SOLUTIONS TO COMMON COOKING DISASTERS - part I
YOUR DINNER QUANDARY CLARIFIED:
It is surely a gut-crunching feeling when we have missed an important additive to the food we are cooking, or misread the recipe. But dont worry. Here are some easy ways to correct the blooper, thereby making your mistakes a secret for ever. Try these simple tips to make your fiasco dinner into a appetizing one.
1. OVER COOKED TURKEY:
Just don't worry that the main course of your dinner is been spoiled. It can be adjusted with the gravy, says Angela Mckeller, an Atlanta-based Chef and Author of Gluten-Free Made East as 1,2,3. Prepare a suitable gravy and pour it on the cut pieces of turkey. This will moisten back the meat. If the skin is totally burnt beyond the apt color, remove them and then add the gravy. If your guests enquire about the turkey, just tell them that you removed the skin just to make the food healthier.
2. TOO MUCH WINE IN THE SAUCE:
"If it's in a stew or braised dish, just let it cook down longer. I guarantee you're only going to get a richer flavor from this mistake," says ALEJANDRA RAMOS, a New York City-based cooking instructor and owner of culinary concierge service Alejandra Ramos Culinary and Lifestyle.
If you are making tomato sauce, just continue cooking and add few more tomatoes to balance the wine flavor. If you are out off tomatoes, just make them boil a little longer and call them 'red wine tomatoes sauce'. This will surely be a new recipe finder.
3. USED BAKING POWDER INSTEAD OF BAKING SODA (or vice-versa):
Baking soda and Baking powder are both leaveners. They help to rise baked food. Try to remove the wrongly measured ingredient and replace it. Or it is simply better if you start all over again.
MARLENE KOCH, the Magician in the Kitchen and author of Eat More Of What You Love, opens the science behind these two ingredients -
"Baking soda has four times the leavening power of baking powder. If you use baking powder, instead of baking soda, your baked goods may not rise enough. If you use baking soda instead of baking powder, your baked goods will rise too much, and then deflate. They may also have a strong salty, and perhaps soapy taste."If not properly altered in time your bread might be eatable but not delicious.
4. TOO MUCH SALT IN THE DISH:
This is a very common mistake we make while cooking. If it is a gravy or soup just add a raw potato to it.Later you can remove the potato after it has absorbed the excessive salt. Mc KELLER recommends to keep 'boil-in-a-bag rice' for this synopsis. Adding puree cooked rice with a few tablespoons of water to the gravy will act as a thickener and will absorb the extra salt.
5. NO BUTTERMILK:
If you have forgotten to buy buttermilk, dont run to the store so soon. Just try out a trick suggested by McKELLER first - Substitute milk for buttermilk and add a tablespoon or two of lemon juice or distilled vinegar to SOUR the milk. This procedure will work great while baking or for marge-ring chicken before frying.
6. BREAD DOUGH DID NOT RISE:
Is it time to just give up baking? "No way," says McKELLER. If it did not raise the proposed 6" and it is only 1" thick, just keep an eye on the baking time because it will bake very quickly. Keep a check on it every 10 minutes. Remove it when it is golden brown. Though it cannot be served as bread you can serve it as your own croutons by tossing it with oil, garlic powder and dried herbs. It can also be cut into thinner crustier versions to be served with soup.
