Kitchen Tip: How to clean wooden utensils properly

Wooden utensils can be a breeding ground for germs. I share a tried and tested way to ensure your wooden utensils are cleaned properly.

Kitchen Hack: What to do with leftover lemons

There is a new video up on the YouTube channel....

Enjoy!!!

Kitchen Tip - How to keep cake moist

To prevent hard, stale tasting cake, use slices of bread. Attach slices of bred to the cut exposed part of cakes with toothpicks. The bread keeps the moisture in.

Enjoy!!!

YouTube Video: How to make buttermilk

Have you ever wanted to make red velvet cakes or cupcakes or any other recipe that calls for buttermilk but set the recipe aside because of how difficult it is to find buttermilk in Lagos? This week, I show you how to make buttermilk at home.

Enjoy!!!

New YouTube Video - What to do with squeezed lemons

Don't toss out your squeezed lemons immediately. Try this handy kitchen tip that will have your kitchen surfaces disinfected and smelling fresh.

Enjoy!!!

New Video: How to Get Rid of the Smell of Garlic

The new video on my channel is on a kitchen tip that I think we all need to have in our arsenal. How to get rid of the smell of garlic.

Please subscribe and comment on the channel.

Enjoy!!!

Kitchen Tip: Measuring Sticky Ingredients? No Problem

I know I am not the only one that rolls her eyes when a recipes calls for adding precise measurements of sticky ingredients like honey, peanut butter, molasses et al. I have no issue with the ingredients themselves. Shucks - I even steal a taste - some into mixing bowl, some into my mouth.

My issue comes with getting everything out of the spoon or cup into the bowl and then washing up afterwards. Baking is pretty much a science and everything has to be exact so incomplete measurements can change your results. Then I read somewhere that coating your measuring spoon or cup with oil makes the ingredients slide right out. I tried it and I haven't looked back since. The ingredients slide right out and also make washing up a lot easier.

Enjoy!!!

Kitchen Tip: Make Your Own Self Raising Flour

It annoyed me so much to go to stores to get self raising flour for recipes and have to pay more than regular flour for these little bags. After paying more for the umpteenth time, I knew there had to be a more cost effective way. Off to the internet I went. I felt so silly after reading how easy it is to make self raising flour at home.

All you need is to add 2 teaspoons of baking powder to every cup of flour. That's it.

To make life easier for me, I make huge batches of this each time. I would rather measure out flour and baking powder than waste money.

Enjoy!!!!!

Kitchen Tip - Buttermilk Substitutions

A lot of recipes for cakes or salad dressings call for buttermilk and rather than flipping the pages over after discounting them seeing as buttermilk is not readily available here in Lagos, simply substitute with:

• Plain yogurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice with enough milk to make 1 cup total liquid*
• 1 tablespoon vinegar with enough milk to make 1 cup total liquid*

*Let mixture stand for about 5 minutes before using in recipe.

Enjoy!! 

Kitchen Lingo Part 1 - Cooking Methods

A few weeks ago, I had a friend come over to discuss business matters and I just happened to be cooking. I served her up a taste and she asked me how I made the chicken. I started to tell her and she stopped me and said - '"Uzo. What is all this saute business? Isn't it just putting the chicken in the pan?" That got me thinking.

I take it for granted that everyone  knows their way around the kitchen simply because I have been a kitchenista since I was 10.

The Kitchen Lingo series on the blog will be dedicated to breaking down terms and techniques frequently used in cookbooks and recipes. I hope this encourages people who are put off from trying recipes because they don't understand some of the terms and even help get better results by following the correct steps.

Cooking methods are so very important because different foods work better using different methods - especially meats. Here are  few of the most common cooking methods that you will see in cookbooks and recipes:

• Roast: This refers to a method of cooking food with dry heat - usually in an oven and usually uncovered. Some recipes will direct you to start roasting with parts of the meat (usually poultry) covered with foil and then removed at some point in the cooking process. There are also specific roasting pans sold that allow multiple items to be roasted at the same time and allow fat to drip away
• Braise: This method uses a combination of dry and moist heat. Food is usually placed in a very hot pan to sear it (give color and seal in juices) and then liquid added and pan covered to finish off the cooking process. If you see a recipe with the words pot roast in it - this is usually the cooking method used. Slow cookers and pressure cookers are tools used in this method. This method is usually used to cook foods that are tough or need long cooking times like - oxtails, beans etc
• Saute: Usually involves cooking food in a shallow open pan using a small amount of oil/fat over high heat.
• Grill: This involves cooking food with direct dry heat (from above or below) using any number of tools including wire mesh grills, barbeque grills, grill pans or even your oven. The term broil falls under this cooking method and there are broiler pans sold for this purpose
• Steam: This method of cooking  involves placing the food in a basket or receptacle on top and water below and covered. The boiling water releases steam that cooks food gently without loss of color and nutrients. Perfect for cooking vegetables. Also good for warming up foods like moin-moin, suya etc.
• Stir-Fry: Usually seen in Asian recipes. A wok is essential for this cooking method and it is a super fast way of cooking. Very little oil is used and very high temperatures are required as well as constant stirring so the food does not burn. Food to be cooked using this method should be cut in uniform pieces to ensure even cooking.
• Pan-Fry: Food is cooked in a pan with a very small amount of oil/fat in tis method and is good for thin pieces of food. Recipes for breaded or coated foods usually require cooking with this method
• Deep-Frying: Is a cooking method that requires food to be submerged in very hot oil. Contrary to what most people think, this process does not automatically mean greasy food if done properly. If the oil is very hot, the moisture content in the food repels the oil. The food should also not sit in the oil for longer than necessary. Deep fryers and deep frying pans are tools for this cooking method.

Please feel free to send an email to uzosfoodlabs@gmail.com if you have any food or home entertaining questions. I will be more than happy to answer them and feature them on the blog as well.

Enjoy!!!!

 

Kitchen Tip - Refreshing Frozen Prawns

Most of the prawns sold in Lagos are frozen. Its obvious when you see packs and packs of prawns in the massive freezers at supermarkets. Did you know that even in the open air markets where the prawns are weighed and sold to you looking all limp and fresh from the sea, the  some of the merchants get boxes and boxes of frozen prawns from trawlers and thaw them out with water and sell? Freezing is a preservative method so there isn't anything fundamentally wrong with frozen prawns. Its just that seafood should be as fresh as possible for best results in your recipes and sometimes, one doesn't know how long the packed prawns have been sitting in those freezers. Freezer burn doesn't translate well to food.

To refresh frozen prawns, rinse them in cold water with a tablespoon of salt. This process is like magic. The prawns get that fresh from the sea look and any sign of freezer burn is gone. So easy to do and well worth making this a part of your kitchen repertoire.

Enjoy!!!!

Kitchen Tip - Ripening Fruit

If you have unripe fruit that you would like to use and would like to speed up nature, try wrapping the fruit in newspaper and store in a warm place for 2-3 days

Enjoy!!!!

Kitchen Tip - Removing the smell of garlic from chopping boards

Lemon or lime juice and a little salt go a long way towards reducing the odour of both garlic and onion on your chopping board.

Sprinkle your cutting board with salt. Cut a lemon or lime into quarters and use these quarters to rub the salt into the board, squeezing the juice on to the board as you go. Let the board sit for two to three minutes, and then wipe it clean with a damp cloth.

Voila....odour free cutting boards.

Enjoy

Kitchen Tip: How to make sure your eggs are still usable

Eggs are a staple in most kitchens. I use dozens of eggs a week especially for my baking business and there is nothing worse than cracking an egg and its nasty and rotten or you need egg yolks only and the old egg yolk mixes with the white and its of no use for that recipe. Eggs are also notorious for making people sick if bad eggs are combined with improper cooking ...Imagine making runny poached eggs with less than fresh eggs?

Checking if your eggs are still usable is super easy.

Directions:

Get a deep bowl and fill with cold water. Put your eggs in the bowl. Any eggs that sink to the bottom are fresh. Any eggs that rise to the top are bad and should be discarded. Any eggs that sink to the bottom but move around and try to sit on the point are in between. They can still be used for scrambling or added to recipes but not for any recipes that call for intact yolks.

That's how easy it is.

Enjoy!!!!

Kitchen Tip

I am paranoid about germs and smells especially in the kitchen and i am always on the lookout for products to zap all imaginary germs and foul smells.

I discovered this tip by error. After squeezing tons of lemons for use for baking, i had all these squished lemons. My eyes caught my dishwashing liquid which is always lemon scented and i know that because of the acidic nature of lemons - they can be pretty harsh and strip oils from most surfaces. So i took the squished lemons and ran a whole bunch of them around my kitchen sink and left overnight. The next morning, the sink smelt so lemony fresh and once i rinsed off the lemony residue, the kitchen sink felt brand new - no slick oily aftermath of all the washing up and it was sooooo shiny.

This has become a ritual now in my kitchen and i usually will do this 2 -3 times a week. I have also discovered that 1 lemon cut in 2 halves will more than suffice.

Do not be tempted to try this tip on your aluminium or non-stick cookware - the lemons will corrode the surfaces and if you are like me and spend a pretty penny on quality cookware - there will be tears.

Happy experimenting!