let's share cooking tips!
By humairaku
@humairaku (2038)
Indonesia
March 14, 2010 3:01am CST
Hi, mylotters!
I really enjoy cooking. And sometimes we need good tips in cooking some ingredients in order we can get good taste, or maybe help us to ease cooking 'hard' ingredients. Like me, I have good tips how to softened meat. In my place, meat is very hard to cook. We should boil it for a long time to make it soft and easy to bite. But people in my place have good tips to make it soft in minutes and it is natural way with no side effect. And the tips is: just wrap meat with papaya leaves! let it for about an hour and then cook meat like usual. you will find that your meat cooked and soft sooner. How about you, can you share cooking tips from your place? Thanks for sharing and happy mylotting! 
7 responses
@epicure35 (2814)
• United States
17 Mar 10
Some tips: You can make a good macaroni and cheese without baking if you are in a hurry. It can be made in one pot. First boil macaroni noodles and drain. Make a butter/flour roux in that pot, add milk to thicken, then salt, pepper, nutmeg and one or more cheeses; then return noodles to pot, stir and serve.
Most Food Network chefs prefer Panko crumbs for breading.
@epicure35 (2814)
• United States
13 Oct 11
Yes, I live in a western country. To me cheese is a necessity, as is mayonnaise.
Bad eating habits, maybe, but tasty. Macaroni does not have to be made with cheese sauce, of course. There are many variations.
@humairaku (2038)
• Indonesia
14 Oct 11
cheese is good enough for our healthy. it contains protein and what, carbohydrate maybe? LOL..but it also contains fat and maybe saturated fat which is very bad for our health. I like cheese but not for main food. I like it to be my topping for pancake or other snacks (and mixed with chocolate, it's the best taste ever!), but not to be eaten as main food, like cheese combines with potatoes or rice. no, I can't afford with the taste..
@humairaku (2038)
• Indonesia
12 Oct 11
I think your tip will be useful, but frankly, I never tried that menu before..LOL...where do you live, friend? I think you live in a western country cos you have menu like that. macaroni and cheese are not main menu in my place (I live in Indonesia). we have rice as our main food. cheese is used to make snack or western food if we want to have a recipe practiced. but it is not our main food. we also have vegetables as our main food an some other food made from soy like 'tempe' and 'tahu', we also consume egg, chicken and meat..but we almost never add cheese in our recipes..
@allknowing (153544)
• India
14 Mar 10
Have you tried frying fish in rice batter - it turns out nice and crisp if you like it that way. Just steam stale bread (I mean bread that is may be a day old) It becomes fresh and soft. Use only the yolk while making caramel custard and see the difference. These are some tips which you might like to try out.
@allknowing (153544)
• India
15 Mar 10
Waiting for your invite to taste your experiments with my tips!
@humairaku (2038)
• Indonesia
15 Mar 10
I am Indonesian, frankly I dunno what caramel custard is. LOL. I'm really interested in trying that food, but sure I dunno what are the ingredients. can you inform me, please? or maybe just visiting me here and let's practice it together. it must be great.
@humairaku (2038)
• Indonesia
14 Mar 10
I know your tip about steam the stale bread cos I often do this myself. LOL. butI never try another tips so they're really useful. thanks allknowing. maybe I will try your tips someday, and I will give you further info. LOL.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
16 Mar 10
The most important trick that I have ever figured out when I am cooking is that I need to always grease or coat the griddle when I am using it. If I forget to melt some butter or to put some cooking spray on it, then whatever I am preparing gets hopelessly stuck to the griddle. I actually made this mistake one day last week when I was making French Toast for dinner. Another thing that I have found that it is important to do in the kitchen is to always preheat the skillet before I start cooking. Everything seems to cook just a little bit faster and much more evenly when I do this.
@humairaku (2038)
• Indonesia
12 Oct 11
everyone of us our own tips in cooking. even we have different way in cooking same food. not only the way to cook I think, but we also have different ingredients. like in my place, wen people cook spinach, some people like to use only onion, but other like to add garlic. for another food like 'Pecel' for example, some people like to have 'kencur' (it's a kind of seasoning) in their recipe. but some other do not like to use it. I think you have that case in your place, Doran..:)
@krisnel (498)
• Philippines
17 Mar 10
when i cook i want to experiment some new dishes, i used only the available ingredients that i can see in my stocks. when i saute onion and garlic i do not want it to cook it longer in oil because the nutrient that we can get on that will loose.
in tomato i cook it longer in oil to come out the lycopene.
@humairaku (2038)
• Indonesia
15 Oct 11
cooking is addicted sometimes. I will something missing if I don't cook for a long time. when I don't cook any food, I will buy food at a cafe or restaurant, but I will directly miss my own food taste. foods at restaurant are very tasty and delicious but I don't know why I always miss cooking. so it's true that cooking could be addicted..LOL..
but what do you think if we saute onion and garlic to soon? are they not well enough in taste and aroma? does it taste good? cos I need longer time to saute them till I could smell their aroma. but I dunno about the losing of nutrient..
@p3ks626 (6538)
• Philippines
14 Mar 10
This is the first time heard about how incredible papaya leaves can be. lol I always use the traditional way of making the meat tender by boiling it for a very long time but it really makes me impatient if I would have to wait for it for hours.
My grandmother told me something about putting some pieces of match sticks into the boiling meat but I havent done that yet because I dont believe it at all because I just dont get the relationship of tenderizing the meat and the pieces of match sticks. lol But I might try that one of these days and prove the theory whether it is right or not. If I would prove it then I'd tell you.
@humairaku (2038)
• Indonesia
14 Mar 10
hi, there! it's good for you if you wanna try my tips. it works for people in my place. it can be explained by scientifically in which papaya leaves contains kind of 'mucus' and it has 'power' to make meat tender. . so happy trying! and I'm looking forward for your experience.
. so happy trying! and I'm looking forward for your experience.
@besthope44 (12123)
• India
14 Mar 10
Hi this is a great topic. Even i have started to cook and all your simple tips will help me in becoming a great cook. Do share all your tips. Always add iodine salt to your foods, which will help in sharpness of brains especially for young kids. Your tip was very useful, lemme try it! thanks for sharing!!
@humairaku (2038)
• Indonesia
15 Mar 10
thanks for the compliment, dear. ^__^
ya, iodine salt is really good for us. but add it before you finished cooking cos as I know iodine will evaporate through hot temperature. Am I right? or wrong?
@nophie (2336)
• Indonesia
14 Mar 10
sounds fun here, lol. yes i know about that tips. i just can cook instant noodles. hehehe just kidding. i can cook many kind of food, but now i rarely to cook because of my busy. how about you humaira? you can cook?
@humairaku (2038)
• Indonesia
14 Mar 10
Hi, nophie! fortunately, I can cook well, even some of my friends said that food I cooked is delicious! . my mother required her daughter to be able to cook well so she taught me cooking since I was in an elementary school. great, ha? hehe. if you're busy, maybe you should cook in the weekend or in your spare time cos I think cooking is addictive. LOL.
. my mother required her daughter to be able to cook well so she taught me cooking since I was in an elementary school. great, ha? hehe. if you're busy, maybe you should cook in the weekend or in your spare time cos I think cooking is addictive. LOL.