When you make soups and stews:

Add a cup of wine--dark red for meat stews and chili, white for chicken soup and stew.  Dry vermouth is an excellent all-purpose cooking wine.

When your perfect cake recipe fails you: 

The first thing to consider is the freshness of your ingredients, specifically the baking soda or powder and your eggs.  Try replacing these ingredients and enjoy!

Need a marinade? 

Try my Asian Vinaigrette!  Simply put your thawed meat in a container, pour about a ¼ cup of vinaigrette over the meat, turn and cover, and refrigerate for an hour before cooking to desired doneness.  You will love it!  For pork, try the above with my Vermont Honey Dijon Vinaigrette or Vermont Maple Vinaigrette!

When you boil potatoes:

Always start with cold water. Hot water makes them soggy, which is especially bad for mashed potatoes.

When you make mashed potatoes:

Mix in warmed milk instead of milk right out of the refrigerator. Warmed milk mixes with the starch in your mashed potatoes making them the fluffiest you've ever seen.  Warming the milk will also keep your mashed potatoes warmer on the table longer!

If the breading on your chicken or fish falls off:

Try this easy and effective three pronged approach:  1) dredge the chicken or fish in flour seasoned to your taste.  2) Quickly dip in milk and/or egg wash (1 egg mixed well with 3 tablespoons of water).  3) Dredge in seasoned bread crumbs.  Then fry or bake as usual.  You will get a crispy, delicious shell that won't slide off your food!

When cracking eggs for a recipe:

Open each one separately into a clear glass. That way, if any shell goes with the egg, you can see it to remove it before it is mixed with other ingredients.

A warning for those of you who make infused oils:

Refrigerate them, and use them within two weeks. There have been some bacterial poisonings resulting from homemade flavored oils. The commercial brands are required to add acids which prevent the growth of these organisms which occur naturally on the herbs. So, please use care and be aware.

To thicken a cream soup, use one of the following methods:

1.  Add up to one cup of cream or half-and-half after pureeing, and heat well.

2.  Add up to one cup of mashed potatoes to the mixture, and stir well before serving.

3.  Add ¼ cup rice to the broth, adding one additional cup of liquid, and cook for ten minutes before adding the vegetables. When you puree the mixture, the rice will act as a thickener.

Quick, delicious and easy gravy:

For a cup and a half of gravy, melt two tablespoons of butter, whisk in two tablespoons of flour and fry for four minutes.  Add one can of chicken broth or beef consommé and whisk quickly on high heat until it boils and thickens.  Allow to gently simmer for 3 more minutes to remove any pasty flavor from the flour.  If you like a thicker gravy, use three tablespoons each of butter and flour.  Season to taste. Try not to use bouillon, it will not taste home-made.

Need syrup?

Made pancakes and now you're out of syrup?  Try making a simple syrup by boiling one cup of water and one cup of sugar, then flavor with your favorite tea (one with cinnamon preferably).  Grate in some orange or lemon zest at the last minute for extra flavor!

Make your most flavorful pasta, rice and boiled potatoes:

To enhance the flavor of starches such as pasta, rice and potatoes, you must salt the cooking liquid BEFORE they cook.  Try sprinkling in a half a teaspoon of salt in your water (canned broth usually has enough salt in it) just before you add the starch.  Once a starchy food is cooked, it is too late to season with salt (it will no longer absorb salt making the outside too salty and the inside not salty enough). 

Have a grill pan?

Alton Brown from the Food Network recommends filling the valleys of the pan with Kosher salt prior to placing your meat on the pan.  The salt will absorb the drippings and make clean-up a snap!

When your soup or stew is too salty:

There are two methods to saving an over-salted soup or stew.  First, you can add a large, diced (raw) potato to the dish and cook till done.  Raw potatoes will absorb salt as they cook.  Second, you can try diluting the mixture with a can of diced tomatoes (include liquid) or other liquid (cream, milk, etc.).

Is your brown sugar too hard to measure:

Put the sugar in a microwave safe container and microwave for 15 seconds at a time until it is soft enough to measure.