Quick Tips During Shows (Let's Share!!)

Ok, I want this thread to be FILLED w/ all the awesome quick tips, that you do during your show. I want to add more quick tips to my show, as I reach everyone with something that 'speaks to them' and will make their time in the kitchen easier, and more fun..

So let's get started....

Here are a few to start..

1. When using garlic, be sure to keep the cloves attached to the root, rather than breaking off for storage. The longer they stay on the root, the longer your garlic will last. And the more fresh it will be.

2. Same goes for onions, ( and w/ items like bell peppers...leave what you aren't using attached to the stem/seeds, etc. It will keep nicer)

Okay here is my tips that I like the share at my shows....1.) To sharpen the blades on the food chopper take a sheet of tin foil and chop on it. OR take crushes ice and chop it it.....2.) To soften a lemon or lime before zesting or cutting role on the counter for a few seconds to soften it up.

mommyhugz1978 said:

Okay here is my tips that I like the share at my shows....

1.) To sharpen the blades on the food chopper take a sheet of tin foil and chop on it. OR take crushes ice and chop it it.....

2.) To soften a lemon or lime before zesting or cutting role on the counter for a few seconds to soften it up.

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Someone told me this dulls the blade....now I'm confused.

Never store tomatoes in the fridge. It affects the chemical compounds in them and turns them favorless.Ripen fruit quickly by placing it in a paper bag with a ripe apple. Fold down the top of the bag and let it sit for a day or two. The apple emits ethylene gas, which is a natural ripening agent."Wash" your hands with a stainless steel item (like a spoon) to remove onion and garlic odors.

You shouldn't keep potatoes in the fridge either! Something about the carb turn to sugar. It suggests you don't right on the bag, too--as I had to point out to my MIL this past week! If you don't have our herb keeper or have more herbs to store, keep them in a plastic baggie with a piece of paper towel. They'll last longer.NEVER use knives on a glass or marble cutting board. You'll dull your knives faster than....

There are 3 things that, if you are not using fresh, you are cutting the flavor of your food by at least 50%.
Those 3 things are Citrus fruits (like lemons, limes, or oranges) - if your lemon juice comes in a little lemon shaped bottle, than you are not getting the true flavor or lemon juice!
Next is Garlic! There is no substitute for fresh garlic in regards to flavor or health benefits.
And the last thing is hard cheeses like Parmesan and Romano.......you need just a very small amount of fresh parm. to make a dish flavorful, but have you noticed when you are shaking your cheese out of a green can, you have to use a 2 inch layer to get the flavor?

If you peel a banana from the bottom instead of the top, it takes more of the little stringy things with the peel.
Remember that one clove of garlic is one piece; a bulb is made of lots of cloves....if you use a whole bulb when a recipe calls for a clove; you're either going out to dinner or keeping the vampires away! (I always like to say that if people say they don't use fresh garlic; gets some laughs!)

I highly recommend "The New Food Lover's Tiptionary" by Sharon Tyler Herbst! It is loaded with random tips for food and cooking techniques. For instance:
Cinnamon is the inner bark of a tropical evergreen tree. Ceylon (or true ) cinnamon has a tan color and mildly sweet flavor. Cassia - a close relative of true cinnamon- is what commonly sold in the US as ground cinnamon (it has a darker, reddish-brown color and more pungent slightly bittersweet flavor).

Chocolate - The word chocolate come from the Aztec xocolatl (transliterated to chocolatl) meaning "bitter water", an apt mane for the unsweetened drink the Aztecs made with pounded cacao beans, vanilla, and spices. Aztec emperor Montezuma was said to have been exceedingly fond of this bitter potion, his daily consumption up to 50 goblets. But chocolatl was reputed to be an aphrodisiac (the cacao came form a tree Aztecs held divine), so who knows is Montezuma really liked the flavor, or if he was just trying to maintain his royal reputation with the ladies.

I love this book!

When cracking eggs, if you get a small piece of shell in them, use the EGGSHELL to fish it out. It will attract the small piece and it's easy to get!

Ok...I know tons of tips but can't think of anything else right now! Doh!

OK i dont know that many tips, but I am going to learn ALOT from this thread!! Thanks for starting!

Ok here is my few tips:

To crack an egg, I heard that instead of cracking in on the edge of something(bowl..ect) crack on a flat surface. it cracks cleaner..

I have also heard that if you keep bananas in the fridge they last longer(dont look like it.. but taste like it)

Christ Follower said:

Someone told me this dulls the blade....now I'm confused.

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I have heard many people say that.... but that is what I was told by my upline as a tip during a cluster meeting...... I haven't tried it.... my blades haven't needed to be sharpen ......yet..........

Bananas
To keep your bananas fresh longer break them all apart - don't leave them clumped together. When you break them apart it slows down the ripening process. (kind of reverse of the onion, bell pepper tip earlier)

If your bananas get too ripe on you, don't throw them away. Take a freezer bag and peel the banana - then squish it up in the bag - remove all of the air and put it in the freezer. Add to it as you "forget" about your bananas. When you need bananas for a recipe, take out your bag and scoop out what you need. Great for breads, smoothies, pancakes, etc. and they are already mushed up so you don't have to wait for them to soften up to use them.

Apples
To pick apples that are the freshest turn them over and look at the bottom. there is a little "bud" in the middle - that bud should be nice and tight - if it is open or missing it is not as fresh. If you are going to use them right away they may be fine but if you are going to store them longer get ones that are tight.

Bell peppers
When picking bell peppers pick those up an look at the bottom also. Count the bumps. 4 bumps means it is a sweet pepper - better for summer type recipes - salads, dipping, shish-ka-bobs. Odd number of bumps (3, 5, etc) means it will not be sweet - it will have a bolder flavor that can stand up better in soups and stews - winter type recipes. Also if you arent' going to use the entire pepper in a recipe don't cut the stem and seeds out - leave them attached and the pepper will "seal" itself off and stay fresh much longer.

I also tell people that before becoming a consultant I left out stuff like Bell Peppers because I didn't like them but I have started adding them and the flavor they add are amazing - but I just pulverize them with my food chopper so I don't have the texture - I usually tell them this as I'm pounding the heck out of my chopper on the pepper. Same thing with zest - I thought "whatever!!" but since I have been using it it really adds a ton of flavor that you can't get any other way.

thanks for starting this! I love giving tips in my show!

Oh and this was on here a few weeks ago - when you are boiling pasta, potatoes, anything in your pots - put a wooden spoon across the top - it will prevent the liquid from boiling over. (Great for upselling our bamboos stuff).

sorry, that was long!

The scientific name for the cocoa tree is Theobroma Cacao, which translates to "Food of the Gods."

don't store apples and carrots in the same drawer apples give off a ethlyne gas that makes carrots bitter.

eating a spoonful of peanut butter cures the hiccups (just had to trow that in)

to add to Ann's tomatoe tip - store stem side down

place a lit candle near your work area when chopping/slicing onions so you won't cry. (this really works too)

to keep ice cream fresh & avoid ice crystals from forming
Place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on top of ice cream and then replace lid

I learned to chew a piece of gum while cutting onions to prevent tears. My grandmother always ran her hands over the sink faucet after cutting onions to get the smell off her hands. (They're usually stainless) (Does that mean we should rub our new stainless pans after we cut onions?)

Has anyone else ever hear that if you rub a bannana peel over warts, it removes them? 'Course I understand duct tape will get rid of warts too.

A ripe jalapeno peppere will have brown, woodsy looking lines on it.

--Jenny L

When you are chopping onions, if you start to "cry" open the freezer, keep your eyes open put your "head in the freezer" for a few seconds.. I don't know maybe it just freezes your tears...LOL...it always works for me.

Our Clock/Timer works great as a pager for kids. If they want to go to a friends house, and they have say, an hour, set the timer for on hour. Show them how to turn it off and explain when it goes off, they need to come home.

Works great for time-outs also.

--Jenny L

KellyTheChef said:

When cracking eggs, if you get a small piece of shell in them, use the EGGSHELL to fish it out. It will attract the small piece and it's easy to get!

Ok...I know tons of tips but can't think of anything else right now! Doh!

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If you do this, wash your eggs prior to washing- most salmonella (sp?) is actually on the outside of the egg. This is also important when separating an egg. If you do not have the egg separator, and you use the egg to separate the yolk, wash the egg prior to doing so.

Lettuce leaves should be torn by hand; cutting with a knife will turn the edges brown faster. If you must cut lettuce, be sure to use a stainless steel knife or salad chopperLettuce tends to keep well in plastic bags in the crisper section of the refrigerator. Iceberg lettuce keeps the best, lasting around two weeks, while Romaine, ten days, and butterheads types and endives lasts approximately four days.Salad greens should not be stored near fruits that produce ethylene gases (like apples) as this will increase brown spots on the lettuce leaves and increase spoilage.

Ooh- that reminds me of another one about keeping fruit.

When you get home from the market, rinse strawberries in a bowl containing 2 quarts water and 1 cup white vinegar. Remove the berries, rinse under running water, then spin dry in a salad spinner (I line the big basket of ours with a microfiber towel to absorb ALL the moisture). Store in an airtight container. This will help your strawberries keep for a week or more!

chefann said:

Ooh- that reminds me of another one about keeping fruit.

When you get home from the market, rinse strawberries in a bowl containing 2 quarts water and 1 cup white vinegar. Remove the berries, rinse under running water, then spin dry in a salad spinner (I line the big basket of ours with a microfiber towel to absorb ALL the moisture). Store in an airtight container. This will help your strawberries keep for a week or more!

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Great tip Ann, I will use this one. I love strawberries but hate how they seem to go bad so quick.

Of course, now I'm second-guessing myself about the amount of water in that strawberry tip. It might be just 1 qt, with 1 cup of vinegar. It's mentioned in another thread around here from earlier this summer...

Huh, that is neat!
Oh and the lettuce turning when in the same drawer as fruit, DID not know that!! thanks for sharing all of you!! Man i am learning alot. I hope i get some great tips to remember at my shows!

and dropping a lettuce leaf into your cooked soup for the last few minutes will absorb a great deal of fat/grease.

feather18 said:

Huh, that is neat!
Oh and the lettuce turning when in the same drawer as fruit, DID not know that!! thanks for sharing all of you!! Man i am learning alot. I hope i get some great tips to remember at my shows!

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I had to do some research on lettuce... becasue at my show last night.... a lady told everyone that you don't' want to buy the salad chopper becasue your not supposed to cut it with medal.... it will turn the lettuce brown........ so now I know what to say properly.

mommyhugz1978 said:

I had to do some research on lettuce... becasue at my show last night.... a lady told everyone that you don't' want to buy the salad chopper becasue your not supposed to cut it with medal.... it will turn the lettuce brown........ so now I know what to say properly.

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That's true - but if you're chopping it with the salad choppers, chances are pretty good that you're going to be eating it right away, in which case, it won't have time to turn. Also, the sharper the knife, the less likely that it will turn brown, as there is less cellular damage to the lettuce.

chefann said:

That's true - but if you're chopping it with the salad choppers, chances are pretty good that you're going to be eating it right away, in which case, it won't have time to turn. Also, the sharper the knife, the less likely that it will turn brown, as there is less cellular damage to the lettuce.

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thanks!! got to love the no it alls in the crowd!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by chefann
That's true - but if you're chopping it with the salad choppers, chances are pretty good that you're going to be eating it right away, in which case, it won't have time to turn. Also, the sharper the knife, the less likely that it will turn brown, as there is less cellular damage to the lettuce.



thanks!! got to love the no it alls in the crowd!!
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Really huh? man and the funny thing is that it turns out that they DIDNT know it all! man not trying to steal thread, but How do you recover from that? So far if that would happen to me , i would probally not know what to say!

Use chopper

chefheidi2003 said:

When you are chopping onions, if you start to "cry" open the freezer, keep your eyes open put your "head in the freezer" for a few seconds.. I don't know maybe it just freezes your tears...LOL...it always works for me.

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I recommend using the Food chopper cover and inserting the onion into it to cut. This keeps the onion smell in the chopper and lid instead of wafting through the air to sting their eyes. So many of my hosts and customers love this. I personally am not sensitive to this, I love eating raw onions with my burger or chicken from Bill Miller's. I have grown up eating all kinds of veggies and raw onions is one of them.

Debbie

feather18 said:

Quote:
Originally Posted by chefann
That's true - but if you're chopping it with the salad choppers, chances are pretty good that you're going to be eating it right away, in which case, it won't have time to turn. Also, the sharper the knife, the less likely that it will turn brown, as there is less cellular damage to the lettuce.



thanks!! got to love the no it alls in the crowd!!
__________________


Really huh? man and the funny thing is that it turns out that they DIDNT know it all! man not trying to steal thread, but How do you recover from that? So far if that would happen to me , i would probally not know what to say!

Click to expand...

I didn't know what to say to her last night........ It doesn't' happen to me to offten but on occasion it does!!!! and throws me off!!!