Introducing the Kitchen Tips Series

I’ve decided to start a “tips” series. You know, once a week post a list of cooking and kitchen tips that we can all benefit from knowing. Don’t worry – these are not my tips. What good would those be? I promise these tips are compiled from various expert sources. No wannabes allowed.

So, welcome to the Wannabe Foodie’s Kitchen Tip Series!

Today’s tips are Recipe Conundrums, and they are brought to you by Fine Cooking magazine.

What is a sprig? I always thought a sprig was a sprig, but it turns out that when a recipe calls for a sprig of a fresh herb, and they don’t specify the exact length, you can feel safe going with a sprig that is approximately 4” in length. Just make sure it’s not a sparse sprig – if it is, you may want to use a little more to compensate.

Used too much salt? I’ve become a huge fan of kosher salt, thanks to Alton Brown. But while I know that it’s not an even swap with regular table salt, I never remember (or more likely, ever knew) how to make the correct conversion. Salting “to taste” is great until you add too much salt, which I often do (sorry, Dad). So now we know… Okay, now I know. Use 1 ¼– 1 ½ times the amount of table salt when using kosher salt. You are not actually using more salt – the kosher flakes are bigger, so they take up more volume. The larger the kosher flakes, the closer to 1 ½ times you should be.

Sub-tip… Bonus! As I turn the page in the magazine, I found out what to do if I over salt a dish. If you know immediately that you added to much salt, don’t stir it in, scoop it out. If you find out that your dish is over salted after you taste it, and the recipe has an acid ingredient (such as lemon juice, vinegar, wine or buttermilk), you can try adding a little more of the acid to balance the salt. As a last hope, add some more liquid (as appropriate to the recipe) to dilute the salt. Beyond that, you’re SOL. Make sure you drink plenty of water.

Eggs to cold? Often times, recipes call for room temperature eggs. If you are like me, you probably realize this merely minutes before you need to actually add the eggs to the recipe. And where are the eggs? In the fridge, of course. Just place the eggs in a bowl of warm water, and you ‘ll be good to go lickety split. (Did I really just say “lickety split”?)

Sub-tip… Another bonus! You should crack eggs on a flat surface, and not on the edge of a bowl. This minimizes shell shatter, and reduces the chances you’ll be fishing shell shards out of your mixture.

Butter too cold, too? Room temperature butter is another ingredient that usually hangs me up. I usually turn to the microwave, and tend to get overly softened butter. But you can cut the refrigerator cold butter into small cubes, separate it into a single layer, and let it sit on the counter. It will take about 30 minutes for the butter to come to room temperature, but it’s better than nothing. And certainly better than cold or melted butter.

In a pinch? Don’t you love those recipes that call for a pinch of something? How does my pinch measure up against B’s pinch? He has bigger fingers than I do, so wouldn’t his pinch therefore grab more of the ingredient than mine would? Well, it turns out a “pinch” is technically 1/16 of a teaspoon. If you are a perfectionist, you can find measuring spoons this small. But, a pinch is so small that a little more or a little less is not going to affect the outcome of your recipe. So pinch away, and don’t ask me what a dash is. It wasn’t in the magazine.


So there it is folks. Your first five tips from the Wannabe Foodie’s Kitchen Tip Series. Check back mid-week for the next five.