Helpful Cooking Hints

Frozen gravies or sauces may be a little thicker after thawing,
 than when they were freshly made. 
Adding a little appropriate liquid - milk, broth, or bouillon -
will thin them to the desired consistency.

For extra juicy, extra nutritious hamburgers,
add 1/4 cup evaporated milk per pound of meat before shaping.

To ripen green pears, just place 2 or 3 in a brown bag, loosely closed,
and store at room temperature out of direct sunlight.

In making pickles,
use white vinegar to make clear pickles and coarse salt
which comes in 5 pound bags. 
This is not rock salt.  Avoid using iodized salt for pickle making. 
Most pickles are better if allowed to stand six weeks before using.

Put a tablespoon of butter in the water when cooking rice, dried beans or macaroni,
to keep it from boiling water over it when done to get the starch out. 
Reheat over hot water, if necessary.

Never put a cover on anything that is cooked in milk
unless you want to spend hours cleaning up the stove when it boils over.

Anything that grows under the ground, start off in cold water -
potatoes, beets, carrots, etc. 
Anything that grows above ground, start off in boiling water -
English peas, greens, beans, etc.

To clean aluminum pots when they are stained dark,
merely boil with a little cream of tartar, vinegar or acid foods.

Baking powder will remove tea or coffee stains from china pots or cups.

Canned cream soups make excellent sauces for vegetables, fish, etc. 
Celery with lobster, black bean or onion with cauliflower, tomato with lamb chops.

To reheat roast, wrap in aluminum foil and heat in a slow oven.

Hard boiled eggs will peel easily if cracked and placed in cold water immediately after taking out of the hot water.

You can cut a meringue pie cleanly by coating both sides of the knife lightly with butter.

When recipe calls for adding raw eggs to hot mixture,
always begin by slowly adding a small amount of hot mixture to the beaten eggs to avoid curdling.

To remove fish odor from hands, utensils and dish cloths,
use one teaspoon of baking soda to quart of water.

To keep icings moist and to prevent cracking,
add a pinch of baking soda to the icing.

If soup tastes very salty, a raw piece of potato placed in the pot will absorb the salt.

Pour water into mold and then drain before pouring in mixture to be chilled. 
Will come out of mold easier.

When rolling cookie dough, sprinkle board with powdered sugar instead of flour. 
Too much flour makes the dough heavy. 
When freezing cookies with a frosting, place them in freezer unwrapped for about 2 hours
 - then wrap without worrying about them sticking together.

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