miss these days, but this method that I've used for years is pretty consistent to give you a pretty yellow yolk, no green edges, and a shell that easily separates from the membrane and doesn't shatter to a bazillion pieces.

Even still, sometimes they peel beautifully and other times they are downright stubborn.

Culinary Definitions and Pronunciations

Thought it might be an idea to build a dictionary of some of our cooking terms as I go. I'm also including a listing of recipe ingredients that are common here in the U.S. but might not be well known elsewhere.

Ingredients:

Chorizo - Mexican chorizo sausage is a raw sausage that is stuffed into a casing. Spanish chorizo and Portugese chorizo are cured sausages - more like the smoked sausages we are all familiar with.

Half and Half - When you see me refer to half and half in a recipe, it is a product we have available here in the United States that contains a mixture of equal parts whole milk and heavy cream. You can mix up equal parts of milk and cream, or simply substitute heavy cream. Half and half is mostly used in place of full fat, heavy cream to reduce some of the fat in a recipe.


Culinary Terms and Other Southernisms:

Bain-Marie - (bahn-mah-REE) The process of cooking one container in a larger container surrounded by hot water. Typically used for egg custards.