General Cooking and Baking Tips
While baking cakes, breads, and pastries, never open the door until after the first ten minutes of baking. The more you open the oven door while baking, or take the lid off of dish while cooking, the longer it will take to finish baking or cooking.
When making Middle Eastern recipes using chick peas, be sure to peel the skin off the chick peas by pushing them through your thumb and index fingers before using. Save time by making double quantities of sauces, breads, cookies and stews. Freeze the extra half for another occasion.
Generally speaking, covering stews, soups, and sauces will give them a thinner consistency. Letting them simmer uncovered will produce a thicker consistency.
Fresh herbs will last longer if they are washed, dried, and stored in between layers of paper towels in a plastic bag in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator.
If you can’t smell your spices after opening the jar, they’re no good anymore.
Keeping onions in the refrigerator will prevent you from crying while cutting them.
Always taste food before adding additional seasonings, you may not need them.
The longer you cook tomatoes, the more acidic they will become.
When frying garlic, only allow it to fry until it begins to release its aroma.
Once garlic turns color it becomes acrid and bitter.
Always store nuts in the refrigerator to prevent them from going rancid.
Store tomatoes at room temperature to maintain their flavor.
Use whole wheat pastry flour instead of regular whole wheat flour when making breads and pastries for a more tender texture.
