If gravy or sauce begins to separate during cooking i.e. fat and solids; very carefully add a little water and it will emulsifier again.
If you have added too much curry then try adding a little honey.
If you burn sauce or gravy, pour it into a clean pan, add some sugar to it a little at a time to avoid the final result becoming too sweet - it takes the burnt flavour away
Sauce or gravy lumpy - just pass through a sieve and you have a smooth sauce.
Sometimes adding a knob of butter helps as well.
If you stick you tongue out while chopping onions it will stop you crying. Alternatively, chop the onion close to a running tap. Apparently the chemicals in the onions go for the nearest source of liquid.
Chatted too long on the telephone and your supper is burnt to the bottom of the pan - don't panic. Don't stir the food as this will mix any burnt pieces into the rest of the food and contaminate it all. Plunge the bottom of the pan into cold water to cool it down and prevent further cooking. Carefully remove as much of the unburnt food as you can and put into a clean pan, being very careful not to include any burnt bits, add a little more liquid continue cooking. If it still tastes burnt the addition of something like Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, spice or herbs, usually disguises it.
If you burn a pot of rice, place a slice of white or "light" bread on the top of the rice. Let it sit for a few minutes (5-10). The burnt taste will be gone but be sure not to scrape the bottom of the pan!
Then to clean the burnt pan
Firstly remove as much of the burnt food as possible.
If it is only slightly burnt on the bottom, put some water into the pan and add quite a lot of salt, soak for an hour, then wash in the usual way.
If it is badly burnt, put some water into the pan, add salt, bring to the boil and leave to soak for about twelve hours, bring to the boil again. The debris should wipe off. If this is not the case add more salt and bring to the boil again.
Add hot water to the pan with a used fabric softener sheet from your laundry. Let soak and the burnt crust will lift right off.
Forgot to turn off the coffee pot and burnt it to the bottom of the pot? Don't ruin the carafe by scrubbing with harsh abrasives, add a few teaspoons of salt and some crushed ice. Let it sit for a minute, then swirl the mixture for a minute. Most of the burnt beverage should come off, the rest will be loosened so that it will wipe out fairly easily.
To clean limescale from kettles or glass vases, soak in hot water and 1/3 brown vinegar. Rinse kettle well, fill and boil water. Empty completely, rinse again.
Brew more coffee (use another pot otherwise it will oddly enough taste burnt). Brew enough so that you can enjoy a cup yourself with enough left over to pour into the burnt pot and cover the burnt remains. After you have finished your cup of coffee, the burned on coffee will have dissolved. Swirl the liquid around, pour it out and rinse.
When defrosting meat from the frig, pour over vinegar ( ex pickled onion vinegar is good!). This lowers the freezing temperature of water in the meat, i.e. defrosts faster and tenderises the meat.
Stock from Leftovers - add the leftovers from roast chicken to your crockpot along with carrots, onion, celery, and herbs and let cook on low overnight. In the morning, let it cool, strain and discard solids, and season, and you will have flavorful chicken stock to use in other recipes.
Pastry mix - Save precious time by mixing your pastry to the "breadcrumb" stage i.e. rubbing in the flour and fat and then put this mixture into a freezer container. It is a good idea to make quite a large amount. When you want to make pastry, take out enough of the dry mixture for your requirements and add the water in the usual way.
Use condensed soup as a quick and easy sauce. e.g. cut some leftover chicken into cubes and mix with either condensed chicken or mushroom soup and serve on a bed of rice. "Chicken à la King" in minutes.
To make mince go further add some breadcrumbs or carrots into the recipe.
Add Worcestershire sauce to baked beans or scrambled egg to give them that extra zing.
Alternatively, add a spoonful of ready mixed 'curry' cooking sauce. Pataks is best (by a large margin). Enough to wake anybody up in the morning!
To make a few sausages go a very long way; make "Toad in the Hole" by cutting the sausages into small pieces and using a bun tin to make individual portions. Add chopped onion for an extra twist.
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