This was posted to Old Ways Living on Yahoo groups. Looked good enough
to pass on. :-)

With attributes:

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...prevent-kitche
n-disasters>

Michel Roux Jr: How to prevent kitchen disasters

Too much salt? Lumpy sauce? Culinary catastrophes rescued

Too much salt

If you accidentally add too much salt to a dish there are a couple of
things you can try to correct this frequently made mistake. One of the
best ways is to add more of the other ingredients. Obviously, this will
produce a larger quantity of food than was originally needed, but
leftovers can always be eaten the following day.

Alternatively, salt can sometimes be removed from a dish, such as a
stew, by adding a peeled potato. Cook the potato in the dish for about
15 minutes and then remove it. This should absorb some of the excess
salt, making the dish edible again.

Burnt food

A pan left on the heat for too long or on too high a heat will result in
the contents sticking to the bottom and burning. Remove the dish from
the heat but do not stir or scrape the pan. Take a new pan and pour in
about threequarters of the contents, leaving the remainder behind in the
burnt pan. This will hopefully save most of the meal.

How to rescue a burnt pan

To remove carbon from a pan, boil with a little bicarbonate of soda for
15-20 minutes, then leave to cool. It should have all but gone, but any
carbon left will be easy to scrape off. To shine copper pans use a paste
made with flour, salt and malt vinegar. Rub it all over the pan then
rinse under cold water and wipe dry.

Lumps in sauces

A fine sieve is the best way to remove lumps from any kind of sauce and
is worth investing in. Pour the liquid through the sieve and let it
drain into another container to remove any inconsistencies. Such a sieve
is also useful for removing seeds from a raspberry or strawberry coulis.

Hollandaise sauce splitting

To rescue a split hollandaise sauce, place an egg yolk in a bain-marie,
add a splash of water and whisk. Next add the split Hollandaise very
slowly. If you find it becomes too thick before all the sauce has been
added, add an extra splash of warm water before continuing. When making
a Hollandaise sauce, it is extremely important to remember to make sure
that all the ingredients stay at the same temperature not too hot and
not too cold.

How to revive a stale loaf

If a loaf of un-sliced bread or baguette has gone a little stale and
dry, wrap it up in a damp cloth for 20 minutes, then remove from the
cloth and place in a hot oven for 2-3 minutes. This will revive the
bread and give it that just cooked feel.

Warm bottles of white wine

If you need to chill a bottle down quickly the best way is to put the
bottle in an ice bucket with a little cold water and a good handful of
coarse salt. This should cool the bottle to 8C in less than 10 minutes.

Avert disaster at large dinner parties

Prepare as much as you can before your guests arrive and design the menu
so that a minimum of last- minute touches are required. A cold starter
is ideal: if there is no room in the fridge for the plated starter you
can keep it fresh and cool by placing a damp, clean tea towel over it.
Finally, don't be too ambitions with the menu if you want impress use
tried and tested menus.

Make large joints of meat tasty

To get the maximum flavour into these big lumps of meat, make deep
incisions with a thin, sharp knife and rub the seasoning into these, you
can also push into these little pockets pieces of garlic, herbs or
anchovies.

Ensure your flamb isn't a damp squib

It can be extremely tricky to flamb a pudding, such as roasted bananas
and rum, or pear in brandy. But it should all go to plan if you make
sure everything is hot not only the pudding but also the dish and the
alcohol.

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...prevent-kitche
n-disasters>
--
Peace! Om

"Human nature seems to be to control other people until they put their foot down."
--Steve Rothstein

Web Albums: <http://picasaweb.google.com/OMPOmelet>

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On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:01:20 -0600, Omelet wrote:

> This was posted to Old Ways Living on Yahoo groups. Looked good enough
> to pass on. :-)
>
> With attributes:
>
> <http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...prevent-kitche
> n-disasters>
>
> Michel Roux Jr: How to prevent kitchen disasters
>
> Too much salt? Lumpy sauce? Culinary catastrophes rescued
>
> Too much salt
>
>
> Alternatively, salt can sometimes be removed from a dish, such as a
> stew, by adding a peeled potato. Cook the potato in the dish for about
> 15 minutes and then remove it. This should absorb some of the excess
> salt, making the dish edible again.
>

i haven't tried this, but wouldn't the potato absorb other flavors (not to
mention some of the tasty fat) as well?

your pal,
blake

In article >,
blake murphy > wrote:

> On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:01:20 -0600, Omelet wrote:
>
> > This was posted to Old Ways Living on Yahoo groups. Looked good enough
> > to pass on. :-)
> >
> > With attributes:
> >
> > <http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...prevent-kitche
> > n-disasters>
> >
> > Michel Roux Jr: How to prevent kitchen disasters
> >
> > Too much salt? Lumpy sauce? Culinary catastrophes rescued
> >
> > Too much salt
> >
> >
> > Alternatively, salt can sometimes be removed from a dish, such as a
> > stew, by adding a peeled potato. Cook the potato in the dish for about
> > 15 minutes and then remove it. This should absorb some of the excess
> > salt, making the dish edible again.
> >
>
> i haven't tried this, but wouldn't the potato absorb other flavors (not to
> mention some of the tasty fat) as well?
>
> your pal,
> blake

I don't know, but this is not the first time I've read about that
solution to over-salting. I've never had to try it as I've a very light
hand with salt.
--
Peace! Om

"Human nature seems to be to control other people until they put their foot down."
--Steve Rothstein

Web Albums: <http://picasaweb.google.com/OMPOmelet>

Subscribe:

Didn't Julia Child say that a cook covers disasters with sauce?



Years ago there was a joke going around, all I can remember is:

A cook covers mistakes with mayonnaise.
A carpenter covers mistakes with paint.
A doctor covers mistakes with 6 feet of soil.

gloria p

gloria.p wrote on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:49:36 -0600:

> Years ago there was a joke going around, all I can remember is:

> A cook covers mistakes with mayonnaise.
> A carpenter covers mistakes with paint.
> A doctor covers mistakes with 6 feet of soil.

Didn't Mies or Gropius say decoration was an architect's way with
mistakes?

--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

In article >,
Omelet > wrote:

> This was posted to Old Ways Living on Yahoo groups. Looked good enough
> to pass on. :-)
>
> With attributes:
>
> <http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...prevent-kitche
> n-disasters>
>
> Michel Roux Jr: How to prevent kitchen disasters
>
> Too much salt? Lumpy sauce? Culinary catastrophes rescued
>
> Too much salt

[snip method #1]

> Alternatively, salt can sometimes be removed from a dish, such as a
> stew, by adding a peeled potato. Cook the potato in the dish for about
> 15 minutes and then remove it. This should absorb some of the excess
> salt, making the dish edible again.

That word "should" scares me. I have read this advice so many times I
have lost count. In no case has anybody actually claimed to have tried
this. So I'm asking, has anybody actually tried this, or is this just
something that keeps getting repeated and repeated?

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA

"Dan Abel"

In no case has anybody actually claimed to have tried
> this. So I'm asking, has anybody actually tried this, or is this just >
> something that keeps getting repeated and repeated?

Relax. I have done it. It works on a little extra salt, but if it is a lot
too much nothing I know of works. Slice the potato for more surface and
more pick up.

In article >,
"gloria.p" > wrote:

> Didn't Julia Child say that a cook covers disasters with sauce?
>
>
>
> Years ago there was a joke going around, all I can remember is:
>
> A cook covers mistakes with mayonnaise.
> A carpenter covers mistakes with paint.
> A doctor covers mistakes with 6 feet of soil.
>
> gloria p

Ow.

;-)
--
Peace! Om

"Human nature seems to be to control other people until they put their foot down."
--Steve Rothstein

Web Albums: <http://picasaweb.google.com/OMPOmelet>

Subscribe:

In article >,
"Giusi" > wrote:

> "Dan Abel"
>
> In no case has anybody actually claimed to have tried
> > this. So I'm asking, has anybody actually tried this, or is this just >
> > something that keeps getting repeated and repeated?
>
> Relax. I have done it. It works on a little extra salt, but if it is a lot
> too much nothing I know of works. Slice the potato for more surface and
> more pick up.

Cool! :-)
--
Peace! Om

"Human nature seems to be to control other people until they put their foot down."
--Steve Rothstein

Web Albums: <http://picasaweb.google.com/OMPOmelet>

Subscribe:

Omelet wrote:

>In article >,
> blake murphy > wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:01:20 -0600, Omelet wrote:
>>
>> > This was posted to Old Ways Living on Yahoo groups. Looked good enough
>> > to pass on. :-)
>> >
>> > With attributes:
>> >
>> > <http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...prevent-kitche
>> > n-disasters>
>> >
>> > Michel Roux Jr: How to prevent kitchen disasters
>> >
>> > Too much salt? Lumpy sauce? Culinary catastrophes rescued
>> >
>> > Too much salt
>> >
>> >
>> > Alternatively, salt can sometimes be removed from a dish, such as a
>> > stew, by adding a peeled potato. Cook the potato in the dish for about
>> > 15 minutes and then remove it. This should absorb some of the excess
>> > salt, making the dish edible again.
>> >
>>
>> i haven't tried this, but wouldn't the potato absorb other flavors (not to
>> mention some of the tasty fat) as well?
>>
>> your pal,
>> blake
>
>I don't know, but this is not the first time I've read about that
>solution to over-salting. I've never had to try it as I've a very light
>hand with salt.

Potatoes don't absorb salt, certainly not when peeled, a potato with
the skin on may absorb some small amount of salt by osmosis (the
potato skin is a one way membrane, like bean skins will absorb salt
until the microscopic pores clog, which also blocks water from passing
through... which is why one shouldn't salt bean cooking water... this
is what causes beans to remain hard until the skins cook off, then you
have a pot of bean mush with toenail tough skins. The same thing
happens to unpeeled potatoes when cooked in salted water... all of a
sudden the skins rupture with a large amount of potato mush attached.

gloria.p wrote:
>
> Didn't Julia Child say that a cook covers disasters with sauce?
>
> Years ago there was a joke going around, all I can remember is:
>
> A cook covers mistakes with mayonnaise.
> A carpenter covers mistakes with paint.
> A doctor covers mistakes with 6 feet of soil.

Architects build beautiful buildings, most of the time. For their
disasters they just let them fall down because they aren't sturdy.

Civil engineers build ugly buildings, most of the time. For their
successes they have to plant ivy because they are so sturdy they can't
even be knocked down.

Giusi wrote:
>
> "Dan Abel"
>
> In no case has anybody actually claimed to have tried
> > this. So I'm asking, has anybody actually tried this, or is this just >
> > something that keeps getting repeated and repeated?
>
> Relax. I have done it. It works on a little extra salt, but if it is a lot
> too much nothing I know of works. Slice the potato for more surface and
> more pick up.

If it's a lot too much, increasing the rest of the ingredients in
proportion to the excess will pretty much always work. If you dump an
entire box of salt in, be prepared for a years supply of leftovers
however.

In article .com>,
"Pete C." > wrote:

> Giusi wrote:
> >
> > "Dan Abel"
> >
> > In no case has anybody actually claimed to have tried
> > > this. So I'm asking, has anybody actually tried this, or is this just >
> > > something that keeps getting repeated and repeated?
> >
> > Relax. I have done it. It works on a little extra salt, but if it is a lot
> > too much nothing I know of works. Slice the potato for more surface and
> > more pick up.
>
> If it's a lot too much, increasing the rest of the ingredients in
> proportion to the excess will pretty much always work. If you dump an
> entire box of salt in, be prepared for a years supply of leftovers
> however.

That just reminds me too much of those horrible stories about the little
kid who is drowning, and three people jump in to save the kid, and all
four die.

It's not the same situation, of course. Still, judgement is called for.
Sometimes it just seems better to toss it, and either start over, make
something else or go out for pizza.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA

Dan Abel wrote:
>
> In article .com>,
> "Pete C." > wrote:
>
> > Giusi wrote:
> > >
> > > "Dan Abel"
> > >
> > > In no case has anybody actually claimed to have tried
> > > > this. So I'm asking, has anybody actually tried this, or is this just >
> > > > something that keeps getting repeated and repeated?
> > >
> > > Relax. I have done it. It works on a little extra salt, but if it is a lot
> > > too much nothing I know of works. Slice the potato for more surface and
> > > more pick up.
> >
> > If it's a lot too much, increasing the rest of the ingredients in
> > proportion to the excess will pretty much always work. If you dump an
> > entire box of salt in, be prepared for a years supply of leftovers
> > however.
>
> That just reminds me too much of those horrible stories about the little
> kid who is drowning, and three people jump in to save the kid, and all
> four die.
>
> It's not the same situation, of course. Still, judgement is called for.
> Sometimes it just seems better to toss it, and either start over, make
> something else or go out for pizza.

Well, fortunately I think most over salted problems are of a small
enough scale that increasing the batch size 50% is sufficient to salvage
it.