April's Cooking Tips

by Valorie Delp | More from this Blogger

05 Apr 2008 04:51 AM

Quite awhile ago now, I said that I would offer monthly cooking tips. A reader recently pointed out that I'm several months behind! I certainly won't catch up but I figure there's no time like the present to start. Here is a collection of cooking tips based on questions readers send me (and a few questions that some of my friends ask me), for your beginning-of-spring cooking.

What does it mean when a recipe calls for a hulled strawberry?

Hulling a strawberry means taking the little green stems off. You can actually buy a strawberry huller, but I just use a paring knife and chop off the tops. Some cooks would say that doing it this way removes too much of the strawberry, but frankly I'm more into saving time and that's the quickest way to do it. However, if your cooking sensibilities are offended by removing too much strawberry, you can take a straw and "core" the strawberry and then remove the green leafy part.

Do you always sift your flour when you're baking?

Sifting flour (or not sifting) changes the texture of the finished product. So whether or not I sift flour depends on whether or not I care horribly about the texture. If I'm making a cake from scratch for example, I will sift and sift again. (Yep, you read that right--I'll sift at least a couple of times.) If I'm making brownies or cookies, I probably wouldn't sift. Again, to me, time is of the essence.

What do you do to your waffles to make them so light and airy?

(This questions comes from a friend I recently had over for breakfast.) I beat egg whites until they are super fluffy, almost meringue like. To do this, put the whisk attachment onto your electric mixer or beater and beat a few eggs until soft peaks form. This actually wasn't my idea, but Fannie Farmer's.

Have a food question for me? Don't understand what your recipe means or need help getting it to work? Send a question to the food blogger!

Related Blogs:

A Steak By Any Other Name

The Secret Ingredient You Need to Have on Hand

Caring for Your Stoneware Bakeware

The Great Sugar in Sauce Debate

Valorie Delp shares recipes and kitchen tips in the food blog, solves breastfeeding problems, shares parenting tips, and current research in the baby blog, and insight, resources and ideas as a regular guest blogger in the homeschooling blog. To read more articles by Valorie Delp, click here.

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Learn more about Valorie Delp

Hello everybody! My name is Valorie and I am one busy lady! When I'm not writing or editing for families, I am busy trying to get my brood of 5 in line.

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