Perfect Food: The Long List of Cooking Tips

Are you an enthusiastic amateur seeking cooking perfection? Here's a long list of useful cooking tips I've picked up over the years, including some wise advice when cooking for a large number of people.
I love cooking, and over the years I've picked up a number of useful tips. If you're an enthusiastic amateur cook, you'll love this long list. Enjoy!

Perfect Pancakes:
  • Use self-raising flower so they rise in the pan. This makes them light and fluffy
  • Grease the pan with a little butter before you start
  • 100g of flour, 150ml of milk and 1 egg delivers the perfect pancake
  • The underside is done when you see holes and bubbles appearing
  • If the underside easily slides around the pan, it's cooked
  • If there's still a lot of runny mixture on top, don't flip it yet. Wait until the mixture becomes glutinous. Then it will flip easily
Perfect Pasta:
  • Get the biggest pot you have. Use more water than you think you need (more is better)
  • Do add salt. If you're on a salt-restricted diet, use low sodium salt. Add salt to boiling water
  • Wait until the water is boiling before adding the pasta
  • Don't add oil
  • Follow the cooking time on the packet. Remove the pasta while it's still firm (al dente)
Perfect Cakes:Get hold of meringue powder, and add it to the cake mix to give it a lighter texture and help it rise higher
  • Adding one portion of unflavored gelatin to the cake batter will stop the top cracking
  • Make the cake moist by adding a teaspoon of vinegar to the baking soda
  • Preheat the oven fully, and make sure the cake sits in the middle of the oven (vertical and horizontal)
  • Stuck cake? Cook the cake completely before trying to remove it
  • Cake still stuck? Pour boiling water over a clean thick bathroom towel, and sit the cake tin on the town for 2 minutes. It should now remove easily
    • Perfect Curry:>
    • Stop yoghurt curdling by adding and mixing one spoonful at a time
    • Curry hot yet bland? Did you add salt and/or sugar? These are still required even in very spicy food
    • Fresh spices deliver far better curry than old
    • Use fresh coriander leaves rather than dried
    • Proper curry requires more than curry powder. It all about the spices
    • Curry benefits from simmering
    Perfect Lamb:
    • Use tender meat for broiling or grilling (e.g. leg, chops, tenderloin or ribs)
    • Chops and steaks need around 5 minutes per side per 2.5cm of thickness
    • Coat a lamb shank with BBQ sauce and grill in foil
    • Before roasting, let lamb reach room temperature
    • When roasting, sear the lamb first to seal in the juices
    • To enhance browning and flavour, coat lamb in flour before searing (works best with small cuts of meat)
    • Let roast lamb 'rest' for 5-10 minutes before carving/serving
    • Trim fat after cooking, as it helps keep the meat moist during cooking
    Cooking for large numbers:
    • A professional contract catering company will get organised days in advance. You should too (this is the most important tip)
    • Write a complete and detailed list of everything that has to be done
    • Create a menu well in advance, and make sure you can easily source all the ingredients you need
    • Split ingredients out into 2 categories: those you can buy now, and those you need to by fresh
    • Allow several more hours than you'll need on the day. Things will go wrong!
    • Recruit helpers, especially if you're cooking for a very large number of people
    • Pick recipes that can be prepared in advance, and either reheated or completed on the day
    • Don't forget the clean up. Appoint 'volunteers' to help you clean up well before the actual day
    • Appoint people to head up particular areas, including somebody to meet and greet your guests
    • Don't panic! Things going wrong is part and parcel of catering. Expect it to happen, deal with it when it does, and move on
       By Wayne Davies
    Published: 5/26/2009
     
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