Kitchen tips

Quick tip: How to defrost meat faster?

Posted on by trangquynh

meso5(Photo: Internet)

For cooking lovers who are busy and don’t have enough time to go to the market and buy fresh meat everyday (including me), freezer is absolutely a life saver. You can go to the supermarket once or twice a week, buy everything that you need and put all the meat (beef, pork, poultry, seafood…) in the freezer, and when you cook meals, defrost them before using. That sounds pretty easy, but in reality, if you don’t know some tips and tricks, it will become a nightmare.

The first thing we’re gonna think about when it comes to defrosting: microwave, it seems to be multi functional and very helpful in the kitchen. But many sources demonstrate that rapid thawing in the microwave is not recommended, since this method of thawing will lose valuable nutrients. The meat will completely lose its flavor and appearance when cooking. Plus, sometimes, by accidentally putting the meat too long in the microwave, there’s a risk that it will be cooked a little bit in the edges or become dry in these parts.

So what’s the solution, how to defrost meat faster without ruining its flavor? My simple tip is pouring some vinegar over it. The vinegar not only tenderizes the meat but also bring down the freezing temperature of the meat and cause it to thaw quicker. But this is definitely not the only way so if you have some tips for this, feel free to share with other bloggers and me in the comment section below, I’d love to listen to your experiences and tricks ^^

See you in the next post with more recipes and more kitchen tips,

Love, Trang Quynh

Source: Google, lifehackery.com, cook13.com

Quick tip: Are those eggs fresh?

Posted on by trangquynh

eggs

(Photo: Internet)

Being a food lover and a homecook, we all know how necessary eggs are in cooking, especially in baking. I always love buying new eggs every week when I go to the supermarket, not storing many of them in the kitchen because I think eggs should be fresh when you use them. But what if you’re not sure if your eggs are fresh or not? With this post, that problem will be solved 😉

This will be quick: Place your eggs in about 4 inches of cool salted water. The ones that stay on the bottom are fresh. If only one end tips up, the egg is less fresh and should be used soon. If it floats, it’s past the fresh stage. Super easy, right?

After that, place them in order to make sure that you use the less fresh eggs first and so on ^^ I hope you all enjoyed this quick post and see you in the next post xoxo

Love, Trang Quynh

Quick tip: What to do after over-salting a pot of soup?

Posted on by trangquynh

Soup

(Photo: Internet)

Soups are one of the best treats, warm and comfy foods in cold winter days. They’re flavorful, nutritious and simple to do, that’s the reason why I’ve craved for them since the beginning of the winter ^^ But have you ever over-salted your pot of soup? Instead of adding more broth or fresh water in your pot which I don’t like at all because it will reduce the sweetness of the original soup, today I will present to you a super fast tip to solve that problem.

So here’s the tip: drop in your pot of soup a peeled potato, it will absorb the excess salt and your soup won’t come out too salty (and the dropped potato tastes great anw ^^). And when it comes to Caramelized Braised Pork or any braised dish, my Asian tip is dropping in some chunks of white radish, they will not only reduce the saltiness of the dish but also match really well in flavors, in my country, we even have a dish called Caramelized Pork Belly with White Radish 😉

I hope you will find this tip helpful and happy cooking,

See you in the next post,

Love, Trang Quynh

Quick tip: How to store spices?

Posted on by trangquynh

We all know that spices are one of the most important ingredients for every dish, from simple to complicated recipe. With just a little amount, they can bring your dishes to a whole new level, create delicate and sometimes, intense flavors that you may notice in the first bite/spoon. Do we know how to use spices efficiently? Read More

Quick tip: Nice Italian finishing touch to pasta

Posted on by trangquynh

I just took a quick look on the Internet to find some new recipes and suddenly saw this amazing tip. Never thought of it before but I’ll give it a try asap, hope it will be helpful for all the pasta lovers ^^

“Whenever you cook pasta, remove some of the pasta-cooking water (about 1/4 or 1/3 cup) just before draining Read More

Quick tip: How to toast bread without a toaster?

Posted on by trangquynh

     Do you love having warm and crunchy toasts for your breakfast? Since I started my new life in France, that’s what I have everyday. Butter, jam, nutella, butter and jam and nutella over and over, but I never get tired of enjoying every morning my toasts and a huge cup of cold milk. But because I gotta move a lot (luckily this weekend we will move to a new apartment and stay there for all year, finally this tiring period is over xD), I couldn’t buy a toaster, how awful is that 😦 So if you’re in the same situation, this post may be helpful for you ^^

     It won’t take too long, starting with a pan that’s heated over medium high heat. Put in your bread, let them browned in 1-2 minutes. Flip them and repeat the same step for the other sides. Tip: if you want your bread to be beautifully browned and crunchy, flip them constantly. The color of your bread depends on the time you let it in the pan, so feel free to let it there in shorter or longer time for the best result.

     Happy toasting,

    Love, Trang Quynh

Quick tip: How to store uncooked spring rolls?

Posted on by trangquynh

     Are you a fan of Vietnamese Spring Rolls? Many of my foreign friends said they love this traditional dish and want to taste its authentic flavor instead of the modified version with European ingredients. Even I also adore spring rolls, I still have to admit that it’s a little bit complicated to make them and they will take you the whole morning messing up in the kitchen with a dozen of ingredients to chop and cut.  Read More

Quick tip: How to change melted butter back into solid butter?

Posted on by trangquynh

      Butter is the most common ingredient in cooking, especially in baking. Basically, most of the recipes require solid butter in room temperature, but sometimes, melted butter is needed. Have you ever accidentally melted butter when the recipe says ‘butter in room temperature’? This problem happens rarely in the kitchen, but  if it does, how to change the melted butter back?

Read More

Quick tip: What to do after getting burns in the kitchen?

Posted on by trangquynh

You may not believe this, but getting burned in the kitchen happens more frequently than you think. Accidentally touching the hot pan or the oven, getting a burn from bubbling oil or boiled water, we all hate the burns, especially when they cause ugly scars on our hands. Trust me, even though we love cooking more than anything, the same love won’t happen to the burning problem.

The question is, what to do after getting burns in the kitchen? Here’s how I deal with them and prevent them to leave a scar: first, gently wash your hands and the burn with fresh water, then dry them with paper towel. After that, put a little bit toothpaste on the burn, spread it until the burning surface is well covered. Let the toothpaste dry (about 40 minutes) and wash it out.

This way works for me all the time. The burn doesn’t disappear immediately after the treatment but it will after a few hours and of course, no scar ^^

How about you, have you ever get burned in the kitchen? What did you do with the burns? Please share your experiences with us xoxo

Love, Trang Quynh