My Science School

• The ideal meal stretcher

An extra guest or two for dinner — even at a casual meal — can foil the most carefully laid plans. Head straight for the pasta — it’s your best bet as a filling meal stretcher, along with a can of chopped tomatoes. Boil the pasta, heating up the tomatoes at the same time. Drain the cooked pasta, put it into a large bowl and toss with the tomatoes and plenty of grated hard cheese, preferably parmesan. (If you don’t have tomatoes, toss the pasta in a little olive oil and grated hard cheese — a surprisingly delicious combination.) Add the steaming bowl of pasta to the table and you can bet your guests will be satisfied.

• Stop spaghetti showers

We’ve probably all done it — you’re rummaging through a kitchen cupboard and accidentally knock over a half-used packet of spaghetti — and the dried strands cascade onto the floor. How can you stop it from happening again? Save an empty Pringles chip box (tall and cylindrical with a plastic lid) and recycle it as a dry pasta canister.

• Carrot ribbon pasta

Carrots add additional nutrients and some vibrant colour to a simple pasta dish. Clean and peel the carrots, then use a peeler to shave wide carrot ribbons. Saute the ribbons in butter and seasonings, such as ginger, black pepper and salt, then acid to cooked, drained pasta. You don’t need a tomato-based sauce — simply toss with parmesan cheese.

• Keep pasta from boiling over

Before adding water to a pasta pan, coat the interior lightly with nonstick cooking spray. The water won’t boil over, even when you add the pasta. If you don’t have spray on hand, add a teaspoon of olive oil to the water as it cooks. This trick works for boiled rice as well.

• What to do with leftover pasta

Don’t throw it out. Toss it in a nonstick, ovenproof pan with a teaspoon of olive oil, pour 2 beaten eggs over it, sprinkle with cheese and bake until golden brown. Slice the resulting frittata into wedges and keep it for another dinner with a small green salad. It’s money-saving, simple and delicious.

• Jazz up rice

Instead of boiling rice in plain water, try using chicken or beef stock, tomato juice or even equal parts of orange juice and water. Or you could sprinkle dried oregano, cumin, turmeric and any other herb or spice into the water before adding the rice. You could also add finely chopped onion, garlic or plenty of lemon or orange zest to turn rice from a bland accompaniment into a brand-new dish each time it appears on the table.

• Fluff it up!

It’s easy to keep rice grains from sticking together as they cook. Try one of these methods to ensure you’ll spoon out the fluffiest of servings:

1. Soak the rice in a bowl of cold water for 30-60 minutes before cooking. Soaking will also make the rice cook faster. Drain and rinse before cooking.


2. Put the rice into a colander and rinse it under cold running water several times to remove the surface starch that makes the grains stick together.


3. Add the juice of half a lemon to the cooking water. Grating the lemon rind and adding the zest will give rice another taste note and some visual interest.

• Perfect rice noodles

Before being cooked, rice noodles need to soak in water at room temperature for at least 1 hour, preferably several hours. If you’ve soaked them but you can’t cook the noodles immediately, keep them moist by sandwiching them between damp paper towels.

Credit : Reader's Digest

Picture Credit : Google

• Hamburgers with a difference

To add flavour and moisture to hamburger patties, add 1/4 cup (30g) finely chopped onion and 2 tablespoons barbecue sauce. Blend the ingredients into the beef or turkey mince with freshly washed hands, taking care not to overwork the mixture.

Variations of the ingredients are endless —you can add everything from crushed garlic, or finely chopped celery or other crisp vegetables paired with sweet chilli sauce, tomato sauce or Worcestershire sauce. You could also mix a teaspoon of chilli powder or cumin (or 1/2 teaspoon of both) into the meat to give the patties a slight Mexican flavour or even a sprinkle of curry powder to add some Indian spice.

• Speed defrosting with salt

Defrost frozen meats quickly and safely by soaking them in cold salt water for several hours. Mix 50-100g sea salt or any other coarse-grained salt with 2 litres water, then submerge the meat and refrigerate it. Once the meat has thawed, just discard the salt water and cook as usual.

• Making better burgers

Although your usual hamburgers probably taste absolutely fine, you can notch up a burger’s wow factor with a few easy tricks.

1. Keep them juicy For a juicier grilled burger, add 100 ml cold water to the mince and shape the patties as you normally would. Prepare the patties shortly before you grill them.


2. Flash freeze Keep hamburger patties from breaking up during grilling by freezing them for 5 minutes just before they go on the grill.


3. Dented burgers Use your forefinger to make two or three dents in the centre of a patty before placing it on the grill. This distributes heat more effectively so that the burger will cook faster.


4. Toast some herbs You can easily flavour and scent grilled burgers on a barbecue by giving the hot coals a herbal treatment. Place fresh herbs like basil and rosemary directly onto the coals.

• Bathe flank steak in ginger ale

Lend flank steak an Asian touch — and make it more tender — by marinating it in 150 ml ginger ale mixed with 3 crushed garlic cloves, 150 ml orange juice, 1/4 cup (60m) soy sauce and  1/2 teaspoon sesame oil. Cover and keep in the fridge for 4-8 hours. This recipe makes enough marinade for 700g flank steak.

• Wake up a bit of brisket with coffee

This innovative method for cooking brisket of beef uses coffee and chilli sauce to give what can be a toughish meat a new twist. To enjoy this twice-cooked dish for yourself, combine 2 cups (500ml) brewed coffee with 1 -1/4 cups (310ml) chilli sauce in a mixing bowl. Stir in a chopped onion, 2 tablespoons each brown sugar and salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Place a 2-kg brisket in a roasting dish, then pour the sauce over the meat. Cover tightly with a lid or foil and bake for 2 hours in a preheated 160°C oven. Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the meat to a platter to cool. Now slice the meat, lay the slices in the sauce in the pan and cover again. Bake the joint at 160°C for another 2 hours or until the brisket is completely soft and tender (when a fork inserted into the meat goes in with little resistance).

• Mix up in a bag

Put mince, breadcrumbs, chopped onions and seasonings for a meatloaf or hamburgers into a large self-sealing plastic bag and squish it about with both hands to evenly distribute the seasonings throughout the meat. Turn the bag inside out into a prepared loaf tin, gently press it into shape and bake. Your hands will be clean and there’s no bowl to wash.

• Keep meatloaf moist

Spray the top of meatloaf with water to keep it from cracking and drying out as it cooks. Open the oven door and brush tomato sauce over the top of the loaf about 15 minutes before it has finished cooking.

• Easy slices without tearing

To slice thin steaks or cubes from a roast prior to cooking, wrap the meat in heavy-duty plastic wrap and freeze for 10 minutes. This method works for any cut of meat.

• Brilliant pork glaze

All you need is apricot jam, soy sauce and powdered ginger and you have the makings of a simple but delicious glaze. Just whisk together 3 tablespoons apricot jam, 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 3/4 teaspoon ginger and brush it onto a pork loin or pork roast before cooking. If you are pan-frying pork chops on top of the stove, glaze the browned top of the chops after you’ve flipped them over once.

• A bit of a brew for lamb

To give Iamb stew a beautiful dark colour and great flavour, add 1 cup black coffee to the pot about halfway through the cooking process.

Credit : Reader's Digest

Picture Credit : Google

• Keep fishy smells at bay

Before preparing fresh fish, halve a lemon and rub both hands with the cut ends to help to keep your hands from absorbing the fishy odour. (If you didn’t know you had a tiny scratch or cut on your hand, you will now!) If frying is your cooking method of choice, wash the pan you used and pour in 1 cm white vinegar; the acetic acid should banish any lingering fish smell.

• Make scaling easier with vinegar

When scaling a fish, rub white vinegar onto the scales and let it sit for about 10 minutes. The scales will come off so easily that they may make more of a mess than usual, so put the fish in a plastic bag before you do this. Just scale the fish in the bag with one hand while holding it by the tail with your other hand.

• Keep poached fish firm

When poaching fish, squeeze fresh lemon juice into the poaching liquid to help the fish to cook evenly. For each 500g of fish, use the juice of half a lemon.

• Lock in moisture when baking

Low-fat fish such as whiting, snapper and flat-head can easily dry out as they bake. To seal in the moisture, wrap each fillet or whole fish in aluminium foil before putting it in the oven.

• Freezing fresh-caught fish

When you bring home more fish from a fishing trip than you can eat, here’s the best way to freeze them. Take an empty milk carton large enough to hold each fish, place the fish inside and fill the carton with water. Seal the opening with tape and place the carton in the freezer. When you thaw the fish, you won’t have to worry about scraping off ice crystals or pulling off some of the flesh with the wrapping.

• Cool down prawns

To ensure tender, well-textured meat, place prawns in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before you cook them. Just be sure not to overcook them because you think they need time to warm up in the boiling water — they don’t.

• Make shucking oysters easier

Soaking oysters in soda water for 5-10 minutes will make it easier for you to open the shells.

• Stop lobster squirting

When cracking and twisting the legs and claws off a whole lobster or crab, guard against the occasional squirt by putting a serviette between the crustacean and your hand. Any squirts will hit the serviette, not your clothes.

• Improve the taste of canned seafood

If you detect a slight metallic flavour to canned seafood, soak it as directed below, drain and then pat the seafood dry with paper towels.

1. Water-packed tuna Soak in a mixture of cold water and lemon juice for 15 minutes (2 parts water, 1 part juice).


2. Canned crab Soak the crabmeat in iced water for 5-10 minutes.


3. Canned prawns Soak the prawns in a mixture of 2 tablespoons vinegar and 1 teaspoon dry sherry for 15 minutes.

• Cut the salt in anchovies

If you like the taste of anchovies but wish they weren’t quite so salty, soak them in iced water for 10-15 minutes and then drain them well before tossing them in a Caesar salad or arranging them on top of a pizza.

• Balance salt with sugar

If you’ve over-salted a stew or soup, save it with a teaspoon of granulated sugar. It will absorb excess salt and help to balance the taste. Or stir in a teaspoon of honey instead.

• De-grease gravy with bicarb

Sometimes the cooking juices used for gravy are so greasy that they look like an oil slick. Counteract the problem with a pinch or two of bicarbonate of soda: stir just enough into the juices to absorb the grease. (Be careful, though; if you overdo it you could taint the flavour and make it taste metallic.)

• Over-heated curry

Tone it down with pureed apple. Add 30 ml of pureed apple for each 90 ml curry sauce, then taste. If necessary, continue stirring in a little pureed apple until the curry is to your liking.

• Two extra for dinner

It can be a total disaster when you cook the perfect size roast for a small dinner party. Meat shrinks when cooked, so it’s a third smaller than you started out with and then the doorbell rings — with two extra guests to feed. Carve the entire roast into thin strips, toss a large salad, top it with the meat and you should have substantially increased the size of your main course.

• Rescue a cracked egg

If you’re boiling an egg and the shell cracks, simply add a teaspoon of vinegar to the cooking water. It will help to coagulate the egg white and stop it from seeping out.

• Salsa too hot?

Stir in a drop or two of vanilla extract and a hot salsa should cool down. Whether it’s the vanillin, sugars or amino acids in vanilla that take the heat down a notch or two, vanilla extract is the best condiment for the job.

• Too much garlic in the soup

Pack a mesh pouch, gauze bag or metal tea ball with dried parsley flakes or fresh parsley sprigs and drop it into the pan. After 5 minutes or so, the flakes will absorb some of the taste of the offending ingredient. Once the garlic taste has been adequately toned down, simply remove the parsley and discard it.

Credit : Reader's Digest

Picture Credit : Google

• Simple skinning

Skin a piece of poultry, or even a whole bird, with ease. Put it in the freezer until partially frozen (generally 1-2 hours). You will be able to pull the skin off with no trouble.

• Chicken money-saver

Buy whole chickens and cut them up with poultry shears, rather than buying breasts or legs. Freeze in portion-sized freezer bags. If you eat chicken often, you’ll make up the cost of the shears in just a few weeks.

• Butter (milk) up chicken pieces

To tenderize chicken pieces and pack them with flavour, rinse the meat, pat dry and marinate them in buttermilk (or add a tablespoon of lemon or vinegar to regular milk) for 2-3 hours, in the fridge, before cooking.

• Stuffing stopper

When cooking a stuffed turkey, chicken or duck, simply place a raw potato in the entrance to the cavity and the stuffing will stay put.

• Tea-riffic flavour

To give chicken or turkey breasts or thighs a light smokey flavour and help them to retain moisture as they cook, brew 2 strong cups of spice-flavoured tea. Once the tea cools, add seasonings such as black pepper, salt, paprika and garlic to taste, pour into a large self-sealing plastic bag and add the chicken or turkey pieces. Put in a shallow dish and marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours before cooking.

• Carrot and celery rack

Instead of using a roasting rack, crisscross whole carrots and celery stalks on the bottom of a roasting dish, then top with your chicken or turkey. Once it’s done, the bird will easily lift out of the dish and the flavour of the gravy will be enhanced by the vegetables.

• Simple roux starters for gravy

Combine excess fat from a roasting pan with sufficient flour until you can roll it into small balls about half the size of a walnut and freeze on a baking sheet covered with a paper towel. When frozen, transfer the balls to a plastic bag and store in the freezer for future use. The next time you need to make gravy, take out a roux starter-ball from the bag and melt it in the saucepan before stirring in the other ingredients. Or, if your cooked gravy is too thin, drop in a roux starter, whisk well, season to taste and serve.