I’m not the guy you want to play in Trivial Pursuit or Trivia Crack. I’m a storehouse of information that is marginally useful. Ask my kids…I know some of the weirdest stuff.
Part of my success is because I constantly collect things for later review. Upon discovering the Evernote web clipper I went wild. I clip from the browser and use the iOS share sheet mercilessly. Everything gets dumped into a notebook in Evernote.
Later I’ll be digging through the compost heap of information I’ve gathered and discover pure gold. Today’s 3 Things I Learned fall into that category…
Have you ever had the situation where you’re baking with nuts and all they all sink to the bottom of the batter? It’s one of the most frustrating experiences! To avoid that, first dredge the nuts (or berries, cranberries, or raisins) in flour and then add them to the batter. The dredging is easiest if you add the nuts and flour to a zippered storage bag, shake vigorously, and then pour them into the batter. It’s like baking magic!
If you want to get the most juice out of a citrus fruit (lemon, orange, grapefruit, etc.) there are two tricks you can use. First, roll the fruit under the palm of your hand on the countertop. Another route to maximum juiciness is to microwave the fruit for 10 seconds. If you want to go all out, do both the rolling then microwaving. After prepping, you’re ready to juice the fruit however you want. I would strongly recommend no more than ten seconds though…you don’t want the juice splattered all over the microwave!
Use parchment paper for anything you can think of when cooking. If the recipe says “line the pan with foil”, use parchment paper instead. When the recipes says “spray the pan with cooking spray”, skip the spray and use parchment. When I discovered parchment paper and all it’s uses a couple years ago I thought I’d entered another realm. It’s seriously awesome! One of the best features is it traps and holds grease during cooking, making cleanup easier and serving neater. When you get good with parchment paper, you can build a papillote (in French🇫🇷) or cartoccio (in Italian🇮🇹) to hold the food. Essentially you create a pouch to hold the food, allowing it to steam inside the parchment. The methods are called en papillote or al cartoccio and you sound really cultured when you describe it that way. Or you can say parchment pouch if you want to sound American🇺🇸. It’s your choice.
Over the next few months I’m going to be digging into my compost heap for more gems like these, so stay tuned. Every once in a while one might strike you as the perfect way to make it a great day in the kitchen!
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