my favorite cook's country tips

How To Make my favorite cook's country tips

• 1

  DOUBLE DUTY - NO FUSS HASH BROWNS: My favorite part of a diner breakfast has always been the crispy hash brown potatoes. But making them a home is a hassle & they never seemed to come out cooked correctly -- never, that is, until I cracked the code using an unlikely piece of kitchen equipment: my waffle iron. Just great potatoes, season with salt & pepper, add a little oil, plop them into the preheated iron & close the lid. In about 15 minutes, you have perfect hash browns with no stirring, flipping, burning or mess.
• 2

  CLEVER TIP - NO WASTE TOMATO PASTE: I used to cringe whenever a recipe called for tomato paste: I would open the can, use a tablespoon or two & stash the remainder in my refrigerator until I found it a few months later covered with green fuzz. After using however much a particular recipe calls for, I don't take that can & freeze it. Once the tomato paste is frozen, I open the other end of the can & push the frozen paste log into a zipper log bag. Now when I need some tomato paste, I just slice off what is required & put the rest back in the freezer.
• 3

  ANCHORS AWAY: I brine chicken all the time & have a special brining bucket just for the task. I came up with an easy technique that keeps the chicken submerged instead of floating with the top sticking out of the brine. I fill a gallon size ziplock bag with pie weights & drape the bag over the chicken in the bucket. The weighted bag conforms to the chicken's shape & keeps it below the surface of the brine, for more efficient brining.
• 4

  CAKE STAND - STAND IN: Every year I like to bake a cake for my wife's birthday, I've considered getting a rotating cake stand to make frosting cakes easierm buy they're heavy & take up alot of space, I found a "hack" that actually works pretty well: i take the insert out a tube pan & invert it (cone side down) in a Mason Jar. I put the cake on the flat part & can rotate it to facillitate frosting. It's surpisingly stable & works great!
• 5

  SLICED THIN: I loe raw onion on my sandwiches, but too much can ruin your lunch & amke your breath peel paint. I found a trick to simulate the paper thin slices you get on a deli sandwiches (they get to slice the onions on a deli slicer). I cut an onion in 1/2 & use a vegetable peeler to shave thin slices off the cut side. The peeler makes thin & tidy slices that have just enough flavor.
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