Deboning a chicken breast

back to kitchen secrets

• To prevent your potatoes from breaking up during cooking, drain the water until it is only about 4 cm (1-1/2 inch) from the bottom of the pan.
• Refresh wilted vegetables, especially leafy ones, by soaking in ice cold water for a few minutes.
• To keep lettuce from wilting, never use a steel blade to cut lettuce (this causes the leaves to brown faster). Instead, tear lettuce by hand or use a plastic knife. Also, after rinsing, work the lettuce in a little lemon juice to preserve its freshness.
• To help vegetables retain their color, add a lump of sugar, a splash of vinegar, or a twist of lemon juice.

• Cooked root crops like potatoes or onions are ready to eat when a knife slides through them easily, or if they feel soft when squeezed.
• To remove dirt from leafy vegetables, simply wash them in a mixture of salt and water.
• Wondering if your green beans are done? Break one in half and if it makes a quiet snap, they’re good to eat.
• Cooked vegetables shouldn’t look dead and lifeless. You must still be able to tell what their original color was after cooking.
• To remove the silk from corn on the cob, first pull off as much as you can by hand, then use a wet washcloth and stroke downwards to remove the rest of the silk.

back to kitchen secrets