HOUSEHOLD TIPS NOT FOUND IN WOMAN'S WEEKLY

[Stanley]

After 24 hours in the marinade the ribs are on a slow burning stove in a metal dish covered with foil. They will cook slowly all morning and should be perfect at dinnertime!
Today's tip is to re-discover what a marinade can do for meat before it's put in the oven.

[Stanley]

Save the marinade after cooking the meat. If you have done the cooking in the marinade it becomes a lovely gravy which when saved in the fridge sets into a very tasty jelly. Good for a spread on bread or using as a sauce on vegetables. Waste not want not!

[LizG]

I often use it as stock for soup.

[Stanley]

It's perfect for that as well Liz. I often think that I should ask Stewart for some chicken carcasses, they throw them away after cutting the fillets off and so you can have them free. Just the thing for rendering down into chicken stock.....

[Stanley]

I was brought up to believe that everything had to be boiled or 'well done'. I suppose that in those days of poor food hygiene it was a sensible way to cook but of late I have seen things like meat being cooked at 70C in vacuum sealed bags. I like the idea because it's an extension of slow cooking but is it as efficient in killing bugs? What temperature do modern slow cookers run at?

[Big Kev]

What temperature do modern slow cookers run at?

They must reach at least 60°C in four hours or less.

[PanBiker]

I preheat mine on the high setting while preparing whatever I am going to put in. If it's meat based such as stewing steak, pork chicken or lamb I always brown off the meat in the frying pan and shove in any additional stuff such as tomatoes or other liquids and bring the whole lot up to the boil before shoving it in the slow cooker. I leave it on high for about half an hour where it reaches a low simmer so must be around 100c before reducing to the low setting for the main cooking cycle. If you don't take the lid off it maintains a pretty high temperature throughout. I have diced chicken, onions and stock in there now which will become part of a pasta bake for tea, its been bubbling since about 9.30am

[Stanley]

That sounds like a sensible method Ian. I do the same before putting stuff on the low heat of the stove.

[Stanley]

When I installed the Morso stove part of the kit that came with it was a padded glove for protection against the heat when doing essential maintenance like taking the ashes out. My Morso mitt has died, couldn't stand the strain. So today's tip is if this happens to you, go to the appropriate outlet and buy a pair of leather welder's gloves. They are well made, relatively cheap and will last for years!

[Stanley]

Tip for newly weds moving into their first house.... Get your priorities right, a warm house and a full larder are more important than the latest soft furnishings!

[Stanley]

Make sure that you know where your water main stop tap is and make it accessible. There will be times when knowing this could save you a lot of water damage!

[Tizer]

The location of our mains tap always surprises plumbers - it's in the lounge, next to the TV! That end of the lounge was the kitchen when the house was a 2-up 2-down cottage.

[Stanley]

Quite! An extreme example was when I had a problem with water coming in from the house next door while the owner was away. There was no outside stop tap so I convinced the water board it was an emergency and they came and installed an outside stop tap and turned the water off.

[Stanley]

Many years ago while researching watermills in the Lake District I came across this sideboard made by a man for his new wife in the late 19th century. The message, though hopelessly old fashioned now is as important today, possibly more so, than it was then. I can remember the days when I tipped my wage up for Vera and I know she had jam jars stashed away in which she kept the money she needed for regular household bills. The system worked, we were always in overall debt but day to day she ran the household mint impeccably, I never had to give it a thought. Even in those days she had another cache.... I remember we had been out for a trip one day to Chester Zoo and on the way back called in at a roadside cafe for tea. Vera was paying and I became aware that there was some sort of discussion going on when she went to the counter to pay. I found out that this was because she was trying to pay with a £20 note. In the 1960s these were very rare! At the time it was double my weekly wage. It was the first time the ladies who ran the cafe had ever seen one and this proved that the jam jar system was working well!
So today's tip is very old fashioned but still true. Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves....

[Stanley]

If, like me, you still have some aluminium cooking pans you should take the scare stories about them with a pinch of salt. The only times that the metal is attacked and leaches off in larger quantities is if you are boiling something acidic like soft fruit. During normal cooking operations they are no more a hazard than many other things you meet in everyday life. I say this after having a re-assessment of my large and very heavy aluminium industrial stock pot that I use for stews. I was considering spending a lot of money on a cast iron one for pot-roasting on the stove but on reflection I have decided that it would be a waste of money. What I have is safe and perfectly adequate. Mind you, I fancy making a heavy steel lid for it instead of the large enamelled plate I use now.....

[Stanley]

That household tip didn't survive long.... I cracked and ordered a CI stockpot!
If you are staring a new home don't economise on the quality of cooking pans or utensils. One good big knife and a couple of the best pans you can find will be adequate. The simple rule is that the heavier the pan and the thicker the base the better. The base should be finished dead flat. You will never regret going for the top quality, they last a lifetime and cook much better.

[LizG]

I agree with that. I even bought a couple of good knives to keep in the caravan. It drove me mad trying to cut veggies with a blunt knife, it slides sideways.

[Tizer]

The bread knife in the last holiday cottage we visited couldn't cut through the crust on a traditional loaf of white bread. The only way was to turn the loaf upside down and cut the slices!

[plaques]

Before the days of sliced bread all our bread was cut lying on its side. Even now using an electric knife the specialists bread are cut upside down.

[Stanley]

Knives, especially kitchen knives are one of the many things I take a special interest in. I always say that it took me 40 years to learn how to get a good cutting edge! You'll notice that this motley collection includes some old table knives. I use them more than anything else, they are razor sharp. Hard bread crust is one of the difficult things to cut and of course this is the reason why bread knives have a saw edge but I don't like them because they make crumbs. A really sharp knife, like the biggest one on the rack, has a 'saw edge' because it is sharpened to such a keen edge that viewed under a very powerful magnifying glass the individual crystals in the metal form the 'saw teeth' and if touched on a sharp steel it will cut the toughest crust. The same applies to the table knives, you can cut the tough skin of a tomato easily, as soon as the edge is drawn across the skin you are through and it cuts like silk. This edge is so delicate that it soon gets dull and that's why a rub on a sharp steel brings them back to life. Every now and then I grind them back to ideal geometry on a stone or grinding wheel. Old high carbon steel takes a better edge than modern stainless or even high speed steel. No need to buy expensive knives, they are nice but an old knife properly sharpened will cut better than the most expensive knife in the world if it is dull....
So, today's tip is buy a good medium carborundum stone and spend a few minutes grinding a proper edge on the knives and invest in a good butcher's steel to touch the edge frequently as you use them.
Liz is right, you can't cut accurately with a blunt knife and funnily enough you are more likely to cut yourself with a blunt knife because of the lack of control.

[Stanley]

I forgot to mention that scissors are easily sharpened as well but remember that they cut by shearing, different action altogether from knives which cut. The key is to grind the flat down on the edge of the blades until you have a perfect right angle edge. Look carefully at how they work before you do anything and you'll see what I mean. Funnily enough the thing that blunts scissors most quickly is cutting paper..... The minute particles of grit in the mix used to make it, mostly the kaolin clay, acts like grinding compound and rounds that right angled edge so what you have to do is regain it but only by grinding the top, not the side, of the blades.

[Stanley]

Triggered by recent events.... Think very carefully and listen to your body when a doctor recommends a pill on the grounds it 'might' reduce a risk. Ask for the evidence and make your own decision.... Pushing pills is one way of dealing with patients when you are under pressure..... If you are on multiple medications, ask for a review of the effects of the combination, too often conflicts slip in and are overlooked.

[Stanley]

There is absolutely nothing wrong in starting a Mutton stew using cider as the initial dose of liquid. The flavour goes with Mutton and the acidity helps tenderise the meat. Remember Mutton needs different treatment than lamb, it's a mature meat....

[LizG]

Do you use any particular kind of cider? bubbly or still?

[Stanley]

I use ordinary fizzy good vintage cider. This was Thatcher's 2014 vintage. 7.4%vol. Just a good strong cider. It's interesting how a dash of obscure booze can improve all sorts of theings. I have a small amount of Apfel Schnapps home brewed in Rothenburg left and that is lovely in anything with pork in it....

Today's tip, If like me you pick litter as you walk round always wash your hands when you get home. Dogs have a distressing habit of peeing on anything unusual lay on the pavement!