Do you have something you do when cooking that maybe not everyone knows?

Here is something I do in regards to popcorn that really works.....

Firstly, I do pop my popcorn in a stainless steel pan on the stove in peanut oil.

Secondly, I keep grind table salt that I grind myself in a coffee bean/spice grinder.
I take regular table salt, place it in the grinder and grind it to a fine powder. Then
I place it in a spice shaker jar. I use this primarily for popcorn.

Thirdly, After the popcorn has finished popping, I pour it in a large bowl, shake
the finely powered salt on the popcorn and mix it around with a big spoon.

Doing it that way, the popcorn is nicely salted without all the salt ending up in the
bottom of the bowl.

Round about now, your blackberries are starting to get a bit dodgy, and you're either going to waste them, or turn them into jam.

Turning them into jam is a massive pain in the arse because you've got to find pectin from somewhere, and what's the point of paying for pectin to cook foraged berries?

What you can do instead, is make blackberry and elderberry jam - which can also be forraged. Elderberries have their own pectin, so you don't need more. Mix at an elderberry to blackberry ratio of around 2:1. Just cook in a tiny bit of water, until the fruit starts splitting, then add sugar of equal weight to the fruit, boil it all in, and...that's it.

BouldRake wrote: Turning them into jam is a massive pain in the arse because you've got to find pectin from somewhere, and what's the point of paying for pectin to cook foraged berries?

If you are using end of season fruit which is low in pectin, try making pectin stock,

Home Made Pectin Stock

You can make pectin stock using cooking or crab apples. Crab apples are best for making stock.

Take washed cooking apples or crab apples. Slice and place in a stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Don’t peel or bother coring, removing the pips etc. Just cover with water and bring to the boil. Simmer until the apples are mushy and then strain through a metal sieve,

Leave the liquid overnight (no idea why overnight) and the next day bring back to the boil and reduce the liquid by half.

The stock will keep for a couple of days in the fridge. You can freeze it but freezing reduces the its effectiveness. You can also bottle your stock for storage.

To save money and pass down a bit of history to your children/relatives, use quality cast iron cookware.

I use the 'lodge' brand cast iron. I wish I had the old high quality cast iron cookware my grandmother
used all our lives. I hated it growing up because I thought it was too heavy and it wasn't 'pretty'. Now
I sure wish I had it.

To save money and have healthier foods, use cast iron. You can start out with one cast iron skillet.
You'll never need to replace it and you won't waste your money on cookware that goes out of style
or burns up, etc.

I do use stainless steel pots/pans too.

Stay away from coated non-stick cookware.

Quote:
You can make pectin stock using cooking or crab apples. Crab apples are best for making stock.

Seems it takes ten years for a crab apple tree to bear fruit. I'll get started tomorrow.

That is a great tip I will surely try that thank you.

keep adding tips and ideas

RoseGold wrote: I like baking my corn bread in the cast iron skillet. makes a nice crust on bottom and edges, adding onions makes for a nice aroma through the house... one cast iron piece that was my grandmothers, looks like a pancake maker because it's very shallow with "short sided rim" This is lifetime cookware.

Yep cast iron for cornbread is the best!! Onions are yummy in it, and also adding some corn to it is very tasty;
And if you like a little zip, some jalapenos or green chiles are really good in it too.

And of course now I'm starving for cornbread...

Here's a quick way to jazz up cut green beans, my kids love it.

Recipe:

1 can of cut green beans
2-3 T Lemon Juice.
1/4- 1/3 cube of butter
Lemon Pepper (to season)

So what I do is just dump the entire can of green beans into a pot, and start cooking as usual.

Add Lemon Juice to flavor beans, can add more or less according to your personal preference.

Once beans are cooked, drain water.

Melt butter, and drizzle over beans. Add Lemon pepper to enhance flavor.

Gives the beans a very zesty flavor, that everyone can enjoy.