All About Food: Tips from a kitchen master

From time to time, I like to do a column of food tips based on things I’ve picked up from magazines, books or friends. They are pretty random, but I hope that you will find at least some of them quite useful.

1. When you are cooking dried beans, remember not to add salt to the cooking water. It will make the beans tough. Add the salt after you drain them.

2. How to tell if an egg is fresh: Before you break it, put it in a bowl of water. If it lies flat on the bottom, it is fresh. If it stays on the bottom but one end tilts up, it is not so fresh, and if it floats it may be bad, so open it warily. Also, if you ever get a small amount of yolk in your egg whites, the best way to remove it is with a piece of eggshell.

3. Also on the subject of eggs, some famous chef (sorry, I can’t remember who it was) said, “You can’t cook scrambled eggs too slowly or an omelet too quickly.” Lately, I have found a great way to cook a fried egg. Heat some butter in a pan on relatively high heat, then, just before it browns, carefully break your egg into the pan, turn off the heat and cover the pan. In three minutes, you will have a perfect egg with the white cooked and the yolk runny. (Time may vary depending on the size of the eggs and the pan.)

4. Water freezes faster if you fill the ice tray with warm rather than cold water.

5. Don’t freeze cheese or coffee. It will ruin the flavor.

6. Put live lobsters in the freezer for 10 minutes before killing them. They will fall asleep and you won’t feel quite so bad about the slaughter. Also, before cooking, tie a soup spoon or table knife to the tail to keep it straight. To get the last bites of meat from those long, skinny legs, try running a rolling pin over them. The meat pops right out.

7. To eliminate crying over onions when you chop, put them in the freezer for 30 minutes first. It also helps to cut the root end off last. You can also microwave them for a few seconds. If you still keep wooden matches around, put a couple in your mouth (not the tip), since they seem to absorb some of the stuff that makes eyes water. Chopsticks will work also.

8. Use vinegar to remove cooking smells from your hands. Also, try rubbing your hands on stainless steel taps or spoons to get rid of fish or garlic odors.

9. Lemon can get the smell of garlic off your cutting board.

10. When eating hot chilies, remember that water won’t help to cool you down since it is the oil that causes the pain. It’s better to eat a piece of bread.

12. You can only whip cream that is labeled “double” or “whipping cream,” since other varieties don’t have enough fat.

13. If you have a box or bin of brown sugar that has hardened, put it in a lidded container with a few pieces of apple to soften it.

14. I found this interesting list only recently. I wish I’d known about it sooner. Which fruits ripen after picking and which fruits don’t? Fruits that never ripen after picking include soft berries, cherries, citrus, grapes and pineapple. Fruits that ripen in color, texture and juiciness but not sweetness after picking are apricots, blueberries, figs, melons, nectarines, passion fruit and persimmons. The only fruit that ripens in every way after picking is a banana. Fruits that get sweeter after picking are apples, kiwis, mangos, papayas and pears.

If you have favorite tips, please send them to me.

TERRY MARKOWITZ was in the gourmet food and catering business for 20 years. She can be reached for comments or questions at m_markowitz@cox.net.